I had to visit a clients London office yesterday which is a bit of a drag as it involves a hour and a half train journey each way, but it does give me the opportunityto use mobile tech for real. Over the years I have shrunk what I carry on these sort of trips from a briefcase bulging with stuff to a much more manageable lightweight shoulder bag. Whereas I used to carry a thumping great laptop and charger, a ratsnest of cables and connectors and a wallet full of CD’s, now I can get away with a netbook (with a eight hour battery life, so no charger), a couple of retractable cables and a 32gb USB stick. In fact most times I can get away with the USB stick and my Smartphone. Yesterday was a “lightweight day” so it was just the phone and stick, yet I was still able to read and reply to emails, remote access a server or two, read a printer manual in PDF form, reinstall Office and listen to several Podcasts.
Okay, nothing spectacular, but sometimes I think we take for granted what we can do with so little kit , my shoulders and back are certainly grateful.
I think we often forget just how much smartphones have come on in the last 2 years. We can now do a LOT more than we could in the not too distant past.
I’m not so sure, I think we can do the same stuff but with a lot more compact kit. I did nothing yesterday that I couldn’t have done ten years ago, but I would have been carrying a bloody big bag!
That’s my point:) I can do a lot of it with a smartphone now rather than a bigger piece of kit.
I agree, and the Internet has made a lot more things possible as well. my favorite quote this year is “Computing technology is assimalated into everyday life with such speed and regularity that we don’t even notice that we should be amazed” It does make you wonder where we’ll be in another ten years.
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