Tablet Computing - the Scientia Review

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Tablet Computing:
Bringing Mobile
Computers to the
Next Level
John Long
Lambert Wang

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Table of Contents
History of Tablets ...............................................................................2
Mobile Computing ...............................................................................3
What are tablets? ...............................................................................4
Tablet Specs ...............................................................................6
Different Tablets ....................................................................8
Apple iPad ....................................................................8
Windows Surface ..................................................................10
Google Nexus ..................................................................12
Other Tablets ..................................................................14
Linux ..................................................................16
Uses and Apps .............................................................................17
Glossary .............................................................................18
About the Authors .............................................................................19
Image Credits ............................................................................20

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History of Tablets
Tablets are a relatively recent product but their
development dates back as far as the 18th
century. Electronic devices with data input and
output on a flat, horizontal screen have existed
since 1888 with the Telautograph although the
touch screens we’re familiar with today weren’t
invented until the 1980s. Tablet-like computers
and other similar devices have been alluded to
in numerous films and movies before that. No
companies have successfully marketed a tablet
computer until the 21 century. In 2002,
Microsoft released their Tablet PC; however, it
didn’t take off due to price and usability
problems. In 2009, Android, one of today’s
dominating tablet manufacturers, released their
first tablet which used the Android 1.4 OS.
Since then, the tablet computer took off like a
rocket with large companies like Apple,
Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and Linux jumping
into the tablet marketplace.
The 1888 patent for the
Telautograph, the first electronic
device to record and output
information on a flat display
A tablet computer device is shown in the 1968 film
"2001: A Space Odyssey"

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Mobile Computing
The predecessor of tablets was the laptop or
portable computer. As opposed to previous
desktop computers, laptops were powered by
mobile power sources such as large lithium
batteries allowing computers to be carried
away from a wall socket. The processor and
hard-drive were also connected directly with
the monitor, creating a component that could
be carried around easily with little additional
pieces other than perhaps a mouse or
additional keyboard.
Laptops eventually began to offer many of the
same capabilities as desktop computers.
However, they did not offer any significant new
functionality from regular desktop computers.
An HP Tablet PC running
Windows XP
Mobility: Tablets were designed with high
mobility in mind. They are smaller than most
laptops while being larger than a phone. Unlike
a laptop, they are much more convenient to
use while still offering readability with a large
screen. Unlike cell phones, tablets are
generally more powerful and offer much more
features.

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What are Tablets?
Tablets, also known as tablet computers, are
self-contained mobile computers. They are very
similar in function to smart-phones or laptops;
however, tablets tend to be larger than smartphones
and smaller than laptops. While laptops
require peripheral accessories for user input,
such as mice or keyboards, tablets are usually
controlled via their touch-screen, a feature not
present in most regular laptops.
Many modern tablets have a touch screen that
takes up most of the area of the front face of
the tablet. There are very few physical buttons
because tablets are mostly controlled through
their touch-screen. Touch-screens are very
versatile while being easy, intuitive, and fun to
use.
Tablets tend to me much smaller than
laptop computers.

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Tablets
Tablets feature a touchscreen that allows users
to type using a virtual keyboard, rendering a
physical keyboard unnecessary. Tablets also
feature a few buttons for the purposes of
powering on and off the device, locking the
device, and changing the volume.
Tablets can come in many varieties to suit
different purposes. A majority of today's tablets
fall under the category of a standard tablet.
Examples include Google's Nexus 7 and
Apple's iPad. E-books or digital readers also
fall under the category of tablets. Examples
include Amazon's Kindle and Barnes and
Noble's Nook. There are some laptops that
feature a touch-screen and can be configured
to emulate a tablet. Some of the newest
Microsoft Ultrabooks have this feature.
The Windows 8 Ultrabooks
share many features with
tablets.
Late Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveils the
Apple iPad, the most popular tablet
computer in the world.

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Tablet Specs
Tablets come in a variety of sizes, but generally, most tablets have at
least 6 or 7 inches of screen size. Traditional tablet computers can be as
large as laptops while newer tablets are much smaller and user a different
type of processor that allows it to have a size similar to PDAs.
An accelerometer is a device that can detect and measure physical
movements of the tablet. The tablet has no fixed orientation of use, so the
screen can adjust direction based on how the tablet is held. Movement
and orientation of the tablet can also be used to control the interface of
applications for the tablet.
Tablets can have many different forms and
formats.

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Specs
There are two major types of system
architectures that are primarily used by
computers, Intel’s x86-64 and ARM
architecture. Intel’s x86-64 is the primary
architecture used on most PC computers, and
CPUs with that architecture support a 64 or 32
bit operating system.
The ARM architecture is the primary
architecture used by smartphones and other
small mobile devices. This architecture is very
power efficient and small enough to fit on a
mobile device.
On the left is the Intel processor designed for Laptop and
desktop computers. On the right is the ARM Cortex
processor designed for mobile computers

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Apple iPad
The Apple iPad is probably the most ubiquitous and most well-known of
the tablets. Leveraging their momentum from the successful iPod, Apple
released the iPad in 2010. Although it was not the first commercial
tablet, it remains the most successful selling tablet, selling more tablets
alone, than all other tablets combined.
The iPad was very similar to the iPhone and iPod touch in design. It ran
the same operating system as the iPhone and iPod and had many of the
same features, such as a camera and accelerometer. That may have
contributed to its popularity.
The only significant difference between the iPad and iPhone was that
the iPad was basically an iphone without the phone capabilities and thus
one did not have to sign up for a contract as well when buying an iPad.
Apple is one of the dominating tech companies with their
iPad tablets, MacBook laptops, and iPhones.

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iPad
The user operates the iPad by running apps. Additional apps may be
downloaded solely from the apple app store. This results in some
annoyances for the users of apple products, who are not allowed to
download apps with flash due to the apple’s policy against flash.
However, users have found ways of getting around this, such as
jailbreaking. By jailbreaking, one has access to third-party applications
one would not normally have access to with the apple policy.
In this way, apps such as those with flash can be downloaded. Many
interesting games and apps not normally accessible to apple users can
be accessed via jailbreaking.
Apple devices have a vast variety of applications to choose
from.

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Google Nexus
The Google Nexus is a line of mobile devices
that use the Android operating system
produced by Google in conjunction with an
equipment manufacturer. The Nexus 7 tablet is
manufactured by Asus while the Nexus 10 is
manufactured by Samsung.
The Nexus 7 is a 7-inch tablet. It is also the first
device to run Android 4.1, which means that a
majority of content, including e-books, music,
movies, and video, is available through Google
Play, a digital application distribution platform
for Android.
The Nexus 10 is a 10-inch tablet. It runs on the
Android 4.2 (currently 4.2.2) operating system.
The Google Nexus
series has the Nexus 4
smart-phone and the
nexus 7 and 10 tablet
computers.

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Google Android
The Nexus tablets from Google use an operating system known as
Android. It is an open source Linux based operating system.
Most tablets currently out today are running either Apple OSX or
Android. Android, unlike Apple OSX, supports flash apps and thirdparty
game development. Android has its own store for downloading
apps, but it also supports third-party apps and developers. It is a lot
cheaper and easier to develop and distribute third party applications
on the Android market than the Apple App store.
Many Android apps are written in the programming language Java, a
common language which is also used in many places on the internet.
The logo for Android, the Google
Nexus' mobile operating system

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Microsoft Surface
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The Windows Surface tablet is one of the few
tablets that support multi-touch. The
mechanism that it uses is also slightly different.
The screen produces a slight electro-magnetic
field, which induces a current in the pen. The
pen then affects the EM field and the
information such as pen angle and position can
then be determined.
Being one of the larger tablets in the market, the Microsoft Surface has
processing power that can rival even laptops.

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Windows 8
The Windows Surface runs one of two operating systems,
both developed by Microsoft. The first OS is Windows RT,
developed uniquely for tablets. The second OS is Windows
8 Pro, which is also used on computers. The latter system
allows the installation of third-party applications.
The Windows 8 supports multi-tasking. It also has a
minimizable QWERTY keyboard. Users are able to pull up
the keyboard whenever they need and move it whenever
they want.
Windows 8 has a sleek new look that was designed to work well with
mobile devices and touch-screen computers.

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Other Tablets
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The Amazon Kindle Fire is another tablet that is
much cheaper than other tablets. The Kindle
Fire evolved from the Kindle ebook reader,
which was not a tablet at first. Amazon
released the Kindle as a device for reading
ebooks. Eventually, Amazon went into the
growing tablet market by releasing the Kindle
Fire. The Fire offers much of the same
capabilities of a tablet but is only about $200. It
runs on the Android OS.
Windows Ultrabooks are a combination of
tablets and laptops. They offer the space of an
ordinary laptop, while also offering the
touchscreen capabilities of a tablet. They also
feature a retractable keyboard, allowing the
user to give the look of a tablet or laptop.
The Amazon Fire (left) runs
many apps like other
android tablets but is much
cheaper. The Windows
Ultrabook (right) looks like a
combination of a tablet and
laptop.

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Linux Tablets
Many tablets may also be equipped with a Linux operating
system. Linux is generally touted as safer than Windows or
Mac OS. Fewer viruses are made for Linux machines.
Linux machines also seldom hide the components of a
computer that other computers hide. This allows for
relatively easy modification to the program.
The Linux Tablets are unique because they support full
disk encryption. Encryption is the process of translating
sensitive data into meaningless data. This is especially
important in a business environment, or any other
environment requiring secrecy. Full disk-encryption and the
many antivirus features of Linux make Linux tablets
attractive to businesses and governments.
History of Linux
Linux is an operating
system, but unlike
Windows and OSX, it
is open-souce. The
source code is freely
available online for
anyone to use.
Linux was built by
Linus Torwaldis, a
Finnish University
Student. He
developed his own
operating system
because he was
dissatisfied with
MINIX, which was in
used at his
university. The result
of his tinkering was a
new Unix-like
operating system that
eventually became
known as Linux.
Today, Linux is used
in many places such
as dedicated
systems, laptops,
netbooks,
supercomputers, and
of course tablets.

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Uses and Apps
Tablets are mostly used for entertainment
purposes. The touchscreen allows for easy
control and input for many games. The
accelerometer also aids in many games. The
screen of a tablet is very good for watching
movies. Due to the screen size, tablets are also
great ebook readers. You may be reading this
on a tablet right now! If that is so, the tablet
background may be redundant.
Tablets may also be used for drawing
purposes. Drawing or engineering apps may be
installed that allow the users to draw or draw
plans on a tablet.
Tablet and smartphone apps are very similar.
Many times, apps are compatible with both
devices.
Angry Birds, a popular
android app for tablets
and smartphones

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Glossary
Accelerometer: A device built into many modern tablets and smartphones to
sense the position, orientation, and direction of the tablet or phone
GUI: Graphical User Interface A program that allows the user to communicate
with the device through clicking on objects and images rather than typing
commands
Jailbreaking: Installing special software or otherwise modifying a tablet in a way
to access parts the user is not usually able to access
Java: A programming language often used to program many web applets and
tablet apps
Lithium Battery: A stronger more durable battery that uses Lithium as its anode
Operating System: Software installed into an electronic device providing
PDA: Personal Digital Assistant A precursor to modern smartphones that had a
touchscreen
Processor: The part of a device which carries out the instructions given in a
program
Smart-Phone: A phone, such as an iphone, that has more features than a
regular phone
System Architecture: A conceptual model of the components, structures, and
behaviors underlying the system.
Third-party: Describes apps or services that are not directly provided by the
tablet manufacturers.
Touch-Screen:

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About the Authors
John Long
John is a junior at Mass
Academy. He is an active
participant in math and
programming competitions. In
his free time, he enjoys
studying math, computer
science, and biology.
Lambert Wang
Lambert is a junior at Mass
Academy. He is an active
participant in competitive
mathematics and enjoys
programming using Java.

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Image Credits
19
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