I am just gonna copy and paste my thoughts from the other thread that most likely spawned this one:
I am in the "handhelds are consoles" camp as they are dedicated video game devices that require a video display. The fact that the video display is built in shouldn't be held against the device since the underlying point of the device is to play video games.
People who use the "smart phones and ipads are the same thing" argument miss the fact that the phone and the ipad and even the computer were not created as a device to play video games. These are multifunctional devices that exist in their own categories as they should.
The handheld vs home console thing to me plays out the same way as nascar vs -insert sport here- plays out. Some say because nascar is usually called a "spectator sport" it isn't a "real" sport, just like a "handheld" console isn't a "real" console. If you need a prefix you aren't actually disqualifying the item from what it is, you are simply giving additional meaning to it.
All that said, a venn diagram will show some overlap between home and handheld console, but for the most part they exist to serve two different groups of people who are after the same thing via separate experiences.
