I've seen the commercial, but in real life when I'm around my kid and my neices and nephews they have three devices available to them. Kindles, Ipads, and smartphones (galaxy s3, iphone 4). Why do they all fight over the smartphones and eventually settle for the ipad or the kindle when all the devices do the same things?
The bigger question in my mind is why do these kids have all these devices in the first place?
I understand the idea of teaching them how technology works and its great uses for research, education, etc., but beyond that I think have all these electronics to entertain kids is bad, and the younger they are the worse it is. Kids need to learn how to entertain themselves without devices, and they also need to get physical exercise (which isn't provided by most uses of these devices).
Now if you're talking about older kids or even teenagers, the reason they want the phone is because their lives are all about socializing (as most kids between about 10 and 18 don't understand these friends they have now will almost all be meaningless later in life). So they want to stay in contact with one another, and cell phones (in particular smart phones which have other capabilites to entertain them as well) offer the best means with which to do this.
Kids also like texting because it allows them to keep other people (parents and adults in particular) from knowing what is going on in their conversations. You can hear their side of a phone call, but you can't hear a text. They can also stay up half the night texting friends in their bedroom while you don't have a clue why they are tired at school the next day because you can't hear the texting from the next room but you'd hear if they were talking.
If you parent a teenager, though, you probably know most of this (or you should).
And device manufacturers have addressed this by creating tablets and bigger smartphones but a tablet is more like a smartphone than it is a computer only lacking the ability to make a phone call (the galaxy note is basically a small tablet). you can still text from it and do everything else you can with a smartphone.
Tablets are better because they are bigger, and device manufacturers have realized the advantage of bigger size - but there is a cap because people still want the mobility. So the smart thing to do is to have a tablet for the internet (complete with its own wireless access so you don't have to piggy back off of wifi locations that may not always be where you are) and to have a cell phone for phone calls.
If I had to choose between using my smartphone or my ipad, I'd use my smartphone because it just feels more comfortable in my hand... this is the reason I think my kids fight over the phones when tablets are available as well... Size = preference, not efficiency.
Sure, it could be that, but I think the bigger reason is what I already said - the kids want to socialize, and the ipad won't let them do that as easily and in as many ways. I prefer the tablet because I can actually see what I'm doing a lot better. Unless it's somehow causing me pain or discomfort, I don't care how it feels in my hand.
My cellphone is not always plugged in therefore it's not always using electricity unlike your computer which you said you always leave on.
The computer isn't always plugged in either. Your phone and my computer both have batteries which are charged by electricity, and the advantages of a computer over a phone are so great they overcome any slight increase in electricity consumption and related costs.
just because you can't type fast on a phone doesn't mean others can't. It took me all of about 15-20 seconds to type that message.
I doubt that. Your message was long enough to take longer than that unless you hold the world record for smart phone typing. You only think it was fast in your own mind. In either case, it's faster to do on a real keyboard.
Also just because you have "never been so desperate" to know something doesn't mean that you won't ever be or that other people aren't.
I think a lot of people have too much time on their hands. I personally do not want to waste time looking up information on my phone when I'm living the rest of my life. If I want to know, unless it's an emergency it can wait until I get to the computer, and those kinds of emergencies are so rare they might as well be irrelevant.
I don't see what the big deal is about this "automobile" thingy. It's so inefficient. I mean, you have to keep track of your keys, handle all kinds of maintenance, and gasoline is so much more expensive than the grass and hay I already have laying around! I'll never abandon my trusty steed.
No, no, no. Don't use the automobile - use my brand new invention, the golf cart automobile built for road travel!
I know it's smaller, goes slower, and has less features, but size doesn't matter and it'll feel better to sit in and you can still do all the things an automobile can do...I think...no wait you can't, but no way is it any less efficient than a regular automobile because I like using mine and I say so!
See this is the problem - everything you guys mention actually IS efficient, but internet on cell phones is like driving a golf cart mobile when you can use a regular automobile instead.