Phones are for talking, navigating, and casual content consumption. Desktops (and laptops) are for actually getting things done. Both are useful, but the former is not a substitute for the latter.
Tablets are oversized phones that can’t even phone. I don’t see any use for them that isn’t better served by something else. They’d actually be useful if they ran a desktop operating system, and some early ones did, but modern ones don’t.
My dermatologist uses a tablet. Seems way more useful than a phone (larger screen) or laptop (handheld, more portable). I use mine mainly for reading, mainly graphic novels, but also for Slack, Zoom calls, and general one-off productivity away from my office where my laptop lives.
Tablets do have a singular purpose, being drawing.
Of course, most tablets that aren’t specially built for it (or are from Apple) are terrible at it, but I definitely wouldn’t want to draw on a phone or with a mouse.
I seem to recall there being purpose-built drawing tablets that are only drawing tablets, and act as a peripheral to a computer rather than a computer unto themselves. That sounds good on paper, since then you can still use the keyboard and mouse for everything other than drawing, but I’ve never used one, so I wouldn’t know.
Also, there are laptops with touchscreens and full-range hinges. With that, you could do your drawing on an actual, fully-functional laptop. I haven’t used one of those, either, though. I do have a laptop with a touchscreen, which could in theory be used for drawing, but it has a normal laptop hinge and can’t be held like a tablet or paper notebook, so actually drawing on it is cumbersome at best.
Phones are for talking, navigating, and casual content consumption. Desktops (and laptops) are for actually getting things done. Both are useful, but the former is not a substitute for the latter.
Tablets are oversized phones that can’t even phone. I don’t see any use for them that isn’t better served by something else. They’d actually be useful if they ran a desktop operating system, and some early ones did, but modern ones don’t.
What about when I want a larger screen than what my phone offers without the added bulk of a physical keyboard? What should I use then?
Funny you should say that. I would very much like a phone that has a physical keyboard, like my old Droid 3 had.
My dermatologist uses a tablet. Seems way more useful than a phone (larger screen) or laptop (handheld, more portable). I use mine mainly for reading, mainly graphic novels, but also for Slack, Zoom calls, and general one-off productivity away from my office where my laptop lives.
Tablets are good for reading comics as well as PDFs that don’t fit very well on an e-reader’s screen.
Tablets do have a singular purpose, being drawing.
Of course, most tablets that aren’t specially built for it (or are from Apple) are terrible at it, but I definitely wouldn’t want to draw on a phone or with a mouse.
I seem to recall there being purpose-built drawing tablets that are only drawing tablets, and act as a peripheral to a computer rather than a computer unto themselves. That sounds good on paper, since then you can still use the keyboard and mouse for everything other than drawing, but I’ve never used one, so I wouldn’t know.
Also, there are laptops with touchscreens and full-range hinges. With that, you could do your drawing on an actual, fully-functional laptop. I haven’t used one of those, either, though. I do have a laptop with a touchscreen, which could in theory be used for drawing, but it has a normal laptop hinge and can’t be held like a tablet or paper notebook, so actually drawing on it is cumbersome at best.