If the people running a place can't tell me what something is (the Indian store owners don't know any other names that red chori is called, FI), can Google help? Usually. But that's a 20+ minute round trip + gas. Why do that, when I can look it up right where I am, in the store? So, yeah, it's pretty cool, but also over-hyped, and tons of people that have miniscule minds are greater markets than those that can process information at enough of a pace to want to go Office Space on their mobiles.
I can have maps and a GPS in my pocket, always up to date. That's awesome (I even got a larger phone than I can use for much anything else, just for that to be more convenient to use). Sure, I'm not actually carrying the maps (mostly) and routing program, but it will be up to date, without replacing
yet another piece of hardware. A dedicated GPS starts becoming wrong often enough to need replacement after 3-4 years, IME, even if the hardware is fine. New maps typically cost enough, too, that you're better off getting a new one. Or, the battery may be dead by then. If you're already upgrading phones, why not incorporate that into your selection process?
Gaming, however, I simply cannot understand. I can time-waste on a phone, but I'll take a GBA, DS, or PSP, to actually game on the go, TYVM (and maybe a 2DS, soon, since even w/ 3D off, the 3DS' display sucks, and I skipped the DSi). Phones and tablets simply lack good buttons in the right places, tactile feedback is important, and I don't see that changing any time soon, since the primary use-case of a smart phone could make well-placed buttons a reliability problem.
Of course, there's also the problem that there's not a wide variety of new games for mobile platforms that are really good games. Some, yes, but not nearly what Windows, nor any console, has to offer (though there is Nethack for Android and iOS, which counts as 50+ games-worth of available games against any platform w/o good Nethack ports
). Are there any Android or iOS games, that are not elder ports, FI, that can match a NIS tactics/strategy game, a Megaten, a Harvest Moon, Civilization, or Fire Emblem*? Show me something that can stand up to one of the good Fire Emblem titles (GBA and
English DS seriously got shafted, hence the caveat), and I might have to skip work for a few days
.
Likewise, primary web browsing on a mobile device. The screens are just too small, half the mobile sites plain suck, going to the full versions chews up battery and requires lots of scrolling, unless you're using a high-PPI 8.5-10" tablet. It's handy to have, but way too much of a PITA for most web browsing. Yet, if you get a big tablet with a good display at a good price, it's going to be a dog. If you get one that's capable, it's not going to be cheap, yet it's still not going to be as good as a convertible or notebook. Unless someone else is paying for it, I'm not going to be carrying something around, that could easily break if dropped, that costs $1000 or more (they're also really heavy for their size). Great for when what you have one you is all you can use, but not remotely a replacement for better form factors.
I can accurately type around 40 WPM on a typical day with a decent keyboard (old-style Dell Quietkey or better), and nearer 100 on a good day. On-screen, that's more like 5-10, and 10 only with small words, on Android, with the Hacker's Keyboard app. Given that I generally despise text-speak, and wasn't taught how to read a letter at a time, I'm pretty much cursed, as far as that goes. I could probably learn to be quicker with a slide-out keyboard, but I prefer saving the space, since I'm viewing/reading >90% of the time. I also make decent use of a mouse or trackball, and there's just no comparison, even just with basic web browsing, between fiddling around with fingertips and gestures, and having up, down, left, right, pgup, pgdn, spacebar, find a mere ctrl-f away (or in FF, not even that far!), combined with a mouse/trackball in the other hand, and thus being able to start up and minimize one program, then bring up another quicker than I can make a single swipe or pinch, and so on and so forth. My time is valuable to me, and mobile platforms simply do not offer enough efficiency, due mostly to issues of form factor. If I could reasonably be doing something else, or get to a computer to use, it would be 100x faster, so screw the pocket gizmo, when that's an option.
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* I'm largely trying to think of non-puzzle games that wouldn't be hindered by touch and varying devices, to the typical breaking point of being turned into casual games. Those happen to be what I think of, based on my historical playing preferences, but that should not be considered a genre-complete list.
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