Tablet PC: Work or pleasure?
Tablet PCs are cool. These slimline portable PCs are so much better to carry round than a laptop, they attract envious stares from everyone that sees them and they make mobile computing fun.
Step back from the hype and ask yourself this: are tablet PCs any good for doing work while mobile or are they just a ‘nice-to-have’ leisure devices?
After spending a couple of weeks with a Samsung Galaxy Tab I don’t really have a fixed position on this but here are a few thoughts and experiences.
First off, having a tablet PC doesn’t actually mean you will get to use it all that often. Mine is in near permanent use by one or other family member for everything from finding places on Google Maps, playing games (a major part of it) or browsing the web when we’re out of the house.
When I do get a chance to use the Tab, I mostly use it for checking email and social networks, browsing the web and catching up on my reading. Much of which is work-related but more of a casual nature than ‘serious work.’ I don’t, for example, pull up a spreadsheet over a cup at my local coffee shop, nor do I sit down with the tablet to write this or any other article.
Writing a full article on a tablet PC could be done, I started this piece on the Tab but migrated to my big keyboard and screen the moment I got a chance. This does in some way illustrate my feelings about tablet PCs: they can do most of what you would normally do on a laptop but they are not truly a laptop replacement.
Which is not to say that tablet PCs are a waste as a work tool. There are many ways that the Galaxy Tab has actually enhanced my working day. Checking and replying to email is so much better on a tablet than on a phone; reading web pages is better on a tablet than on a phone; and posting status updates to social networks is easier on a tablet than a phone.
Before the tablet PC I used to rely on one or another phone for checking email when away from my desk. Doing this would mostly put me in a bad mood as I fiddled with the tiny keys and battled to write anything more than an “OK” in reply to anything.
With the tablet it’s completely different. Friends and relatives are treated to long e-mails which I compose while sitting waiting for kids to finish this or that after-school sports event. Which means that for the first time I am fully mobile and in email contact, without needing a laptop, power cable and 3G connection device. This is great for my mobility.
Keeping informed
There is something else that having a tablet PC has done for me: it has massively transformed my reading habits.
As a writer I read a lot. Or at least I try to. Typically I find things I want to read right when I am finishing off something else, so I dutifully bookmark the article, meaning to come back to it later, but never do. Mostly this is because at the end of the day I don’t actually want to sit down at my desk to catch up on my reading.
Having a tablet PC has solved this problem completely. Now when I see something I want to read I save it to InstaPaper and forget about it. Later that evening or while still in bed the next morning, I pull out the Galaxy Tab and read through my collection of articles, ticking them off one by one.
The same is true of the various news feeds I follow. I have dozens of feeds that I track every day for news on technology. I used to plough my way through this every morning before I did anything else. Now, with Google Reader on the Galaxy Tab, I often just sit down for a few minutes with a cup of coffee and browse through my incoming news items. A few minutes of that and my incoming feed is read, sorted or archived – and it’s actually enjoyable.
So, in some senses having a tablet PC has massively improved my working day. I feel significantly less tethered to my desk now and I am probably more up to date with my current reading and research now than ever before.
However, there are some serious limitations with a tablet PC when compared with a laptop. On my laptop I can still design a graphic, I can develop a website, I can write a book, prepare a spreadsheet or presentation. These are not things I would want to even try on a tablet PC.
Which probably means that if this is what you need to do on your mobile device then you’re better off spending your money on a decent laptop.
A tablet PC is not a laptop replacement. It’s a very cool device for reading, watching videos and checking your email, which probably means that it is much more of a leisure device than a work tool for most users.
Would you use a tablet PC as a work or leisure device? << Share your thoughts on the MyBroadband forum.
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