Size does matter
by Volker Weber
When I travelled to Abu Dhabi, I brought the Nokia Lumia 1020 as a camera and the Lenovo Yoga 11 as my typewriter. One of my fellow travelers brought his iPhone, his MacBook Air, and his iPad. Three devices? Why? Well, his iPhone because he does not leave home without it, his MacBook Air, since he needed a typewriter too, and his iPad, because he wanted a tablet as well.
The same thing happens at many enterprises. Managers need a phone and a computer and they want a tablet. Three devices instead of two. Three things to buy, manage, carry around, charge. For many companies this is not sustainable, mostly from a cost perspective. Adding insult to injury, people need their private devices as well, since company policies might restrict the use of their business devices to the point, where they become less universal than they could be.
How can you cut back on the number of devices you carry? First of all, dual use, private and business of existing devices. BlackBerry leads the way with Balance, but others follow. Be it as containers on private devices, or outright copying the BlackBerry model like Samsung is doing with Knox. This still leaves us with three potential devices to carry around: phone, tablet, computer. If not carry around, at least have.
The tablet is not replacing computers in business use. At least not, if you need to get work done. Microsoft is trying the hybrid approach with Surface. Build a powerful tablet that can replace a computer by adding peripherals like dock, keyboard, mouse, screen. Nokia is close with their 2520 tablet, which was designed with a must-have accessory: the keyboard folio which turns the tablet into a notebook.
And there is another trend. Smartphones are getting bigger. Much bigger. iPhone went from 3.5" to 4" only. But the entry level Lumia went from 3.8" (620) to 4.7" (625). This weeks marks the release of the Lumia 1520, which was announced in Abu Dhabi. It has a gorgeous 6 inch screen, only one inch away from popular Android tablets. I am very curious to see how this machine will alter my use of smartphones and tablets.
4, 5, or 6 inches. Your anatomy does not change. But your skills to handle them.
Comments
I would love to see an IPad mini with an integrated (I)phone "module".
If you had this, would you give up your phone?
That is The question, isn't it?
You could easily give up your phone. But the tablet still has to be pocketable when you are moving from night stand to desk to car to couch...
While 6" (Galaxy Note) just fits your jeans or jacket the lumia 1520 (or iPad mini) does not. That's a barrier your skills can't take ;-)
Well, my skills can, at least for the 1520.
