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
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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
 Email, 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
http://www.dimensionengineering.com/a
ccelerometers.htm
 http://gizmodo.com/5649238/blackberryplaybook-tablet-an-ipad-killer-for-thesuits
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tablet_perso
nal_computer
 http://www.tabletpc2.com/
 http://us.blackberry.com/playbook-tablet/
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