By: Jonathan Moffatt

What is a tablet PC?  Medium sized mobile computer that is integrated with touch screen or stylus  Has storing capabilities, internet access and allows the owner to control what is installed

History  First patent for a tablet used for handwriting was granted in 1888  The first patent that was used for recognizing handwritten characters by analyzing the writing motion was in 1915  The earliest demonstrated use of a tablet and handwriting recognition is dated to 1956

Modern Tablet PC  The first modern models of the tablet PC came into existence around 1980’s  Pencept and Linux had some the original tablets available  One of the earliest Linux systems was the ProGear by FrontPath   (later model of the ProGear)

Modern Tablet PC  In 2000 Microsoft coined the term “Microsoft tablet PC”  They were targeted to address business needs such as note taking and rugged devices for field work  These early devices proved fairly un-popular because they were bulky and cumbersome

The Demand For Tablets  When Apple introduced the Ipad in 2010 the popularity of tablet PC’s exploded and has caused a huge boom in the market  Companies like RIM (blackberry), Samsung, Toshiba and Motorola have made announcements for their own tablets  The market for tablets is expected to go from 7.6 million in 2010 to 46 million in 2014

Touch Screen Interface  The key and common component of Tablets is the touch screen interface  This gives them a more natural user interface instead of a command line interface or the traditional mouse

Accelerometer  Another key feature to tablet PC’s is the accelerometer  The accelerometer is what detects the physical movements of the tablet  It allows greater flexibility because tablets do not necessarily have a fixed direction of use

Ipad  Produced by Apple, was developed before the Iphone but released after because they essentially served the same purpose with the exception of no phone capabilities on the Ipad  Controlled 95% of the market on tablets at the end of 2010

Ipad  The Ipad is primarily a platform for audio-visual media such as books, movies, music, games and web content  Weighs only about 1.5 lbs. heavier than a phone but lighter than a laptop  Though there is a built in touch keyboard there is an option for a plug in traditional keyboard

Blackberry Playbook  Considered to be an improvement on the Ipad  Lighter and sleeker  Has been met with positive reviews from technology critics, including from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas  Tentative release date in fall 2011

Playbook vs. Ipad  There has been a lot of hype saying that the Playbook is the Ipad killer  The Playbook has a slightly smaller, but higher resolution screen and is lighter  It uses Blackberry Tablet OS, powered by QNX technology, the same company used by Cisco and GE

Playbook vs. Ipad  The playbook will have “true” multitasking  On the Ipad apps can not fully run in the background  The Playbook will have the ability to allow apps to run in the background freely

Playbook vs. Ipad  The Playbook will also have a 5 megapixel rear facing camera and 3 megapixel forward facing camera  It supports a handful of video formats like, DivX, WMV, MPEG  It also has a small HDMI port and a standard micro USB port

Playbook vs. Ipad  Another major feature is that the Playbook can be used to look at anything on your phone without syncing  , calendars and BBM (blackberry messenger) are the same on your phone and Playbook

The Future Of Tablet PC’s  The future of tablet PC’s looks be very successful and popular  With advancing technology and hardware capabilities perhaps someday larger tablets may surpass laptops in popularity  With these technologic changes who knows what a tablet could do next…

References  ccelerometers.htm ccelerometers.htm  playbook-tablet-an-ipad-killer-for-the- suits playbook-tablet-an-ipad-killer-for-the- suits  nal_computer nal_computer  