How Tablet Touchscreens Made These Activities Even Better as Apps

In 2007, personal devices changed forever. As Forbes details here, Apple released the innovative iPhone, doing away with a buttons-heavy interface and bringing us the first touchscreen mobile.

As we now know, the bold move proved to not only be a huge hit for Apple, but for every subsequent brand that adopted the technology.

Still, iPhones were relatively limited by the necessity to be pocket-sized. In 2021, Apple then unleashed yet another pioneering effort. The iPad also proved a huge success, eventually, firing touchscreen tablets into the mainstream.

It took longer for the public to adopt the tablets, but once seeing how useful they were, more quickly piled in. Now, tablets are commonplace, and it’s thanks to the iPad that these activities are even better as apps.

The Humble Card Games

One of the activities that touchscreens greatly enhanced online was card games. Long before the iPhone came along, online poker was already wildly popular, with people being able to play as many as millions of others on the internet with a few clicks. The touchscreen simply made the experience even more immersive and easier to play with more natural motions and actions.

Now, every top-class online poker platform has an Android app, iOS app, or mobile-optimised site, making the experience even more accessible and convenient.

This increased accessibility and playability has been further pumped up by some, as shown by the bonus code for Global Poker. Across three promo codes for three packs, players can amass big stacks of coins to take to the virtual tables, and then tap and drag to bet them.

It’s not just games that utilise classic playing card decks that received a huge boost from touchscreens for digital play. More complex card games also levelled up with this innovative bit of tech, and the best place to see this is with the hit 1990s game Yu-Gi-Oh.

The distinctly retro game has been revived thanks to the touchscreen. Each card features a lot of text and detail, but with a touch, you can zoom in to see the card before tapping down to make plays.

Reading on the Go

While nothing quite beats flicking the pages of a weighty tome, books aren’t always practical when on the go in modern life. Having a hefty hardback can prove too cumbersome to be worth taking on long commutes or trips, or you might just have a book that you’d like to keep in good condition.

Trying to read a book on a smartphone, although made simple with a touchscreen, can be laborious in itself. With a tablet, you have the perfect balance.

What helps to make some tablet apps much better than the other digital handheld alternative – an eBook reader like a Kindle – is the touchscreen use.

Being able to swipe and even zoom in where required offers a much more realistic form of immersion that’s more comparable to reading a paper book. While the platform apps tend to rank quite highly, it’s well worth checking out the Barnes & Noble Nook and Kobo Books for alternatives.

Brain Exercises and Study

Following on from the rampant success of the Dr Kawashima games from 2005 onwards, especially on the Nintendo DS with its stylus interface and screen, it only makes sense that developers would look to create similar activities on touchscreen devices.

The big advantage tablets have over smartphones for these apps is, of course, the size. As laid out in this list from The Guardian, there are many great apps to try, including Peak and Elevate.

Of course, training one’s brain doesn’t just have to be in the form of an addictive game. One of the best apps on the App Store from the very earliest days of the iPad is 3D Brain.

In the app, on the big screen, you can turn, zoom in on, and examine sections of the brain, with the interface helping you to highlight exactly what part you’re interested in while also having a slide-out information panel. Many apps have followed the example of 3D Brain.

Without question, online card games, eBooks, brain training, and even some forms of study have all been improved by the tablet and its touchscreen.