Emails are the number one activity amongst tablet users

A survey carried out by Gartner has revealed that tablet devices are being used more for personal use amongst people in the US, UK and Australia. The reasons why people were buying a tablet device instead of traditional desktop PC is its form factor as they are small and lightweight.

The survey also revealed what activities people use their tablets for with 81 percent of the participants using it to read their emails with 69 percent using it to read news articles. 62% of people used it to look at social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. People are using the tablet to play games and read books.

Vice President of Gartner, Carolina Milanesi revealed that more than 50 percent of tablet owners choose to read news and books on screen rather than on paper. She said, "On average, one in three respondents used their media tablets to read a book, compared with 13 percent for mobile PCs, and 7 percent for mobile phones.”

Meike Escherich, Principal Research Analyst at Gartner said he believes that the home will not become completely paperless but did state that a 'less-paper model' is become more prominent.

Milanesi went on to reveal that "Weekday evenings are the most popular time to use media tablets, and this usage flattens out during the weekend as people tend to be away from home."

This survey follows a previous study back in April which revealed that sales of tablet devices across the world will rise to 118.9 million this year.