If you own five or more mobile devices, you may be suffering from device overload
Most of us have apparently decided we can’t live without our favorite mobile device. Whether on public transportation, shopping or just walking down the street, you’re more likely than not to be surrounded by people swiping screens, adjusting their earbuds or typing on a virtual screen.
But while a mobile device is increasingly seen as a must-have, what happens when one increases to two, three or more? After all, the number of mobile devices owned by the average U.S. subscriber today is 1.57, according to Wireless Intelligence, the research arm of the GSM Association, and 1.85 in the rest of the world. By the end of 2013, there will be more Internet-connected mobile devices than people, according to Cisco’s Visual Networking Index.
According to Google, 90% of us juggle four screens in a day (smartphone, PC, tablet, TV), often starting a task on one device and completing it on another (called “sequential screening”) or using multiple devices at the same time (“simultaneous screening”). Nine out of 10 people are sequential screeners, according to Google, while 77% watch TV with another device in hand.
It’s only natural, then, to ask: Is there such a thing as too many mobile devices? In today’s world of “too much information,” perhaps there is a companion trend: hardware overload.
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Streamlining Devices
David Collins, IT infrastructure manager at Residential Finance, a national mortgage lender in Columbus, Ohio, is consciously winnowing down his current count of five devices to just two. His list includes an Android-based smartphone, a Windows-based netbook, an Android-based tablet, and two laptops, one for work and another for personal use. Additionally, he is evaluating two Windows-based tablets for his company’s use.
By the end of 2013, there will be more Internet-connected mobile devices than people, according to Cisco’s Visual Networking Index.
The personal laptop, he says, will likely be the first to go. “It’s still viable, but because I’m device-heavy, I want to streamline down to what I really need and want.” And maybe, he says, he could live without the netbook, which – at least before he acquired the tablet and work laptop — he used for work meetings and personal activities, like co-directing a vocal group. “I could do attendance and have PDFs of our music – it was easier on the netbook than the smartphone,” he says.
But with its larger screen, significantly higher processing power and remote access tools, the tablet is preferable, he says. He can store not just his music PDFs but also his recorded accompaniment tracks, and he can also access his desktop remotely. The one remaining advantage of the netbook is its Windows functionality. “While I can remote in from the Android tablet, sometimes it’s nice to work natively in the Windows OS using the remote desktop,” he says.
Of course, with his recently acquired work laptop – a 15-inch Ultrabook that is sturdier, more powerful and lighter than the 3-year-old netbook — he’s now able to do just that. “Anywhere I go now, it’s a tossup between [the netbook], the tablet or my work laptop,” he says. Because his office encourages employees to keep their data and applications on their desktops and remotely access their PCs via a secure VPN, Collins can use any of his devices to do that, in addition to using Evernote and other cloud technologies to synch files. “As long as I’ve got an Internet connection, I can get what I need,” he says.
Meanwhile, like most people, Collins is rarely without his smartphone, using Exchange ActiveSync for e-mail, contact and calendar synchronization. While he prefers remote access through the laptop, he could scrape by with just the phone or tablet. “If I had to go to the data center in the middle of the night and forgot my laptop, I could still access everything I needed through my phone, or if I forgot my phone, I could use the laptop,” he says. “I would prefer not to do without one or the other, but I try to be sure all three are in synch.”
Collins also meets Google’s definition of a “simultaneous screener,” preferring to keep his business communications on the Ultrabook or PC while at work, while texting his wife on his smartphone and monitoring his personal Gmail account on his tablet.
While Collins enjoys the flexibility of his multiple mobile devices, “it gets old at times,” he says. By September, with a baby due, he would like to streamline to two primary devices: the mobile phone and Ultrabook. “I’ll have plenty of things to carry around with an infant,” he says.
Breaking free
Meanwhile, with a tablet and two smartphones — one for business and one for personal use — Samuel Satyanathan, technology leader/architect at Ericcson, also strives to free himself from too many mobile devices. Although he uses e-mail, iCloud and the Apple ID to keep the devices synched and integrated, he also finds himself forwarding his personal calls to the work phone to avoid having to carry both. He uses the tablet mainly for watching videos and reading, but because it houses similar apps to the phone, there is overlapping functionality there, as well. “Maybe one of these days, I could control everything on my phone,” he says, noting that already, he can control his TV and Blu-ray player from his phone through remote control apps.
Satyanathan is generally happy with how well he can integrate the devices; for instance, he can be reached on any device by anyone contacting him through Facetime or iMessage. He is less happy with variable mobile app functionality, depending on which device he uses. An example is the Tripcase app, which he recently used for an international trip. “The trip wasn’t imported accurately to the app,” he explains. “I tried to correct it through their app, but it couldn’t be done.” He also tried using his phone’s browser to fix it on the Web site, but the site gave him no option to go to the full browser page. Ultimately, he had to track down a PC to log onto the Web site, he says.
An infinite variety
Decreasing your mobile device count may be hampered by the countless varieties arriving on the market, from tablets that seem like laptops (sporting full Windows 8 operating system capabilities and fold-back keyboards) to phones that seem like tablets (with large screens and lots of storage). While these hybrids may be intended to consolidate functionality, it’s likely that people – especially gadget-loving people – may own a few types on their way to deciding which one (or two) they won’t leave the house without.
That’s the case for Doug Ross, CTO at Western Southern, who counts seven or eight devices to his name, including tablets, a laptop, several e-readers and his primary smartphone. Unintentionally, Ross has begun to streamline the number of devices he uses. While he has an iPad, the virtual keyboard does not accommodate his heavy content creation needs. “I see a lot of people in meetings using iPads with a detachable keyboard, but I’m not at a place where I’d be able to use it effectively as a surrogate for a laptop,” he says.
Ross uses one smartphone, a Droid Razr, as his company uses mobile management software from Good Technology to segregate personal and business data. And after installing Kindle software on his Droid Razr, “I’m finding myself reading books off my phone,” he says, which is increasingly negating the need for an e-reader, especially because the phone allows him to simultaneously keep up with Twitter and e-mail. It’s little wonder, then, that Ross has found himself eyeing the Galaxy Note, which is smaller than the iPad Mini but larger than a phone and includes a stylus for note-taking. “It’s primarily a phone, but it blends the capabilities of a tablet into something that can serve as both,” he says.
At this point, though, he finds himself using both his smartphone and tablet at the same time, especially when watching baseball on TV. “I might be looking up someone’s career stats on the iPad, while my smartphone is set on my Twitter feed, reading what people are tweeting on the Reds,” he says.
And then, there’s Google Glass. Ross is eagerly anticipating delivery of Google’s new wearable technology, having recently been chosen to receive an early version of the device, after submitting an idea for how he would use it. “Wouldn’t it be cool to be walking around or waiting in the doctor’s office, reading your Twitter stream?” Ross says. Instead of pulling out your mobile device, “it becomes a seamless part of your life,” he says. “There seems to be a natural progression of devices becoming more integrally bound to humans.”
When you consider these types of developments, it’s difficult to predict whether we’ll see people carrying more or fewer mobile devices in their daily lives. What’s clear is the growing dependence on constant connection with at least one device. “It used to be that on a plane, you knew you’d be incommunicado,” Ross says. Now, with Wi-Fi, there aren’t too many places where connectivity isn’t possible. “A flight from Columbus to Charlotte, gate to gate, is an hour,” he says, “and you’re in the air maybe 45 minutes. They charge $5 for an Internet connection, and I can’t tell you how many devices open up. No one wants to be disconnected, even for that 45 minutes.”
Brandel is a freelance writer. She can be reached at marybrandel@verizon.net.
