Why have I gone almost an entire month without posting? Well, I’ve been taking my time evaluating existing projects and planning for new projects to replace those that are under performing. As a part of that, I decided that it was time for a bit of a technology update, specifically a mobile update.
I like this new keyboard just fine, in fact, I’m using it now to type this post. The key arrangement is much more comfortable on the wrists than other (smaller) portable keyboards, but I still have some adjusting to do as the key position is still a bit different than my Microsoft Sculpt and MacBook Pro keyboards, which are my two primary text input devices. Given that this portable keyboard is just slightly bigger than a phablet, I’d much rather sport this in my pocket rather than lugging around a full size keyboard in my backpack.
In addition to the keyboard, I also picked up a Bluetooth mouse (because I hate TouchPad and every keyboard needs a mouse!) to pair with my Android phone. I have to say, Android isn’t all that bad with a keyboard and mouse. I’m not ready to give up Windows, macOS, or Ubuntu for it just yet, but with floating apps on a larger screen, it just might make sense in the future. The mouse is generic, but it’s slim and matte black. That makes it functional and stylish for travel and use with my phone.
I also got the Rode VideoMic Me and some aftermarket clip-on cellphone camera lenses, but I’m sure I’ll talk about all of those cool toys in the future. So the big question remains: why all of these mobile tools? Recently, I’d been flirting with the idea of an 8″ tablet, an ultrabook, or even repurposing an old phablet. My mission would be to create a portable media capture and creation device. Doing so would enable me to forget the want of any of the aforementioned devices, and also stave off my latent desire to get a pricey DSLR camera. $100 in cell phone accessories which can be repurposed to any other phone, tablet, laptop, or desktop (okay, or even a smart TV or gaming console) made more sense to me than sinking $1,000 or more into a new device and camera.
Part of the plan is to eliminate the middle-tier form factors and rely exclusively, for now, on a powerful custom built workstation desktop and a very inexpensive mid-range Android phone. If I’m able to create audio and video content, edit, publish, and promote using each of these devices, I can save my business thousands of dollars by pushing off the need for additional form factor.
The largest drawback? I love the keyboard and mouse setup with my phone, but staring–at a distance–toward the tiny text on my average-sized phone is quite the eye-strain generator. I’ll experiment with increasing the font size on my phone while propping it up at some distance, but for now, I’ll just lean in and squint.
