Going Tablet Only

A blog about how to live your digital life on a tablet (mostly. Probably. Maybe.) 

[tabletonly-blog]

What I Do And Don't Do

Before people start wasting their breath telling me how 'a tablet can't replace a proper computer', let me explain to you a few things first.

First of all, I don't want tablets to replace computers. Tablets are computers, they are just one kind of computer with different use cases and application possibilities than laptops or desktops and just like you have to keep in mind what you want to do when deciding between a desktop or a laptop, you have to keep in mind what you want to do when deciding on how to use a tablet. Or if you want to use one at all.

Someone looking for a computer with strong graphics capabilities will most likely lean more towards a desktop computer, since that is where the best GPUs are available, but desktop computers are bulky and take up a lot of space and if you want one that justifies that bulk with power, they are expensive.

Someone looking for portability, will be looking at small laptops, but those sacrifice screen real estate and computing power.

The same applies for tablets. You choose to use one (and how to use one) according to what you are looking to do.

And this post is about exactly that. What is my use-case and where are my priorities. Maybe, reading through this, you will realise that your case is very similar.

Let's start with a list of my day-to-day computer activities. They are split into consumption, communication and creation.

Consumption is a rather easy list and possibly the least controversial part of this entire discussion if tablets are viable computing devices. It's not a difficult list to make:

Reading articles and webpages on the internet

Reading ebooks and comics

Watching videos, both locally stored as well as streaming from the internet

Listening to music, podcasts and audiobooks

Play videogames for deliberate distraction

Communication is, again something that is probably easy for most people to wrap their minds around doing on a tablet. After all, the operating systems on tablets are the same as those we use on smartphones, right? So what are my communication requirements:

Be able to have written conversations through Discord, Skype and Telegram

Have voice and video calls with people through Discord and Skype

Write, send and receive emails

Join tabletop roleplay games through roll20.net

Upload, download and share files

Now, here's the controversial part of all of this. The part that people say can't be done on a tablet. The part that keeps people from recognising the full potential of tablets. Creation. So, how much creation am I doing regularly? Quite a lot. I am a writer, photographer, a Dungeon Master and player for tabletop roleplay, I dabble back in my original job of web development and, apparently, also in blogging. So my full list looks as follows:

Use Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop for large scale picture editing

Use different writing programs and word editors to write my stories, novels and roleplay related things

Manage multiple blogs on tumblr

Write and test the (rather simple) php/html/css code I am working on

Put that code on a server to publish it

Make notes and mindmaps for stories/novels/tabletop roleplay

Collaborate with other writers on documents through Google Docs

Keep a handful of databases of certain things like the books I've read (with notes on them for research) and the cards and dice to the collectible games we play.

All of the above except for two points can be done easily (sometimes even more conveniently and comfortably) from a tablet. Those two exceptions are gaming (baring some small mobile games) and the large scale picture editing.

I will make posts on how I accomplish everything stated above eventually, but I will end this post with an explanation of why those two big points and my inability to do them on a tablet are not a deterrent for my '#tabletonly' lifestyle. Which, as you can see, is a bit of an exaggeration.

Both of those points are not things that necessarily need portability and what part of those things I do need to do on the go can be accomplished with my tablet.

I don't need to do heavy photo editing out in the field. I want to do that on a big work station with enough power and screen real estate. Light editing, including raw conversion for the sake of showing a client which direction we are going or making that one quick edit to put online, is possible on a tablet.

I don't need to play triple A games on the go. I want to be able to be comfortable, have a nice large screen to enjoy it on and not worry about battery or processing power. Playing a game for a few minutes while waiting or during a commute is much more convenient on a mobile platform and pretty much the extend of 'gaming' I do while out and about.

'But what if you do want to do those things on the go?', you ask?

My answer is: I don't. In the few cases where I knew I would need more processing power than my small tablet could handle, lugging the Surface around was entirely justified and not adding too much hassle. In the cases where I don't need it, I am happy to have the light weight, small form factor and modularity of my tablet.

[tabletonly-blog]

Why Go TabletOnly

When I started using a tablet as my main device, I had no conscious reason for why beyond wanting a very portable device that I could use for writing and all the standard 'internet stuff'. Well, and of course to satisfy my need for gadgetry.

That last point is not a small one in the entire reasoning behind this venture. I remember watching Inspector Gadget as a child and being ridiculously fascinated and envious of Penny's computer book and watch, even more so than I was fascinated by the communicators and tricorders in Star Trek. There was just something about the ability to look up any kind of information at any time that appealed to me. I don't think I will have to mention what kind of hail mary the advent of mobile internet and smartphones was to me.

The first few points are much less personal and as such probably more universal. A portable device that allows for communication, leisure and work.

A lot of people use a laptop for that mostly because of that last point. Work. They are afraid they won't be able to do what they need to do without a 'real computer'.

But laptops, even small 11" ones, are still nowhere near as portable as a tablet. Even a 10" tablet is easier to transport, lighter and smaller, than a laptop. And it has something else. Something that a laptop simply does not offer.

Modularity.

That is one of my favourite aspects of a tablet over even a small laptop. I can have an almost desktop like setup with my mechanical keyboard that I can type on for hours and hours, or I can have a more mobile setup with a smaller, lighter bluetooth keyboard. Or I can use the tablet as is, holding it and carrying it around. And I can switch between those 'modes' by simply picking the tablet up out of its stand and moving it.

I can be sitting down, as I am doing right now, with the tablet in a stand and typing away at my full size mechanical keyboard writing an article one minute and just pick it up and move to bed to read a blog post the next.

Sure, you could argue that I could do the same with the combination of a laptop and a tablet or even with a laptop and a phone, but it's just not the same, it doesn't have the same fluidity to have to change between two or more devices even with services like Pocket and cloud storage. It takes more work to make what I was reading or working on available in a way to pick it up on a more portable device, then find it on that device and pick up from where I left off. Having it all in one device is so much more convenient.

And I say that as someone who is all about dedicated devices. But that is a topic for another post.

When talking about tablets, you cannot not talk about the software. Mobile OS-es and their limitations are often the first thing that people bring up when talking about why a tablet can never be a productivity device. There is the lack of multitasking and the lack of familiar, tried and true programs.

One of those things is not necessarily a downside and the other is mostly just a matter of getting out of old habits and creating a new workflow.

Lets break it down:

Multitasking.

Both Android and iOS have gotten a lot better with this lately, but it is still nowhere near the same as with window based desktop operating systems. Even with the ability to open two or three apps at a time.

But no matter what people like to believe, multitasking is not as beneficial as we'd like to think. Multitasking opens you up to distractions.

Making app switching difficult for myself and being forced to have apps open in fullscreen mode is incredibly beneficial to my productivity. It doesn't matter if I am trying to get through a long article I want to read or making a mindmap of whatever project I am working on or getting my self-imposed word count for the day in.

Of course, if your personal workflow relies on multitasking, this approach isn't for you. But the same would apply for a laptop if your personal use case is reliant on a lot of horsepower or the most screen real estate you can get.

Let's leave this debate for its own blog post and move on to the next point:

The lack of familiar applications.

Humans are, as a whole, creatures of habit and any interruption in what we know is usually met with resistance. I think that is the biggest mental hurdle for most people when considering switching to a tablet.

Getting stuck on this idea of 'but my favourite program doesn't exist on there, so it won't work for me' without considering what they want to do.

When I started using an Android tablet as my main device, Office was not available for the platform. As a writer, that was a point I was hesitant about until I realised that what I wanted from Office was simply to be able to write and format my writing.

Something a lot of apps are capable of.

Yes, it took me some trial and error to find the right app and the right way to use it for a lot of my use cases, but that was merely an initial effort and by now my workflow is set and works just as well, if not better than the one I had on Windows.

Of course, just like with the point about multitasking, if your work absolutely requires a certain application on a certain desktop OS, then this won't work for you. But the same would apply for MacOS if your application only exists on Windows.

But this post is supposed to be about Why Use a Tablet. A post about what is possible and what isn't on a tablet will follow.

So why should you consider working on a tablet?

It's light, easy to transport, modular, always on and distraction free.

If those are points that appeal to you and they aren't outweighed by any of the downsides mentioned, maybe going TabletOnly (or at least TabletMostly) is for you, just as it is for me.

[tabletonly-blog]

What This Blog Is About

#ipadonly has become a thing for a while now and I couldn't be happier about it.

Let me start out with a small, personal history on why:

I personally have been (Android)tablet only since the original Asus Transformer came out in 2011. I saw that device and the leaps Android had made with Honeycomb and just *knew* that that was the thing for me. Granted, I have a probably unhealthy amount of love for gadgets and the idea of having my main device on me at all times. There is just something about the idea of being able to do (almost) everything I'd need to do at any point in time by just whipping my device from my bag.

I did all my day to day computing, including writing long form prose, surfing, managing my emails and even light photo editing while at conventions for the online games magazine I was working for at the time until a shift in my personal life led to moving halfway across Germany and losing the big desktop rig I was using to do the very, very few things that I was not capable of doing on my tablet.

To make the story short, I ended up getting a Surface Pro 2 in an attempt to keep the tablet vibe, but have access to full Windows and enough power to do everything I would need to do. The attempt failed. The Surface Pro 2, while technically the same screen size as the Transformer tablets I had been using until then (I had upgraded from the first Transformer to the TF300t, which I sold after getting the SP2), but it is heavy. Way too heavy to serve the same purpose of the Transformers.

I was also missing the convenience of apps.

Yes, Windows lets you do 'more' than mobile apps and some things are much easier and faster, but there is just something about apps that feels more immediate? But this might be an analysis for another post.

In the end, I decided to go back to Android and I bought a first generation Google Nexus. A 7inch pure Android tablet. And it was the best decision I could have made, because it made me realise what really appealed to me about the tablet life: Portability and modularity.

I had another stint with Windows on a tablet with a Lenovo ThinkPad 8, which I loved. At least at the time. What I didn't love was the horrendous battery life and … something. Something that was hard to place back then, but that I have now identified as an issue with desktop operating systems in general. There is so much legacy clutter that is only relevant in a small amount of use cases, it makes the experience feel sluggish, even if the device has enough power. It's lacking that immediacy I was talking about earlier.

So when the ThinkPad died, I went back to Android with a Huawei MediaPad M3 8.4. The form factor I love and an operating system that does not only lend itself well for the standard 'mobile device' applications that people usually associate with it, but for pretty much everything that I do on a day to day basis that requires a computer.

This blog is dedicated to showing how I do it, why I do it and why and how others might go the same route. I'll show you the Good, the Bad and the Annoying.