Smartphone or tablet? It is really a question of portability and intended use. If you are into watching a lot of movies, reading e-books and e-magazines or browsing the web then a tablet with its bigger screen is definitely the better option.

Of course you can do all that and more on a smartphone but the smaller screen will soon play havoc with your eyesight. The potential damage to eyesight is bad enough for millions of people who spend large parts of their day and night staring at small smartphone screens. There are also an increasing number of medical reports blaming smartphones for neck and back problems in those that are addicted to staring down at the small screen as if their life was being played out in the news feeds and inboxes of social media.

To some, social media has opened a new world of possibilities but it has also opened a new world medical and psychological conditions. Forget about the likelihood of getting cancer from mobile phones – you are now more likely to develop eyesight problems, migraines, epilepsy and osteoarthritis. Oh yeah, and then there’s a whole new range of psychological issues involving everything from depression to the narcissism associated with those addicted to taking selfies. Obsessive compulsive behavior has found a new home in smartphones.

Try this one – nomophobia – short for “no-mobile-phone phobia,” this is exactly what it sounds like: the fear of being without your phone. According to a study of 1,000 people in the U.K., 66% of the population fears losing or being without their phones at any given time. Some of the symptoms of nomophobia include anxiety or negative physical symptoms if you have lost or cannot use your cell phone, obsessively checking to make sure you have your phone with you, and constantly worrying about losing it somewhere. Interestingly, the study found that women suffer from this more than men.

Want a cure for the problems associated with smartphones? Maybe it’s time to take a tablet.

The arrival of tablets has really shaken up the tech market. Tablets are the missing link between laptops and mobile phones. They can do some of the things a phone does, some of the things a laptop does and a few things that only a tablet can do. You can browse the net, watch films and send email on all three devices, but the experience is very different.

Pulling up a quick Google search on your phone can be instantaneous, very quick on your tablet and relatively slow on your laptop.

Of course portability also differs between all three. Tablets are becoming ever more portable, but nothing will ever replace the ease of being able to just pop something into your pocket. Yet tablets are a far sight more portable and less heavy than laptops.

That said, here I am writing this article on a laptop as I sit on a flight down to Brisbane. I take my laptop everywhere I travel and it is a better business option than either the smartphone or tablet. I would never write anything of length on a smartphone or tablet. The laptop is also much easier to hook up with other devices such as printers and TV screens.

However, in the world of business everything has a place and function. Arrive at the airport, clear customs and out comes the smartphone. The mobile office is in fact comprised of a number of portable devices, and these devices are not limited to phones, tablets and laptops. External drives, blue tooth speakers, noise-cancelling headphones and anything else that can connected via a USB port or wireless transmission is part of the suite of mobile office products. One of my favorites is the scanning wand. A thin, light-weight, very handy device that allows me to scan documents, save them as JPG or PDFs and transfer them to my laptop via USB.

The question now is, what is the role of the tablet in the mix? The function of the tablet it would appear is purely entertainment. They are a great secondary device. Perfect for watching films, keeping in touch with people via email and Skype, and viewing photos in a much larger format with wonderful resolution. As they are flat, they are more transportable than laptops and easy to pop in your bag.

Tablets also stand alone when it comes to battery life, offering almost double that of a laptop or smartphone.

The following chart shows a general comparison of the laptop v tablet v smartphone in terms of average battery life, weight, storage space and screen size.

Comparison: Laptops v Tablet v Phone (source: www.which.co.uk)

LENOVO TABLETS: THE MISSING LINK

In my last article I looked at the Lenovo range of smartphones. Remember Lenovo is a company who has diversified from being a major player in the laptop market – in fact as the world’s leading producer of laptops through its Think Pad brand – to now making its mark as a producer of smartphones catering for the lower end of the market. By that I do not mean cheap smartphones, but rather affordable devices positioned away from the hype created by Apple and Samsung.

Given that Lenovo’s DNA is in laptop technology, and given that tablets are positioned somewhere between laptops and smartphones – both of which Lenovo has now excelled in – it would stand to reason that Lenovo is capable of making excellent tablets.

For this purpose, let’s look at two products. The Lenovo TAB 2 A730 and the TAB S830.

The TAB 2 A730 has a 7-inch infinity screen with a high resolution of 1024×600 IPS display. As such it delivers a vivid, colorful viewing experience both indoors and outdoors. The infinity screen gives perfect wide-angle viewing.

Weighing just 269g and 8.9mm thin, the tablet is perfect for reading and watching movies. Its lightness means it is a perfect travelling companion, in its role as a provider of entertainment. It has quad core processing and Dolby audio which is great news for movie buffs and gamers.

Like all tablets the TAB 2 A730 has functions beyond entertainment. It has dual cameras with a 2 megapixel rear camera and the added bonus of a front selfie camera.

TAB 2 also has the trademark of most tablets – long battery life – with up to 8 hours of WiFi browsing on a single battery charge.

The Lenovo YOGA 830 tablet is in the same market but offers a more complete experience and radically different style.

Weighing less than 300g an under 8mm thin, with an 8-inch High-Definition Infinity screen the YOGA 830 delivers a vivid, colorful viewing experience, both indoors and outdoors with 1920 x 1200 pixel resolution. In-plane switching technology offers wide-angle viewing, perfect for watching full HD with friends. Plus with an ultra-thin high-transparent touchscreen, every image appears closer, clearer and sharper.

The camera jumps up to 8MP at the rear with a wide-aperture f2.2 lens, with a 1.6MP front camera for selfies and webchats.

The YOGA 830 tablet is powered by an Intel Atom Z3745 64bit quad core processor clocked at 1.33 GHz with an Android 4.4 (KitKat) operating system which takes system performance to an all-time high by optimising memory and improving the YOGA’s touchscreen so that it responds faster and more accurately than any other tablet in the Lenovo range.

Lenovo YOGA 830 also comes with twin front speakers with the powerful surround sound of Dolby audio for a convincing in-your-face experience.

Early in March this year we had a look at Lenovo and how the Chinese company was extending its product portfolio from laptops and computers to smart phones and tablets.

It seems a natural progression for a company that has already established itself with the Thinkpad as the world’s largest personal computer vendor by unit sales.

Lenovo’s approach to the smartphone market has been to position its brand away from the top-end smartphone manufacturers such as Apple and Samsung and target the lower end of the market.

Lenovo smartphones are affordable all-rounders and as such are perfect for the local market – and even more lovable because many of their models feature dual SIM. With that in mind, here are three of Lenovo’s best smartphones.

LENOVO A536

The A536 is available in black or white and combines a large 5 inch display with the latest Android Operating System (OS) and quad core processing. It has front and rear cameras, while HSPA+ technology ensures super-fast uploads and downloads.

One smartphone, two phone numbers. That allows you to take advantage of the different data plans being offered by Digical and Bmobile-Vodafone. The time has come for PNG consumers to enjoy the advantage of competition. A dual-SIM smartphone like Lenovo A536 makes perfect sense.

LENOVO A6000

Lenovo’s mid-range A6000 supports high-speed LTE (4G) networks so it has lightning-fast data connectivity. It has a smooth, responsive system performance, boasting a 1.2Ghz 64-bit quad core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, so it has no problem handling music, video, apps and games.

The A6000 has a 5 inch HD screen with in-plane switching (IPS) offering nearly 180 degree of wide-angle viewing. The device also has a unique sound system featuring twin speakers with Dolby Digital Plus and enhanced volume levels, so everything sounds richer, deeper and more realistic.

Other features of the A6000 are an Android 4.4 OS, taking performance to an all-time high by optimizing memory and improving your touchscreen so that it responds faster and more accurately than ever before, as well as integrated front and rear cameras, with the main snapper being 8MP auto-focus with LED flash. And once again, dual SIM.

LENOVO A7000

The A7000 is the big daddy in the Lenovo range of smart phones. The screen size is 5.5 inches with a wide-view display housed in a device with rounded corners and an ergonomic design. The screen is protected by Asahi’s Dragontrail glass. The right edge of the phone houses the volume rocker and the power button. These are made of metal and have great tactile feedback. There is a microphone at the bottom of the device. The top-edge houses the 3.5mm audio port and the Micro USB port.

The engine is a powerful, multimedia-rich 64-bit Octacore processor with 2GB DDR3 RAM and 8GB of internal storage. The storage space can be expanded by up to 32GB using a microSD card.

It comes with the latest Android operating system and a long-lasting 2900mAh battery, and of course a Dual SIM. The camera is 8MP with dual-LED flash, and there is also a 5MP selfie camera at the front.

Realising the importance of multimedia, Lenovo have made the A7000 appealing and unique as the world’s first smartphone with Dolby Atmos.

Dolby Atmos is basically an app that can be used to tweak its sound handling according to the content being played. It looks like a sophisticated equaliser app that lets you play around with the sound frequency levels to create a sense of space.

All up the Lenovo A7000 is packed with features at the right price making it a great smartphone for gaming and general usage. And it has a dual SIM, the equivalent in this market of having two phones in one.