Why getting a digital tablet in 2024 is still a great idea!

One of the things especially in this day and age is that we are simply flooded. Flooded by options. The Android platform or Apple apps store have provided tools so that we literally are like Neo in the Matrix where we can download an app that gives us an additional skill to become fitter, smarter, productive, more organized, the list goes on. And we literally can do all this as long as we have a handphone. Steve Jobs envisioned this long before the smart phone became ubiquitous. That with one device, you could eliminate the need to bring along a calculator, or carry a bag filled with books. The beauty of digitizing is that you only needed to carry one item, an ultimate swiss army knife metaphorically, everywhere you go and you would survive just fine in the urban jungle.

Is there a need then for something like a tablet which functionally speaking is less of a primary device and more a secondary device to the phone.

So here lies the dilemma of the Tablet. The tablet does everything the phone does, just with a bigger screen. Also why get a tablet if you already have a laptop? Afterall, it also has a larger screen. The boundaries between laptops, phones and tablets are slowly blurring from price points to the functions each of these devices can perform. The Tablet is neither a phone, nor is it a Laptop. So where lies the digital Tablet in a world where these devices are getting harder and harder to afford. Should you even consider forking out that hard earned cash to buy yet another piece of tech that overlaps with your phone? So here are some of my takeaways in 2024 where the Android Platform has produced apps on par if not better than the apps you can find in the Apple store. A time where Microsoft Mobile App has pretty much enabled you to perform basic editing on Word or powerpoint documents. An era where given a few more years the tablet could possibly even replace an entry level laptop. These are some of the ways that having a digital tablet practically improved my life!

1. To keep your bag lighter
   So this is for people who go travelling alot and do not want to lug their laptop around. Think Batman going to catch criminals on a Bike instead of the Bat Mobile. The Tablet does the same thing as the Laptop, just that you can bring it out without the keyboard. And well you could get a 7.8" tablet which is smaller than the typical 13" Laptop which is almost double in size.
   It is a great feeling to pull out the Ipad Mini from your sling bag in a split second. Though its still not as fast as pulling out the phone from your pocket, with abit of effort and getting used to, whipping out a tablet from your bag at will becomes muscle memory rather than a clumsy and clunky process where you have to remove the bag pack to take out a laptop. Its so much effort that you would hardly do that on a bus or train. So this is where ergonomics wise, the tablet makes absolute sense. You can view your powerpoint for presentation in one hand and reply messages with your phone in the other.
   

2. A portable research assistant
   If you are in a Library, preparing for a lesson, or in a lecture writing notes. Having a digital tablet is an amazing convenience. While you are reading a book, you could immediately search up more related articles from your tablet. More tablets also have split screen mode which means you could also select text from a web page and drag it into the word app open in the other split screen to copy text. This would be really cumbersome on a phone where the screen is just not sufficient to use for research for extended periods.
   Also, with E-ink Tablet, or the Ipad that support digital stylus you can edit, highlight annotate on PDFs which is really useful if you need to collaborate with colleagues and mark out changes. It is just more intuitive and pleasurable than using a mouse to draw on a screenshot on the laptop.
   

3. A digital scribble pad
   So here's a function that i have been using the tablet for on and off, not so much on a consistant basis but that's how a scribble pad is supposed to be used. Which is to be used as and when needed. With the digital E-ink tablets like Boox, Supernote, Remarkable, Amazon Scribe, Kobo, Bigme to name a few, the need for a physical scribble pad is no longer required because an E-ink tablet can be left on for the entire day without the battery dying. So when you need to write a random request from work, or something that needs following up, you won't need to press the power button, key in your password to open the app before you actually write anything. You just write. This means no loose sheets of post it notes hanging around that create such a mess. Or no more shredding of unwanted documents.
   

4. A Secondary monitor
   As someone who needs to have multiple windows open all the time when i am at work, I've found the value of a secondary monitor absolutely essential for intensive work where i'll need to open files, modify, and switch back and forth between different word, excel and cad applications concurrently and having them side by side for comparison. And suddenly an idea comes and i need to key it in my tasks. Here's where your tablet can become an absolute game changer especially if you are on the go. You don't need an additional portable monitor when your tablet can double up as one with the Space Desk App. I actually use 3 tablets as additional secondary monitors to my laptop and a 49 inch wide screen monitor. so i have 1 screen purely for Outlook, 1 screen for my calander and tasks, 1 screen for Whatsapp and Telegram, 1 screen for the actual work, 1 screen for easy cross referencing. And it has absolutely made a difference in terms of staying on top of emails, messages while im deeply immersed in work. At a glance, i can tell if my attention needs to be taken away from work to attend to a message or an email to a client.
   

5. A Smart Home Control Centre
   If you are thinking of investing in a smarthome, this is another use you could consider to repurpose your tablet. With apps like Tuya Smart Life, or Google Home, or Alexa, you can turn your tablet into a control centre to control the air con, lights, television, or turn on the heater before you come home. You won't need complex proprietary systems and the beauty is that you can keep adding on to your smarthome. The individual components needed to setup a smart home are not expensive, but it takes abit of time to find out and understand what parts are needed for the devices to talk together. But i digress. With a simple magnetic wall mount, you can turn your tablet into a smart home control centre much like a Google Nest Hub.
   

6. A device to keep your Children occupied
   Have you ever been on the go with your children and you don't know what to do to occupy their time? Then yes, this is the last resort. Of course this is not something that we should encourage to distract our children if they become restless, but still having it as the last ditch effort to try to sooth them to capture their attention while we need to be talking with friends or work would be reason enough to have a Tablet in your posession. Best of all you won't need to relinquish your phone to them for watching some Children's shows like Blippi, Little Miss Rachel or Robocar Poli on Youtube. Plus, once you have decided that they have watched enough shows, you can always turn off your mobile hotspot. You're welcome!
   

7. A backup device when the Handphone battery runs out
   This is self explanatory, but if you do decide to get a good tablet, one of the features that will definitely come in handy is that it has a sim card slot so that if your phone does run out of juice on an emergency, you still have that option to transfer the sim card to your tablet. Maybe you need the extra juice for an extended Zoom meeting that goes way beyond the meeting time because its an important one and you are on the go, this could literally be a life saver.
   

8. A digital Photoframe
   The last use but probably one of my favorites for getting a tablet is to use it as a digital photoframe. I've found that if you do have an old Samsung tablet, like really 1st generation android generation tablets, using an app like Fotoo turns it into an amazing digital photoframe because even for the earlier tablets, Samsung's Amoled displays have deep contrast and colour balance which makes photos look great even though they may be very older models.
   And the great thing with Fotoo is that it keeps the screen of the tablet running all day long, or if you have a smart switch you can control when to turn on the switch the charger for the tablet on so that the battery does overcharge and become bloated as it has with some of the cheaper tablets which i got for the purpose of making it a digital photo frame. I have several cheap tablets which i got for 150 bucks from Lazada which i put around the house so that it doubles up as a digital photo album, a smarthome control hub, and a control centre for Spotify which i connect via Bluetooth to a set of bluetooth speakers.
   The reason why i love using the tablet as a digital photo album is because it can link to Google drive, one drive where i keep my photos. And most of the time, i don't bother to open my phone just to flip through the photos i've taken. So with a dedicated Tablet for displaying photos, i don't need any photo frames at home. And more over at night it functions as a night light.
   

With some careful thought given to how we use our digital devices, we can actually turn our homes into something that is futuristic and much more dynamic just by putting a tablet at the right place with the right app in our house!