I will always have a laptop for full-feature portable computing, so I’m not looking an ipad-sized tablet, and I certainly don’t want to bother with device that has no camera and doesn’t make phone calls. And, in addition to other shortcomings such as lack of flash, I find the iphone screen too small to be an effective intermediate computing device, and with the ipad’s size you might as well bring your laptop/netbook.

I’ve seen comments that suggest the Mini 5 is “too big” for people to want to use it as a phone — frankly, I believe that to be a ridiculous assessment. The Mini 5 is the perfect size for easy portability (it will easily fit in my jacket’s inside pocket), and with phone capability, it allows users replace a device instead of forcing them to add one. Moreover, we now have a hands-free law here in Ontario, so I’ve had to get a bluetooth headset anyway, which I use all the time, even with my tiny clamshell.