Trudging around with a backpack that weighs no less than 20 lbs. I settle in for my next meeting at Mobile World Congress. Pulling out 2 laptops, and 2 tablets I pause for a moment to figure out which device I want to use to keep notes on. Normally it would be the tablet because it’s less invasive and distracting to the meeting, however, I’ve never been as fond of the experience of typing on those little cloth keyboards.
While I may be a bit of a tech geek who has more devices than the average tradeshow attendee, I wouldn’t be even the least bit surprised to find out that most of the attendees here at Mobile World 2016 have at least 2 different devices at their disposal throughout the show and it also wouldn’t surprise me to find out that those devices by no means offer seamless access to the owner’s data and information.
For some reason over the past few years there has been a bit of a prestige associated with how many devices we carry. As if by pulling out 3 laptops at the TSA Checkpoint we are going to win some sort of prize like being the millionth customer to shop at the local Quickie Mart. But here is the thing, while we as individuals may have associated a use case and a need for every one of those different mobile devices, we have been remiss to even scratch the surface of evolving as it pertains to mobility.
When we hear the stories of what mobility should look like, we hear about simplicity. And not just simple to use, but simple to move for mobility has little to do with mobile devices and much to do with how we make work happen wherever we are rather than a place that we go.
We also hear misconceptions of mobility by confusing how other technologies may enable mobility. For instance, cloud computing has done much to create new levels of accessibility for the mobile worker. With applications that can be accessed from the cloud via an application or a browser we can now access the same information across a plethora of devices without a seamless experience. While this may be true, it is by no means mobility optimized; it is just a stepping-stone in terms of accessibility across a juggernaut of disparate devices.
As we gaze into the future of what is possible for mobility and computing, we have entered a time where less truly is more. It isn’t about whether or not we need one device or more, but about what do we truly need to work on whatever we want from wherever we are. There is no glamour in being weighed down by endless devices that don’t really work together, but we will first have to modify our behavior just a little to see that we can in fact be every bit as productive with one device that does it all as opposed to the many that we use today, that may not do it all so well.
Idealistic, perhaps, but today at Mobile World Congress I witnessed what is possible. With the launch of the Elite x3, HP is now in a position to offer mobility in a way that few have before.
This isn’t just a phone, in fact, this isn’t just a device; it’s the center of a mobility experience that may just mark the future of what mobility should be. To learn more about the powerful Elite X3 by HP, check out this insightful review by my esteemed colleague and friend Patrick Moorhead.
