[eCa]

> Next experiment: To consume content primarily on a non-tablet non-phone for a week. (It will fail a comparable way.)

Why? I broke my Iphone at the end of last year (dropped on floor, no visible damage, severely damaged touch sensor). I didn't repair it until March/April, and used an older regular cellphone. I did quite alright, and found that for me most of my Iphone usage is unnecessary. The old phone handled talking and texting just as it did pre-Iphone.

I did repair before a short holiday. I wanted to use it as a point-and-shoot, a gps tracker and a means to get information from the internet since I went without a computer. Therein is, for me, the greatest use of an Iphone. When I'm home I have no trouble moving from the couch to the computer (yeah, not even a laptop).

[ctdonath]

Uh...that's kinda missing the point of the discussion. Or proving my point exactly, depending on how you squint at it.

TFA lamented a tablet's shortcomings when used as a "computer": direct file manipulation, rapid voluminous text input, instant viewing of bulky data, vast local storage, raw CPU power, etc. My counter-challenge/observation as intended was that using a non-tablet (a "phone" in context being little different from a tiny tablet) would not perform particularly well at doing what a "mobile device" excels at: right-here right-now anytime anywhere calling, texting, emailing, photography, GPS, location-critical web-surfing, etc.

You proved my point by not even coming close to suggesting doing "real work" with a phone (no matter its IQ), other than to transition to a complementary (and decidedly stationary) computer when mobility-related capabilities are not needed.

The take-away from all this is there isn't a convergence point.

[vacri]

right-here right-now anytime anywhere calling, texting, emailing, photography, GPS, location-critical web-surfing

This is not "consuming content". I consume content just fine on my desktops. Obviously I can't do GPS-based work while mobile on them, but GPS-based work is but a fraction of 'consuming content'. Indeed, I find it much easier to read emails on a big screen than to have a small window where I can only see part of it, and similarly there are plenty of websites that suck on mobile. 'Consuming content' is far from a victory won by mobile.

Edit: Also, games. Games on mobile are a wasteland of drek, for the most part. And you can't get much more of a consumer-oriented industry than games.