It is very apparent that technology grows exponentially. The counteraction of technology is evident with the quick progression of new devices and the gradual phasing out of old ones. Laptops, tablets and smartphones are the most used and fastest growing devices in the world; it can be exciting to watch. Since their advent, their popularity has grown due to a few key factors; complexity, size, functionality and design. Knowing these factors, they are becoming similar in functionality and complexity which could lead to one or two fading away.
Differences between the Devices
Laptops
Laptops came first. They are convenient and can be used almost anywhere, have solid processing capabilities, comparable memory and the capability to support many secondary devices. The advantages seem numerous, but the fact that there was so much room for improvement with laptops in size and weight as well as not being nearly as upgradeable as a desktop continue to be downsides.
Smartphone
The dawn of the smartphone goes as an unchallenged venture in technology as it covers its own small niche in the market. It is handheld, makes calls, receive messages and emails, plays games and watches videos, takes photos; all on a touch screen smaller than your hand. It has an endless list of applications (social media apps being used the most) and can access WiFi networks which expands the phone’s ability to stay connected, download and upload. Processing power has become extremely advanced in the last few years, along with applications that allow these “mini-computers” to function in place of a laptop. The drawbacks are they are not great for extended use with data entry or anything involving many keystrokes, and even with advancements in processing, they have cooling issues and have less horsepower than a tablet or laptop.
Tablets
Then came the tablets with the glamour of a larger touchscreen than the smartphone and sleek design. This hit the market by storm because it provided a great user experience for web users that didn’t need the functionality of a laptop, but wanted something very easy to use. They have almost the same functionality as a smartphone but are easier for sharing and watching something with someone else. Many schools have adopted the use of tablets in the curriculum and you will most likely see them at conventions and conferences. They have their drawbacks still, such as processing power and cooling as well as a clunky, smaller keyboard on most models. This makes them easier to use than a smartphone, but still not as ideal as a laptop in some situations.
These three devices share most of the same uses, but some supersede the others in the same use. Would you want to hold a 10 inch tablet to your ear to make a phone call or type a 200 word email on your phone?
A Comparison
- The sales of laptops have declined slightly while tablet and smartphone sales have increased steadily from 2010 – 2013, but have had a much smaller increase in sales the last 2 years. Laptops in turn have become lighter and thinner along with the introduction of touch screen laptop hybrids to compete.
- Tablets also have their competition in the Smartphone (since smartphones are smaller and perform consumer designed tasks such as calls, credit transactions and personal assistant jobs), they are not as irreplaceable as the phone has come to be.
- Smartphone may have their advancements such as multi window capabilities, faster wireless speeds, faster graphics, faster chips and more durable designs, but they are still too small for regular day to day work computing.
It is without doubt that designers have made advances so that all three share functionality, and have left us the difficult task of choosing between them. When making a choice between these three devices, the question that comes to mind is – “What would I use this for regularly”?
One prediction I find interesting is that tablets and laptops will continue to hybridize until everything is a touch screen, more portable and has a dedicated keyboard, which will in turn blur the line between the two and create a single product (we have seen the start of this trend the last 2 years). Meanwhile smartphones will become slightly larger and gain the ability to “dock” (some can do this already) and down the road with more advances, even fill the role of a laptop as needed.
Bio –
This guest post contribution is courtesy of MightySkins, a vinyl wrap company in Florida that creates colorful phone skins, tablet skins and laptop skins along with many other skins for assorted items.
