Mobile Computing

A Primer for Selecting a

A White Paper by:

Chad Peiper, Ph.D. Trinity IT, Senior Application Architect

9 June 2011 A Primer for Selecting a Mobile Device

Copyright © 2011 Trinity IT, LLC All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owners.

Document Title: : A Primer for Selecting a Mobile Device

Published by Trinity IT, LLC, June 9, 2011

Any comments relating to the material contained in this document may be submitted to: Thomas Buck PO Box 524 Richboro, PA 18954 or by email to: [email protected]

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Table of Content

Executive Summary 4 Introduction 5 What is a Mobile Device? 5 6 iPhone 4 ...... 7 BlackBerry...... 7 7 Tablets 8 Differentiating the Tablet PC and Tablet Device 9 Active and passive digitizer ...... 10 Slate, convertible, and hybrid ...... 12 Rich Ink and Digital Ink ...... 13 Development Environment 14 Software Developer Kit ...... 14 Language Support ...... 15 Platform Support ...... 15 Maturity ...... 15 Recommendations 16 Tablet PCs in Education ...... 16 Tablet PCs in Health Care and Financial ...... 16 Tablet Devices Usage ...... 17 Tablet PC Myths 17 Ink-to-text conversion ...... 17 Tablets are not as powerful as a “real” ...... 18 Difficult to use ...... 18 About the Author 20 About Trinity IT, LLC 20 References 21 Appendix 23 Table 1: Tablet Devices in the Market ...... 23

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Aligning Technology with Business Objectives Executive Summary

This white paper is targeted for the decision makers of technology organizations who are considering mobile applications. With the onslaught of mobile devices hitting the market, how does one choose the mobile device that best suits their needs? Whether you are new to Tablet development or a seasoned programmer, the topics introduced in this paper describe the many considerations involved in the selection, design and development of Tablet-based applications.

Following a brief introduction and motivation for writing this paper, we begin by defining the differences between a mobile device and a tablet. We then continue to identify the differences between a Tablet PC and a Tablet. Subsequent sections include a discussion of hardware features (device portability, battery consumption, screen real estate, input modality, and viewability) and software considerations (SDK availability, underlying , and application design considerations).

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“WWDC 2010: iPad A Introduction Huge Success, One iPad The early success of the Apple iPad (figure 1) has led many companies to Sold Every 3 Seconds” invest in the design and release of similar mobile--or as they are being called--“Tablet” devices [1]. As early as November 2010, Apple had

commanded 95% of the Tablet market [2]. As of January 2011, the iPad market share had reportedly dropped to 75% [3]. As Tablets become more and more pervasive, there is a growing need to develop applications for these devices. Prior to the launch of the iPad in March 2010, the market for iPad applications was predicted to reach about $8 billion within five years [4]. As of January 2011, the Apple App Store1 reached 11 billion downloads2 [5].

Before choosing which device to purchase or develop applications for, there are a number of important issues to consider. This white paper serves as a Figure 1: The Apple iPad primer on these devices with a focus on Tablet devices. Tablet

What is a Mobile Device?

There is no widely accepted definition for what defines a mobile device. According to Wikipedia, a mobile device “…(also known as a handheld device, handheld computer or simply handheld) is a pocket-sized computing device, typically having a display screen with touch input and/or a miniature keyboard [6].” This description does not distinguish mobile phones from hand-held or “tablet” devices. A “hand-held” computer exists in a “…variety of form factors, including smartphones on the low end, handheld PDAs, Ultra-Mobile PCs (UMPC) and Tablet PCs. [Traditional desktop replacement] do not come under handheld computers as they are not small enough to hold in one's hand [6].” For the

Figure 2: The purposes of this paper we define a “mobile device” to be any device that can will be the sleekest in be held in one‟s hand. Note that this distinction excludes a new class of after Apple's MacBook Air 15" laptops in the works called “”, which loosely defined, are ultra- model. thin laptop-tablet hybrid devices which feature a touch screen (figure 2) [31].

There are smaller-sized laptops that may be considered mobile devices. , also known as ultraportables (before the advent of the Ultrabook) or mini notebooks, are a class of laptop computers smaller and lighter than a typical laptop. Such devices that can be held in one‟s hand and easily operated are called Netbooks3 (figure 3).

In the few subsections, we define and characterize three different Figure 3: An HP 2133 Mini- classes of mobile devices: Smartphones, Netbooks, and Tablets (figure 4). Note PC .

1 There are a number of lawsuits pending over Apple‟s trade marking the term “App Store” on the grounds that it is too generic to be exclusively used for an Apple marketplace. 2 This includes downloads for both the iPhone and the iPad. 3 See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_subnotebooks for an excellent comparison of Netbooks.

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Figure 4. Three groups of mobile devices: smartphones, netbooks, and tablets

Please note we omitted PDAs and UMPCs from this list as they were replaced by the and netbook respectively. It is worth noting, however, the UMPC devices were not just smaller-sized laptops, but also some of the devices integrated a touch screen and pen-input technology. One such device designed to be used in a rugged environment and outdoors (i.e. in the direct sunlight), is the Toughbook-U1-Ultra device, MIL-STD-810G and IP65 certified, and running (figure 5). Figure 5. Panasonic U1 Ultra Toughbook viewable in direct sunlight and able to withstand Smartphones up to a 6' drop Wikipedia defines the smartphone as a “... that offers more advanced computing ability and connectivity than a contemporary [7].” One distinction between the feature phone and smartphone is the native operating system of the particular device. Feature phones integrate proprietary operating systems that support third-party software on limited platforms such as Java ME. An example of a feature phone is the Motorola i886 phone designed for use on the Nextel network that runs the iDEN proprietary operating system. In general, feature phones are less powerful and less integrated with features of the phone such as the phone‟s main user interface [8]. Smartphones, on the other hand, integrate more powerful operating systems such as Apple‟s iOS or Google‟s Android (figure 6). Such operating systems usually provide a mature software development kit (SDK) to facilitate the building of native-based applications that leverage the abilities of these high-end phones. Figure 6. Smartphone development platforms To help differentiate between smartphones a comparison of the following specifications is required: processor speed, amount of ram, size and resolution of the display, whether or not the device integrates a , battery life, support of removable storage, and the inclusion of a camera, , GPS, and Wi-Fi [9]. A high-end smartphone typically includes a 1GHz processor with 512MB of ram and a high-resolution touch-screen display. The rest of the features vary, although almost all smartphones in today‟s market include a camera, Bluetooth, GPS, and Wi-Fi. The iPhone and the Blackberry smartphone are two popular smartphone devices4 (figure 4 See http://cell-phones.toptenreviews.com/smartphones/ for a comparison of the best smartphones in 2011

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7). As of March 2011, the most popular smartphone on the market is the iPhone 4 [10] and the most popular smartphone operating system is Google‟s Android OS [11].

According to a report by Reuters, Apple‟s Q2 2011 revenue results has made the Cupertino-based company the largest Smartphone manufacturer in the world, surpassing the long time sales leader Nokia [27].

Figure 7. iPhone (on the left) iPhone 4 and BlackBerry (on the right) The iPhone 4 has “…the sharpest, most vibrant, highest-resolution phone smartphones screen ever5 [12].” The iPhone has a multi-touch display touch-interface, which has set the standard for user interface design. Another feature of the iPhone 4 is the integration of a three-axis gyroscope and , which facilitate application development of sensor-aware applications. The iPhone 4 has the “Nowadays, a phone that doesn‟t know where it is or where it‟s going can‟t sharpest, most vibrant, really call itself “smart” [13].” Most of the applications developed for these highest-resolution phone sensor-based technologies are games, which enhance the experience of the screen ever. phone.

BlackBerry

The BlackBerry smartphone has been used in the corporate world with great success since 1999 when the Canadian company, Research In Motion (RIM), released their first product (figure 8). This success was in part based on RIM„s decision to primarily focus on a ubiquitous mobile email service. Through the years, almost all of the BlackBerry devices have included a miniature keyboard and in 2002 RIM released its first more-commonly known BlackBerry smartphone device. The smartphone BlackBerry Torch 9800 represents the latest smartphone version of the BlackBerry. Although Figure 8. The BlackBerry was this device integrates a 1GHz processor, 4GB of storage space, a slide out first released in 1999 as a two- keyboard and a touch-display, the display is a very low 480x320, one of the way pager, personal data assistant and email device lowest on the market.

Netbooks

A device smaller than a laptop and larger than a mobile phone (and UMPC) is a Netbook. The Netbook is defined as “…a category of small, lightweight, legacy-free, and inexpensive laptop computers [14].” Legacy- free refers to the absence of a floppy drive and input ports that have become A device smaller than a obsolete. Additionally, Netbooks should support the ability to boot from a laptop and larger than a portable USB device such as a thumb drive. For the most part, netbooks are used to browse the web and access email (figure 9). As we will see in Smarthpone is a Netbook. subsequent sections of this paper, the major difference between the Netbook and Tablet is the inclusion of a keyboard, which provides users with the ability to create content more easily. It seems that similarly priced Tablet devices are replacing inexpensive netbooks.

5 The iPhone screen is called the “Retina display” and is 960-by-640-pixel resolution 326 pixels per inch

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Tablets

A Tablet “…is a complete mobile computer, larger than a [smartphone] or [PDA], integrated into a flat touch screen and primarily operated by touching the screen [20].” Tablet devices do not include physical keyboards and rely instead on either a virtual software-based keyboard, or an external portable keyboard.

Prior to unveiling the iPad 2 on March 2, 2011, Mr. Jobs reported that 15 million were sold in 2010 in just a 9-month time span, after which he retorted: “That‟s more than every Tablet PC ever sold” (figure 10). Figure 9. Netbooks are smaller Unfortunately, he goes on to say that “The Tablet PC did not invent the than laptops and larger than modern Tablet PC. It crashed and burned. The modern Tablet PC is the smartphones iPad.”

“The modern Tablet PC is the iPad” –

“The modern Tablet PC Figure 10. Steve Jobs’ during his presentation on March 2, 2011 of the iPad 2 at is the modern Tablet PC. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, CA.

The iPad is a Tablet.” Job‟s statement causes confusion when attempting to differentiate the – Chad Peiper Tablet PC (of the past and present) from Tablet devices (of today): The modern Tablet PC is still a Tablet PC. It is neither extinct nor obsolete. A number of companies such as Fujitsu6, , Asus, HP, and are all releasing new Tablet PC devices to compete with Tablet devices like the iPad (see the summary of devices in the appendix of this document).

In the editorial “Understand Post-PC” the author defines what Steve Jobs intended in May of 2007 when he stated that devices in 5 years would be “Slate computers, which either PC or post-PC [27]. The same question holds when attempting to resemble writing slates, compare the Tablet PC and the Post-PC Tablet. The Post-PC Tablet seems are tablet computers to be equivalent to what we are calling a “Tablet” in this paper. without a dedicated While the origin of the term “Tablet PC” or Tablet is keyboard…” unknown, coined the term “Microsoft Tablet PC” in 2001 to define tablet computers that adhered to a set of specifications and ran under -Wikipedia the Windows XP Tablet PC Edition operating system. Figure 11 illustrates the similar between the Slate Tablet PC and Tablet device.

6 The STYLISTIC® Q550 Slate PC is the culmination of 20 years of Tablet PC engineering expertise (http://www.shopfujitsu.com/Q550/index.php)

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Figure 11. An illustration of the Apple iPad Tablet and Fujitsu Slate Tablet PC

Table 1 (below) provides a summary of the market share and number of Tablet devices sold by (in the thousands of units) in 2010 with forecasted sales figures for 2011 through 2015.

OS 2010 2011 2012 2015 iOS 14,766 47,964 68,670 138,497 Market Share (%) 83.9 68.7 63.5 47.1 Android 2,502 13,898 26,382 113,457 Market Share (%) 14.2 19.9 24.4 38.6 MeeGo 107 788 1,271 3,057 Market Share (%) 0.6 1.1 1.2 1.0 WebOS 0 2,796 4,245 8,886 Market Share (%) 0.0 4.0 3.9 3.0 QNX 0 3,901 7,134 24,496 Market Share (%) 0.0 5.6 6.6 10.0 Other OS 234 432 510 700 Market Share (%) 1.3 0.6 0.5 0.2 Total Market 17,610 69,780 108,211 294,093 Table 1: Tablet Market Share by Operating System

In the next section we present a number of technical and functional distinctions between the Tablet PC and Tablet devices.

Differentiating the Tablet PC and Tablet Device

To be clear an iPad is a Tablet not a Tablet PC. All Tablet PC devices incorporate an active digitizer (defined below) into their screens, while Tablets use a passive digitizer. Tablet PCs incorporate the use of an operating system that controls a desktop such as Windows 7, and should be as “powerful” as a desktop replacement. Tablet devices, on the other hand, use a mobile operating system, which is considered to be “simpler” or “lighter-weight” as compared to a desktop operating system. Figure 12 provides a comparative summary of the Tablet device, and the Slate Tablet

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PC (which is the Tablet PC that most closely resembles the appearance of a Tablet such as the iPad.)

Please Note: Tablets like the iPad are not Tablet PCs: • Tablet PCs integrate an active and passive digitizer into their display while Tablets integrate only a passive digitzer. Figure 12. Comparison of Slate Tablet PC and Tablet devices  Tablet PCs support multi- touch (passive) and RF pen- Appendix A presents a comparison of the latest Tablet devices on the input (active) while Tablets market, including four Tablet PC devices. Before a developer can choose support just multi-touch input which device to develop applications for, they need to understand the differences between a Tablet PC and a Tablet. In the next few sections we • Tablet PCs use an operating define and introduce the key differences. system that controls a desktop (such as Windows 7) while Tablets use an Active and passive digitizer operating system that There are two types of digitizers integrated into pen-based7 or Tablet controls a mobile device. devices, active digitizers and passive digitizers. While both of these • Tablet PCs have more technologies detect, collect, and convert analog data (generated from user powerful processing power input) into digital information, the active digitizer is the technology used in and typically internal Tablet PC devices.8 All Tablet devices (such as the iPad and Xoom) storage than Tablets. incorporate the use of a type of passive digitizer called a capacitive touch screen. The active digitizer (included in the Tablet PC devices) provides higher resolution, higher accuracy, and overall superior performance when compared to the passive (resistive and capacitive) digitizers. “Higher resolution” of the active display refers to the faster sampling rate (the number of samples of data collected by the digitizer per second) of the active digitizers. “Active RF” refers to the fact that the pen contains a

miniature RF component that transmits through the computer screen to an antenna positioned behind the LCD. A controller chip in the digitizer takes samples of the pen‟s position about 133 times a second. This is a huge improvement over the traditional mouse device, which typically takes samples of its position 30-40 per second. As a result, the active digitizers provide a great deal of information for each stroke, including pressure- sensitive information which adds the natural smooth feeling of real strokes of ink with varying width. Therefore, users are now able to use the Tablet PC just as if they are using pen and paper. With the advent of sophisticated inking technologies and computationally powerful systems, it now seems

7 We say “pen-based” devices because we have not yet defined the difference between a Tablet PC and a Tablet device. 8 InPlay technologies has published an excellent white paper on their web site (http://www.inplaytechnologies.com/tech_ pen.php) explaining the differences between the two types of digitizers.

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There are two types of A Primer for Selecting a Mobile Device

reasonable that Tablet PCs will become useful instructional delivery and learning tools. Teachers and students can illustrate well, write in a “natural” handwriting manner, and erase and edit their annotations with ease.

There are two types of passive digitizers, resistive and capacitive, both of which require input to physically touch the screen. Resistive touch screens There are two types of operate by sensing where pressure is applied to the of the screen. The resistive type of passive digitizer is considered older technology than passive digitizers, the capacitive touch screens, which work by generating an electric field, resistive and capacitive, which is then disrupted when a user touches the screen with their finger. both of which require While the capacitive digitizer is newer than the resistive digitizer, resistive input to physically touch touch screens are far more accurate since they can be used with a stylus and because they can detect a physical depression (when the stylus releases the screen. contact with the screen), rather than a disruption of an electric field of the capacitive digitizer (figure 11).

Active digitizers require the use of a special stylus (a pen with a radio frequency component), which allows the Tablet Figure 11. Illustration of the capacitive digitizer PC to detect where the Active digitizers require the use of a special stylus (a pen with a radio stylus is positioned. frequency component), which allows the Tablet PC to detect where the stylus is positioned, as long as it is in some close proximity to the screen. As it hovers over the Tablet PC, the stylus can resemble the mouse hover

function. This is becoming more and more useful as information is

displayed by pointing at objects on the desktop (figure 12). This is not possible using a passive digitizer.

The passive display is touch-sensitive and by using a stylus (resistive) or finger (capacitive), the user can navigate through applications. To my knowledge, all of the Tablet devices currently on the market, such as the Figure 12: Hovering with the Apple iPad (see Appendix A for additional devices), integrate the passive mouse over a PDF document capacitive type of digitizer into their displays. Capacitive screens are much provides information about the more responsive than resistive screens, and supports input from multiple document. touch points, allowing for the use of gestures (figure 13). Even with a stylus, the passive digitizer will still detect any pressure placed on the screen, such as from a wrist when in a normal writing position. In this way, the biggest challenge to novice Tablet PC users is to allow their hands to

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rest upon the device without concern that the digitizer will pick up unintentional input (figure 14).

Figure 13: A user illustrating the touch display of the passive digitizer integrated into the iPad devices

Figure 14: Example of student taking an exam on a Tablet PC. The pen is currently hovering over the display and the student's wrist is comfortably placed on top of the digitizer (LCD screen).

When the pen stylus is turned upside down it can provide functionalities such as erasing (figure 15). This is not the case for the passive displays. Fujitsu and a number of other companies selling Ultra Mobile Pocket Figure 15: Example of turning Computers have integrated a palm rejection [3] passive display. While it over the pen stylus to improves the writing ability with the pen stylus, the overall performance incorporate the use of the and sampling rate is at a much lower quality then the active digitizers. The erasure functionality. newer Tablet PC devices recently on the market offer both types of digitizers called “multi-touch” or “dual” digitizers.

Slate, convertible, and hybrid

There are three types of Tablet PCs available on the market (figure 16). A slate refers to a Tablet PC that resembles a writing slate which loosely defined is a piece of flat material used as a medium for writing. Slate The iPad Tablet looks like Tablets PCs do not have keyboards built into the unit and are primarily built a Slate Tablet PC. for portability, both in size and weight. Nearly all of the Tablet devices on the market are Slate Tablets, such as the Apple iPad. The convertibles or clamshells are the tablets that include a keyboard, a rotating display, and a possible optical drive. The convertible tablets are heavier and bulkier than a slate; the display swivels 180 degrees to hide the keyboard, creating a thick slate that provides the addition of the keyboard and track mouse but not the feeling that one is writing on a piece of paper. The hybrid is a slate with a detachable keyboard. (It seems that the hybrid Tablet PC is a dying breed. Hewlett Packard has discontinued the TC1100 model (illustrated in figure 16), which was the only hybrid on the market in 2009.)

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Figure 17. Lenovo IdeaPad U1 Hybrid Figure 16. Three types of Tablet PCs.

With the advent of the iPad, additional hybrid devices are appearing in the market place. The most intriguing being the Lenovo IdeaPad U1 Hybrid (Le Pad), which similar to the TC1100 has two modes of utilization: a traditional “laptop” mode with a keyboard and by detaching the display, a slate mode (figure 17). The interesting aspect of this device is that depending on the mode of operation one is in, the operating system differs. Fujitsu recently announced the arrival of their first Hybrid Tablet PC model TH40D, due to be released in Japan at the end of June (figure 18) [34].

Figure 18. Fujitsu TH40D Rich Ink and Digital Ink

Rich ink refers to Microsoft Rich Inking technology associated with the “Rich ink” refers to the Tablet PC operating system. This began by including an “add-on” into the vast amounts of Windows® XP operating system (called Windows XP Tablet PC) and more recently becoming integrated in the operating system with the advent of information collectible by Windows 7. Many people still use the term “digital ink” to refer to ink the active RF digitizer. strokes created on a computer, however that term does not distinguish The result is a smooth between the inking technology of the past and present. The keyword “rich” refers to the vast amounts of information collectible by the active RF feel and appearance of digitizer. The result is a smooth feel and appearance of ink (figure 19). ink.

Tablet PC applications integrate Rich Ink into their application using Figure 19. A) sample drawn on a active digitizer B) sample drawn on a passive the RF stylus (resistive) digitizer

Since the Microsoft Rich Inking technology is so integral to writing Tablet PC applications, it is reasonable to say that a Tablet PC device runs a Windows Operating system (such as Windows 7), which includes support for “rich inking” using the Microsoft inking libraries included in the Windows SDK.

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A Primer for Selecting a Mobile Device

Development Environment

In the next few sections we provide a summary of the resources available for developers interested in writing applications for Tablet devices9. The four mobile operating systems dominating the market in the United States include Google‟s Android OS, Nokia‟s Symbian OS, Apple‟s iOS, and RIM‟s BlackBerry OS (figure 20). Each of these software platforms provide support for creating applications Windows 7

Apple iOS

Google Android Mobile OS Figure 20. Graph showing global smartphone market share for Q4 2010

Tablet PC developers typically use Microsoft‟s Visual Studio integrated

development environment (IDE) and Dot NET with the

(desktop) operating systems. This allows developers to leverage the “rich ink” Tablet PC libraries provided by Microsoft.

Nokia Symbian OS Software Developer Kit Since the release of Windows XP Tablet PC Edition in 2001, Microsoft has provided software development kits (SDK) for the Tablet PC that includes inking libraries for developing Tablet PC applications. Tablet PC applications should take advantage of the active digitizer‟s high sampling rate by integrating the functionalities included in Microsoft‟s “rich ink” technology. As of the spring of 2006 the Windows SDK is the sole distribution mechanism for the latest Tablet PC technology. As a result, there is no longer a stand-alone Tablet PC SDK. The platform binaries, headers, libraries, documentation, and sample code are available in the Windows SDK [18].

In support of the iPhone Smartphone and iPad Tablet, Apple‟s iOS SDK provides example source code, documentation, tutorials, and a number of tools needed to develop, test, run, debug, and fine-tune your applications. 9 Please note that we only provide information for the top three development mobile operating systems.

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Apple created a suite of tools called Xcode to support the development of software for both Mac OS X and iOS. Xcode provides an IDE to help edit,

build, and debug your iOS applications. The $4.99 suite of tools also provides a launching point for testing your applications on an iOS device or

on an iOS Simulator [19].

Google‟s Android is an open-source software stack managed by Google, and as such, provides a great deal of support (http://source.android.com/) from a very large user community. The Android SDK is available for download and support at http://developer.android.com/index.html. The Android developer site also provides links to a number of tools, resources, documentation, and forum support.

The best place to access developer support for Symbian, including tools, documentation, technical support, and discussion boards, is Forum Nokia at http://www.forum.nokia.com/. Symbian is extremely popular in outside the United States and has a very large user community.

Language Support

Apple‟s iOS uses a language called Objective-C, a close variant to C++ and similar to that is used primarily on Apple's Mac OS X and iOS. Objective-C is the primary language used in Apple‟s Coca API, and was the main programming language used in the NeXT operating system [23].

As of 2010, the SDK for Symbian is standard C++, using Qt Framework, which loosely defined is a widget toolkit to help design application graphical user interfaces. Additional information about the Qt Framework can be found at http://qt.nokia.com/. While Symbian devices can be programmed using a number of different languages such as Python, Java ME, Ruby, .NET, and Standard C/C++, the recommended approach is to use Symbian C++, which was designed to run efficiently on devices with relatively limited memory and power resources [21].

The Android SDK uses the Java programming language.

Platform Support

Apple‟s iOS requires an -based Mac running Mac OS X Snow Leopard and is not officially supported to run on other platforms. A number of developers have worked around this hardware requirement by using a virtual instantiation of OS X [22].

Both Nokia‟s Symbian and Google‟s Android development environments support the Windows, , and Intel-Mac platforms.

Maturity

Android provides SDK components for all ten of their platforms. The latest Android platform (version 3.0 codenamed Honeycomb) was designed to be

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a Tablet-centric operating system. There seems to be a relationship between the Android mobile operating system (purchased by Google [25]) and Google‟s Chrome OS, which was also designed for Tablet devices (taking advantage of the native capabilities of the Tablet multi-touch modality). The following quote is an example of how computer Nokia‟s Symbian operating system is the main mobile platform solution in retailers incorrectly use Europe. Purchased in December 2008, Nokia bought Symbian Ltd., and the term Tablet PC: have been the developers of the Symbian code base ever since. Symbian is currently in its fourth release. The Symbian platform was created by merging a number of software assets [29]. “A tablet personal 10 computer (tablet PC) is a Apple‟s iOS was first released with the arrival of the iPhone on June 29, 2007. The current version of iOS is 4.3.2. Apple‟s iOS has evolved into portable personal one of the most advanced mobile operating systems with its easy-to-use computer equipped with a interface and overall stability. As a result, it has become the standard for touchscreen as a primary multi-touch capacitive interface design. input device and designed to be operated and owned Recommendations by an individual...The term In the next few sections we provide brief descriptions of how Tablet PCs was made popular as a are integrated into education, financial, and healthcare institutions. concept presented by Tablet PCs in Education Microsoft in 2001, but tablet PCs now refer to Over the past three decades, educational institutions have attempted to improve the classroom experience by integrating numerous technologies. any tablet-sized personal The ROI (return on investment) promised by the investment of technology computer, even if its not in education has repeatedly fallen short of its goal. Study after study report using Windows but how the “student experience” has been enriched, but seldom provide statistical evidence to support their promise of improved learning. Laptop another PC operating and computer have yet to be integrated into a teaching system...” curriculum with even a modicum of success [31].

We believe that the Tablet PC provides our best means for integrating technology into learning environments because it is the closest to pen and paper, traditionally used in classrooms. Please refer to research performed by Hulls and Theys [16] for good descriptions of use in educational settings for new users of Tablet PCs.

Tablet PCs in Health Care and Financial Health Care and sections of the financial industry like floor traders have

been using pen-based computing, long before the arrival of the Tablet PC

[33]. The active digitizer and stylus of the Tablet PC are excellent use cases

for form-based computing. Doctors have also been using the Tablet PC to fill out forms stored in Electronic Medical Record (EMR) systems.

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Tablet Devices Usage

Aside from the technical specifications which differentiate the Tablet from the Tablet PC, there is a fundamental difference in the ways users primarily interact with the devices. Without the stylus and/or attachable keyboard, users primarily interact with programs that display information like browsing the web, reading , and watching movies. The Tablet PC, on the other hand, provides an input modality where by a user can create content in addition to interacting with materials.

Tablet PC Myths

Ink-to-text conversion

At the top of a Google search for the phrase “Slate Tablet PCs” was a link to http://mobileoffice.about.com with the following quote: “Slate Tablet PCs provide a great way to use software and cut down on using a mouse and keyboard.” One of the biggest misconceptions

about the Tablet PC is that the pen input is great for converting your ink

strokes to ASCII text. Not so, if you want to write a term paper, and you

usually use the keyboard as your primary input device, then use the keyboard! The pen input on the Tablet PC is the closest match to the traditional pen and paper modality. Handwriting recognition is not a reason Tablet PC Myths: to purchase a Tablet PC. 1. Pen input is great for Activities that are normally performed with a pen or pencil are good converting your ink candidates for a Tablet PC. Technologies that do not require too big a behavioral change are the technologies that have the most promise to be strokes to ASCII text integrated into the classroom. When Microsoft unveiled the Tablet PC, 2. Tablets PCs are not members of the development team used phrases like: as powerful as • “A tablet makes ink ” • “Ink is the focus, not handwriting recognition” “real” computers • “Ink is a first-class citizen” 3. Tablet PCs are • “Ink as ink”

difficult to use An interesting facet to using the Tablet PC as a substitute for pencil and paper is that you can record the creation process. When a student hands in an exam written on the traditional pen and paper, what you see is what you get. You might be able to decipher remnants of erasures and crossings out of material, but not much more. You do not know how many times the student erased an answer only to rewrite the same response, three times, at the five and fifteen minute point, and just after time was called. The paper exam does not allow you to calculate how much time a student spent on a given problem or how many times they navigated back and forth between . Did they navigate between all the pages in the exam before handing in their exam to check their work? It is a lot easier to lose a paper exam and

a lot harder to cheat on an electronic one. As a case in point, in one of our

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A Primer for Selecting a Mobile Device

pilot studies, on two occasions, a student tried to convince the instructor that they had indeed completed a page of the exam contrary to what the

archived printout of the exam presented. A quick analysis of the log file

revealed that the student navigated to the particular page three times during

the exam, and had not written a single ink stroke each time.

Tablets are not as powerful as a “real” computer

Tablet PCs are powerful mobile laptops. Unlike the Netbook and Tablet devices, they integrate a more powerful operating system and integrated accessories. For example, the Asus Eee Slate EP121 (figure 21) (released April 30, 2011), is packaged with Windows® 7, a 12.1" LED backlight WXGA (1280x800) display, dual-digitizers (both active and passive), an Intel Dual-Core i5 processor, 4GB of ram, 64GB solid state drive, and multiple I/O ports such as a mini HDMI, 2 USB ports, and a card reader for an estimated $1299 (without an educational discount). Hewlett Packard has released a cheaper alternative, the HP Slate 500 XT962UA, which HP calla a “Net-Tablet PC” (perhaps similar to or a more improved version of the Figure 21. An illustration of Netbook) for $799.99. As Tablet PCs become more pervasive, their size the Asus Eee Slate EP121 and price will continue to come down. It is also important to note that Tablet PC Tablet PCs almost always have a docking station (figure 22) which may contain an optical CD/DVD/RW drive (for those smaller Tablet PCs that do not have the optical drive built in) and provide a flexible stand which elevates the screen of the Tablet PC acting as an LCD display. Attach a keyboard and mouse and you have a powerful . A number of universities have mandated the purchase of Tablet PCs for incoming students. They must believe that the devices are powerful enough for a four year education.

Difficult to use

As Tablet PCs become more pervasive, research on pen-input gestures and Figure 22. Fujitsu Slate Tablet interfaces continues, and the Windows 7 Operating System which comes PC docking station with built-in support for Wacom enabled digitizers improves, the user interface and applications will become more Tablet PC friendly. This is certainly the case for the iPhone and iPad Tablet with their innovative user interface design integrated into Apple‟s iOS. It would be beneficial for Microsoft to develop a similar interaction paradigm for Tablet PCs. The myth “difficult to use” refers to the fact that many instructors, for example, are afraid to integrate this new technology into their classrooms for fear of technical failure. If you can draw on a chalkboard then you can write on a whiteboard with markers. If you can do the latter, you can certainly use a pen-stylus (figure 23). Anyone can use a Tablet PC

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Examples of Tablet PC Figure 23. Examples of in-class use of a Tablet PC during instruction usage in various Not only are the digitizer pens more natural to write with than chalk and educational settings: chunky whiteboard markers which leave unwanted residue on the hands, but the erasure for the Tablet PC is quicker, easier to use, and more sanitary. In a nutshell, if you can write with a pen and paper, you can do the same on a Tablet PC. On one occasion the Department of Computer Science received a request from a student wanting to observe a Computer Science class as part of an assignment in one of his courses (he was not a Computer Science student). About 10 minutes into the lecture this student appeared at the entrance to our laboratory to “passively” observe the lecture. I motioned to the student to take an empty seat. With the help of one of the students sitting nearby the vacant seat our visitor (unbeknownst to me at the time)

First grade class used the Tablet PC to articulate his observation. An excerpt of the student‟s observation is illustrated in figure 24. Koile and the CLP group provide a glance of first graders using Tablet PCs in class [30].

University class

Figure 24. Excerpt of a student’s observation of a Computer Science course at the University of Illinois. The student was not a student in Computer Science and to our knowledge had never seen a Tablet PC before entering our laboratory classroom. High school class

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About the Author

Chad Peiper is a Senior Application Architect at Trinity IT, where he is a member of the GCCS-I3 Architecture Team. Chad completed his Ph.D. in Computer Science in 2008 from the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign. His thesis, “A Teacher's Dashboard: Monitoring students in Tablet PC classroom settings" can be freely accessed and downloaded at http://slice.cs.uiuc.edu/pubs/peiper_thesis.pdf. Mr. Peiper has been working at Trinity IT since July 2009.

About Trinity IT, LLC To hear more about Trinity Information Technology, LLC (Trinity IT) is a small IT consulting business providing services focused on software architecture/design, system Trinity IT, please visit our administration and training. The company is based in Bucks County, website for a quick Pennsylvania and serves clients throughout the United States. Trinity IT overview of our services was founded by Tom Buck in September 2005. Trinity IT consultants work with clients to provide solutions to complex

technical problems by aligning technical solutions with the ‟s business objectives. Our team includes a combination of retired military (enlisted and officers) and non-military resources. Trinity IT has developed a reputation for providing excellent value through helping our clients meet their requirements and missions.

For more details, please visit the Trinity IT web site at http://www.trinityit.biz

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References

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International Workshop on Pen-based Learning Technologies. 2007. 31. L. Cuban. Oversold and Underused: Computers in the Classroom. Harvard University Press, 2001. 32. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/31/intel-ultrabook-computex-2011_n_868925.html. Retrieved 6 June 2011. 33. http://www.hp.com/sbso/solutions/healthcare/hp_tablet_whitepaper.. Retrieved 8 June 2011. 34. http://www.tabletpcinfos.com/1013/the-10-1-inch-fujitsu-th40d-hybrid-tablet/. Retrieved 9 June 2011.

Images http://www.apple.com/ipad/specs/ http://www.apple.com/macbookair/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP_2133_Mini-Note_PC http://www.panasonic.com/business/toughbook/ultra-mobile-rugged-toughbook-u1-UMPC.asp http://www.phonegap.com/about http://www.apple.com/iphone/gallery/ and http://byhonest.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/blackberry-bold.jpg http://crackberry.com/evolution-blackberry-pictures http://www.engadget.com/photos/lenovo-ideapad-u1-hybrid-le-pad http://www.pcworld.com/article/187955/watch_the_apple_ipad_in_action.html http://gigaom.com/mobile/frequent_commen/ http://www.blugga.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/capacitive-vs-resistive-3.jpg http://marketingdotcom.com/are-smartphones-more-popular-than-computers/ http://www.tabletpcinfos.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Fujitsu-TH40D-Tablet.jpg

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Table 1: Tablet Devices in the Market

OS Processor in GHz RAM Screen Size Resolution Storage Digitizer Device Name AND iOS LIN OTR W7 < 1 1.2 1.3 1.6 > 256 512 1GB 2GB 4GB 7" 8.9" 9.7" 10.1" > 800 1024 1280 1366 16GB 32GB 64GB Active Apple iPad       Apple iPad 2       ASUS Eee Slate        BlackBerry PlayBook       Dell Streak 7      Fujitsu Slate Q550        Fujitsu TH40D        LG Optimus Pad       HP       HP Slate 500 Tablet PC        Huawei IDEOS S7 Pro   Huawei IDEOS S7 Slim            Lenovo IdeaPad U1       Lenovo LePad      Lenovo Slate Tablet        Maylong Universe M-150      Motorola Xoom Tablet       Samsung Galaxy Tablet 10.1       Samsung Galaxy Tablet       Tablet      ViewSonic G Tablet       ViewSonic VPAD 7            ViewSonic VPAD10      