Sponsored video: Being a mobile editor

Mobile editing

Being an industry editor inevitably means you are often out of the office visiting factories, attending press events and participating in conferences.

That also means you spend time on trains or in cafés writing articles about the events you have just attended or catching up on emails and calls.

Abandoned laptop

Lugging about a laptop seems like the obvious choice of technology to use for an industry editor to take when out of the office. But, laptops are often a lot heavier than they look and can feel cumbersome after a short time, making them less than ideal for a 'mobile editor'.

Therefore, I have abandoned my laptop when 'on the road' in favour a using a tablet PC with a bluetooth keyboard, in conjunction with a 3G mobile dongle for internet access as my 'mobile editorial kit'.

The primary benefit is the lack of weight. My tablet PC/bluetooth keyboard combination is light and compact, which means I barely notice the weight when carrying them about in my laptop bag.

Elbow room for writing

Also, being compact as a set up means that I can write articles with the tablet PC and keyboard when they are sitting on the fold-down tray when sitting in a train, or while sitting in a press event.

A bulky laptop is often just too big to be able to work on while on the go. There is no 'elbow room', literally, for me to be able to work because laptops can be too wide. Tablet PC's are, simply, smaller and, therefore, can be used more easily when on the go.

Apps and integration

Another joyous aspect of tablet PC's is the number of 'apps' and tools which make editing and journalism more manageable than with a laptop.

The integrated camera in my 'tablet' makes it easy to take a quick photo or video of a product, person or activity at an event. This can then be inserted into an article or post for my website in an instant.

Writing apps I use create files in several different formats so they can be used on different platforms. For example, the writing app I use on my tablet PC can export documents in 'Markdown' format, which is great for then converting into HTML for the web. Or, it can export in Word format which I send to designers to use for print magazines.

Better hardware

Hardware is improving all the time, becoming faster, lighter, sharper and with larger storage. As the hardware improves, so does your efficiency with getting things done on time.

Take, for instance, the new Ionia W4 tablet PC that ACER has asked me to look at. It sums up just how quickly hardware is improving.

Let's take weight as a measure of the improvements for a start; the Iconia W4 weighs about 430 grammes. Apple's iPad 4 WiFi version weighs 652 grammes. That weight makes a big difference when you are carrying your tablet PC about all day or holding it up to take photos. The Iconia 4 is light enough to hold in one hand comfortably.

On size alone, the Iconia 4 is 135mm wide x 219mm high and 10.8mm deep. The Apple iPad 4 is 241.2mm wide x 185.7 high and 9.4mm deep. That means the Iconia W4 is a third smaller than the iPad in area.

That makes it a lot less bulky to carry around, which is important to me as a 'mobile editor'.

You can watch the video about the Acer Iconia 4 below:

(By the way, this is a video sponsored by ACER, but all these views are my own).

I have not written about the usual things about tablet PC's here, such as the processor power or screen resolution (which are important), purely because space and weight are the aspects of being a mobile editor which you regret if you ignore them. Performance is vital, but not at the expense weight and bulk.

Power to the people

But, the one topic which is an obsession when out of the office and editing or writing, and that is power. Being without charged up batteries is a living nightmare for an editor or journalist.
I will cover that more in my next post.