Will Tablet Takeover Test and Measurement?

Historically, test and measurement instruments hardware usually lag in adopting the latest computing technology whether by several years or in recent times, several months. With tablets and smartphones taking over the computing world by storm, we have to wonder if such form factor especially tablets can drastically change the way we design, build and operate test and measurement instruments in the near future. 

There are already start-up companies such as Oscium and Redfish Instruments that have introduced tablet/smartphone based instruments such as spectrum analyzer, oscilloscope and multimeter. More established companies such as Agilent, National Instruments and Rohde & Schwarz also have somewhat introduced some form of tablet/smartphone apps or have tablet UI influence in their instrument UI. Perhaps the best form-factor for tablet-like interface would be the handheld instruments. Watch out for more of these coming out in the near future. 

Will tablet takeover test and measurement? Probably not entirely soon but it will certainly influence in many ways since it has already penetrated very rapidly into our daily lives as illustrated in the infographic below from onlineclasses.org:

 
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