> Smartphones and tablets are largely for entertainment

I don't know for tablets, I don't own one yet (Kindle e-ink doesn't count, does it?), but for smartphones I do not agree. They are tools. Powerful tools, like a Swiss army knife on crack.

They can be overused, and there is a full "phone politeness" to build, but it is not a reason to luditely dismiss them as useless toys.

Things my smartphone allow me to do:

- Get GPS turn-by-turn navigation from a link received in chat or direct search, including traffic info. (In China it is GPS is a near necessity)

- Find a nice mountain path when hiking around.

- Get an answer immediately when some wikipediable question arise in a discussion.

- Get translations from and to Chinese, English, French.

- Quickly prefill some new contact info and expand it on my computer later. Take a pic of the contact so I remember better how that is. (Helps with this Chinese names).

- Best: Build my own tailored Fuzzy Pinyin to English dictionary and push it to my phone, so I get a faster search. No dictionaries I know are that fast. Needed for catching up during meetings.

I won't say I never use it for games or news checking. It happens, mostly on the toilets, but it is not the main use.