Sunday, June 10, 2012

Commute Tech

After commuting into the city for over four months, I've noticed some interesting Tech in use while people are commuting.

Since I travel on both a "suburban" railway as well as the (NYC) subway, there is a fairly large range of technology being used. Most of it is for entertainment, a lot for drowning out fellow commuters or the squealing of the wheels, and then there are people with deadline, or simply making use if time.

Probably more than half of the tech is for audio (iPods (from the shuffle to the Touch), iPhones, Android phones, and other devices. A new trends seems to be watching videos of some sort, usually on iPads or iPhones, occasionally laptops. People also play video games on iPod Touches, iPhones and iPads, and Android phones. Since a lot if the games are in both iOS and Android, sometimes it's difficult to tell if someone is playing a game on an iPhone or an Android phone, unless of course the phone has a 5 inch screen.

Last but not least, reading is still popular, with a large percentage of people still reading actual books. I haven't done a proper count, but there are usually about the same percentage of e-Readers - Kindles and Nooks - in sight as actual books- it all depends which train I'm on I guess. Not many people read on iPads or other color tablets. I've only noticed one or two Kindle Fire tablets, but they are difficult to pick up, having a very generic look to them.

Sometimes there are whole bunches of people with iPads. The people who work are usually on laptops, or using pen and paper. I've seen a few people reading the New York Times on an iPad, and once a very non-nerdy looking guy reading comics in an iPad. Otherwise it is books, games and movies.