I can take handwritten notes and sketches on my tablet while in splitscreen with a second app (slack, browser, mindmap, video lecture, whatever), and can't imagine trying to do that on a phone.
Switching to a laptop wouldn't do well for me either, typing notes has never helped me learn or remember anything, and I can't draw on it. With a Surface/Yoga/similar you get the option to draw on it, but I used to have a Surface Pro and it's frankly not a very good tablet.
Even if you have a stylus with a big phone, it's more of an equivalent to a moleskine style notebook. Certainly has its uses, but it's not a replacement for a full size pad of paper.
I have a tablet, so I would never buy a big phone. If I want a device so big that it requires two hands to operate effectively, I might as well get my iPad out.
> I can take handwritten notes and sketches on my tablet
Touché. I don't need to do that, but I can agree that it's a good use-case for a tablet.
> typing notes has never helped me learn or remember anything, and I can't draw on it.
For me, the main benefit of typed notes is that you can search them better. I don't imagine you can search for hand-written text among all sketches on your tablet.
Also, if I ever needed to take notes on a classroom setting, typing also brings the benefit of being able to do it without having to look down. Or at least, it's easier and faster to type blindfolded than to hand-write blindfolded. You can keep your attention to the front of the room that way.
> With a Surface/Yoga/similar you get the option to draw on it, but I used to have a Surface Pro and it's frankly not a very good tablet.
Probably not as ergonomic, I suppose. If I ever needed to draw sketches electronically, I would prefer to do it on my convertible laptop simply because the ergonomics of a tablet are not enough to outweigh all other benefits that a laptop bring. Realistically speaking though, when I (rarely) need to sketch or hand-write, I use a paper notebook. Different people have different needs.
> For me, the main benefit of typed notes is that you can search them better. I don't imagine you can search for hand-written text among all sketches on your tablet.
You'd be surprised! OneNote's handwriting recognition is a killer feature for this.
As an example, searching for "rotation" finds all my notes about matrix transformations https://imgur.com/a/dJ4hTSZ
> Also, if I ever needed to take notes on a classroom setting, typing also brings the benefit of being able to do it without having to look down. Or at least, it's easier and faster to type blindfolded than to hand-write blindfolded. You can keep your attention to the front of the room that way.
It's true that you can keep your attention off the computer while touch typing, but my experience is that I'll just zone into typing what I hear without processing it, and end up not internalizing anything as a result. I don't think I'm alone in that:
>Probably not as ergonomic, I suppose. If I ever needed to draw sketches electronically, I would prefer to do it on my convertible laptop simply because the ergonomics of a tablet are not enough to outweigh all other benefits that a laptop bring. Realistically speaking though, when I (rarely) need to sketch or hand-write, I use a paper notebook. Different people have different needs.
I use paper a lot too, but the iPad strikes a great middle ground for supporting memory better, being able to search back through things, keeping everything organized and accessible across years worth of data, and giving me more free-form input than I have with a keyboard (for diagrams, graphs, tables, etc).
You also get great apps that support things you can't realistically do with paper, like Procreate's perspective assist tools. It's like working at a full size drafting desk with a big straightedge packed into something that you can toss in a backpack.
Like computers, it has more potential for distractions than paper, but when I really want to focus on something I'll just put it on airplane mode.
Switching to a laptop wouldn't do well for me either, typing notes has never helped me learn or remember anything, and I can't draw on it. With a Surface/Yoga/similar you get the option to draw on it, but I used to have a Surface Pro and it's frankly not a very good tablet.
Even if you have a stylus with a big phone, it's more of an equivalent to a moleskine style notebook. Certainly has its uses, but it's not a replacement for a full size pad of paper.
I have a tablet, so I would never buy a big phone. If I want a device so big that it requires two hands to operate effectively, I might as well get my iPad out.