Is your smartphone also your computer?

The way in which we use computing devices has changed significantly over the years. In the very early days, computers were as big as a room, incredibly expensive, and so slow that processing jobs had to be booked days in advance – which is why only very large businesses and universities owned them.

The personal computer revolution in the 1980s brought them to every desk at work, and in the 1990s it became common to have one at home too. As processing speeds increased and the physical size of machines went down, computing devices began to appear everywhere.

Our devices just keep getting faster. The latest Google Pixel 3 has an 8-core processor, delivering up to 2.5GHz each – that’s 2500x faster than the computer on board Apollo 11 which took Neil Armstrong on the Moon!

More power, more possibilities

This enormous processing power and impressive portability means that we can do so much more with our phones. So much so that some people have managed to completely replace their notebook and desktop PCs with tablets and smartphones.

When AndroidCentral asked their members about computing habits, most users expressed similar opinions. Almost all admitted they spent more time on their phones for research, social networking and messaging. But they also found that when there was a “serious” task to be done, they went back to their desktop PC – usually because they felt a full-size keyboard and mouse allowed them to be more productive.

Will we ever replace full-size computers with phones?

The small size of the smartphone also seems to be its great weakness. When we really have to focus on a task, a larger screen seems to be essential – but this may well change in future.

Increasingly we are using voice-activated smart assistants to complete tasks for instance. The smart speaker market is experiencing explosive growth as people fall in love with Google Now, Alexa, Cortana and Siri. And because these systems are voice-activated, we don’t even need a screen to see what is being done.

It is highly likely that voice control will replace the need for keyboard in the future – which would be one of the final factors that prevent us from making smartphones our main computing devices.

Protect yourself now

Because we use our smartphones so much, they are natural targets for hackers. Breaking into someone’s phone could reveal user names, passwords, bank account details and much more. Which is why incidences of smartphone spyware continue to rise.

Even if your smartphone is not your primary computing device, you must protect it properly. Regularly downloading updates to the operating system and installing an anti-malware package are the least you can do to keep hackers away from your personal data.

In the same way that installing anti-malware on your PC has become an essential part of the set-up process, we should begin adopting a similar approach to our phones. Click here to install a free copy of Panda Dome for Android and you can start making your phone more secure today.