Then any ebook reader, the Samsung galaxy camera, some android based watches... are also tablets by your definition, as they are touch screen mobile device with multiple computer-esque functions and apps.

Is the Sony Smartwatch a tablet?

That watch is not a tablet because it doesn't compete with tablets.

Of course by definition the Vita isn't a tablet (even a vita tablet by definition wouldn't be a tablet) but going by the services the Vita provides it is. Chark is very much correct with his statements.

Since it is essentially the same device but smaller, yes. What OP is really trying to say is they should make a Vita XL. The Vita is gaining functions and apps over time. It's OS is very similiar to Apple products as it is, running apps in the background, pages of icons, etc. It is catching up to devices that have been in the market for years.

As for the smartwatch, it is limited to specific social apps and functions, no web browser, no customizable interface, no data storage. It is a watch with social apps and a very limited touch screen interface.

The watch obviously isn't but the Galexy Camera has actually been advertised as a full tablet in a camera. Also my Kindle Touch has a full browser but like no apps. Not a tablet. Internet connected device.

I see we have different views on what is a tablet. I abide to a most restrictive definition, one that has a big screen (bigger than a galaxy note) and almost no physical buttons, and some of you to a less restrictive one. Having used an iPad and a 7 inches Galaxy Tab, I can't consider the Vita a tablet, as it's main purpose is to play videogames, and media consumption is a less important feature, and a tablet main purpose is multimedia consumption, and playing games is a less important feature.

Tell that to people who use their iPads for gaming mostly or those who use Vita for multimedia purposes mostly. Sure they might not be in the majority, but they exist. Social and media apps are highly rated along side games when analyzing Vita's Near function. When it comes to the importance of the device, it depends on function. If a smaller screen device does practically everything a large screened tablet does, it then has tablet functions making it qualify as a tablet device itself. The main break away of tablets from computers is that they are all in one touch screen mobile devices generally with a sub par computer OS. The Vita is breaking the divide between handheld gaming console and a tablet, similar to how Microsoft's premium full Windows 8 Surface tablet computer is breaking the divide between a tablet and a computer. (though maybe not the first to do so, their device is doing that regardless)

I use to carry around an iPod Touch 4 as my multi media web browsing device, but after getting a Vita I have no more need of it. They are both tablet devices in my eyes, or the equivelent in function. If we restrain tablet to screen size than a debate about a Vita tablet is meerly about the size of its screen and I don't see how that would be beneficial to the device in penetrating the market. People didn't buy the iPad because they didn't buy iPods or iPhones afterall. iPad is meerly an option of screen size of a product Apple already produced. As the Vita is its screen is plenty big enough and creating a Vita XL, or Vita tablet, would be a financial disaster. Sony could take their current line of tablets and allow for Vita games to be played for it after adding some physical buttons, but what kind of ungodly giant device would that be?

Anyway, I still hold that Vita is a tablet gaming device.

Whatever makes you happy, you can call it in any way you want, but in the end, for the majority of the people and Sony themselves, it's a portable gaming system, not a tablet. When most of the people talk of a tablet they talk of iPads, galaxy tabs, kindles and nooks, not Vitas.

Which is why it is so disheartening and why I am compelled to advocate the device. Not only is there a lack of consumer awareness but also misinformation.
 I can't wait for PlayStation Mobile to go full swing so on top of showing people it has Netlix etc. it has a full blown app store as well.  Maybe the Vita will have an "aha" moment but if not at least gamers should get behind the device instead of cater to a console war fueled by the decline of Sony.

Nah. Sony has to get their business together with Vita before extending their resources even further

as a standalone it has no appeal for me, I already have an iPad so why would I want/need another tablet?

as a controller I can see it working, the Wii U tablet looks really cool and clever, something similar for PS4/X720 would be something I can picture and could work well.