It’s Not About the Gadget — It’s What You Do With It
I was working away this morning, minding my own business, when a tweet sent to me and @Gartenberg got me thinking. The Twitter conversation was about reading e-books, and @AppGeniusBar asked us the question that got it all started:
@Gartenberg @jkendrick Have u imagined spending at least 12 hrs without feeling the need for an electronic gadget in ur hand?
I thought about this for a bit, and the answer hit me over the head (or in the hand). I have reached a point in my gadget usage that the gadget simply doesn’t matter. It’s the task I am doing at the time, in this case reading e-books, that grabs all of my attention. It is a testament to how far mobile technology has advanced that I have so many choices in the gadgets I use to do things. As I replied to @AppGeniusBar:
When I’m reading an e-book, and I read 2 – 3 a week, the gadget is simply the vehicle. It’s a book to me, just like paper kind.
That statement couldn’t be more spot on — I do not think about the gadget, I am simply reading a book. The same holds true with all the other tasks I do with a gadget, it’s the task that matters, not the gadget. Sure, it’s nice having a cool gadget that lets me do things I need to do, but when I’m actually doing them I do not think about the gadget at all, as long as it lets me complete the task at hand. This may sound only logical, but for someone like me who is always looking for the “next big gadget”, this was eye-opening. The gadget doesn’t matter, it’s what I do with them.
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so is it about time we stop hammering on about x86, arm, ssd, hdd and so on, and start looking at what tasks can be performed by a given product, and detail those?
No, we still have to make sure a given gadget can in fact do those tasks. :)
While I am all about using the right tool to get the task done, I’m still curious about how the tool works. I like to know what’s under the hood.
Bingo — this is why the it’s all about the apps, not the device. The technology platforms run the apps that help you do something. Staying connected is the thing you want to do, the tech you use is twitter, and there are twitter apps for a huge variety of platforms for a multitude of vendors. Or if you’re in business email or salesforce. What do they all have in common, they are apps that run on most devices from dumbphones to smartphones to laptops.
Do you think we will reach an point of “information overload”?
So much info, so little time
Well time to go fishng…
I was thinking about why I always return to jkontherun. This is the main reason; because you are a “heavy user” of these devices, you work with them, you live and breathe them. This is what distinguishes your site from the vast majority out there. I believe you could highlight this even more in the material you publish. I just want the stuff to get things done, or to accomplish things, preferably in a lighter, easier and more seamless way, the tech specs, as you so succinctly stated, are just there to enable stuff. OK, so I admit it, sometimes I drool over the design of the device, but the main thing is still what does it enable me to do.