009 How to Choose a Good Mobile Tablet – ProductivityCast

If you are looking to purchase your first mobile tablet, or you're in the market to buy a new one, you're in luck! In this episode, Ray, Augusto and Francis tackle some of the important questions you should ask yourself about what kind of mobile tablet you should own. As a quick overview, please take note of the following criteria you can use to make a decision: Operating System – Choose the operating system that matches your smartphone. If you don’t have a smartphone, compare Android, iOS and Windows operating systems against one another by the features you're most likely to use, not the marginal features. Choose the right tablet format factor for your productivity needs. App parity, or select based on the need of a specific app(s). Decide on a budget. Choose a few tablets based on operating system, form factor, app parity, and budget to test in your local electronics store. Now, go enjoy this cast! Give us feedback! And, thank you for listening and please send us your questions! If you'd like to discuss this episode, please click here to leave a comment down below (this jumps you to the bottom of the post). In this Cast Ray Sidney-Smith Augusto Pinaud Francis Wade Show Notes Resources we mention, including links to them will be provided here. Please listen to the episode for context. Amazon Kindle Fire tablets Day One (iOS/Mac journal software) OmniFocus 2 (iOS/Mac GTD-inspired software) iCalendar Sync Cloud Google Chrome Remote Desktop Outlook Microsoft Outlook Evernote ASUS Chromebook Flip Microsoft Surface Pro 4 Lenovo Yoga and Yoga Book UX (user experience / user design) Palm Foleo Jeff Hawkins Amazon Fire Kids Edition Facebook developers forced to use Android smartphones until it's better Google Maps Raw Text Transcript Raw, unedited and machine-produced text transcript so there may be substantial errors, but you can search for specific points in the episode to jump to, or to reference back to at a later date and time, by key words or phrases. 0:00:00.000,0:00:04.080 are you ready to manage your work and 0:00:02.100,0:00:05.940 personal world better to live a more 0:00:04.080,0:00:06.779 fulfilling productive life then you've 0:00:05.940,0:00:09.719 come to the right place 0:00:06.779,0:00:12.389 welcome to productivity cast the weekly 0:00:09.719,0:00:14.849 show about all things productivity here 0:00:12.389,0:00:18.210 are your hosts ray Sidney-Smith and 0:00:14.849,0:00:20.310 Augusto Pinaud welcome back everybody to 0:00:18.210,0:00:22.710 productivity cast the weekly show about 0:00:20.310,0:00:24.840 all things personal productivity I'm Ray 0:00:22.710,0:00:26.490 S-dney-Smith and I'm here with Augusto 0:00:24.840,0:00:28.980 Pinaud how's it going Augusto good 0:00:26.490,0:00:32.070 morning how are you today I'm doing 0:00:28.980,0:00:34.079 really well and we are joined again with 0:00:32.070,0:00:36.120 our regular contributor Francis Wade how 0:00:34.079,0:00:37.290 are you doing Francis I'm fine it's 0:00:36.120,0:00:40.469 great to be with you guys again 0:00:37.290,0:00:42.750 I am sitting in my office and looking at 0:00:40.469,0:00:44.700 the beautiful sunny sky and looking 0:00:42.750,0:00:47.520 forward to this conversation we are 0:00:44.700,0:00:50.460 going to be talking about choosing a 0:00:47.520,0:00:52.680 tablet computer and/or mobile tablet as 0:00:50.460,0:00:54.390 some people call it and I think this is 0:00:52.680,0:00:56.969 a really important topic for a lot of 0:00:54.390,0:01:00.120 people because of the fact that we we 0:00:56.969,0:01:03.899 use screens of different sizes today and 0:01:00.120,0:01:05.880 as we traverse between screens that's 0:01:03.899,0:01:09.330 really important that the tool we use 0:01:05.880,0:01:11.220 the tool we choose to use is effective 0:01:09.330,0:01:12.689 for us and that comes with a lot of 0:01:11.220,0:01:15.210 different options and a lot of choices 0:01:12.689,0:01:16.770 and I think it's really good that we 0:01:15.210,0:01:19.200 make that choice that first choice right 0:01:16.770,0:01:21.750 out the gate I want to talk about 0:01:19.200,0:01:25.439 operating system and form factor and 0:01:21.750,0:01:27.119 budget and at parity across ecosystems 0:01:25.439,0:01:29.520 we're each gonna probably have a 0:01:27.119,0:01:30.600 different opinion on choosing some of 0:01:29.520,0:01:32.579 these pieces and I think that'll be 0:01:30.600,0:01:34.439 really healthy for us so let's get 0:01:32.579,0:01:37.310 started with choosing an operating 0:01:34.439,0:01:40.619 system I believe in an operating system 0:01:37.310,0:01:42.180 choices being sort of twofold right you 0:01:40.619,0:01:45.390 have the selection of the operating 0:01:42.180,0:01:47.640 system because it matches your smart 0:01:45.390,0:01:49.140 phone right it so it's already your 0:01:47.640,0:01:51.540 smart phone operating system why 0:01:49.140,0:01:53.250 shouldn't it be your tablet operating 0:01:51.540,0:01:55.439 system and then the other side is that 0:01:53.250,0:01:57.240 you're not particularly wedded to your 0:01:55.439,0:01:59.549 smartphone or you don't own a smartphone 0:01:57.240,0:02:02.219 and so therefore you should compare it 0:01:59.549,0:02:05.280 against the three major tablet operating 0:02:02.219,0:02:07.799 systems and make a choice based on those 0:02:05.280,0:02:11.310 that comparison that you that you meet 0:02:07.799,0:02:13.250 for me is starred a matter of something 0:02:11.310,0:02:17.300 I'd paid I 0:02:13.250,0:02:20.510 I was on and I think my tablet or my 0:02:17.300,0:02:23.780 original tablet when the first iPad came 0:02:20.510,0:02:27.980 out where tablet still was not something 0:02:23.780,0:02:31.400 that was mainstream I understood the 0:02:27.980,0:02:34.670 power that God doublet May had on my 0:02:31.400,0:02:39.260 work or what I was hoping he was going 0:02:34.670,0:02:41.690 to have on mark worthless and after I 0:02:39.260,0:02:47.000 moved there and have been so many years 0:02:41.690,0:02:52.070 in the iOS ecosystem there certain apps 0:02:47.000,0:02:54.770 that are still only available the iPad 0:02:52.070,0:02:59.090 that I use that make me hard and unmake 0:02:54.770,0:03:00.860 a challenge to for me to leave the iOS 0:02:59.090,0:03:03.860 mostly because then I need to find out 0:03:00.860,0:03:06.320 my replacement and I like them and enjoy 0:03:03.860,0:03:10.070 them and use them almost every day not 0:03:06.320,0:03:12.590 every day multiple times so sorry I'm in 0:03:10.070,0:03:15.050 a certain way of talking iOS there is a 0:03:12.590,0:03:19.340 couple of outside projects I'm doing 0:03:15.050,0:03:23.900 right now where the people is forcing me 0:03:19.340,0:03:27.530 to go to Google Docs and it's been a 0:03:23.900,0:03:31.220 struggle because Google Docs on the iPad 0:03:27.530,0:03:33.620 it works 80% so you can write and all 0:03:31.220,0:03:37.459 that but you cannot see for example as 0:03:33.620,0:03:40.910 of today the changes that others do or 0:03:37.459,0:03:42.019 have done to that document but then or a 0:03:40.910,0:03:43.850 co-writing 0:03:42.019,0:03:46.489 stakes that is what we're doing on that 0:03:43.850,0:03:50.030 case in that project it's a problem 0:03:46.489,0:03:51.680 because I cannot go simply and dump text 0:03:50.030,0:03:55.239 in there and you know what happened and 0:03:51.680,0:03:59.150 what not so that has forced me to 0:03:55.239,0:04:02.570 consider the possibility of adding 0:03:59.150,0:04:04.720 another piece of gear to my arsenal but 0:04:02.570,0:04:07.130 I'm trying to avoid mostly because I 0:04:04.720,0:04:12.140 already carry more gear than what I 0:04:07.130,0:04:14.840 should and on and when then when you 0:04:12.140,0:04:17.780 look into that you discover that the 0:04:14.840,0:04:20.900 gear you know I need it it's basically 0:04:17.780,0:04:24.590 forcing or going to lock me into a 0:04:20.900,0:04:26.480 Chromebook or Chrome tablets because of 0:04:24.590,0:04:29.870 that that said 0:04:26.480,0:04:31.790 my criteria for laptop or her tablets 0:04:29.870,0:04:35.120 used to be the same one as laughter the 0:04:31.790,0:04:37.310 larger the battery the better that is 0:04:35.120,0:04:40.940 one of the reasons I have used also the 0:04:37.310,0:04:43.610 iPad for so long because in it used to 0:04:40.940,0:04:46.340 last me a whole workday now the 0:04:43.610,0:04:49.130 processor has improved and more speed 0:04:46.340,0:04:50.960 has improved and I use it more it loves 0:04:49.130,0:04:54.890 me the whole workday but then I have no 0:04:50.960,0:04:57.080 use for night so sorry eventually end up 0:04:54.890,0:04:59.510 charging my iPad around the middle of 0:04:57.080,0:05:03.020 the day so that way I have used for the 0:04:59.510,0:05:05.870 night but I believe that the better the 0:05:03.020,0:05:08.990 larger the larger the capacity working 0:05:05.870,0:05:11.960 wise for the battery that is in my 0:05:08.990,0:05:16.400 opinion the most important feature that 0:05:11.960,0:05:18.770 a tablet and a laptop can have well for 0:05:16.400,0:05:21.530 me if you remember the last time we 0:05:18.770,0:05:24.140 talked about this I spoke about the way 0:05:21.530,0:05:26.990 that I use my ecosystem I used my laptop 0:05:24.140,0:05:30.590 for creation my tablet for consumption 0:05:26.990,0:05:32.720 and my phone for mobility no I can't say 0:05:30.590,0:05:35.720 that I started out thinking that I 0:05:32.720,0:05:39.320 should do it this way it is it's more of 0:05:35.720,0:05:41.960 an evolution and to be honest I only got 0:05:39.320,0:05:44.480 a tablet because I wanted to watch 0:05:41.960,0:05:46.280 movies on a veranda that's that's what 0:05:44.480,0:05:48.260 motivated me I said you know what it's 0:05:46.280,0:05:50.930 ...