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I think it's curious that you consider typing speed the obstacle for handling email on the phone. For me, the problem is that I struggle to find all the info n

I think it's curious that you consider typing speed the obstacle for handling email on the phone. For me, the problem is that I struggle to find all the info needed to answer an email when I'm on my phone. Answering emails often incolves cross referencing something from the email with a document stored somewhere, or something I need to look up on a website, etc. I can do most of these things on my phone, but it takes me 10x as long as on my Macbook. It seems that people use email very differently than I do when the typing speed is what's holding you back.

joshstrange 3y ago
Agreed. Typing speed is rarely my limiting factor. Switching apps/webpages on mobile (or iPadOS) is so limiting that I don’t use them for much more than consumption devices. My MacBook is where real work happens. The ability to have multiple windows visible or just the speed at which I can switch tabs/windows/contexts on the computer beats the pants off my phone/tablet.
- pixelmonkey 3y ago
  I agree that task switching is another desktop advantage.
  - joshstrange 3y ago
    Yeah, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve started a task on my phone or tablet only to say to say “screw this” and I just walk into my office. I’ve even considered buying an M1 Air or similar to leave in my living room so I can just grab it, do something, then close it and put it back in a drawer/sleeve/etc. I can’t quite justify the cost for that but I’ve come close. And I’m not even talking about writing code. Just doing minor “research” or responding to a text/email/comment where I need to reference something online (either to link or just to confirm my knowledge). I feel like I’m in a box on my phone/tablet compared to the wide open spaces of my laptop. In all fairness, even if my phone/tablet had a full OS running on them I’d feel the same way without my mouse/keyboard. So I don’t really think it’s a UI/UX limitation but a combo of screen size/real-estate and input devices. My fingers just aren’t precise enough for even things like copy/paste let alone window management. I’ve used enough VNC-type apps to know having a full OS available to me doesn’t really make things better when limited to my fingers for input.
    - pixelmonkey 3y ago
      I'm the exact same way.
pixelmonkey 3y ago
I mentioned email only because Blackberry excelled at this, and not much else. (The Blackberry OS was an awesome texting & email client, with sub-par apps for everything else, including web browsing.) I am a writer and programmer so that perhaps makes it less surprising that typing speed does affect my overall creative speed.

joshstrange 3y ago

Agreed. Typing speed is rarely my limiting factor. Switching apps/webpages on mobile (or iPadOS) is so limiting that I don’t use them for much more than consumption devices. My MacBook is where real work happens. The ability to have multiple windows visible or just the speed at which I can switch tabs/windows/contexts on the computer beats the pants off my phone/tablet.

pixelmonkey 3y ago
I agree that task switching is another desktop advantage.
- joshstrange 3y ago
  Yeah, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve started a task on my phone or tablet only to say to say “screw this” and I just walk into my office. I’ve even considered buying an M1 Air or similar to leave in my living room so I can just grab it, do something, then close it and put it back in a drawer/sleeve/etc. I can’t quite justify the cost for that but I’ve come close. And I’m not even talking about writing code. Just doing minor “research” or responding to a text/email/comment where I need to reference something online (either to link or just to confirm my knowledge). I feel like I’m in a box on my phone/tablet compared to the wide open spaces of my laptop. In all fairness, even if my phone/tablet had a full OS running on them I’d feel the same way without my mouse/keyboard. So I don’t really think it’s a UI/UX limitation but a combo of screen size/real-estate and input devices. My fingers just aren’t precise enough for even things like copy/paste let alone window management. I’ve used enough VNC-type apps to know having a full OS available to me doesn’t really make things better when limited to my fingers for input.
  - pixelmonkey 3y ago
    I'm the exact same way.

pixelmonkey 3y ago

I mentioned email only because Blackberry excelled at this, and not much else. (The Blackberry OS was an awesome texting & email client, with sub-par apps for everything else, including web browsing.) I am a writer and programmer so that perhaps makes it less surprising that typing speed does affect my overall creative speed.