THE EVOLUTION OF TABLET

 

This is one of the first handwriting-recognition tablets. By using its stylus, you could write on the green screen. Pretty revolutionary for 1987.

In 1989, Jeff Hawkins, the founder of Palm Computing, created the GridPad. Some call this the first tablet computer. It ran MS-DOS and the military bought a few but consumers mostly ignored it. It was pricey and heavy compared to laptops of the era.

Apple's Newton MessagePad from 1993 was an attempt to create a new category of device that didn't replace the PC, a so-called "personal digital assistant" or PDA, for taking your calendar/todo list and a few apps with you. With a stylus, you could write on it and it would recognize your handwriting (though it wasn't particularly good at that).

By 1997, Jeff Hawkins was back with PalmPilot, the first affordable PDA. Eventually, the PalmPilot would use touchscreens and become very popular. This device proved that people wanted a third type of mobile device between a cell phone and a laptop, if it was affordable and was easy to use.

Here's Microsoft's first attempt at a tablet, a prototype that Bill Gates introduced in 2000. Some people credit Microsoft for coining the term "Tablet PC" with its early tablet devices. 

By 2002, Microsoft was serious enough about the Tablet PC to have a version of its XP operating system designed for it and to sign up PC makers to build some models. Here's a tablet that Fujitsu made with XP. By the mid-2000s, there were lots of tablets to choose from, like the LS800 from Motion Computing and the Lenovo ThinkPad. But they were costly and not popular with consumers. They were mostly used in factories, by the military and by other field workers.

In 2010, the iPad arrived, with a gorgeous touchscreen that people had grown to love from the iPhone and iPod touch.

Then Android tablets arrived, like the Samsung Galaxy Tab.

When the Kindle Fire arrived, it showed that decent quality tablets could be uber affordable.

By 2011, tablets were clearly a big thing, device makers started experimenting. Sony's S2, launched that year and featured a folding clamshell design for a 5.5 inch display.

By 2012, Microsoft was back in the tablet game, recognizing hat tablets were not only a threat to its PC empire, but were the future of PCs. It also admitted that Apple's model of producing the hardware and the operating system was superior and dove in with its first-ever Microsoft PC, the Surface.

Asus experimented by combining smartphones and a tablet into one dual device with its Padfone. The Padfone 2 is the second generation of the device, released this spring to Europe and Asia but not to the U.S. Though if it proves popular.

Reference : https://www.businessinsider.com/history-of-the-tablet-2013-5#tablet-makers-like-asus-are-sitll-experimenting-with-tablets-like-the-padfone-2-13