You think it's nuts, I honestly - and I'm not saying this out of spite - don't see why people adore Vita that much. I admire your enthusiasm, but it's as if I'm in some Twilight Zone episode where everyone around here loves Vita and I just can't see what they see.
It's because outside the games, vita is pretty much the ultimate handheld.
I had really fundamental problems with the PSP. It always felt gimped. in the control method, in the hackjob style OS, shitty wireless, and in the dither heavy graphics.
Vita just solves everything and them some. from having 2 analog sticks, touchscreen, big high-res screen, dpad.
Graphics, when native resolution look stunning. IQ is kinda insane on native res games.
The hardware is pretty much perfect besides the lackluster backtouch.
In addition to that, the OS is very feature complete, far beating the PS3 OS, and a bit better than the PS4 one too from what I hear.
The OS is super fast & clean. It feels like a full fledged console OS,
from party chat, cloud saves, trophies, cross-buy/play/save, automatic game updating, etc.
It feels weird to have a handheld that has a stronger operating system than my home console. my PS3 felt so archaic as soon as I got my vita.
I think if you have a PS3/4 then vita becomes a really compelling device, it really unlocks a lot of it's potential. In the free PS+ games, crossplay/buy, remote play, etc.
But unfortunately, it doesn't have the software support, the indie support has been fucking fantastic, but it's lacking a steady stream of AAA games it desperately needs.
vita OS/hardware + 3DS software would've been handheld gaming nirvana.