It’s Only a Matter of Time, But Some Predict Mobile Technology Will Render Laptops Obsolete

Even though tablets and smart phones are being distributed at rates higher than ever, many people still turn to their laptops or desktops to complete time-consuming tasks, such as computer programs, books, and essays. The main difference between all these devices is the ease of typing on a computer that iPads and iPhones don’t provide. For this reason, quick, recreational tasks are perfect for mobile devices, but it can be very frustrating to attempt to use them for long periods of time.

A main difference between the two types of technology is the keyboard, which allows longer pieces to be written on laptops and desktops.

            The reality is that right now, the lack of a keyboard on smart phones and most tablets makes it hard to produce content, such as essays, emails, and long blog posts. Unless an iPad user buys a keyboard to attach to his or her device, typing up these things can be a pain, as usually people only type with a few fingers on mobile devices. Also, people often associate these new devices with recreation, using them for quick Facebook or Twitter checks when they do not have much time to sit down and get serious work done.

From Phones review

           University of Maryland graduate student Nathan Jurgenson, who has been researching mobile devices for a few years, believes that all of these devices (smart phones, tablets, laptops and desktops) will start to look more like each other in the coming months and years. He says, “It’ll be a more fluid spectrum between the smaller devices and the larger devices, instead of these very discrete categories that we have now.” I think we are already seeing the beginnings of this trend with the Microsoft Surface, which can either be attached to a keyboard or used like a tablet. Dr. Benjamin Bederson, computer science professor, agrees with Jurgenson, saying, “With wireless and detachable keyboards and lighter and smaller laptops with touchscreens, it is really more of a continuum of designs than two completely distinct types of computers.”

Smart phone sales outpace those of tablets, laptops and desktops, and that trend is expected to continue into the near future.

            New research done by Canalys found that, for the first time, in 2011 more smart phones were shipped than personal computers (including laptops, desktops, and tablets). The report was that 488 million smart phones were shipped, compared with 415 million PCs. These results are expected based on the fact that much of the globe has yet to join the web, but many of these places are using cell phones. “Many people, especially in the developing world, have ‘leapfrogged’ the wired internet and the desktop computer,” Jurgenson says. “[They’ve] moved straight into mobile devices as their first entryway into the internet.” The belief is that if and when the two-thirds of the world that is not on the internet start using the web, it will be through mobile devices and not through traditional laptop computers or desktop computers.

Mobile devices, though, do not lend themselves very well to creation or production of books, long articles, or computer programs, or the editing of audio and video.

            Even though handheld devices can do so much and are so convenient for us, there are still some obvious benefits to sticking with computers to do complicated tasks. For example, tablets are able to shoot videos pretty well, and the quality of the videos is not too much worse than that of a video camera. Obviously, there is a decline in quality but not enough to make shooting video on a tablet worthless. But as for editing videos and editing audio clips, the iPad doesn’t have nearly the capabilities that a laptop has. 

            In the same way, software developers and computer programmers would never be able to do all of the writing and testing of code with the same effectiveness on a phone or even a tablet as on a computer. For these tasks, people like to have the control that computers offer, not the convenience of handheld devices.

            For these reasons, it will take time for mobile technology to fully surpass traditional devices for every task; tablet producers will definitely have to think about how they can make it easier for users to type for a long period of time or write and test a long program. The Microsoft Surface seems like a good start, as it provides not only the convenience of a tablet, but also the vast capabilities of a laptop when the user needs it.

            If Apple comes out with a product similar to the Surface, and I do not see why they wouldn’t, it would further this merging of different technologies that Jurgenson and Bederson pointed out. Companies will always be trying to create better devices, but for the next couple of years at least, a blend between the laptop and tablet could be the direction in which much of the world decides to move.

                With these new blended technologies, some experts are predicting that tablet sales will outnumber those of traditional computers and laptops by 2016. The feeling is that today’s population, especially in the United States, is much more concerned with convenience than performance. Ultimately, experts believe, handheld devices will be small, convenient and easy enough to substitute for the laptops of much of the population.

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Word on the Street about Tablets and Laptops

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Mobile Technology and Its Impact on the Laptop Industry

In today’s world, technology is advancing faster than it ever has before. It seems like there is a new and improved tablet or smart phone hitting the market almost every month. With this type of quick advancement, it seems like it’s only a matter of time before tablets and phones become our primary use of technology, ahead of laptops and desktops. I find this topic very interesting, so I decided to try to find out more about it for my research project.

Right now, there are still many tasks a laptop can perform better than a tablet or smart phone can.

The purpose of the tablet and smart phone, as of now, is for people to be able to receive updates (emails, Facebook posts, tweets, etc.) conveniently and quickly, even while casually playing around with a game, such as Angry Birds or Doodle Jump. However, when authors, computer scientists, or journalists want to get some actual work done, they most likely turn to their laptop. The fact is that writing a book or even a short story on an iPad, especially one with no keyboard, is much more inconvenient than typing it up on a laptop. And even with a keyboard, the applications used for writing aren’t nearly as convenient as Microsoft Word.

Will handheld devices ever be able to substitute completely for a laptop?

For the most part, the answer I’ve been hearing is no, but the main goal of my project is to continue looking for experts’ opinions on the issue. In my opinion, the slightly higher convenience of tablets and smart phones will not counteract the ease of writing a paper or story on a laptop. These computers are not much bigger and they are so simple to use. Some people become frustrated when trying to do things on a tablet, so I think it will be hard for that industry to completely replace the computer industry.

Why I Chose My Project On Mobile Devices

Freshman thinks blending learning classes create a more self-orientated approach to learning.

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Freshman: iPad is desirable because of its portability, along with its large text.

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Recently, there has been a growing trend of using iPads and other tablets instead of computers, laptops, and smartphones, especially on long plane or train rides. Tablets provide almost all of the convenience of a small phone, and they also have a large enough screen so information can be easily read. The increase in usage of tablets prompted the Nielsen Norman group to conduct multiple studies of iPad users to see how usability would change over time. They made some very interesting findings about different applications and reasons for why some apps are better or more usable than others.

With a small sample size, it is hard to get an accurate representation on how a majority of people use their iPads, but it may still help in improving future applications and future devices.

The second edition of the study the Nielsen Norman group conducted involved only 16 people who had had an iPad for two months or more. With the number of people who are now using iPads regularly, turning away from laptops, I don’t think that this sample can possibly represent the population accurately. However, the length of each study (90 minutes) may still provide enough information for application designers to improve their apps and come up with useful new ones. The studies were very in depth and examined a large number of apps, across a wide range of areas.

Most users prefer to use a company’s website on their iPads, even though the apps should provide a more tablet friendly experience and are made specifically for that company.

The most surprising information that I got from this survey is that using apps for specific companies are not always the most effective way to accomplish a task. In this study, many users became frustrated when trying to use apps for different companies. Reasons for frustration included confusion over which graphics were “tappable” and which ones were not, and stemming from that problem, knowing how to get back to the previous page when an accidental tap occurred. Also, the apps had less content available than the actual website, which seems strange to me. I would think that companies would try their hardest to include everything in their applications because theoretically, people will try them before putting in the time to browse online.

A good amount of applications switch pages, remove progress, get rid of text or media, or display different information when the user turns the iPad.

Much confusion occurred during the survey due to information being lost when the user decided that it would be beneficial to switch the tablet’s orientation. Sometimes the subjects rotated the iPad, and the app they were in took them back to the home page, making it hard to get back to the previous page. There were plenty of navigation issues that were hard to replicate, especially inside apps the subjects were not familiar with. Also, a few graphics were in the report, showing how one picture was shown next to an article in landscape view and a different graphic was shown in portrait view.

The report gives plenty of advice to companies deciding whether or not to create an iPad app, including having a feature specific to the app that is not available on the website.

Many companies have to make a decision to make regarding creating an app or not. The consensus is that the application should differ in a good way from the main website. Too many apps have even less content than their website counterparts, creating no benefit or reason for users to download the app. A main example given for a possible benefit is to have larger text in the app, especially for recipes, which are usually read in the kitchen when the person’s hands are dirty.  In addition, a suggestion is that your app should not be more confusing or more difficult to make sense of than the actual website. Too many apps have nuances that make the overall experience more negative than going through the trouble of browsing the web.

Even with these small problems, the iPad still provides users with close to everything that both an iPhone and laptop provide, with the look and feel that attracts buyers.

While the report focuses on all of the negatives they could find about the device, the researchers had to dig deep to find subtle problems to talk about. The overall iPad experience is a positive one, and I think that the device will eventually become the main technology people use (other than cell phones), both on trips and in the house. The size is perfect, big enough to see everything on the page, but small enough to transport easily.

Will the Digital Divide Ever Go Away?

The digital divide and participation gap that Kevin Guidry mentions in his piece are not all that apparent in "The State of the 2012 Election - Mobile Politics." The article talks about a survey of registered voters in the United States. The survey found that almost 90 percent of all registered voters own a cell phone, and almost 50 percent of voters own a smartphone. These results suggest that, slowly but surely, people are improving and advancing technologically as a whole.

Liberals tend to use their cell phones to keep up with election or political news more than conservatives.

The article "The State of the 2012 Election - Mobile Politics" mainly talked about the differences in mobile phone use to keep up with the presidential race between political parties. However, there was not all that much difference in any category, except that liberals are more likely (37%) than conservatives (25%) to use their cell phones to "keep up with news related to the election or politics." In most other categories, the differences were almost non-existent, with percentage differences of only one to three percent.

The digital divide is slowly decreasing, but it definitely still exists, especially for people over the age of 50.

The main thing that I took out of the survey talked about in the article, and something that I expected, is that smartphone owners over the age of 50 are far less likely than those under 50 to use their smartphones to read political comments, post political comments, or look up further information about political statements. Although the piece by Guidry mentioned the digital divide with respect to actually owning Internet access or computers, a different divide exists among people that have these devices.

The participation gap is what actually may be prevalent among the different age groups and their uses of technology.

Guidry cites the participation gap as "different skills, predilections, and comfort levels with different technologies." Older citizens may not use their phones for political reasons because they grew up with other ways to get political information, or they have just started to buy smartphones and are more concerned with just calling and texting than other fancy applications.

Constant technological innovations will prevent different generations from ever being completely equal and undivided.

Many people might think that as this generation ages and becomes the older generation, they will still be "hip" to technology because they grew up with it. However, as is the case throughout history, even the most advanced individuals of their times would be baffled by the new gadgets we have today. As we advance in time, new technologies will always be invented, and it will be this way forever. When we grow up, I am convinced that we will be as confused by new technologies as our parents are by Facebook and Twitter. The digital divide and participation gap will always seem to decrease, but they will always be there to some extent.

Is Your Facebook Password Secure? It Should Be.

Before Monday, it never even crossed my mind that companies could and often do ask for the social media passwords of their possible future employees. I had obviously heard that businesses check applicants' Facebooks, Twitters, LinkedIns, etc. during the hiring process, but to actually ask for a password is a full violation of privacy. There are ways, even on these public sites, to keep information safe, such as through direct messaging on Twitter or Facebook chat, and we deserve to be able to keep that area private.                

A few months ago, Maryland became the first state to pass a law against this practice, and several states have followed suit, such as California. Personally, I believe that people should not put anything publicly on Facebook if it could severely hinder their chances at getting a job, but as I said earlier, these sites have more private ways for people to let friends know what they've been up to, and those are what should remain completely unseen.

                

Another issue that should be discussed is the fact that it is way too easy for non-friends to see all of our posts, personal information, “likes,” hobbies, and interests on Facebook. The fact of the matter is that maximizing privacy on Facebook is a daunting and very confusing task; most people don't take the time to navigate through the menus to change their settings. Twitter makes it much easier to become private, but Facebook is still the most dominant social network.

                

That issue may soon be a non-issue, as California is trying to start a movement to make the default settings “private” when someone creates a Facebook. The plan, hopefully, will give users in future generations the privacy that our generations lacked when we first got on Facebook. It is thought that, while this bill is originating in California, it may spread globally due to the “think of the children” angle that it presents. As we all know, the privacy issues spread beyond just not wanting others to know about you; it is also a safety issue, particularly for users under the age of 18.

                

The bill will allow parents to monitor what their children are doing on Facebook. While that may not sound appealing to people our age, I'd much rather my parents see my Facebook than my possible employer, especially if it means I will get the job. Parents are there, in part, to keep their kids safe, and I think this bill would allow that to happen in the online world.

                

I am hopeful that a law similar to the ones passed in Maryland and California will soon spread to all states and eliminate the use of our social media activity for hiring purposes. What we post online should be visible only to those we give permission by accepting their friendship. Facebook and other social media should be a positive way to stay in touch with people we care about, not a way to get penalized in the job industry.