CUSTOM COMPUTERS HAWAII: The Changing Roles of Desktops, Laptops, Tablet Computers and Smartphones – Part 1 Observations from the Professionals at MobileREMEDIES®

Summary: Our concept of what computers are and how we may use them in our daily liveshas evolved significantly in the last few decades, especially in the new millennium.Not long ago our mental image of a “computer” was a large box with a noisy fan sitting on our desktop attached with wires to a monitor, a keyboard and a printer.  Innovative technologies and creative lifestyleshave changed our definition of computers to include not only laptops but also tablet computers and smartphones. This article from Custom Computers Hawaii is about the evolution of those trends and where we might be heading in the years to come.  In Part 1, we will look at the historical background of each of these devices.

Historical Background Desktop Computers:         

Personal (desktop) computing began with the Programma 101 by Olivetti introduced at the 1964 New York World’s Fair. It was a sophisticated calculator that had programmable mathematical decision pathways such as “if X is less than or equal to Y, multiply W times X” or “if X is greater than 0 (zero), add V to the square root of W” etc.  Using magnetic cards, it could be programmed to accomplish very specific and complex tasks such as performing statistical analysesor navigational calculations and the Apollo 11 astronauts used it during their moon landing.  It had no monitor, no QUERTY keyboard and its printer was like that of a cash register!  In 1968 it sold for $3,500 (the equivalent of $24,000 in today’s currency) so it wasn’t for everybody!Things changed rapidly after that and home desktop computers became exponentially more sophisticated AND less expensive,and more and more people could afford them.  While numerous models were available in the 1970’s including the Commodore PET (Personal Electronic Transactor) and the Apple I &II (by the way, in 2014 a working Apple I computer was sold at auction for $905,000!),it was the brand name recognition and the extensive marketing that made the IBM Personal Computer Model 5150 the device that companies from all over the world rushed to copy and market. This is why the term

“IBM compatible” became essential in computer jargon. It cost $1,565 when it came out in 1981 (equivalent to $4,100 in today’s currency) butby 1988 with worldwide competition, IBM compatible PC’s would sell for less than $900 and would be occupying more and more home desktops!

Early operating systems such as MS-DOS (Microsoft Disk Operating System) required the user to learn a set of commands, which he or she typed into the keyboard based on the common typewriter. This was called 

 a “text-based user interface” and the commands were not particularly intuitive and not always easy to undo when mistakes were made. Many people considered computers to be too complicated to be useful except for businesses and research labs. Though they did not invent the concept, Apple Macintosh popularized the “Graphical User Interface” (GUI) in 1984. The idea was to make the operation of the computer intuitive and simple to learn. To do this they wanted something more intuitive than the keyboard.Digitizing tablets using a special pen were available but very expensive (these are discussed in the section on Tablet Computers).  The “mouse”, named in 1965,was a variant of the trackball invented in 1941 for military use in radar plotting systems. The Xerox Altoalready used a mouse and a GUI when it came out in 1973 but it was never marketed as a personal computer and was mainly used within the Xerox Company. The mouse was less expensive than the graphics tablets and required no special grid but only a uniform textured surface (mouse pad) to operate reliably. By using the “desktop metaphor” (invented and already in use by Xerox),

the Apple Lisa 1&2 and the Macintosh XL changed the way people perceived their interaction with the desktop computer. By manipulating representative images (icons) on a virtual desktop, users could intuitively control their computer without memorizing typed commands. Microsoft rapidly saw the light and responded with the Windows operating system in late 1985. The mouse quickly became part of the desktop furniture!





Portable Computers – “Luggables” and Laptops:

The concept of making computers “portable” was already a hot topic in the 1970’s and was developed at the same time as the desktop versions. Both needed the available technology to catch up to the concepts.  Though there were many other prototypes, the Osborne 1was one of the first to be commercially successful when it came out in 1981, the same year as the IBM PC.  It weighed almost 24 lbs., had a 5-inch monochrome cathode ray tube (CRT) monitor, had to be plugged into an electrical outlet (an “optional” battery pack gave about an hour of runtime) and it cost $1,795 (about $4,700 in today’s currency). It was about the size of a sewing machine and was advertised to fit “under the standard airline seat”.  Retrospectively, in contrast to “laptops” of today, the Osborne 1 and other portable computers of its day were dubbed “luggables”!

The Commodore SX-64 was the world’s first full-color portable (“luggable”)computer released in 1983. It had a 5” CRT that could display 16 colors and weighed 23 lbs. It had no internal hard drive but did have a built-in floppy drive. It had no provision for any internal or external battery power and had to be plugged into an electrical outlet. It had a very reasonable price tag at $995 (about $2,400 in 2015) and sought to compete with the Osborne 1 but never became very popular presumably because of the lack of advertising and the scarcity of useful compatible software. In spite of the advances made in technology in the ensuing 5 years, the capacity to display a 

TV-quality image (monochrome, not color) and to have an internal hard drive in a portable computer using the available technology, meant so much heavy hardware that the first one, the Compaq SLT/286 that came out in 1988, weighed 14 lbs. and cost $5,399 (almost $11,000 in 2015)! While the NEC ProSpeed CSX, released in 1989, was the first portable computer to offer a flat panel color display, it was still “luggable” at about 18 lbs. The screen measured 10” but was reported by InfoWorld Magazine to look “washed out and streaked”.  With a 40MB internal hard drive and 2MB of RAM it retailed for a whopping $8,499 (over $16,000 in today’s currency) and required an external floppy drive!

There are many candidates for the first true laptop computer but in the US the 3.5 lb. Epson HX-20,introduced in 1981, is usually given that distinction, though the term “laptop” did not yet exist. It was first used in advertisements for the Gavilan SCreleased 2 years later and weighing in at about 9 lbs. The Epson HX-20 had rechargeable batteries included that lasted an impressive 50 hours!  It had an LCD screen that was only 4 lines high and 20 characters wide and a built-in dot-matrix printer that was only just over 2 inches wide. It cost $795 ($1900 in today’s currency) and came with a black plastic carrying case.  It lacked the “clam shell” design of today’s laptops and did not have the ability to display an image. 

The absence of a TV-quality monitor was the reason for it’s small size and light weightand typifiedthe major drawback of portable computers compared to their desktop counterparts. Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) technology was still in its infancy whereas CRT’s had been around for decades and were generating quality images. No one minded having a 50 lb. monitor sitting on his or her desk but they weren’t about to carry it around or set it on their laps! The NEC UltraLite that came out in 1989 had a 9.5” (diagonal) LCD screen and weighed only 4.4 lbs. with a new designation of “notebook” class computer. Unfortunately, to save on weight, the monitor still did not support color images, it had no internal hard drive, no built-in disk drive and your data would evaporate from its memory chips if the device was not charged at least every 5-7 days! We weren’t quite there yet.

Probably the best nominee as the first device to truly resemble today’s laptop was the IBM ThinkPad 700C that came out in 1992.  It was heavy at 7.6 lbs.but had a 10.4-inch active-matrix LCD that could support 256 colors compared to 64 in the NEC ProSpeed CSXat less than half the weight.  It had a 120MB internal hard drive and a built-in floppy drive.  Again, the “IBM compatible” designation would be used on ads and box labels across the globe in the coming months and years. The first Apple laptop with a color LCD screen was the PowerBook 165c that came out in 1993. From then on laptops got lighter, brighter and more powerful with new models coming out every few months! Processor speeds, internal storage space and image resolution improved exponentially and our laptops were outdated by the time we got them home from the store!

Tablet Computers:

There is no single definition of a “tablet computer” but most would agree that it is a mobile, battery powered computer about the size of a book or a piece of paper that we distinguish from a laptop computer because its interface is with a “touchscreen” rather than a physical keyboard or a mouse. The precursors of today’s tablet computers were the digitizing tablets used in graphic design. While the first tablet dates back to 1957, the devicedid not becomecommon until desktop computing began to develop in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s.Data entry was done through the keyboard and through punchcards. Entering spatial information was tedious and time consuming requiring one to superimpose the image on a graph, read the coordinates of individual data points and enter the numbers one-by-one. Entering those points instead by touching a surface in exact locations was orders of magnitude faster and “digitizing” devices of many forms were in demand.Early tablets used a special pen called a “stylus” that was electrically coupled with the device and would complete a circuit with a grid just under the flat drawing surface when it made contact. This process became known as “pen computing”.  The tablets were very expensive and were almost exclusively used by professionals with very specific needs. Like the mouse, they were also only “input” devices, which meant that they needed to be linked to a computer to be useful. Combining the tablet and the computer into one device was the next step.

 The earliest consumer oriented tablet computer to superficially resemble the devices of today was the GRidPad made by a subsidiary of Samsung and first marketed in 1989. It weighed 4.5 lbs. and measured 9” by 12”. It sold for about $3,000 (about $5,750 in 2015 currency) with basic software.  It had a wired stylus and used an MS-DOS operating system.  It was used principally by businesses and the military seeking to streamline repetitive paper work and had little or no appeal to consumers.  It was however, the precursor to the concept of a “Personal Digital Assistant” (PDA).

The Apple Newton MessagePad was introduced in 1993. It weighed almost a pound and measured 4.5” by 7.25”.  It cost $900 (almost $1,500 in today’s currency). Much of it’s projected success was based on its claim ofnatural handwriting recognition but many found the initial results disappointingand it never achieved a high level of success. Though apparently this was dramatically improved in later versions, the damage was already done and ultimately Apple changed strategies.Handwriting recognition always sounded attractive but in retrospect, was never highly valued by most users and other forms of GUI (such as virtual keyboards and eventually voice recognition) have enjoyed more success (the proof is in the iPhone and the iPad!). The Newton was discontinued in 1998.

This failure was in contrast to the PalmPilot, made by a division of US Robotics(the “Pilot” was dropped in later devices due to a trademark infringement lawsuit filed by the Pilot PenCorporation).It was released in 1998 and sold for $299 for the personal model. It utilized advances in miniaturization and resistive touchscreen technology and weighed only 5.6 oz. and measured 3.1” by 4.7”. While it also included handwriting recognition software, it was in the form of shorthand that had to be learned by the user where letters and “gestures” were written on top of each other (this too, eventually had to be changed due to a lawsuit for patent infringement from Xerox!). In any case, the handwriting issues were not critical to its function as an organizer. The expectations were not as high as they were for Apple and the purchase price was much more attractive.  The Palm devices were quite successful and various models continued to sell until Hewlett-Packardpurchased the company in 2010 and the brand disappeared.

None of the tablets discussed so far however, capture the “flavor” of today’s tablet computer and in fact, there is a case to be made that it evolved from the smartphone rather than from the “pen computing” devices. Still, without the development of the touchscreen, neither would have been possible and the discussion is worthwhile. Using a stylus to interface with our portable device has always been a significant inconvenience. It is a nuisance when it is tethered to the tablet with a cord and it is easily lost or misplaced when it is not. The ultimate goal of the touch screen has always been to respond to the stylus that is always available and that we can neverlose or misplace – our finger!

The touchscreens in the devices described above were “resistive” and relied on pressure to push the layers of the screen together to signal the location of a single point.  The precision of the “touch” depended on the surface area of the device applying the pressure – small and precise with the stylus, large and imprecise with the finger. Sensing the initial point of contact before any pressure is applied to flatten the finger into a large surface area andthe ability to determine the presence and location of more than one point of touch at the same time have made the modern touchscreen impressively functional in ways previously unattainable.  This came with the invention of the “capacitive”“multi-touch” screen that could detect the slight current changes caused by the touch of our skin on its surface. While Apple did not invent the concept, it was the first to showcase its creative uses when it introduced the iPhone in 2007.This new GUI sparked the imagination of many individuals who developed applications to exploit its possibilities and the best-known tablet computer, the iPad, came out 3 years later, in 2010, creating a nichethat would embody the present day concept!

Smartphones:

            As with the tablet computers, there is no universal definition of a “smartphone” but most would agree that it is a handheld cellular telephone that has the capability of doing moretasks than just making phone calls, notably running specialized applications and accessing the Internet. Cellular technology and portable computing were parallel disciplines, developing separately for decades, before they found each other and joined forces in the smartphone! (If you are interested in learning more about the evolution of the smartphone see: From Telephone to Smartphone: A long way ina short time!, also from Custom Computers Hawaii: MobileREMEDIES®)

            The first device to fit this definition of a smartphone (though the name “smartphone” would not
come into existence before 1997)and also the first cellular phone with a touchscreen (using a stylus) was the IBM Simon Personal Communicator released in 1994. It was capable of
sending and receiving E-mails and faxes and could also act
as a pager. It had a world-time clock, an electronic notepad, an appointment scheduler accessed through its stylus-based
touchscreen and even had a virtual keypad! It cost $1099 (or
$899 with a 2 year service contract) and weighed just over
a pound. 
Technological advances occurred so quickly from that point on that by the time a device was mass-produced
and marketed it was immediately outdated. Prices continued to plunge and some early
smartphones became “throw-away” devices with service providers offering a “free” upgrade every 2 years as long as you renewed your contract. 

Various features that we now take for granted were added as each new model tried to outdo the last. The first cell phone with a full color screen was the Siemens S10 that came out in 1997 or early 1998. It had only four colors and could not display photographic images but it made the text and icons look very attractive!  The first to include GPS was the Benefon ESC!in 1999. 

It was a GSM phone that sold widely in Europe.  There is some controversy about the first cell phone to include a built-in camera but the most likely candidate is the Kyocera VP-210 Visual Phone that came out in Japan also in 1999. It was billed as a “video phone” but could only process 2 frames per second! It had a 0.11 megapixel camera. While the first “text message” or SMS (Short Message Service) was sent as early as 1992, it would not become widely available on cell phones in the United States until 10 years later in 2002, the same year that broad access to the Internet (beyond E-mail) became available on most smartphone models. By 2012 it was estimated that 200,000 text messages were sent every second worldwide! It is likely that that number is much higher today.

As noted above, one of the most significant advances in smartphone technology was the introduction of the capacitive multi-touch screen in the first iPhone in 2007. This new interface would revolutionize the way we interact not only with our smartphones but also with our tablet computers. 

Advances in screen resolution, image-capture, flash memory, network data capacities,transmission speeds, cloud technology and an exponentially expanding digital databaseon the World Wide Web, accessible through any cell tower, have made today’s smartphone into a true Personal Digital Assistant.  Newton and PalmPilot users had no inkling of what awaited them only a little over a decade later!

The Professionals at Custom Computers Hawaii: MobileREMEDIES® are particularly interested in the changing roles of our desktops, laptops, tablet computers and smartphones because they know that they must anticipate the needs of their clients now and in the years to come. Their job is to stay ahead of the game not only in keeping up-to-date with new technologies as they evolve but also in understanding how these devices interface with each other.

In addition to building custom computers and repairing laptop and desktop computers, MobileREMEDIES® Cellphone/Electronic Repair with locations on Maui and Oahu also fixes all types of portable electronic devices including cell phones, iPads and other tablet PC’s, iPods/MP3 players, game systems (such as Xbox, PlayStations, Wii etc.), and they know your devices inside and out.  They are also experts in data recovery and they pride themselves on being problem solvers. They can often suggest several potential solutions and you can choose the one that suits your needs best. They always give you a 1-year warranty on parts and service for any repaired device and honor it without you having to produce a receipt. In addition to electronic repair they provide web services for individuals and small businesses, buy broken devices for cash or in-store credit and sell refurbished devices with a 1-year warranty, similar to a manufacturer’s warranty on a new device. If they can’t fix your device, you pay nothing for the attempt. You can also find them at cell phone repair Hawaii, data recovery Hawaii, iPhone repair Hawaii, iPad repair Hawaii, iPod repair Hawaii and Xbox repair Hawaii or at www.mobileremedies.com. Call 1-800-867-5048 to speak with a professional.

Part 2 will look at the traditional roles for these devices and the factors that initiated some of the current trends and finally, Part 3 will make some projections about how they may evolve and interact in the years to come.

Resource: http://www.mobileremedies.com/index.php/blog