Device dilemmas

[ciphergoth]

It's time I bought one or more new small glowing rectangles. All of mine are ancient; my contract expires in less than a fortnight and I just got a bonus at work.  I'm definitely going to stick with Android devices. But apart from that, I'm totally at sea on what to buy or how many! Your advice gratefully received.

I use them to:

• check Twitter, Facebook and RSS
• look things up online
• read books (that rectangle doesn't currently glow)
• read PDFs of scientific papers, books etc
• make voice memos
• look at maps
• make journey plans
• check bus arrival times
• occasionally take photos
• from time to time even make and receive voice calls.

I'd like to use them also to make Skype calls.

One thing I can't work out is whether to buy one device or two. What fits comfortably in a pocket is too small for reading PDFs and smaller than I'd like for many of the other jobs. But with my current collection of ageing devices, I've found setting up a WiFi hotspot every time I want to get one of the other devices online on the move is a right pain; it's slow and cumbersome, and you have to remember to turn it off or you're wondering why your Internet is so slow when you get home, or why it's not working on the Tube platform.  I don't really want the expense of two SIM cards and contracts to go with them if I can help it either!

If such a thing existed, I'd almost be tempted by a 7" phone, but it wouldn't fit in my pocket at all, and though my bag is with me everywhere it's often too far away to have my phone in.  I just tried some PDFs on my slightly broken Galaxy Note 1, and the maths PDF is fine but the philosophy one is awful, very hard to read - in part simply due to the double spacing.

For the price of, say, the Galaxy Note 3, I could get something like a top-of-the-range Nexus 7 and a smaller but fairly high-spec phone.

What should I buy? Thanks!

Comments

[emarkienna.livejournal.com]

If such a thing existed, I'd almost be tempted by a 7" phone

I'm not particularly recommending it, but such a thing does exist (Asus Fonepad) :) There are also phones in the 6" range if you want something larger than the Note series but smaller than 7" (e.g., Galaxy Mega series - looks cheaper than the Note, though not as high spec).

Personally I prefer having multiple devices that are better suited for different tasks[*]. I have the 2013 Nexus 7, which works well with my Galaxy Nexus. I don't find Wifi tethering too much of a pain on it, but yes it is a downside (especially not being able to see the signal indicator - also one has to be careful with any apps that go "Aha I'm on Wifi, I can download tonnes off stuff!", depending on your data allowance).

I was surprised to find that my Nexus 7 does fit in my front jeans pockets - in one it fits easily, though those are jeans with very large pockets; in others it pokes out the top slightly, and wouldn't be comfortable sitting at work with it all day (though I suppose I could easily put it on my desk when at work). I did briefly consider that I could switch to a 7" phone, but I think I'd still rather have a smaller device too.

So I guess I'd add a recommendation for the Nexus 7 - the 2013 model is a good spec, very light and thin, still reasonably cheap, the only downside for me is lack of microSD (and annoyingly the workaround to use USB OTG doesn't work on it). tiamatlady just got the Tesco Hudl - although not as good spec as the Nexus 7 and a bit heavier, it's still very reasonable, much cheaper, and has microSD.

[*] I love reading LJ on my Nexus 7, but it still got tossed aside for a device with an actual keyboard for me to write this on.