According to a report by technology research company Gartner, Inc., checking e-mail is a highly popular activity for those that have recently switched from a PC to a tablet.

In an online study that was conducted at the end of 2011 in the U.S., UK and Australia, 81% of respondents said that they were using their new tablets to check e-mail. Meanwhile, 69% of respondents noted that they also used the device to read up on the daily news, while 63% used one to check the weather forecast.

Social networking and gameplay were also popular activities, as 62% and 60%, respectively, of those polled indicated that they used a tablet for these purposes as well.

"The rapid adoption of media tablets is substantively changing how consumers access, create and share content," says Carolina Milanesi, Research Vice President at Gartner. "The survey found that more than 50% of media tablet owners prefer to read news, magazines and books on screen, rather than on paper. On average, one in three respondents used their media tablets to read a book, compared with 13% for mobile PCs, and 7 per cent for mobile phones."

Additionally, it was discovered that 45% of respondents do not share their tablet with anyone else, and that while women typically by tablets as a gift for someone, men generally buy tablets for themselves.

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