Tablet Computer
A tablet computer is a portable personal computing device characterized by its lightweight design and primary interface, which is typically a touchscreen or stylus. Tablets serve a wide range of functions, allowing users to access social media, watch films, communicate, read, play games, and more. Although modern tablets gained popularity in the early 2010s, their origins trace back to earlier devices like the RAND Tablet from 1963 and the GRiDPad from 1989. The introduction of operating systems tailored for mobile devices, such as Apple's iOS and Google's Android, significantly boosted tablet accessibility and affordability, leading to widespread consumer adoption.
Tablets have since found diverse applications, especially in education, as they provide up-to-date access to electronic textbooks and interactive learning tools. Their role in literacy promotion has been highlighted through initiatives that equip children in underserved regions with tablets. Beyond education, tablets are utilized in various fields, including healthcare and the arts, allowing professionals to perform tasks on the go. By 2023, tablet sales had surged, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, reflecting their growing importance in remote work and learning environments. Major manufacturers in the tablet market include Apple, Samsung, and Amazon.
Subject Terms
Tablet Computer
A tablet computer is a medium-sized personal computer (PC) that is lightweight and portable. The primary interface is a touchscreen or pen. Its small dimensions and ease of use make it simple to access social media, watch movies, communicate, make videos, read books, play games, and so on. Although the tablet market exploded in the 2010s, early versions debuted decades earlier.
History
Early devices that performed some functions of tablet PCs were too heavy to carry. Generally, they featured an electronic pen and served to digitize information. The first such device, the RAND Tablet, was used by a few researchers as early as 1963.
The Linus Write-Top, which debuted in 1987, had a small green screen and could learn to interpret the owner's handwriting. It had ports for printers, keyboards, and other devices. It weighed 4 kilograms (9 pounds). Like other early devices, it used software originally developed for desktop computers.
The GRiDPad debuted in 1989. It was created by Jeff Hawkins, who later founded Palm Computing. It had a larger screen and looked more like a modern tablet, but it was still weighty: 2 kilograms (4.5 pounds). Like its predecessor, it was not widely adopted.
Nearly a decade later, Hawkins returned with the PalmPilot, the first affordable personal digital assistant (PDA). When it arrived on the market in 1997, it found a ready audience of individuals who wanted a computing alternative to their laptops and cell phones.
Microsoft entered the market in 2000 with the first device that really resembled a modern tablet PC. Microsoft also developed a version of its XP operating system optimized for tablets, which created opportunities for other manufacturers. Other tablets—by Compaq, Fujitsu, Lenovo, and Motion Computing—arrived in the next few years. The tablets were costly—Motion Computing’s LS800 was priced at $2,167, for example—and mostly popular with workers on the move. The next generation of tablets had a significant advantage: operating systems developed for mobile hardware. The most prominent, the iPad from Apple, debuted in April 2010. Consumers responded, and Apple sold about 15 million iPads at a cost of $499 before the second-generation iPad debuted eleven months later.
Although prices for portable computers decreased, tablets remained out of reach for the average consumer. The development of the Android operating system changed that. Android OS is based on the Linux kernel, free and open-source software. Because it is available to all developers, it is easy to create software that works on many devices. Producing Android-based tablets was much easier, and as more arrived on the market, prices fell. One of the most popular and successful was the Galaxy Tab by Samsung.
Amazon entered the market in late 2011 with the Kindle Fire. Amazon priced the tablets at $199, making little or no profit, to boost sales of e-books and other products. Google's Android OS firmware update, optimized for tablets, also debuted in 2011. In 2012, Microsoft returned with the Surface tablet. Several other companies also produced inexpensive devices. By this time, tablet computers had outpaced sales of personal computers. Tablet sales decreased once smartphones became available. People did not replace their tablets as often as they replaced their cell phones. However, tablet sales eventually increased, surpassing cell phones but not laptops. The COVID-19 global pandemic led to a surge in tablet sales as people sought them to work and learn remotely. By 2023, the global revenue from tablets had reached $55 billion. The United States had the largest market share for tablets, followed by Europe. In 2024, the leading tablet manufacturers were Apple, Samsung, and Amazon.
What's Inside a Tablet?
Tablet PCs weigh much less than desktops or laptops, but this advantage comes at a price. Tablets have smaller batteries, and their components use less energy than those in larger PCs, making them less powerful.
Tablets contain smaller versions of components found in standard PCs. Tablets generally use smaller processors. Larger processors generate more heat, but tablets are too small to have fans to protect the devices from overheating. The programs, or applications (apps), tend to be simpler so they run efficiently on less power.
Tablet components generally include accelerometers; camera sensors, chips, and lenses; flash-based memory; graphics processors; gyroscopes; speakers; a touch-screen controller chip; USB dock and power supply; and WiFi and/or cellular chips and antennas. Some also include Bluetooth receivers.
Touch screens are usually either capacitive or resistive. Resistive systems respond to pressure from any source, such as a stylus. The screen has a layer of resistive material and another of conductive material, separated by spacers. An electric current runs through both layers; pressure on the screen puts both layers in contact, changing the electrical field. A microchip determines the coordinates of the contact point and relays it to the central processing unit (CPU), the computer’s "brain," which compares these coordinates to the operating system and recognizes what the user has touched. Capacitive systems also rely on electrical fields, which are stored in a screen layer. The screen transfers some of the charge to any conductive material that touches it, such as a finger.
Both types of screens have advantages and disadvantages. Resistive screens are more prone to damage, but capacitive screens can be difficult to use in some situations (e.g., when wearing gloves).
Applications
One of the fastest-growing uses of tablets is in education. From a practical standpoint, electronic textbooks can be updated almost instantaneously, giving students access to current information and interactive lessons for less than the cost of numerous textbooks. Many classic works of literature are in the public domain and can be downloaded for free. During the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, many school districts purchased tablets for student home use.
Some groups have embraced tablet PCs to promote literacy. In 2013, experts from Tufts University and MIT visited forty illiterate children in rural Ethiopia and delivered tablets loaded with apps to help them learn the basics of reading. Prior to receiving the tablets, the children had never seen a computer or even paper and pencils. One child learned to turn on the tablet in minutes and soon became a mentor to the others. With no other help, all forty were using the apps within a week. A year later, they knew the alphabet and could read some words. As technology—in particular tablets and smartphones—becomes more available, experts expect global improvement in literacy.
Tablets have found many other uses in a variety of fields. For example, health care professionals may use them to access patient records on the go or communicate with patients at home. Many artists utilize tablet computers, allowing them to use specialized styluses to draw directly on the screen.
Bibliography
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