The GRiDPad also included these features:[1] Because of its use for inventory management, the United States Army specified more durable versions of the tablet made out of magnesium that were not sold to the general public.

[2][3] According to a patent submitted in 1992 by an engineer at GRiD Systems, the touchscreen in the GRiDPad works by magnifying an internal Cartesian plane and calculating the displacement.

The GRiDPad was "designed to streamline the chores of workers such as route delivery drivers and claims adjusters, who typically recorded data on paper forms.

The first commercial customer to use the GRiDPad and who contributed to the overall requirements was Best Foods Baking Group, a division of CPC International.

Hawkins used the same stylus technology to develop his most commercially successful product, the Palm Pilot, making the GRiDPad its predecessor.