Our devices are perfect when it comes to consolidating other devices. Smartphones have made it easier than ever to limit the space we need in our bags. The average consumer can just bring their phone when they need something to take notes, take pictures, or listen to music. I’m old enough where the majority of those things still needed standalone devices, so I love the fact my smartphone limits all of that.
That’s also why apps and services are so important, of course. If you want to take photos with your smartphone, and, perhaps more importantly, not have to lug around a separate camera, the shooter on that smartphone has to be good enough to warrant usage. And apps have to make our lives easier – which they obviously have, considering the massive dent the app market has left on the world as a whole.
Apps also help limit the need for other devices, too. Like eReaders.
I’ve got a version of a Kindle eReader sitting next to me right now. It hasn’t been turned on in months, and I don’t plan on turning it on right now, either. But I found it in a drawer earlier, and I got all nostalgic thinking about how great the device was. Is, really. It’s hard to deny how great eReaders are. In the same vein as smartphones (and tablets), electronic readers let us consolidate books and magazines, letting us carry a ton of content in just a single device.
But my smartphone ate up the eReader, too. Ever since Amazon (which made the eReader I have sitting next to me) released its Kindle app, for all of the major mobile platforms, I haven’t looked back, really. Sure, it drains battery, and it means that I have to multitask with other things, but it still makes it easier than ever before.
My smartphone has killed a lot of other devices for me, and my tablet has done the same for other products, too. (I recently went back to being a tablet owner, so here we go again.) One thing I love a tablet for over a smartphone, when it comes to reading, is comic books. It’s such an awesome deal to have so many comics at my fingertips, and the tablet makes them so easy to read.
Finding this eReader got me thinking: Do you read books and/or comic books on a regular basis on your smartphone and/or tablet? Do you still carry around a separate eReader? Some people must, right, considering Amazon continues to release new devices. Let me know!