The article presents the results of a longitudinal study aimed at a comparative assessment of university students’ attitudes to various aspects of the educational process, depending on their preference for a computers/laptops or smartphones as an educational tools. The study involved 94 full-time 1st–4th year students who had been transferred to distance learning (by the Moodle course management system) in March 2020 due to the spread of COVID-19 coronavirus infection. The empirical study was conducted with the use of Google forms tool. Students answered such questions as (1) What technical devices do they prefer for completing educational tasks? (2) How has the quality of knowledge and skills forming changed due to the transition to distance learning? (3) How has the degree of involvement in the educational process changed after transition to distance learning? The survey was conducted twice: at the end of the first week and after five weeks of distance learning. The results of the study showed that students who prefer computers/laptops as the main tool for distance learning highly estimated the ratings of the quality of knowledge and skills as well as their involvement in the educational process, in comparison with students who mainly use smartphones. At the same time, students who prefer smartphones demonstrated a relative increase in the assessment of knowledge and skill quality but significant decrease the indicators of involvement in the educational process, while among students who prefer to use laptops or computers these indicators were more stable for first weeks of distance learning. Copyright © 2020 for this paper by its authors.