It has been shown (Mangen et al, 2013) that primary school children do better in tests of factual recall when they read printed text material compared to digital text material. We have previously reported a study that looked at higher education (HE) students at levels 4 and 6 (Years 1 and 3) in a UK HE institution to determine if there were differences manifested in the ability to accurately recall information from paper and digitally-presented content as students progressed through the university system. Students were presented with the same body of information and could choose whether to study that information in digital or paper forms in a time constrained manner. Immediately after this period students were presented with questions relating to the text studied. Analysis of the answers given by the participants in their first year of university studies revealed that there were significant differences between the accuracy of recall of information from the two media sources. Students gained higher marks on average when tested on their recall from paper compared to digital sources of information. However, no such differences were manifested in the final year cohort. Mangen (2008) has suggested that student learning from any media source is crucially dependent on the nature of the physical interaction between student and media source. We hypothesised that as students progress through the HE system they are increasingly able to efficiently retain information from a variety of media sources. Here we extend that study to look at the nature of the electronic media used by students to see if that has an effect on learning outcomes. Using a similar testing format as above students undertook a comprehension test immediately after studying a text either using a mobile phone or a lap-top. The decision on what device to use was the students’ own with most opting to use a mobile phone (68% of the students). Analysis of answers from the comprehension test after the study period showed a significant decrease in student performance when they used mobile phones compared to lap-tops (p < 0.05). This study shows that despite the move by many universities to employ mobile telephone apps to enhance learning and engagement by students, the type of device used may be crucial.