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Every device I've used requires 8 or more characters...
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Correct. The point is that this device limits you to a maximum
of 13 characters which is too few for a secure passphrase.
WPA/WPA2 allows up to 63 characters.
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8 to 13 characters for a WPA-PSK key is reasonably safe so long
as your pass phrase is comprised of random a-z and 0-9
alphanumeric characters.
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Reasonably safe against what - accidentally connecting to your
WiFi network? Given current methods of attacking the WPA/WPA2
passphrase 20 characters is about the minimum which can stand up
to an attack for a reasonable amount of time.
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When I was in the Navy I had to use a 16 character system
passwords and these were confusing and easily forgotten.
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Completely different. Asking someone to enter a password to gain
access on a daily basis or even more often is not the same as
setting a WiFi passphrase once in a device and not having to set
it again until you decide it needs to be changed.
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My Samsung Galaxy S2 phone uses wpa/wpa2 and it has only 8 characters.
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Of course nothing stops you from using only 8 characters. But on
your phone you are not limited to 13 characters so if someone
wants to have a secure WiFi network they are free to use more.
(FWIW - an 8 character WPA/WPA2 passphrase can be broken on
average in half a day or less. We do it routinely as part of our
security scan. Make sure whatever WiFi network your phone
associates with does not have any traffic you would not like to
see broadcast to everyone within a kilometer or so.)
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My wep on my router required 26 and was a horror and is not as secure.
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That is due to flaws in the WEP algorithm, not due to the
passphrase length. WEP with 8 or 800 character passphrase is just
as vulnerable.
Why is it a horror? You only had to enter the passphrase once on
each device. It is not something you had to do every day or even
every week.