| Home | Introduction | Background | Potential Benefits | Security Concerns | Conclusion | Works Cited |
Background:
In his article, “Why 2010 Will Be the Year of the Tablet” Chen states:
“The idea of the tablet computer is nothing new to the tech industry. The development of tablet PCs can be traced as far back as 1888, when the United States Patent office granted a patent to electrical engineer Elisha Gray for an electrical-stylus device for capturing handwriting. In more recent years, plenty of hardware companies, such as Hewlett-Packard and Acer, have presented tablets that have only succeeded to fulfill a niche. Controlled with a stylus on a touch-sensitive “digitizer” screen, tablet PCs have traditionally been tailored toward artists and designers” (2009).
In recent years, every cell phone has been transformed to a touch screen phone. The idea behind this is to make it more “trendy” and quiet, no more clicking the big buttons to send out a text. The same concept has been added to a PC, but on a larger scale. PC tablet is a computer! The only difference between the two is size. While a desktop may take up half of your study-desk, you can walk around with a PC tablet in your hand; just make sure you don’t drop it. A standard PC tablet will be anywhere between 11” and 14”. How much does it weigh? A PC tablet will weigh less than 3 pounds. Of course, cost will always play a crucial role when picking out a new computer, right? It all depends on the brand of the tablet. Various companies manufacture PC tablets. Some of the companies include Apple, HP, Samsung, and Motorola. It all depends on your preference and which tablet best fits your type of use. At Best Buy, an HP tablet will cost around $150 compared to an Asus Eee Pad Transformer Tablet for $470. The cheapest PC tablet called Akash (translated to “Sky”) was just launched in India for an unbeatable price of less than $50. PC Tablets can be found anywhere. There are various retail stores such as Best Buy and Wal-Mart that sell PC tablets, but you can also order them online from websites like Amazon and eBay.
Tablets can be used by anyone. You don’t have to be an entrepreneur or software engineer to utilize a PC tablet. Tablets can be used by college students, kindergarten kids, and even teenagers. For example, college students can easily access an application called Awesome Note in which they can organize and take their notes from lectures. Kids can utilize an app called TeachMe: Kindergarten which helps kindergarten-aged children addition, subtraction, words, and spelling. Teenagers can use social networking apps like Facebook and Twitter to get in touch with their friends.
Now, every PC has some type of operating system. PC Tablets run on operating systems as well. There are several different options to choose from. In her article, “How to Buy the Best Tablet” O’Donell points out, “On the iPad, iOS works very similarly to the way it does on the iPhone. Google's mobile OS … Android 3.0, Honeycomb is designed specifically for tablets. Lastly, there's RIM's QNX operating system, which runs on the company's BlackBerry PlayBook” (2011). The operating system really depends on your personal preference and what tasks one may want to accomplish. One of the biggest questions that one might have about PC Tablets is if an Apple iPad is considered a tablet. The answer is, yes. In his article, “How the Tablet Will Change the World, Levy said, “Apple CEO Jobs’ introduction of a thin, always-on tablet device that would let people browse the Web, read books, send email, watch movies, and play games” (2010). iPad carries the same features as a laptop, the only differences between an iPad and other tablets is the way they operate. Apple relies heavily on different applications that a user has to download in order to perform certain tasks.
Every technology device has its room for improvement. PC Tablets are great, but there is room for improvement. For instance, there can be a way that tablets can hold more data or have more storage space. Tablets tend to get very hot over a short period of time and that’s something that companies are working on. Better and faster operating systems can also make a huge difference on the way a PC tablet performs operations and tasks. Another flaw that a PC Tablet, like Akash, has is the touch screen. In her article, “Announcing the $49 computer tablet” Sidner said, “The touch screen is not as sensitive as that of an iPad, so scrolling with fingers takes some real digging. The students quickly figured out that using a pen as a stylus worked better” (2011).