> and phones are too small to use for non-trivial purposes

I think this is probably the sticking point for people who don't see the point of this. At least for me, there's no unserved gulf between my phone and a computer. I've had a tablet in the past, but there was really just no use case where the tablet was the top choice over both my phone and computer; I always preferred one of those over the tablet.

Just wait until you get older and your eyes start going, then you'll be faced with the choice of taking off your glasses and bringing the phone ridiculously close to your face, or using giant text sizes and seeing only 30 words per screen. Then will you see the sense of a large screen that is portable.

(I feel silly writing this, but just in case it's not clear, I am referring to a generic "you", and not you in particular.)

I use my ipad mini for reading and watching TV in bed without disturbing my partner.

For that it is a cracking little device, a phone screen is too small to read comfortably and if I'm watching a movie in bed the ipad is the perfect size.

Originally bought the device for testing and it ended up been the thing I spend the most time looking at after a desktop/laptop.

Enough that I'm considering buying the new ipad mini and giving the old one to my stepson.

And most phones are already insanely thin. Older phones were substantially thicker than this and I never had a problem putting them in my pocket.

Are you a woman who wears USA women's pants that are nearly always skin tight and have pockets 40% the size of men's pockets?

Women usually put their phones in a purse.

And there is the assumption that this will improve greatly over future iterations.