I ditched my laptop and switched to an XR headset, tablet, and phone — and learned an important lesson

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ZDNET Highlights

• If you don’t want to carry a laptop around, there are other options.
• They range in size from an AR headset to your phone.
• Here are some ways you can do this, and what works best for each situation.

I’m a mobile writer, and by that I mean I write about mobile technology and I also write while mobile. Because of this, I’m often without a laptop or in a place where I can’t use it, like in the back seat of a car or on an airplane. Sometimes, I get bored of using a laptop, so I want to try something new. When that happens, I adapt and use something else. I have found various tools that work well in these situations.

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So, over the past few weeks, I’ve been going back to some of the old tools I used in these situations and trying out new tools. I thought you might like to know some alternative ways to create content, even if you’re not on a laptop.

A keyboard-less writing option

I found one such tool named SpeakOn. It’s an AI voice transcription device the size of an Oreo cookie. It attaches to the back of your iPhone or Android phone using MagSafe (a magnetic ring is included in the packaging) and connects via Bluetooth. There’s a button on the back to turn it on and off, and a button on the front to activate push-to-talk for transcription.

I was skeptical about using this tool because my brain doesn’t usually work straight to the page. Generally, I have to think about what I want to say and then figure out the best way to say it. From there, I can go ahead and type this; It was definitely a new experience for me.

I attempted to use this device to write this article, and so far, everything has been directed into the SpeakOn device – and heavily edited afterward. However, I have confirmed what I have long suspected – my brain is not wired to create this way. I also realized that it can be quite frustrating when you’re lying on your bed talking to a device and you realize, “Oh, it’s not got all that.” This happened on a few occasions.

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I’m also not a fan of how this tool adjusts your voice, making it sound either more professional or more casual. I should mention that when I wrote “happened on a few occasions”, SpeakOn translated it as “happened a couple of times”. I am not a fan of it.

So from now on, I’m going to write this article the old-fashioned way – fingers and keyboard, as nature intended. Of course, which keyboard and which display is where things get really weird. Let’s dive in.

samsung galaxy xr

I’m going to start with arguably the best and most impractical option– samsung galaxy xr headsetLaunched last October. It’s largely Samsung’s answer to the Apple Vision Pro, but at half the price. It’s a self-contained computing device that sticks to your face.

Samsung and some app developers have created some interesting experiences with the Galaxy XR, including the MLB app, Google Maps, and Gemini, which can use AI to spatialize content and instantly transform it into 3D content. This is great, but if you’re just trying to write, browse the Internet, or view content, it’s a bit much.

The headset itself isn’t small, and the virtual keyboard is, to put it politely, challenging to use. I associate it with a Protoarch XK01 TP KeyboardWhich works very well. That keyboard will be a recurring theme in this product parade.

Overall, the Galaxy XR in its current form is not a great choice for your content creation. Once XReal’s Project Aura arrives, which will offer basically the same experience but in glasses form, it’ll be a completely different conversation, and I can’t wait. Speaking of XReal…

XReal 1S specs

XReal 1S specs The XR are a step down from Samsung’s headsets in the field. These glasses basically float a display in the air in front of you. You can use it as a secondary monitor, although I prefer to just use it as my main monitor. I’m a big guy, so working on an airplane is hard and tight. But, with the ProtoArch keyboard and the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra in DX mode, I can get a windowed interface basically anywhere I need it.

The glasses need to be connected to a phone for this to work, and it’s important to remember that whatever device you connect the glasses to will drain the battery. I can usually get a solid 4-5 hours of work out of the glasses and the S26 Ultra before things start to wear off.

DX mode does exactly this, giving you a windowed interface. XReal Glasses have two modes – Follow Mode and Locked Mode; I prefer the latter. In Follow mode, the entire screen moves as you turn your head, but in Lock mode, the screen remains stationary in the air in front of you.

You can turn your head to focus on different parts of the screen as needed. Humorously, when the airplane turns, the screen starts to slide with it, but a quick recentering fixes this.

Xiaomi Pad 7 and Pro Magnetic Keyboard

One of the most popular laptop options you’ll find is the old tablet-and-keyboard combo, but not all tablets and keyboards are created equal. Arguably, this type of content creation is the most effective solution ipad and this magic keyboard — which I don’t have. In second place is the Xiaomi Pad 7 and its companion keyboard.

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I’m an Android baby at heart – iOS is great, but I love options – so using a tablet and keyboard like Xiaomi’s is next level. The tablet has a Snapdragon 8 Elite processor and 8GB of RAM, so it’s more than up to my kind of content creation tasks. I could (and did) edit a video on it if needed, but since Android apps aren’t ideal for this, I still prefer to do it on a laptop.

But for a portable ‘laptop’ that you can carry around and put in a bag, this is an excellent device. If you’re in the US, Xiaomi may be hard to find. The Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra is a close competitor, but I prefer the screen to “float” above the keyboard. The S10 Ultra has a keyboard that flaps onto the bottom of the tablet.

foldable and keyboard

The best camera is the one you have, and the same applies to the best content creation tools. These days, I have the Oppo Find N6, which is a really cool foldable with a big screen on the inside. In a pinch, I can and have pitted it against something, and pulled out the Protoarch keyboard to work on an article. I would love that phone if it had a MagSafe ring. I’ve attached a third-party one, but it turns off when you remove the phone.

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But foldable phones give you plenty of space to work. The Find N6 has a Snapdragon

Of course, any foldable will give you a similar experience. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold have similarly sized screens, but the Find N6’s battery life is second to none.

Normal phone and virtual keyboard

If you find yourself with some downtime, but without a big device, your phone is an excellent content creation machine. I do most of my creator work on my iPhone 17 Pro Max, but any phone can do it. Arguments can be made that the phone is too narrow and the virtual keyboard doesn’t work that well – both very solid arguments. However, with some practice, it is very possible.

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We type on our phones every day, so writing 1,000 words on the phone isn’t all that different; It just takes more time. Over the past several weeks, I have typed many articles of 700 words or more on my phone while traveling in the car or waiting for my daughter’s soccer game to start.

Here’s a Power Move you may be familiar with: long pressing the space bar on most virtual keyboards (iOS included) lets you move the cursor if you need to change its position. This saved me a lot of time and also saved me from the pain of pulling out my hair.

In the end, it just feels good

So this is a look at how I’ve been creating content. I don’t always want to carry a laptop, and in fact, the last few weeks have inspired me to carry even less of a laptop. It’s a very powerful feeling if I’m completely honest.

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Being able to sit, or even stand, as the case may be, and get some work done on your phone is a great feeling. It helps me achieve work/life balance by being incredibly flexible when I need to be somewhere, without having to lug a laptop around in my bag so I can do the work I need to do. Next time you have the opportunity, I encourage you to try it.