Pen computing refers to a computer screen that uses the pressure or touch of a pen or stylus instead of the keyboard or mouse or touchpad.
Pen computing technology, surprisingly enough goes way back to the 1800s. An electronic tablet used for handwriting was patented in 1888.
7 Google Android Tablet
In 1915 a system that analysed handwriting movements was invented.
In 1956 electronic text recognition, without a keyboard was developed. More modern pen computing predates mouse and keyboard technology by at least 20 years.
In the 1980s many companies were beginning to produce tablet type of devices.
At the same time desktop PCs and then laptops were being developed and becoming smaller in size and larger in technological sophistication as they progressed.
In the laptops, portability was greatly improved, but not quite there yet. It would take a tiny tablet with the versatility of use of a computer to be truly and inconspicuously convenient. It could be held in a purse or tiny case and lie on a conference table, no more in the way than a small book.
In 2000, Microsoft produced the Microsoft tablet PC running an enhanced Microsoft Windows operating system.
In 2003, Fingerworks came out with touch technology and this was developed into the interface for Apple iPhone.
In 2005, Google acquired 'Android' a little known cell phone software company. In Nov 2007, it was announced that they were developing a mobile device.
Although on the cards for a while before, Apple caused a sensation with the release of its iPhone, and later, in early 2010 its iPad, with its convenient finger touch interface and the technological world has been in a buzz of excited development, to keep up with, and try and improve on this device.
Because of the limits and restrictions on outside software for use in the Apple iPad operating system, the newer Android operating system is rapidly catching up in popularity. Android offers users the huge advantage of being completely compatible with plugins, downloads and in fact, almost any application available. In addition, there are over 80,000 applications available specifically for Android OS, and a great many of them are available free.
The release of Android 1.1 was announced in February 2009 and its first update, 'Éclair' in December 2009 and January 2010, with improvements, such as Microsoft exchange support. It has a distribution of about 40.4%. 'Cupcake', was brought in, in April. It has an estimated distribution of about 9.7%. With it came Bluetooth support, camcorder video recording and watching, virtual keyboard with text prediction, among other things. In May 2010 came 'Frozen Yogurt' or 'Froyo' together with all kinds of new features, including Adobe Flash support, Chrome's V8 Javascript engine. Its distribution is 33.4%. The next update in September brought improved technology, including processing speed and camera improvements, and was called 'Donut'. It has a distribution of about 16.4%. On the cards are still 'Gingerbread', 'Honeycomb' and 'Ice cream'. With them are expected a whole host of new features, such as improved copy/paste functions, social networking, support for WebimM video playback, Google TV and many others.