Well said, there is a difference between website and web app. It's a hard line to find, but there is a big difference between Gmail and Hacker News.

FWIW, the mobile web version of Gmail works well.

It works, but there is a lot it can't do, and a lot of things that actually make it slower on poor connection (full page refreshes etc).

It's also interesting to note that it's a different version of the app, as is the tablet and mobile version.

A lot of people would have you believe you should have one version that fits all, easy to do for a basic website, un-feasable even when your a company the size of Google.

Mobile web version of Gmail is a very stripped down version actually. Thankfully so, but notice that even Google could not take its full-fledged Gmail app to the tablet browser (I don't expect it on a smartphone anyway).

In other words user don't get the fuller experience of web like they do on desktops. And that's exactly the point of this thread.