Mobile Computing – A Primer for Selecting a Mobile Device

Transcription

Mobile Computing
A Primer for Selecting a Mobile Device
A White Paper by:
Chad Peiper, Ph.D.
Trinity IT, Senior Application Architect
9 June 2011
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: Mobile Computing: 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]
http://www.trinityit.biz
A White P aper P ublished by Trinity IT
2
Table of Content
Executive Summary
4
Introduction
5
What is a Mobile Device?
5
Smartphones
6
iPhone 4 ..............................................................................................................7
BlackBerry..........................................................................................................7
Netbooks
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” computer .............................................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
3
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 operating system, and application design considerations).
4
“WWDC 2010: iPad A
Huge Success, One iPad
Sold Every 3 Seconds”
Introduction
The early success of the Apple iPad (figure 1) has led many companies to
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
primer on these devices with a focus on Tablet devices.
Figure 1: The Apple iPad
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 computers 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] Laptops do not come under handheld
computers as they are not small enough to hold in one's hand [6].” For the
purposes of this paper we define a “mobile device” to be any device that can
be held in one‟s hand. Note that this distinction excludes a new class of
laptops in the works called “Ultrabooks”, which loosely defined, are ultrathin laptop-tablet hybrid devices which feature a touch screen (figure 2)
[31].
Figure 2: The Asus Ultrabook
will be the sleekest laptop in
after Apple's MacBook Air 15"
model.
There are smaller-sized laptops that may be considered mobile devices.
Subnotebooks, 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 next few subsections, we define and characterize three different
classes of mobile devices: Smartphones, Netbooks, and Tablets (figure 4).
Figure 3: An HP 2133 MiniNote PC netbook.
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.
1
5
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 smartphone 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 Panasonic Toughbook-U1-Ultra device,
MIL-STD-810G and IP65 certified, and running Windows 7 (figure 5).
Figure 5. Panasonic U1 Ultra
Toughbook viewable in direct
sunlight and able to withstand
up to a 6' drop
Smartphones
Wikipedia defines the smartphone as a “...mobile phone that offers more
advanced computing ability and connectivity than a contemporary feature
phone [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 touchscreen,
battery life, support of removable storage, and the inclusion of a camera,
Bluetooth, 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
6
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].
iPhone 4
Figure 7. iPhone (on the left)
and BlackBerry (on the right)
smartphones
The iPhone 4 has “…the sharpest, most vibrant, highest-resolution phone
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 accelerometer,
which facilitate application development of sensor-aware applications.
“Nowadays, a phone that doesn‟t know where it is or where it‟s going can‟t
really call itself “smart” [13].” Most of the applications developed for these
sensor-based technologies are games, which enhance the experience of the
phone.
The iPhone 4 has the
sharpest, most vibrant,
highest-resolution phone
screen ever.
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
this device integrates a 1GHz processor, 4GB of storage space, a slide out
keyboard and a touch-display, the display is a very low 480x320, one of the
lowest on the market.
Figure 8. The BlackBerry was
first released in 1999 as a twoway pager, personal data
assistant and email device
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].” Legacyfree refers to the absence of a floppy drive and input ports that have become
obsolete. Additionally, Netbooks should support the ability to boot from 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
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.
A device smaller than a
laptop and larger than a
Smarthpone is a Netbook.
5
The iPhone screen is called the “Retina display” and is 960-by-640-pixel resolution at 326 pixels per inch
7
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 iPads 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).
Unfortunately, he goes on to say that “The Tablet PC did not invent the
modern Tablet PC. It crashed and burned. The modern Tablet PC is the
iPad.”
Figure 9. Netbooks are smaller
than laptops and larger than
smartphones
“The modern Tablet PC
is the iPad” – Steve Jobs
“The modern Tablet PC
is the modern Tablet PC.
The iPad is a Tablet.”
– Chad Peiper
Figure 10. Steve Jobs’ during his presentation on March 2, 2011 of the iPad 2 at
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, CA.
Job‟s statement causes confusion when attempting to differentiate the
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, Dell, Asus, HP, and Lenovo 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
either PC or post-PC [27]. The same question holds when attempting to
compare the Tablet PC and the Post-PC Tablet. The Post-PC Tablet seems
to be equivalent to what we are calling a “Tablet” in this paper.
“Slate computers, which
resemble writing slates,
are tablet computers
without a dedicated
keyboard…”
While the origin of the term “Tablet PC” or Tablet Personal Computer is
unknown, Microsoft coined the term “Microsoft Tablet PC” in 2001 to
define tablet computers that adhered to a set of specifications and ran under
the Windows XP Tablet PC Edition operating system. Figure 11 illustrates
the similar form factor between the Slate Tablet PC and Tablet device.
-Wikipedia
6
The STYLISTIC® Q550 Slate PC is the culmination of 20 years of Fujitsu Tablet PC engineering
expertise (http://www.shopfujitsu.com/Q550/index.php)
8
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 mobile operating system (in the thousands of units)
in 2010 with forecasted sales figures for 2011 through 2015.
OS
iOS
Market Share (%)
Android
Market Share (%)
MeeGo
Market Share (%)
WebOS
Market Share (%)
QNX
Market Share (%)
Other OS
Market Share (%)
Total Market
2010
14,766
83.9
2,502
14.2
107
0.6
0
0.0
0
0.0
234
1.3
17,610
2011
47,964
68.7
13,898
19.9
788
1.1
2,796
4.0
3,901
5.6
432
0.6
69,780
2012
68,670
63.5
26,382
24.4
1,271
1.2
4,245
3.9
7,134
6.6
510
0.5
108,211
2015
138,497
47.1
113,457
38.6
3,057
1.0
8,886
3.0
24,496
10.0
700
0.2
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
9
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-
Appendix A presents a comparison of the latest Tablet devices on the
market, including four Tablet PC devices. Before a developer can choose
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
define and introduce the key differences.
touch (passive) and RF peninput (active) while Tablets
support just multi-touch input
• Tablet PCs use an operating
system that controls a
desktop (such as Windows 7)
while Tablets use an
operating system that
controls a mobile device.
Active and passive digitizer
There are two types of digitizers integrated into pen-based7 or Tablet
devices, active digitizers and passive digitizers. While both of these
technologies detect, collect, and convert analog data (generated from user
input) into digital information, the active digitizer is the technology used in
Tablet PC devices.8 All Tablet devices (such as the iPad and Xoom)
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 ink stroke, including pressuresensitive 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
• Tablet PCs have more
powerful processing power
and typically internal
storage than Tablets.
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.
7
10
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.
Active digitizers require
the use of a special stylus
(a pen with a radio
frequency component),
which allows the Tablet
PC to detect where the
stylus is positioned.
Figure 12: Hovering with the
mouse over a PDF document
provides information about the
document.
There are two types of passive digitizers, resistive and capacitive, both of
which require input to physically touch the screen. Resistive touch screens
operate by sensing where pressure is applied to the surface of the screen.
The resistive type of passive digitizer is considered older technology than
the capacitive touch screens, which work by generating an electric field,
which is then disrupted when a user touches the screen with their finger.
While the capacitive digitizer is newer than the resistive digitizer, resistive
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
contact with the screen), rather than a disruption of an electric field of the
capacitive digitizer (figure 11).
Figure 11. Illustration of the capacitive digitizer
Active digitizers require the use of a special stylus (a pen with a radio
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
Apple iPad (see Appendix A for additional devices), integrate the passive
capacitive type of digitizer into their displays. Capacitive screens are much
more responsive than resistive screens, and supports input from multiple
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
11
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).
Figure 15: Example of turning
over the pen stylus to
incorporate the use of the
erasure functionality.
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
Computers have integrated a palm rejection [3] passive display. While it
improves the writing ability with the pen stylus, the overall performance
and sampling rate is at a much lower quality then the active digitizers. The
newer Tablet PC devices recently on the market offer both types of
digitizers called “multi-touch” or “dual” digitizers.
Slate, convertible, and hybrid
The iPad Tablet looks like
a Slate Tablet PC.
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
Tablets PCs do not have keyboards built into the unit and are primarily built
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.)
12
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” refers to the
vast amounts of
information collectible by
the active RF digitizer.
The result is a smooth
feel and appearance of
ink.
Tablet PC applications
integrate Rich Ink into
their application using
the RF stylus
Rich Ink and Digital Ink
Rich ink refers to Microsoft Rich Inking technology associated with the
Tablet PC operating system. This began by including an “add-on” into the
Windows® XP operating system (called Windows XP Tablet PC) and more
recently becoming integrated in the operating system with the advent of
Windows 7. Many people still use the term “digital ink” to refer to ink
strokes created on a computer, however that term does not distinguish
between the inking technology of the past and present. The keyword “rich”
refers to the vast amounts of information collectible by the active RF
digitizer. The result is a smooth feel and appearance of ink (figure 19).
Figure 19. A) sample drawn on a active digitizer B) sample drawn on a passive
(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.
13
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
Figure 20. Graph showing global smartphone market share for Q4 2010
Google Android Mobile OS
Tablet PC developers typically use Microsoft‟s Visual Studio integrated
development environment (IDE) and Dot NET with the Microsoft Windows
(desktop) operating systems. This allows developers to leverage the “rich
ink” Tablet PC libraries provided by Microsoft.
Software Developer Kit
Nokia Symbian OS
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.
14
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 Smalltalk 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 Intel-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, Linux, 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
15
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
retailers incorrectly use
the term Tablet PC:
Nokia‟s Symbian operating system is the main mobile platform solution in
Europe. Purchased in December 2008, Nokia bought Symbian Ltd., and
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
Apple‟s iOS10 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
one of the most advanced mobile operating systems with its easy-to-use
interface and overall stability. As a result, it has become the standard for
multi-touch capacitive interface design.
computer (tablet PC) is a
portable personal
computer equipped with a
touchscreen as a primary
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
are integrated into education, financial, and healthcare institutions.
was made popular as a
concept presented by
Tablet PCs in Education
Microsoft in 2001, but
Over the past three decades, educational institutions have attempted to
improve the classroom experience by integrating numerous technologies.
The ROI (return on investment) promised by the investment of technology
in education has repeatedly fallen short of its goal. Study after study report
how the “student experience” has been enriched, but seldom provide
statistical evidence to support their promise of improved learning. Laptop
and computer workstations have yet to be integrated into a teaching
curriculum with even a modicum of success [31].
tablet PCs now refer to
any tablet-sized personal
computer, even if its not
using Windows but
another PC operating
system...”
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.
Presumably, the name of Apple‟s mobile operating system was renamed iOS since it services the iPad,
iTouch, and Apple TV devices.
10
16
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 books, 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
Tablet PC Myths:
1. Pen input is great for
converting your ink
strokes to ASCII text
2. Tablets PCs are not
as powerful as
“real” computers
3. Tablet PCs are
difficult to use
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 handwriting recognition 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
to purchase a Tablet PC.
Activities that are normally performed with a pen or pencil are good
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
integrated into the classroom. When Microsoft unveiled the Tablet PC,
members of the development team used phrases like:
• “A tablet makes ink rock”
• “Ink is the focus, not handwriting recognition”
• “Ink is a first-class citizen”
• “Ink as ink”
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
pages. 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
17
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
Figure 21. An illustration of
the Asus Eee Slate EP121
Tablet PC
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
Netbook) for $799.99. As Tablet PCs become more pervasive, their size
and price will continue to come down. It is also important to note that
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 workstation. 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
Figure 22. Fujitsu Slate Tablet
PC docking station
As Tablet PCs become more pervasive, research on pen-input gestures and
interfaces continues, and the Windows 7 Operating System which comes
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
18
Examples of Tablet PC
usage in various
educational settings:
First grade class
Figure 23. Examples of in-class use of a Tablet PC during instruction
Not only are the digitizer pens more natural to write with than chalk and
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)
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
19
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 UrbanaChampaign. 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 IT, please visit our
website for a quick
overview of our services
Trinity Information Technology, LLC (Trinity IT) is a small IT consulting
business providing services focused on software architecture/design, system
administration and training. The company is based in Bucks County,
Pennsylvania and serves clients throughout the United States. Trinity IT
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 client‟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
20
References
1. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39660904/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/. Retrieved 11 April 2011.
2. http://www.electronista.com/articles/10/11/02/strategy.analytics.gives.ipad.95pc.of.tablet.share/. Retrieved 11 April
2011.
3. http://www.electronista.com/articles/11/01/31/strategy.analytics.says.ipad.down.to.75pc.in.fall/. Retrieved 11 April
2011.
4. http://www.tuaw.com/2010/03/25/tablet-apps-to-be-a-8-billion-dollar-industry/. Retrieved 11 April 2011.
5. “Apple reaches 10 billion sold". Sacramento Business Journal. 24 January 2011.
http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/news/2011/01/24/apple-reaches-10-billion-apps-sold.html. Retrieved 10
March 2011.
6. “Mobile device”. Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_device. Retrieved 10 March 2011.
7. “Smartphone”. Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smartphone. Retrieved 10 March 2011.
8. "Feature Phone". Phone Scoop. http://www.phonescoop.com/glossary/term.php?gid=310. Retrieved 10 March 2011.
9. http://www.pcworld.com/article/213732/smartphone_specs_demystified.html. Retrieved 11 April 2011.
10. http://cell-phones.toptenreviews.com/smartphones/. Retrieved 14 March 2011.
11. http://www.etechreviews.net/android-beats-blackberry-to-become-the-most-used-os-in-america/. Retrieved 14
March 2011.
12. http://www.apple.com/iphone/features/retina-display.html. Retrieved 14 March 2011.
13. http://spectrum.ieee.org/consumer-electronics/gadgets/stmicroelectronics-makes-3axis-digital-gyroscope-with-onesensor. Retrieved 14 March 2011.
14. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netbook. Retrieved 12 April 2011.
15. Apple Special Media Event, March 2, 2011 http://events.apple.com.edgesuite.net/1103pijanbdvaaj/event/index.html
16. C. C. W. Hulls. Using a tablet pc for classroom instruction. Pages T2G–1–T2G–6, 2005.
17. M. D. Theys, K. Lawless, and S. George. Tablet computers and the traditional lecture. In Frontiers in Education,
2005. FIE ‟05. Proceedings 35th Annual Conference, pages T2G–7–12, 2005.
18. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms704356%28VS.85%29.aspx. Retrieved 18 April 2011.
19. http://www.apple.com/macosx/developers/#xcode. Retrieved 18 April 2011.
20. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tablet_computer. Retrieved 19 April 2011.
21. http://www.forum.nokia.com/Develop/Other_Technologies/Symbian_C++/#article1. Retrieved 19 April 2011
22. http://ipodtoucher55.blogspot.com/2010/12/installing-ios-sdk-and-xcode-on-windows.html. Retrieved 19 April
2011.
23. http://lowendmac.com/orchard/05/next-computer-history.html. Retrieved 19 April 2011.
24. http://www.gottabemobile.com/2011/04/08/multi-or-single-platform-computing/. Retrieved 21 April 2011.
25. "Google Buys Android for Its Mobile Arsenal". Businessweek.com. 2005-08-17.
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/aug2005/tc20050817_0949_tc024.htm. Retrieved 21 April 2011.
26. http://www.gottabemobile.com/2011/02/11/the-state-of-tablet-pcs-in-2011/. Retrieved 21 April 2011.
27. http://www.gottabemobile.com/2011/03/04/understanding-post-pc/. Retrieved 21 April 2011.
28. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/21/nokia-apple-idUSLDE73K12P20110421. Retrieved 23 April 2011.
29. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbian. Retrieved 26 April 2011.
30. K. Koile, K. Chevalier, C. Low, S. Pal, A. Rogal, D. Singer, J. Sorensen, K. S. Tay, and K. Wu. Supporting penbased classroom interaction: New findings and functionality for classroom learning partner. Proceedings of 1st
21
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.pdf. 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
22
Appendix
Table 1: Tablet Devices in the Market
Device Name
Apple iPad
Apple iPad 2
ASUS Eee Slate
BlackBerry PlayBook
Dell Streak 7
Fujitsu Slate Q550
Fujitsu TH40D
LG Optimus Pad
HP TouchPad
HP Slate 500 Tablet PC
Huawei IDEOS S7 Pro
Huawei IDEOS S7 Slim
OS
AND
ViewSonic VPAD10
LIN
OTR
W7
<


1
1.2
1.3
1.6
RAM
>


256
512
1GB
Screen Size
2GB



800
1024
16GB
32GB
64GB
Active


















1366



1280
Digitizer
Storage






>






10.1"





9.7"




8.9"




7"
Resolution




4GB












Lenovo IdeaPad U1
Lenovo LePad
Lenovo Slate Tablet
Maylong Universe M-150
Motorola Xoom Tablet
Samsung Galaxy Tablet 10.1
Samsung Galaxy Tablet
Toshiba Tablet
ViewSonic G Tablet
ViewSonic VPAD 7
iOS
Processor in GHz













































































Mobile Computing – A Primer for Selecting a Mobile Device

Transcription

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