How Tablets Are Changing the Future of Computing

It’s 2011, and over 45 million American citizens own a smartphone. Since the release of the iPhone, we’ve seen the smartphone market grow exponentially. The smartphone, no doubt, has set forth a computing revolution. But I predict that smartphone’s big brother, the tablet, will bring the most significant changes.

Portability without sacrificing functionality.

The smartphone, like the PC, has become a ubiquitous tool, serving both personal and professional tasks.  The tablet form-factor meets the PC and the smartphone halfway in terms of screen-size and ditches the traditional attached-hardware keyboard found on laptops and netbooks.

Touch-input has changed everything about user-interface and the future of computing. It’s not a new concept, as Palm has been shipping PDAs since the mid-1990s that required a less-than-friendly stylus. But modern stylus-less touch screens allow for a completely immersive user experience that makes mobile computing so intriguing.

Both tablets and smartphones run software that has been designed and engineered to maximize functionality when using touch-input. Most importantly, tablets allow for portability without sacrificing functionality.

Sure, smartphones are also portable. But have you ever tried doing meaningful work on a smartphone? To say it’s clunky is an understatement. Tablets allow for a much larger viewable, easier touch-input. And the power of these devices is growing at a very rapid pace. In fact, quad-core tablets are rumored for release before the end of this year.

What does this mean for the municipal industry?

Cartegraph users rely on the ability to enter data quickly — on maps that are intuitive and informational; on reports and informational dashboards; on software that unlocks their potential to do great things.

Tablets can be especially effective for these kinds of tasks in the field, where a smartphone, hand-held, or PC may not be the best tool for the job. For example, when seeing a 4-inch display under a sunny sky is nearly impossible; when mapping new assets takes place in the field and a hand-held’s tiny map just doesn’t cut it, or when trying to find somewhere to set your laptop while you’re closing a work order.

Unfortunately, mobile apps geared toward asset and work management have not appeared on the most popular Android, iOS, and BlackBerry platforms yet. This will, of course, change in time as smartphones and tablets continue to explode in popularity.

And as these apps begin to appear, I predict that their effect on the industry will change the way people work entirely.