Mobile usage for phone, tablet, and phablet

http://www.flurry.com/blog/flurry-insights/tides-turn-phablet%E2%80%99s-popularity

I got my HP tablet in the fall of 2011, and I used it nearly every day since until June 2014 when I finally entered the smartphone era by getting an iPhone 5C (free upgrade with the 32 gig version.) Since upgrading from a flip phone to an iPhone, I have not used my tablet.

In 2012 or 2013, I thought that tablets, especially the 7- to 8-inch versions, would be the main mobile device for consuming large amounts of text-based content. Longform.

But some evidence has shown that people don't mind reading long text-heavy articles on their smartphones. And now my personal experience supports this.

Unless I wanted to replace the laptop, which I don't, I see no point in me using a tablet.

Two devices: laptop and smartphone.

I've had no problem reading and writing a lot of text on the iPhone. The device and all that it can do and the amazing apps available still stuns me.

I like both native apps and web apps. I will not download an app for every website. For reading web content, I prefer responsive web design sites, although I don't mind the Medium.com native iPhone app.

I like apps, such as Instagram, Dark Sky, Sky Guide, Circa, and ESPN Radio.

I don't think that the Circa news consumption experience can be duplicated with only a website. It's a mobile app experience.

Through my iPhone, I post to my websites, such as ToledoTalk.com and JotHut.com. I record a lot of notes over the phone at JotHut.

During my eight-day trip to Minnesota, my only computer was my iPhone, which I used to take photos and videos through the Instagram app, and I took notes via my Junco code that powers JotHut. I used the enhanced editor experience in single-screen mode write notes through my iPhone.

Sometimes, I use the reply mechanism in the microblog feature at JotHut to take notes. The reply feature exists because I designed the Junco code to support a community of users, but I made JotHut my personal site, and last year, I began using the reply feature in an unexpected way. I can take notes that exist in the same thread and get displayed oldest to youngest. It works great.

What surprises me about my iPhone usage is how much I read on the iPhone. It does not bother my eyes. I never feel eye strain or eye fatigue when reading for long periods on the iPhone.

On the Minnesota trip, I would liked to have used a very small portable Bluetooth keyboard when updating my notes at the cabin or at my brother's house. Out in the field, I made short notes on the phone. If service was questionable, I recorded notes in a Field Notes notebook, and then copied them to my JotHut site later.

I still carry a notebook occasionally, but my Moleskine usage ended in the fall of 2013. I carry the smaller Field Notes notebook for a backup. And I'm still quicker at scribbling in a notebook than typing on the iphone. But when I'm not rushed, I record notes over the phone.

Right now, I cannot see a tablet replacing my laptop. If I want a Linux laptop and a local programming environment, can the tablet suffice?

The thing is, I do not use a local programming environment now. My programming is done on three remote Linux servers. My favorite is the five-dollar per month Digital Ocean Droplet, which is a Linux installation on a SSD that allows me root access, so that I can install just about anything that I want. It's great way to test apps and learn new things, such as configuring an Nginx web server and programming in NodeJS.

If I can get remote shell from a tablet to a Linux server, then I could be set. I use Vim for editing.

So maybe a tablet with a Bluetooth keyboard and hopefully a mouse will someday replace my laptop preference.

But for now, the tablet is out as a device that I would use for personal use. I could see the tablet being used for certain applications that require a screen larger than what the phone provides.

#mobile - #design - #tablet - #phone - #laptop - #blog_jr