I Tried Making a Phone My Only Computer [00:00:00.12] NARRATOR: Hey guys. Welcome to the third episode of my Experiments series. Episode 2 came out all the way back in June and was a massive success, so I thought it was about time for another one. So, context. In 2017, Android finally beat Windows and became the most used operating system in the world. Now that's huge. In the last decade, our phones have become so much more advanced and they've definitely become our most personal computing devices. [00:00:21.69] There's still a lot of things your phone can't do, but tech companies, especially Microsoft and Qualcomm, are actively working on creating the ultimate all-in-one device so you can have one thing for everything. That's still future stuff, but I decided to be proactive and tried making my phone my only computer for the past five days. [00:00:40.44] I carried around just my Android phone, the stand that I bought off of Amazon for like $6, and a generic Bluetooth keyboard that came with an iPad case. Clearly the best part of this setup was the cost. You probably already have a phone, so the only added cost would be the stand and the keyboard. I guess you can make this work with just your phone, but since I'm a student and need to type a lot, I can't deal with half the screen being covered by my fingers. [00:01:01.60] So that's only three things I need to carry around in my backpack, which was pretty cool. Plus, I could carry even less if I got a kickstand phone case and a foldable keyboard instead. So you could potentially carry around your entire setup in your pockets. Portability was a win here, but so is versatility. I realize that most of the casual and professional things I need are already here. A phone. Messaging. Email. A browser. Office software. [00:01:24.00] A camera with basic photo and video editing, and all the entertainment and social apps. Since these mobile apps are so optimized and easy to use for a touchscreen, there's really no need to resort to clunky software or websites on desktops. Obviously, I couldn't do advanced things like AAA gaming or use the Adobe Creative Suite. But for general stuff, everything I needed was already in my pocket. But since this is still a mobile operating system, there were definitely some shortcomings. For one, file management. [00:01:49.53] To be fair, file managing is much better on Android than on iOS, but it's still not that great. Copy pasting files is a pain since there isn't a native drag and drop system. There is a bit of cloud storage integration, but it's nowhere close to being as good as on desktops. Searching for specific files on Windows 10 isn't great, but it's even worse on Android. Even when going through my files manually, it's pretty hard to know what's located in what folder. [00:02:14.07] Third-party file managing apps can improve your experience, but probably not by much. Another inconvenience was multitasking. Except for some Samsung phones, multiple windows multitasking doesn't really exist on Android and iOS. There is split-screen multitasking, but it's not as quick and easy to use as on desktop. I know a lot of you don't even use split screen on your phones, but I use it a bunch and I bet you would use it too if you're doing anything work-related. [00:02:36.75] This feature is also a little annoying because it's limited to certain apps that are optimized for it, but I found that you can actually enable split screen for any app under developer options. Just turn on that sending, reboot your phone, and you'll be good to go. Some apps forced close a lot, especially Instagram. But most unoptimized apps still work well enough with the setting on. Another thing that was sort of annoying but solvable was landscape mode. With default settings, Android lets you do a lot of things in this orientation but there's also a lot of things you can't do. [00:03:04.17] The default moto launcher on my phone allows landscape orientation, but I know a lot of other stock launchers don't allow this. More importantly, apps are really inconsistent in terms of which ones can be in landscape or not. But this is Android, so there's a ton of 3rd party launchers you can install for changing home screen orientation, and there's apps that can force rotate any app. [00:03:22.23] I personally recommend Alternate Rotation Control. Their icon looks like it's from 2012, but this app can rotate anything, no matter how ridiculous it looks, including Instagram and Cortana. Now let's finally talk about the keyboard experience, which was surprisingly pretty nice. Android has native support for physical keyboards and even a mouse cursor. Once I connected this Bluetooth keyboard, it added a whole new dimension to my phone. [00:03:44.01] For the past five days, I typed all my class notes with One Note, and I even finished an entire essay on Word. The keyboard experience wasn't perfect though, especially in terms of shortcuts. Android does have a set of keyboard shortcuts like switching apps and copy and pasting, but a lot of them didn't work with the keyboard I have. This brings up another issue of which keyboards are the most compatible. [00:04:04.11] I don't think Google ever made an official list, which is fair because this is a mobile operating system and not a lot of developers have physical keyboard in mind when making their apps. But yeah, I only found useful shortcuts and office apps, but weirdly not on One Note. Without good shortcuts, the keyboard experience was pretty inconsistent for me since I reached for the touchscreen a lot and went back and forth with my keyboard. [00:04:24.42] For the best experience, you should get a keyboard with a trackpad so you don't have to go back and forth with the touchscreen. I also recommend switching your default keyboard to SwiftKey, since it has really good external keyboard support. Auto correct has been really good with this. And predictions come up at the bottom of the screen with shortcuts to quickly access those. I personally like Gboard better as a virtual keyboard, but SwiftKey has much better physical keyboard support. [00:04:45.75] So far and this setup sounds like a success, right? Well here's the deal breaker. Your eyes. Looking at the small display all day, especially reading text, badly messed with my eyes and was literally a headache. I mean I've never gotten this pain before from using my phone because yeah, I always use my phone. But I only use it on and off throughout the day and never for hours on straight. [00:05:05.55] Writing my essay was doable in terms of speed, but not in terms of my health. A bigger screen would help, but probably not that much since these new bezel phones are just narrower and longer. I mean you'll see more content, but your eyes would still be focusing on this tiny space. There is a pseudo-solution for this when you're home. If you have a monitor at home you can do screen casting, which can definitely make this reasonable for long periods. [00:05:27.02] Or there's something like Samsung DeX, which basically gives you a desktop experience with Android apps. But when you're outside you can't really go to these options unless you have something like a HP Elite X3 lapdock. But that would ultimately defeat the purpose of this setup. Look, this setup is fine for short periods. Like maybe you need to make a quick edit on a presentation or you forgot your laptop, so you need to take notes on your phone. [00:05:49.26] In the end though, I really can't recommend looking at this tiny screen for long periods for your own health. But let's say you're crazy enough to want this. Here's what you'll need for the best time. A powerful phone with the biggest display you can find. It should have the latest processor and at least 4 gigs of RAM so you can switch apps faster and multitask without apps force closing on you. [00:06:10.14] That phone should have a big battery, or you should at least have a power bank on you since you'll be using this phone for everything. Like I mentioned before, you should also get a kickstand phone case and a foldable Bluetooth keyboard with a trackpad. Install a different launcher, SwiftKey, Ultimate Rotation Control, and enable split screen for any app under developer options. Finally, to help with the eye strain, increase the system fault size. [00:06:31.92] It's ugly, but it's going to help. So before I end this video, I want to ask you guys this. Do you want something like this to be the future? I did a fun little poll on my IG story, and more than half of you called me extra, which I agree with. I mean, this is minimal in the sense that you carry less things. And if you're someone who doesn't really do much on your laptop anyways, this sounds like an amazing idea to save you a ton of money. [00:06:55.29] But until those flexible and foldable devices come out, this is ultimately pretty extra for how ridiculous you'll look and the physical struggle you have to put yourself through. So yeah, spend some money. Save your eyes and don't hold back from buying a laptop or at least tablet. It was fun though. [00:07:12.03] All right. Thanks for watching this episode of my Experiments series. If you haven't checked out the last two episodes, please go check those out on my channel. And while you're there it'd be awesome if you could subscribe to my channel. And don't forget to follow me on my social too. Thanks again, and I'll see you guys in the next one.