How I use these unlikely duo daily

There was a time when I only ever used laptops to watch movies and YouTube videos, read school e-books, and sometimes play PES 16. I did every other digital thing with phones, especially typing documents, and that felt enough until when I didn't have a phone. Then a wild shift happened.

Nowadays, I am juggling between my phone and laptop, and it's a bit hard to say which I use more. It should be easy to say my phone since I am mobile with that one, but really, when I'm around my workspace, I sometimes move around with my laptop in hand when I have to.

I used to think that I could use my phone to do a lot and not always need a laptop, but that was never accurate. The reality was that I was only involved with things that I could conveniently use my phone for rather than my laptop. My phone became faulty in 2022, and then I was forced to rely on my laptop for almost everything.

Phones are generally never as powerful as laptops because of their form factor, size, and ability to host peripherals for more intensive tasks. Their designed to be mobile, but not workstations where really big computations and processing can be done, at least conveniently. And if you're dabbling into more than what phones can offer, especially for efficiency and convenience, a PC becomes a daily driver as well.

What I use my laptop for ranges across writing, 3D modelling, video editing, programming, and a few other things that I use my phone for, like social media surfing and sometimes phone calls [that aren't cellular].

I found that the biggest reason I used to choose my phone over my laptop was that I couldn't type efficiently, and it was always way more convenient to type on my phone as I was rather faster with that. I had to learn touch typing as my laptop was the only way I could write, type, and use social media.

It's been over two years since I started with touch typing, and I have grown from struggling with 10 words per minute (WPM) to finally getting close to 90 WPM. And now that it's second nature to me, I would always prefer to write and text with my laptop.

One reason I got frustrated learning frontend web development was how slow I was with coding. I just knew that I had to master the keyboard to some degree to be able to reduce that friction, and I did. I am just much able to use my laptop more easily being able to type, and it isn't just about speed; accuracy over speed, always.

There are, however, things that I use my phone for and never my laptop for. I mean, laptops never have great webcams. It's odd that laptops that probably cost way more than phones have really terrible webcams. When it comes to video calls, for example, I'm always better off with my phone. Talking about taking photos, too; laptops are never in the equation.

When it comes to leisure, my phone is the go-to device. I watch Netflix on my laptop, but downloads are no longer available for PCs, so I stick with my phone mostly these days, unless I need to watch on a TV with my laptop connected. And I prefer to play games on my phone when I don't have a controller to use with my laptop, although I don't even play games much these days.

Just like the laptop I have in mind to upgrade to, I was very intentional about this phone when I chose it. I couldn't afford flagship phones, and low-budget phones weren't going to do for me, so I had to make a decision with the midrange phones available. Xiaomi has been my go-to brand for how much durability and quality they pack into some of their affordable phones. The Redmi Note 10 Pro was the best option for me, and it still arguably is because many of the phones these days are missing one thing or another to make them generally "good."

And the USB-C on my phone allows me to use some accessories with my phone. I plug in my microphone every now and get better audio quality when I am shooting videos. I also get to plug in my wireless keyboard and type with it. It makes my phone a machine on its own, but there are just so many things that I can't do with it and would rather use my laptop for.

Ah, yes, banking. Never have I really used my laptop for banking. It's like they don't even bother designing web or desktop apps for banks here, and it makes sense since it is convenient on mobile devices.

Let's just say that when it comes to work or being really productive, my laptop helps me lock in, while my phone is more for communications, banking, leisure, and being creative.

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