I’m
not just talking about the iPad, but also about the tablet, which is the
defining invention and lifestyle gadget of this generation. You see, tablets have been around for quite
awhile but they never really caught on.
PDAs and iPods have dominated the scene from years ago, and tablets were
nowhere in sight—they mostly existed for graphic designers. The most that the tablets from years ago did
was to serve as graphic design tools that transferred the users stylus-written
lines into digital mode and that was that.
One
technology that truly changed the whole scene was the intuitive touchscreen
tech, which when applied with smartphones and other pocket gadgets
revolutionized the way we see technology and the way it is being used. Things suddenly did not require buttons—which
leads to the possibility of more screen space in lieu of traditional
keypads. How many times has one seen a
child with no knowledge of computers playing with a tablet gadget for the first
time… and turning these same children into wizards.
Suddenly the aged with their complaints of
the generation gap and technostress have easily conquered the tablet in just a
few hours! Even the developmentally
disabled are able to navigate the tablet thanks to the touchscreen technology
it employs. I would know myself because
my brother, who has autism, searches for his favourite videos on Youtube on his
iPad without any help from anyone! He
learned the whole thing himself.
So
when Steve Jobs first introduced the iPad years ago, people scoffed at the
idea, saying the thing was junk, an oversized iPod Touch. But look where those comments are now—the
world is now teeming with all these devices patterned after the iPad, which had
entered the market amidst pessimism and skepticism.
So
what truly makes this new gadget the best among its peers? Let’s look at the most popular reasons why
the tablet is the top lifestyle gadget of this generation.
Portability. It’s not necessarily more portable than a smartphone
like the iPhone. But it is definitely
less cumbersome like most laptops or ultrabooks. It also offers the screen size that small
gadgets can’t offer—one can watch movies better with this in tow, for
example. Yes it is definitely weird to
see someone using his or her iPod as a camera, but since tablets like the iPad
pack in a whole lot of features like a camera in there too, it’s definitely
worth carrying around.
This
gadget is as light as can be expected compared to the average laptop. It also has a pretty advanced core CPU chip,
especially the latest ones out in the market.
One particular feature that Apple has added is the Retina display which
shows colors in brilliant fashion. Due
to the lack of keyboards, or the fact that it is no longer necessary to have
keyboards on the gadget gives it more space for display and use.
All Around General Purpose. From the previous thread, we’ve just
discussed how the tablet has everything packed in it. The truth is encompassed in a single word:
APPS. Thanks to applications—from
calculators, weight management applications to photo editors—basically
everything out there, one can cram practically anything into the tablet and use
it for anything. From star-mapping tool
to an app that measures your pace as you run, the tablet can pretty much do
everything you want it to do.
Gone
are the days when you’ll have to carry a cellular phone in one pocket, a
compass, a digital watch, a notebook and pad paper and a digital camera and a
laptop in your bag. The tablet is the
trapper keeper of the millenials—carrying anything and everything within its
folds and it seems that’s the way it’s going to be for quite awhile it
seems.
Easy Sharing. Interestingly, one of the best features of the tablet
is the fact that not only is it highly useful on a variety of PC programs, it
is definitely a tool when it comes to online social media. Facebook, Twitter and other platforms are
definitely matched with this tool, they’re basically made for the other. Taking a picture and automatically sharing it
on Facebook is definitely easy with this gadget, and that’s only one of the
thousand other applications that is possible with this thing.
Sharing
does not only pertain to online sharing but as a device to physically share
between people. Business presentations
for example have accepted tablets as part of the norm, with CEOs and executives
passing the holy tablet full of graphs across the room. It’s the end of the sorry business of LCD
projectors.
The
portability of the tablet is also very telling of our human ability to make
better batteries. Without decent
batteries to power all those energy-consuming applications, the technology can
be problematic. What other technologies
can we look forward to in the future? We
definitely have more in store for us in the coming years after the tablet.
