I am a near-luddite on my mobile phone, but über-geek on a desktop. This weekend, I was trying to open a text file attached to a Gmail message, then search and copy some text.

Step 1: Use Gmail Android App to search my inbox for old emails with attachments with some text to me. Cool, found the email.

Step 2: Open the text file attachment. Gmail Android App does not open text files natively (weird, right?), so it defers.

I tried a few different choices. None of them allowed me to both search, then copy some text. (Note: I have a /very/ vanilla Android mobile setup.)

I spent fifteen minutes, then gave up and opened the original email on a desktop Linux web browser. I found the text, then copied, and sent back to my mobile phone by email. Then, I opened the email in Gmail app, copy/paste.

Sheesh. I thought: Am I an idiot? I felt like a struggling grandparent using a phone with the "big dialing pad" after that experience. (No offence to the big dialing pad -- always a big fan of the UX!)