What is a mobile device?

In our activities for week 19 we're considering how learning and teaching are impacted by the use of mobile devices. However, I realised that I've always considered these to really mean mobile telephones and not laptops or netbooks. Here's my rationale, but first let me say that I hadn't thought of iPods, or flash drives as mobile devices, which I accept as being absolutely mobile – however, they aren't really a mobile device in the way that I am defining it because they cannot input our output information without an additional computer. Flash drives and the like are really today's 'floppy diskettes' of the '80s and '90s.

I guess for me, the definition of mobile must mean that you could/would take around the mobile device for the whole of your waking life. That in effect means something that you can put in your pocket and almost forget. In addition the device must be self contained Hence mobile phones; but not a laptop or a flash drives. 

Yes, of course a laptop and netbook can be carried around easily and you can have a complete computing experience in a lecture hall, in a library or on the train. However, you still need space to sit the laptop/netbook on. If you're standing in line at the post office, or you're at the pub, or waiting for a board meeting to start, or waiting for your bus at the bus stand, you're unlikely to whip out your laptop/netbook and start typing away.

So in summary, I think a truly mobile device has to have the following characteristics:

You can take it around wherever you are all day. Think wrist watch

  • You can put information both in and out of the device, it is not a component that requires another device to do this.
  • You must be able to read and respond to the information inside the device.

Only a few devices appear to meet this criteria, in fact I can think of only 4 categories:

  • Paper & pen(cil, biro, writing implement): for a superb version of this visit the following link, which is a way of keeping an elaborate 'to do' list up to date, requires 43 cards 6"x4" or smaller, pencil and elastic band to keep it together.
  • Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) such as the Newton (if you know what this is you've shown your age), Palm, and the iPod Touch.
  • Mobile Phone: must be able to send and receive sms messages.
  • 'Smart phone': effectively a PDA and mobile phone packaged in one, best egs include iPhone and Blackberry.
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.