Tablet computer

A tablet computer, commonly shortened to tablet, is a

The tablet computer and its associated operating system began with the development of

Fictional and prototype tablets

Tablet computers appeared in a number of works of science fiction in the second half of the 20th century; all helped to promote and disseminate the concept to a wider audience.^[12] Examples include:

• Foundation
  (1951)
• Stanisław Lem described the Opton in his novel Return from the Stars (1961)
• Numerous similar devices were depicted in Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek: The Original Series (1966)
• Dr Who: The Dominators Educator Balan holds a tablet which he hold and inputs data into using swipe gestures.(1967)^[13]
• 2001: A Space Odyssey
  (1968)
• Douglas Adams described a tablet computer in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and the associated comedy of the same name (1978)
• The science fiction TV series
  PADDs, notable for (as with most computers in the show) using a touchscreen interface, both with and without a stylus (1987)^[15]
• A device more powerful than today's tablets appeared briefly in The Mote in God's Eye (1974)^[16]
• The
  Heir to the Empire, and depicted on screen in the 1999 feature film, Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace

• In 1968, computer scientist Alan Kay envisioned a KiddiComp;^[17][18] he developed and described the concept as a Dynabook in his proposal, A personal computer for children of all ages (1972),^[19] which outlines functionality similar to that supplied via a laptop computer, or (in some of its other incarnations) a tablet or slate computer, with the exception of near eternal battery life. The target audience was children.
• In 1979, the idea of a touchscreen tablet that could detect an external force applied to one point on the screen was patented in Japan by a team at Hitachi consisting of Masao Hotta, Yoshikazu Miyamoto, Norio Yokozawa and Yoshimitsu Oshima, who later received a US patent for their idea.^[20]
• In 1992, Atari showed developers the Stylus, later renamed ST-Pad. The ST-Pad was based on the TOS/GEM Atari ST platform and prototyped early handwriting recognition. Shiraz Shivji's company Momentus demonstrated in the same time a failed x86 MS-DOS based Pen Computer with its own graphical user interface (GUI).^[21]
• In 1994, the
  ARM-based touch screen tablet computer for this program, branding it the "NewsPad"; the project ended in 1997.^[23]
• During the November 2000 COMDEX, Microsoft used the term Tablet PC to describe a prototype handheld device they were demonstrating.^[24][25][26]
• In 2001, Ericsson Mobile Communications announced an experimental product named the DelphiPad, which was developed in cooperation with the Centre for Wireless Communications in Singapore, with a touch-sensitive screen, Netscape Navigator as a web browser, and Linux as its operating system.^[27][28]

Early tablets

Following earlier tablet computer products such as the

In the late 1990s, Microsoft launched the Handheld PC platform using their Windows CE operating system; while most devices were not tablets, a few touch enabled tablets were released on the platform such as the Fujitsu PenCentra 130 or Siemens's SIMpad.^[41][42] Microsoft took a more significant approach to tablets in 2002 as it attempted to define the Microsoft Tablet PC^[43] as a mobile computer for field work in business,^[44] though their devices failed, mainly due to pricing and usability decisions that limited them to their original purpose – such as the existing devices being too heavy to be held with one hand for extended periods, and having legacy applications created for desktop interfaces and not well adapted to the slate format.^[45]

Android was the first of the 2000s-era dominating platforms for tablet computers to reach the market. In 2008, the first plans for Android-based tablets appeared. The first products were released in 2009. Among them was the Archos 5, a pocket-sized model with a 5-inch touchscreen, that was first released with a proprietary operating system and later (in 2009) released with Android 1.4. The Camangi WebStation was released in Q2 2009. The first LTE Android tablet appeared late 2009 and was made by ICD for Verizon. This unit was called the Ultra, but a version called Vega was released around the same time. Ultra had a 7-inch display while Vega's was 15 inches. Many more products followed in 2010. Several manufacturers waited for Android Honeycomb, specifically adapted for use with tablets, which debuted in February 2011.

As of February 2014, 83% of mobile app developers were targeting tablets,[74] but 93% of developers were targeting smartphones. By 2014, around 23% of B2B companies were said to have deployed tablets for sales-related activities, according to a survey report by Corporate Visions.^[75] The iPad held majority use in North America, Western Europe, Japan, Australia, and most of the Americas. Android tablets were more popular in most of Asia (China and Russia an exception), Africa and Eastern Europe. In 2015 tablet sales did not increase. Apple remained the largest seller but its market share declined below 25%.^[76] Samsung vice president Gary Riding said early in 2016 that tablets were only doing well among those using them for work. Newer models were more expensive and designed for a keyboard and stylus, which reflected the changing uses.^[77] As of early 2016, Android reigned over the market with 65%. Apple took the number 2 spot with 26%, and Windows took a distant third with the remaining 9%.^[78] In 2018, out of 4.4 billion computing devices Android accounted for 2 billion, iOS for 1 billion, and the remainder were PCs, in various forms (desktop, notebook, or tablet), running various operating systems (Windows, macOS, ChromeOS, Linux, etc.).^[79]

Since the early 2020s, various companies such as Samsung are beginning to introduce foldable technology into their tablets.^[80]

Types

Tablets can be loosely grouped into several categories by physical size, kind of operating system installed, input and output technology, and uses.[81]

Slate

The size of a slate varies, but slates begin at 6 inches (approximately 15 cm).^[82] Some models in the larger than 10-inch (25 cm) category include the Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 12.2 at 12.2 inches (31 cm), the Toshiba Excite at 13.3 inches (33 cm)^[83] and the Dell XPS 18 at 18.4 inches (47 cm).^[84] As of March 2013, the thinnest tablet on the market was the Sony Xperia Tablet Z at only 0.27 inches (6.9 mm) thick.^[85] On September 9, 2015, Apple released the iPad Pro with a 12.9 inches (33 cm) screen size, larger than the regular iPad.^[86]

Mini tablet

Mini tablets are smaller and weigh less than slates, with typical screen sizes between 7–8 inches (18–20 cm). The first commercially successful mini tablets were introduced by

On September 14, 2012, Amazon, Inc. released an upgraded version of the Kindle Fire, the

Phablet

At the time of the introduction of the first phablets, they had screens of 5.3 to 5.5 inches, but as of 2017 screen sizes up to 5.5 inches are considered typical. Examples of phablets from 2017 and onward are the Samsung Galaxy Note series (newer models of 5.7 inches), the LG V10/V20 (5.7 inches), the Sony Xperia XA Ultra (6 inches), the Huawei Mate 9 (5.9 inches), and the Huawei Honor (MediaPad) X2 (7 inches).

2-in-1

A 2-in-1 PC is a hybrid or combination of a tablet and laptop computer that has features of both. Distinct from tablets,

• Convertibles have a chassis design by which their physical keyboard may be concealed by flipping/folding the keyboard behind the chassis. Examples include 2-in-1 PCs of the Lenovo Yoga series.
• Detachables or Hybrids have physical keyboards that may be detached from their chassis, even while the 2-in-1 is operating. Examples include 2-in-1 PCs of the Asus Transformer Pad and Book series, the iPad Pro, and the Microsoft Surface Book and Surface Pro.

Gaming tablet

Some tablets are modified by adding physical

A table ordering tablet is a touchscreen tablet computer designed for use in casual restaurants.^[95] Such devices allow users to order food and drinks, play games and pay their bill. Since 2013, restaurant chains including Chili's,^[96] Olive Garden^[97] and Red Robin^[98] have adopted them. As of 2014, the two most popular brands were Ziosk and Presto.^[99] The devices have been criticized by servers who claim that some restaurants determine their hours based on customer feedback in areas unrelated to service.^[100]

E-reader

Any device that can display text on a screen may act as an E-reader. While traditionally E-readers are designed primarily for the purpose of reading digital e-books and periodicals, modern E-readers that use a mobile operating system such as Android have incorporated modern functionally including internet browsing and multimedia capabilities; for example Huawei MatePad Paper is a tablet that uses e-ink instead of typical LCD or LED panel, hence focusing on the reading digital content while maintaining the internet and multimedia capabilities. Some E-reader such as PocketBook InkPad Color and ONYX BOOX NOVA 3 Color even came with colored e-ink panel and speaker which allowed for higher degree of multimedia consumption and video playback.

The Kindle line from Amazon was originally limited to E-reading capabilities; however, an update to their Kindle firmware added the ability to browse the Internet and play audio, allowing Kindles to be alternatives to a traditional tablet, in some cases, with a more readable e-ink panel and greater battery life, and providing the user with access to wider multimedia capabilities compared to the older model.

Hardware

System architecture

Two major architectures dominate the tablet market,

ARM has been the CPU architecture of choice for manufacturers of smartphones (95% ARM), PDAs, digital cameras (80% ARM), set-top boxes, DSL routers, smart televisions (70% ARM), storage devices and tablet computers (95% ARM).^{[105][third-party source needed]} This dominance began with the release of the mobile-focused and comparatively power-efficient 32-bit ARM610 processor originally designed for the Apple Newton in 1993 and ARM3-using Acorn A4 laptop in 1992. The chip was adopted by Psion, Palm and Nokia for PDAs and later smartphones, camera phones, cameras, etc. ARM's licensing model supported this success by allowing device manufacturers to license, alter and fabricate custom SoC derivatives tailored to their own products. This has helped manufacturers extend battery life and shrink component count along with the size of devices.

The multiple licensees ensured that multiple fabricators could supply near-identical products, while encouraging price competition. This forced unit prices down to a fraction of their x86 equivalents. The architecture has historically had limited support from Microsoft, with only

• pointer (as is common in tablet computers) but may require calibration. Because of the high resolution, a stylus or fingernail is often used. Stylus-oriented systems are less suited to multi-touch
  .
• iPhone 6S and later models), but some tablets use a pressure-sensitive stylus or active pen.^[120]
• Some tablets can recognize individual palms, while some professional-grade tablets use pressure-sensitive films, such as those on graphics tablets. Some capacitive touch-screens can detect the size of the touched area and the pressure used.^[121]

Since mid-2010s, most tablets use capacitive touchscreens with multi-touch, unlike earlier resistive touchscreen devices which users needed styluses to perform inputs.

There are also

Handwriting recognition

Many tablets support a stylus and support

• iPhone 4S
  in 2011 and now supports nearly 20 languages. In both cases, the voice input is sent to central servers to perform general speech recognition and thus requires a network connection for more than simple commands.
• Near-field communication with other compatible devices including ISO/IEC 14443 RFID tags.

Software

Current tablet operating systems

Tablets, like conventional PCs, use several different

• Desktop computer operating systems
• Mobile operating systems

Desktop OS-based tablets are currently thicker and heavier. They require more storage and

Mobile-based tablets are the reverse, and run only mobile apps. They can use battery life conservatively because the processor is significantly smaller. This allows the battery to last much longer than the common laptop.[128]

In Q1 2018, Android tablets had 62% of the market, Apple's iOS had 23.4% of the market and Windows 10 had 14.6% of the market.^[129] In late 2021, iOS has 55% use worldwide (varies by continent, e.g. below 50% in South America and Africa) and Android 45% use. Still, Android tablets have more use than iOS in virtually all countries, except for e.g. the US and China.^{[130][131][132]}

Android

Android is a

A few tablet computers are shipped with Android Go.

Fire OS

As mentioned above, Amazon Fire OS is an Android-based mobile operating system produced by Amazon for its Fire range of tablets. It is forked from Android. Fire OS primarily centers on content consumption, with a customized user interface and heavy ties to content available from Amazon's own storefronts and services.

ChromeOS

Several devices that run

The

Kindle firmware is a mobile operating system specifically designed for Amazon Kindle e-readers. It is based on a custom Linux kernel; however, it is entirely closed-source and proprietary, and only runs on Amazon Kindle line up manufactured under the Amazon brand.

Nintendo Switch system software

The

PlayStation Vita system software

The PlayStation Vita system software is the official firmware and operating system for the PlayStation Vita and PlayStation TV video game consoles. It uses the LiveArea as its graphical shell. The PlayStation Vita system software has one optional add-on component, the PlayStation Mobile Runtime Package. The system is built on a Unix-base which is derived from FreeBSD and NetBSD. Due to it capabilities on browsing the internet and multimedia capabilities, it is treat as an gaming tablet or tablet replacement by community and reviewer/publisher.

Ubuntu Touch