Hi Mobile team! In response to the thread on [Wikimedia-l] internet-in-a-boxs to the refugee camps?], here's something for you.
I wanted to show off our work on Vietnamese artists from an editathon to a refugee acquaintance, but couldn't do it, because we don't have categories on the mobile app. This fellow had very little education before coming to the US, and is self taught in three languages, so reading Wikipedia on his phone could be very useful for him.
Adding categories to the mobile app would make it possible to pull up all the Vietnamese artist biographies so he can look through them. I doubt my acquaintance, who works long hours, has access to a laptop. Without the categories, the suggestions at the bottom make the mobile app on a smartphone into more of a game or pastime for looking at photos, rather than a serious educational tool.
Adding categories would be a quick win in making the mobile phone more useful for refugees, and for others who only access by mobile.