Smartphone or Tablet – Which Is Best For The Self-Employed?
The smartphone and tablet markets have been growing by leaps and bounds as of late. More than 50% of all wireless subscribers in the US market now have smartphones, and many who would have purchased a laptop in the past are now considering tablets as a viable alternative.
Smartphones and tablets will be approaching home computer performance in the very near future…
The line between smartphone and tablet is getting pretty blurry these days, especially since smartphones are approaching tablets in processing power. So let’s assume that you want to get in on the action, but you don’t want to invest in a smartphone and a tablet. Which one is going to give you the most bang for the buck? A tablet or a smartphone?
Portability for Mobile Business
Portability is one of the main factors to consider when deciding between smartphones and tablets. Both are portable of course, as is a laptop, but if you’re looking for a laptop replacement, then you’ll want to look at some of the top tablets like
- The Apple iPad
- The Google Nexus
- The Samsung Galaxy
- The Sony Tablet
- The Blackberry Playbook
All of these are more portable than laptops, and have vibrant, high resolution screens that are as great for editing documents as they are for streaming Netflix. Smartphones are portable too of course, but smaller screens mean, well, smaller screens.
Phone Calls: Choosing the Best Option With Mobile Devices
While some tablets available abroad have the ability to make and receive phone calls (and make you look stupid), most US variants don’t. You can do video chat with most of them, but we’re not yet at the point where video chat is the default mode of communication.
For now though, most of your clients are still accustomed to voice calls. If you’re going with a tablet, you will need at least a regular mobile phone for voice communication (and our pals at Verizon have some smokin’ deals! – Look to the right.) Smartphones offer a great all-in-one solution in this way. You can make voice calls, and do just about everything you can on a tablet.
Consider the Importance of Screen Size
Again, this is where tablets have the clear advantage, obviously. Editing a spreadsheet or watching the latest edit of your short film on a 4.something-inch smartphone screen isn’t as much fun. Having double the screen to get work done and to view media is a nice luxury. What tablets give up in portability, they gain in eye candy.
Measuring Processing Power
You might think that tablets have the edge here, but that is often not the case. Many high-end smartphones offer blazing-fast dual-core processors, with quad cores on the horizon for both tablets and smartphones. What this means to you is less lag when using apps, faster multi-tasking, and better performance in general. Smartphones and tablets will both be approaching home computer performance in the very near future.
Laptop Replacement
If your aim is to travel light without giving up functionality, while the latest iPhones and Androids are amazing, the fact is, tablets are the obvious choice in this category.
Smartphone or Tablet? If you need to make calls as a regular part of your self-employment, then it has to be a smartphone. But if you want to work and edit on the go, tablets are the winner.