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How much work do you actually do on your mobile devices?
How much work do you really get done on your iPad or smartphone? Do you use it/them more as a toy than a device for work?
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3 Answers
Great question, Les, and I hope you get some honest answers. I have to presume your definition of "work" doesn't include phone calls or email. For me, that's 90%+ of my work, so I'd say "a great deal". I know smartphones can do a whole lot more, and I'm aware that my Bold can support all kinds of apps - I just don't use them.
To be fair, I'm not really a mobile worker, as I'm at my desk most of the time. However, I see how others use them, and I very rarely see anybody using their smartphones any differently than me - they're either doing email, texting or some form of telephony.
I'm sure you'll agree a lot of this is generational, and younger workers will be more comfortable using productivity apps on their mobile devices. That may be true, but they're also far more immersed in social/entertainment uses for these devices than my circle. This may not be a fair barometer, but these are by far the most popular app downloads - free or paid.
I'd love to see you get 100 replies to this question - and if you did - and if they were honest - my gut says that very little "work" is getting done on these devices - it's just way more fun to check FB, Twitter, watch TV, download a song, play games, etc.
I'm a designer. I used the iPad mainly as a quick prototyping and presentation tool for my clients during meeting and answering emails on the go if I have the convinience. I hardly use voice calls to communicate these days.
That said I wouldn't say it completely replace my main tool - a full featured desktop computer to actually do my work. I'd say it's purely aesthetic and impressionable tool for me.
Les, great question.
You will find the answer depends on the type of work you do, and your degree of mobility.
There is non-linear relationship between the demands people have on the device(s) they are carrying vs how portable the individual is, the data sources they interact with and the degree of interaction the person my have with corresponding applications of relevant importance.
What does this mean?
You place different input/output expectations on a big rich screen with a big rich keyboard, than you do with a small, yet rich screen, with a small less capable keyboard on an smartphone, or a tablet.
Most days, i am highly mobile. My weapon of choice is an iPad and/ or smartphone.
When i am highly mobile, my interaction requirements/expectations of my device are more output oriented (eg. reading) to absorb in short bursts information that seems (but is not always) relevant. While i do input information, the gap between what i read versus what I input to the device grows wider as the screen size shrinks.
By contrast, when i am not traveling and working at my desk, the iPad maybe sitting in its stand with my calendar open, or perhaps as Skype or other VoIP console, maybe Twitter is open, while my primary screen is a 17inch monitor and full keyboard. Net net, the tablet device and sometimes the smartphone, become secondary screens.
The smartphone is used for data in even shorter bursts for information, again based on my stye of mobility and my sense of information urgency.
I have a great graphic that explains all this. Let me know if you want to follow up more on this topic.
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