Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know what a smartphone and a tablet is in today’s tech age. They’re the hottest devices you can have at the moment and are must-have accessories for the modern fashionable techie. No wonder fierce competition has cropped up with various brands, where even smaller companies can compete with giants like Apple and Samsung. Whatever your background and preferences are, there’s a gadget out there that’s right for you.

But just because smartphones and tablets are really popular and accessible, that doesn’t mean you should just go out and buy one. Mobile technology still has a long way to go to being independent from actual computers. Although using a smart device is possible without a PC, the experience is gravely limited and does not allow you to maximize the device’s capabilities.

So what can you expect when you don’t have a PC?

Here are the things you can’t do when you don’t have a secure computer which you can connect your device to at any time:

Transfer your Own Music to your Device.

Since you don’t have a computer, you don’t have anywhere to put your music tracks. You can’t access free music downloads and somehow port them to your tablet or smartphone. It’s conceivable to get music from your friends or from those shops that let you download things for a fee. However, if you’re using an iPhone or iPAd, getting music onto your device without a registered iTunes account on an authorized computer can be a security nightmare.

Transfer Documents, Videos and other Files to your Device.

Aside from music, the lack of PC means that you have to source your media elsewhere. Apple lets you download movies, shows, music and books from the iTunes store, all for a fee. This means that you have to pay for every file you download. It’s quite easy to get them, but prices can range from $0.99 to as high as $99 for certain files.

Set up better Accounts.

Although you can set up your accounts on a tablet or smartphone, some features upon registration are bypassed and you may have to deal with wonky registration pages. It’s better to register using your laptop or desktop. This should be the norm for you especially if you’re logging in to important or sensitive accounts such as banking, VoIP service, grades, class schedules and investments. It’s important that you use a more stable system than your mobile to at least register or view your accounts.

Open certain Websites.

Due to the very limited nature of mobile devices in terms of processing power, plugins and display area, there are some websites that just don’t translate well to mobile. What’s more, the iPhone and the iPad don’t really allow Flash to operate on iOS. So you should at least have your PC ready to open websites that mobile devices really can’t.

Download Large Files.

Usually, tablets and smartphones can have 3G or LTE connections incorporated into their hardware through SIM card. However, due to the limited nature of this type of connection and the bandwidth sharing, most devices don’t allow you to download large files (such as apps and movies) without a better internet service. If you had a computer, you could connect to a better service and download the files there then transfer the file to your device.