Hmm, I suspect some of us have widely differing notions of 'SHTF'. I'm not sure kids freaking out due to a lack of entertainment is quite a valid SHTF situation.
Keeping kids calm in a bug-in or shelter situation has a huge impact on them and on the morale of others. I've seen this first-hand when my CERT operated a shelter during a large-scale natural disaster, so I'm going to respectfully disagree with you here.
Smartphones and tablets are useful in everyday life, and no doubt also in some emergency situations. But I don't think the vast majority of current consumer-grade electronics is robust, reliable and foolproof enough for serious field and/or emergency use.
Having used my tablet to good effect as an incident commander in a couple of small-scale CERT callouts, my experience has been different.
If you really need a computer on the go, a professional ruggedized laptop will offer far more reliability, computing power and battery life than some tablet gizmo.
Modern professional ruggedized laptops have better computing power than modern tablets, but dramatically worse battery life. I've seen too many of the ruggedized laptops as an IT professional to believe that they have more reliability in general, although certainly there are individual counter-examples.
It's far more challenging to keep a laptop charged in the field.
There are many things that laptops do better than a tablet, but there's surprisingly little that a laptop can do that my tablet cannot do to some degree. Sometimes, not always, that's enough.
Smartphones, well - they are no doubt fun toys to play with but an inadequate susbtitute for a proper computer. Lots of functions and useful and useless Android apps, but which ones are truly essential? As in - essential to keep you alive?
Making phone calls and sending text messages comes immediately to mind. This has saved lives in many disasters.
In the CERT context, sometimes portability and battery life means more than computing capacity. For example, we train to text photos from the field to the incident commander when that sort of intelligence is worthwhile. If the mobile networks are down, it still may make sense to bring photos back to incident command depending on the circumstances.
As far as basic communication, your smartphone is dependent entirely on the phone network. How long do you think that is going to be available in a serious emergency? Radio would seem to be a much more reliable option in that regard.
We use handheld radios, both FRS and ham, for tactical communications. In our area, we have access to a very good amateur radio repeater that has long-term emergency power available.
However there are many tasks for which handheld radios are either inefficient or outright improper. Maybe things are different where you live, but the mobile networks have proven to be more reliable in power outages and disasters than the landline carriers where I live.
GPS... I would take my old Garmin eTrex any day over the latest smartphone. A), because I know it works under highly adverse conditions whereas all my cellphones so far have tended to crash, perform bizarrely or die unexpectedly. And B), battery life (on a couple of easily replaceable, rechargeable AA's) is far better.
Good points (although I don't have the problems with my smartphone that you have experienced). But smartphones are ubiquitous, and dedicated GPS receivers aren't.
Either way, GPS is NO substitute for a compass and digital maps CANNOT replace paper maps. That may sound old fashioned, but it's the hard, simple truth. Ignore it at your own peril. Do keep in mind though that experience is a hard teacher and there's no reset button in real life.
I don't disagree -- every member of my CERT is issued large-scale maps of the community we serve. As a supplement to compasses and paper maps, GPS can make things a lot faster when time matters. I've seen that in the field.
For emergency data storage a separate portable hard disk or USB drive strikes me as a safer alternative to keeping all your stuff aboard that smartphone. Remember that adage about putting all eggs in one basket?
How would you show a photo of your passport or other document to an official if all you were carrying was a thumb drive?
There are pros and cons to both approaches.
I seriously doubt wrapping your smartphone in aluminum foil will make any difference in the event of an actual EMP.
Aluminum foil, used properly, makes for excellent and inexpensive Faraday Cage material. Don't, however, use it without cardboard or some other insulator between the conductive material and the devices you're trying to protect.
As far as EMP though, if that is your main concern - it would imply the use of nuclear weapons.
Or a solar flare.
Smartphones and tablets are analogous a multitool. A dedicated knife is better for cutting tasks, dedicated screwdrivers are better for repairs, and so on. But like a multitool, these devices may allow for a lot of capability in a light and compact package. Are they right for every circumstance? Of course not.
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