A tablet is a slim, portable, touchscreen personal computer designed for activities like web browsing or accessing email and calendars.
In business, tablet PCs are especially useful for web-conferencing with their built-in webcams, and staying online with built-in WiFi that allows you to connect easily to the internet at home or in public hotspots.
If you want to stay online consistently while on the move, 3G is the best option; and if you want to be sure you can view all websites on your tablet, be sure to get one that’s flash-compatible, otherwise your browsing will be limited to non-flash websites, like on the iPad.
Important features:
Processor
A tablet processor is the engine that runs the device. Most tablet processors are built for low energy consumption in order to conserve the tablet battery life, but are fast enough to enable you to open and work on multiple apps at the same time, without slowing you down.
Operating System
The operating system (OS) of a tablet determines the interface and how you go about navigating and using the tablet PC. In the case of Apple and BlackBerry, the OS is unique to the brand. These tablets are also tied to the Apple and BlackBerry app stores respectively.
Android is an open source operating system developed by Google. It’s not tied to a particular brand, so manufacturers of devices that use the Android OS can tailor it to suit their tablets.
Battery Life
Tablets are built for portability, so generally have longer battery lives than netbooks and regular laptops.
Certain activities like web-conferencing for long periods may deplete battery life quicker than normal. Tablets also have an instant-on function, so you can put them into sleep mode in order to conserve battery, and use the instant-on function to get back online within seconds.
App Store
Download thousands of applications to enhance the functionality of your device. Apps include news, sport, productivity like calculators and calendars, social networking apps and much more. Different operating systems are tied to different app stores, for instance the Apple iPad is tied to the Apple App Store and iTunes, while Android operating systems use the Android Marketplace. Although the selection and price of apps may be slightly different, there are thousands of useful and fun apps available for every type of tablet.
Other things to consider:
• Webcam -useful for video-conferencing
• Flash -is an internet technology that is not supported by Apple
• WiFi -allows you to connect to the internet wirelessly
• Bluetooth - connect to phones and other peripherails over a short distance so you can share contacts and other information
