For the past few months I’ve become a squatter in our family room. I have taken over the larger sofa with the best view of the TV.
In front of me is an inverted trash can. It is my desk. My laptop sits on it, precariously.
This family room has become “Geoff’s House of Screens!”
There are times my laptop, tablet, smartphone and TV are in use simultaneously. Helaine thinks I’m a little obsessed.
I’m sorry, are you talking to me? I was distracted momentarily.
Here’s what I’ve learned. I love having all these screens!
I like having the tablet. The problem is, it’s an early technology. The software and apps aren’t where they need to be yet. On top of that there is a difference between phone and tablet screens not yet recognized by all developers. The New York Times app is an insult when used on a tablet. There is no shortage of poorly designed apps out there.
My Asus Transformer Prime should scream! It packs a quad core processor.
It does not! There are times it just hangs and I have to wait. I keep hoping new firmware will solve the problem. Those in the no says it can be fixed.
Not yet.
The Transformer Prime is a wonderful personal video player. Sometimes, when Helaine wants to watch TV, I’ll plug in earbuds and watch the tablet. Perfect.
Tablets are great for looking and tapping. I can type too, but real keyboards are so much better.
Sunday I used the tablet to chat with my great nephew and California cousins. A tablet with a front facing camera is perfect for video chat.
Typing is where my laptop comes in. I’m a multitasker. My laptop often has ten or more browser tabs plus multiple apps running together. Tablets can do this too, but the laptop does it in a much more elegant and seamless way.
My phone is a Samsung Galaxy S2. I went from an iPhone to this Android model. No regrets. Android is more fun.
The tablet does most of what the phone does (both are Android), but the phone is primarily used as a phone when I’m in the house. It’s a jack of all trades and compares poorly with its larger competition. Out of the house we are inseparable.
The Galaxy S2 has a great camera. I take entirely too many shots with it, especially in the house. Doppler made me write that.
Finally there is the TV. It is a flat panel Vizio. It’s big compared to everything I owned before. There are much, much bigger today. Much!
The Vizio has the best picture of any screen I’ve ever owned, though I constantly complain about my cable company compressing and degrading what I see.
Few of us watch video close to what our screens are capable of delivering. Isn’t that a shame?
“Look at the names,” I asked Helaine while gazing at compression artifacts on a network TV show we were watching. It was driving me nuts. She didn’t see it at all! Cable TV would be in trouble if everyone watching was me.
Too many hours of the day the TV is used as an expensive nightlight, providing visual Muzak as life goes on around it.
If deprived of any individual screen I’d be very sad. Very.
Maybe Helaine’s right. Maybe I am obsessed.
