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Do you need a tablet???

I haven't used a Kindle for it, but in general I find web browsing on an e-ink display is an incredibly subpar experience. No color and the slow refresh rate is fine for books, but pretty bad on content rich web pages.

E-readers only do one thing well, and that's reading books. But that's reflected in the price. The cheapest Kindle is $120, almost 1/5th the cost of the cheapest iPad.

thanks! it did seem to be too good to be true. I'll have to cont to lug my laptop around. so funny it seemed so sleek and shiny and new a few years ago! it's hard for old duffers like me to keep up . . .
 
Most people with home phones these days are middle-aged and older who simply haven't gotten rid of them yet. I'd be very surprised if many younger people even bother setting one up.

I have a landline, but in my case I have to. My home security system requires it. They do offer a wireless monitoring service, but it would cost about as much per month as I would save from getting rid of the landline, so I don't see the point in it. :shrug:

The only cellphone I have is a prepaid unit that I keep stashed in my car's glovebox, for emergencies.
 
I can't say "need." However, for me the iPad serves a particular desire. When I got an iPhone, I was overjoyed at being able to check email, surf the web, browse maps, use application tools, etc. just about anywhere I went. It actually made a lot of things in life more convenient and less stressful. However, when it came to surfing the web, browsing maps, and watching movies, I thought, "this is awesome, but it would be better with a larger screen, say, the size of a notebook." My wish came true and it serves me pretty well.

It did cost a pretty damn penny though.


And I still hate iTunes. :lol:
 
a tablet would be handy and the larger screen would make web browsing easier than on my iPhone; ditto for why it would make for a better book reader and device for playing games which are the three things I would use it for.
I disagree about reading a book. A LCD screen which the iPhone and the iPad have along with all the other currently on the market tablet computers have is fatiguing on the eyes.
It was mentioned about eye fatigue in the
E-readers and critical mass discussion
thread.
Sure a larger eReader allows you to see more text or a diagram on a PDF (black and white) but a smaller eReader is very lightweight.

an iPad or tablet are heavier and those ounces sure matter when you are doing extended reading along with reading in direct sunlight for days at a time without a recharge (with an ereader using Eink technology).

An iPad allows for the apps for doing many things, not just playing games or using a web browser. I personally do not need a tablet computer/iPad.
I do not play games at all.
I have and iPhone and don't use many apps at all. While I do use the web browser and the iTunes I do not want to read a book on my iPhone for a 2 hour period due to the eye fatigue and look forward to 2012 of getting a 4th generation eInk device. I don't need a color screen for reading text.
I do like the fact that I can get a legit subscription to the NY Times for $20./month to read on an eink eReader.
 
I would love to get an iPhone but I could never afford the damn data plans. If there was a no-frills phone like it - with the touch screen and *maybe* the camera - that didn't have all that Internet crap, I'd get one. I need the phone, not the smart.
 
I would love to get an iPhone but I could never afford the damn data plans. If there was a no-frills phone like it - with the touch screen and *maybe* the camera - that didn't have all that Internet crap, I'd get one. I need the phone, not the smart.

What they ought to do is offer the iPhone with the same Wifi-if-available, 3G data-if-purchased approach as the iPad.
 
iPhone device

If there was a no-frills phone like it - with the touch screen and *maybe* the camera - that didn't have all that Internet crap,

What they ought to do is offer the iPhone with the same Wifi-if-available, 3G data-if-purchased approach as the iPad.
Apple sells a very good product which is basically an iPhone without the 3G cellphone or any contract.
$200. starting as refurbished 8GB unit [Originally released September 2010 ] on the fruit company's website store.
it has camera, runs iOS4, all apps, and is an iPod music player, along with a WiFi webbroswer. Consider it.
No contract or monthly charges. Yes it is still $200. but that is the entry cost into a great mobile device of the 4th generation (it is currently 14-month old technology). You may want to wait until October though as that price will drop and you'll get more storage for the 4th generation one when the new one comes out in October.
 
I would love to get an iPhone but I could never afford the damn data plans. If there was a no-frills phone like it - with the touch screen and *maybe* the camera - that didn't have all that Internet crap, I'd get one. I need the phone, not the smart.

I don't buy this as a reason, honestly.

iPads are what, $400.00? $500.00? You have one of those. And, if I'm not mistaken, this is the cost without the data plan included, yes?

Data plans on the iPhone are roughly $30.00 a month. At least, mine is with Verizon... Amortize that over a year and its $360.00.

I understand not wanting to have to pay for two data plans -- that doesn't make much sense to me either... but unless you're paying for the iPad data plan... the logic of this reasoning escapes me.
 
I don't understand why anyone would want an iPhone without a data plan. Kind of defeats the purpose of the device.
 
[...] I have a Nook Color that's running CM7 which makes it a (nearly) fully featured 7" tablet. It's just missing a few hardware features (GPS, screen is just okay, slower CPU/GPU...). [...]
I'm starting to strongly consider purchasing a Nook Color to root it and run CM7. I don't have nearly enough space as it is for all the books I own (the vast majority of which are in various boxes in my bedroom), so I like the idea of having an eReader in order to cut down on storage issues. Since the NC can act as a pretty decent tablet, I've started looking at it specifically in order to also swap it for my laptop when I'm in class for note-taking, plus any other little uses I might like a tablet for.
 
I would love to get an iPhone but I could never afford the damn data plans. If there was a no-frills phone like it - with the touch screen and *maybe* the camera - that didn't have all that Internet crap, I'd get one. I need the phone, not the smart.

What they ought to do is offer the iPhone with the same Wifi-if-available, 3G data-if-purchased approach as the iPad.

I'd love that.

I would love to get an iPhone but I could never afford the damn data plans. If there was a no-frills phone like it - with the touch screen and *maybe* the camera - that didn't have all that Internet crap, I'd get one. I need the phone, not the smart.

I don't buy this as a reason, honestly.

iPads are what, $400.00? $500.00? You have one of those. And, if I'm not mistaken, this is the cost without the data plan included, yes?

Data plans on the iPhone are roughly $30.00 a month. At least, mine is with Verizon... Amortize that over a year and its $360.00.

I understand not wanting to have to pay for two data plans -- that doesn't make much sense to me either... but unless you're paying for the iPad data plan... the logic of this reasoning escapes me.

I've been looking into getting a smartphone and the prices are putting me off as well. My iPad was a gift and even though it's something I could technically afford, it's about justifying the cost. It's difficult for me to justify that much on a phone and commit to that amount of money on a monthly basis when I don't want or need it badly.

Honestly, after looking through plans, I'm a bit shocked at the number of people who do have smartphones. But I suppose we all spend our money in different places.
 
Honestly, after looking through plans, I'm a bit shocked at the number of people who do have smartphones. But I suppose we all spend our money in different places.
I encounter a lot of extremely poor people in my job, and I am always amazed when they whip out their iPhones. Makes no sense to me. These are people that can't even afford bus fair or are surviving on food stamps. How the hell did they get an iPhone?
 
I would love to get an iPhone but I could never afford the damn data plans. If there was a no-frills phone like it - with the touch screen and *maybe* the camera - that didn't have all that Internet crap, I'd get one. I need the phone, not the smart.

What they ought to do is offer the iPhone with the same Wifi-if-available, 3G data-if-purchased approach as the iPad.

I'd love that.

Maybe I'm full of shit (as I don't own any of these devices) but isn't an iPhone minus the "phone" part otherwise known as an iPod Touch?
 
What they ought to do is offer the iPhone with the same Wifi-if-available, 3G data-if-purchased approach as the iPad.

I'd love that.

Maybe I'm full of shit (as I don't own any of these devices) but isn't an iPhone minus the "phone" part otherwise known as an iPod Touch?

Sure, but you should be able to buy a 3G voice plan without the data plan, and yet still be able to use the iPhone's data functions when you're near a Wifi hotspot.
 
I don't understand why anyone would want an iPhone without a data plan. Kind of defeats the purpose of the device.

Is it even possible to get an iPhone without a data plan? I know on Verizon you have to have one; likewise with their Blackberrys.
 
I'd love that.

Maybe I'm full of shit (as I don't own any of these devices) but isn't an iPhone minus the "phone" part otherwise known as an iPod Touch?

Sure, but you should be able to buy a 3G voice plan without the data plan, and yet still be able to use the iPhone's data functions when you're near a Wifi hotspot.

Ahh, so you want the phone part without the data plan. Sorry, I misunderstood. Yeah, it does seem to be damn near impossible to get just a phone plan anymore.

To be fair, though, all cell phone traffic is just pushing digital packets around these days. From a cell tower's perspective there isn't a huge difference between call packets and data packets, other than their routing priority. It's just easier from a billing (and customer service) standpoint to bill for minutes used rather than the amount of data your call used up.

It would be better to have the choice, in any case. Cell carriers seem to be hard at work trimming down the choices you get anymore.
 
iPads are what, $400.00? $500.00? You have one of those. And, if I'm not mistaken, this is the cost without the data plan included, yes?

Data plans on the iPhone are roughly $30.00 a month. At least, mine is with Verizon... Amortize that over a year and its $360.00.

I understand not wanting to have to pay for two data plans -- that doesn't make much sense to me either... but unless you're paying for the iPad data plan... the logic of this reasoning escapes me.

I like the iPhone's call functionality very much. I like the way it works when it is used as a pure phone. That's really all I need a cellphone to do - is CALL. (The prepaid cell that I now have, does that, but it is rather awkward to use.) If I want to browse the Internet, I'll use the iPad.
 
Most people with home phones these days are middle-aged and older who simply haven't gotten rid of them yet. I'd be very surprised if many younger people even bother setting one up.

I have a landline, but in my case I have to. My home security system requires it. They do offer a wireless monitoring service, but it would cost about as much per month as I would save from getting rid of the landline, so I don't see the point in it. :shrug:

The only cellphone I have is a prepaid unit that I keep stashed in my car's glovebox, for emergencies.

Gotcha. It's not just an expense issue but also a personal preference. That makes more sense. Apologies for the misunderstanding. :)
 
Agree with the OP.

I actually had borrowed someone's iPad for a 2-3 months.

Between my smartphone (iPhone) and my laptop, I found so little use for it. I only go to coffee shops to meet people or to do work, so that's out. I would regularly get frustrated and go to my laptop during web browsing activities - I'm a power user, I always have like 10-20 tabs going, jumping back and forth, info overload :) It's just so slow and clumsy.
I wasn't going to add YET ANOTHER monthly internet fee to bet the 3G version.
I couldn't just "carry" the ipad in my pocket and always needed a bag to use it on the go (public transit).

I found the ONE and ONLY area where the was the best device for the situation was... lying on the couch at home, where it was nominally better than a smartphone and the awkwardness of using a laptop. Even then, only for casual reading/browsing.

That one sitaution isn't worth 500 bucks.
 
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