To accomplish what I wanted to today, I used no less than 4 devices. Certain things just work better on different devices. I was editing content from a game I made many years ago, checked messages on my phone, toyed around with some apps on my iPad and checked geocaching.com on my wife’s laptop. It’s easy for me to do certain things on the couch versus my desk. It got me thinking about all of the technology I have and why it’s pretty annoying that there isn’t one thing I use that will do everything I want.
Years ago, before smartphones you had one PC or Apple. That’s it. It did what you needed it to do. These new smartphones are real nice but they’ve also blurred the lines a bit. I’ve said it on here before but there are certain things you can’t do well on a mobile device. Surfing the ‘net for one. The iPad bridges the gap between desktop and mobile but since it isn’t a phone, you’ll always need another device. I love reading on my Kindle. I’ve tried reading on my iPad but it weighs 100 pounds after 10 minutes. What’s keeping us from having one thing? Here’s my short list:
Typing on a mobile device still stinks.
There isn’t anyone right now that can convince me in 100 words or less why typing on a mobile device is better than a good old fashioned keyboard. Sure I’ve been typing on them things since the mid 80’s but I’ve been using a mobile device for several years now, I’ve tried different onscreen keyboards, and currently use the slide but Factual will never spell Facebook. Please stop auto correcting to it.
The operating systems still aren’t there yet.
You want me to use an Apple computer? Let me have flexibility to do what I want. I can’t put files on the iPad myself. I have to use iTunes which is obnoxious, slow, and cumbersome. All I want to do is copy some files to a directory. Oh wait… in fact I can’t copy files to any directory, just ones Apple allows me to. iOS and MAC OS are too locked down for my tastes.
Google has ANDROID but it’s become so bastardized due to low app standards and too many devices. Google Chrome is a nice operating system if you don’t like to be productive. Netbooks are cheap laptop imitations and the Chromebook does nothing to help change those perceptions.
I want to believe that Windows 8 will put Microsoft back on the map again. They’ve been smacked around by Apple for so long in the OS war that it’s hard to imagine they can. Steve Ballmer 5 years ago laughed at the iPhone and now it generates more revenue than all of Microsoft.
None of these companies have an operating system flexible enough to satisfy all crowds and all kinds of devices. It remains to be seen whether it can be done or not. Stay tuned.
The content is too different across these platforms.
Apps are cool but I can’t use them on my PC or Apple computer (if I had one). I have cool games on my PC but they don’t work on my iPad or my phone. Websites looks different on mobile devices although new web technologies might be helping to fix that problem. How I get my news on my iPad is different than on my work PC. Things are too diverse to allow only one device to work.
Is one device a pipe dream, like winning the lottery and Mark Zuckerberg accepting my friend request or is it possible – someday – to do everything I want with just one again? Only time will tell…
