....if they are well-designed.
It is generally easier to type in a substring ("contains") and get a short list of numbered matches than to browse thru a huge picklist of titles. My fingers are faster than my eyes, it seems.
However, I have never seen such implemented like I envision it. Some systems "fill in" from the right side, but that is not good enough. It *must* be a "contains" to work effectively (for me).