I like the touchscreen model a LOT more than the old button model. There's one specific category of things that would be very well suited to a non-browser devi

I like the touchscreen model a LOT more than the old button model. There's one specific category of things that would be very well suited to a non-browser device, and that's IoT control, where you want something cheap enough to leave several around the house, drop-proof, with physical buttons. But the ideal for that would be more like a calculator with Wi-Fi and rotary encoders than a phone. Webapps could very easily be local first if they would hurry up and give us a non-nerfed(By certificate expiration) version of Signed Web Bundles. Chrome OS had a great idea with real local apps without as much web sandboxing, but developed with web tech to make them very easy to develop.