You can spread the love around without the slider, dropping it down by voting is exactly the same as dropping it down manually. What you lack when you don't have the slider is the option to give more powerful upvotes when you want to like right now. ;)
I know about the esteem app, but interacting with the platform on steemit is still a better experience for me especially if I want to write a comment or two, not just voting.
Fair points. And currently I much prefer the web interface over anything else also.