Development of and Future Prospects for Tablet Devices

Fujitsu commercialized a water-resistant, highly functional tablet PC featuring Long Term Evolution (LTE) and one-seg broadcasting compatibility for the Japanese market in 2011. With its 10.1-inch, 1280 x 800-pixel screen, high-resolution display, dual-core processor, water resistance (hitherto unusual for a tablet), human-centric functions, and one-seg compatibility, this tablet provides usability unique to Fujitsu. Moreover, by developing a gesture function for improving the tablet's usability in a wet-hands situation and by designing the speaker so that its sound is directed directly at the user for improving acoustic performance as a large-screen entertainment tablet, we have created a device with appealing features that differ from those of smartphones. This report discusses the market trends concerning tablet devices, describes the elemental technologies used to achieve the water resistance and improved entertainment features, and looks at how equipping Fujitsu's devices with a human-centric engine has made it possible to acquire information that has been analyzed on the basis of data collected from numerous sensors and to receive information continuously.