I can see the phone problem, trying it out last night with another EO member's phone. I haven't tried the tablet I got here but expect it will act as the phone did.
Maybe this is another issue altogether, about tracking member activity within the database. There are a few things that are weird here that don't happen in other forums and I think it has to do with the way the 'modifications' are made.
What happens when someone clicks on Mark Forums Read link with a phone?
I didn't think of that last night and should have tried it.