With an iPad 'pon the stair, I met a phone that wasn't there

June 10, 2011 7:36 PM

If I have an iPad, would I get any value out of an iPhone?

Today I learned I'll be getting an iPad 2 from my company as a performance bonus. Yay!
And then on the way home, I lost my phone (a Blackberry Curve). Boo!

I'd decided on a 32GB 3G iPad, as with Rogers the plan for that plus the phone I had is less than I was paying for phone + mobile internet stick.

But then my phone, clearly distressed, fled my Apple-buying pocket. So I have to replace said phone. With the iPad incoming, I don't really need all the smartphone goodies I used my phone for - email, internet, games. What do I need in a phone now?

My options right now would seem to be:

1. 3G iPad2 + cheap smartphone (with data sharing plan for both).

2. 3G iPad2 + cheap non-smartphone (ipad plan + separate phone plan)

3. 3G iPad2 + iPhone. Is there any benefit to having both?

4. wifi iPad2 + iPhone. I could get a 64GB wifi iPad instead of the 32GB 3G and then tether internet through the iPhone - but with data sharing plans, is the extra convolution worth it, and do I even need 64GB with iCloud?

Rogers will continue to be my provider whatever the choice - whatever nightmare they may be for some people, they've always given me excellent customer service and I'm staying put.

posted by L'Estrange Fruit to Computers & Internet (16 answers total)

Best answer: I have had an iPad for almost a year, and just got an iPhone last weekend after losing my old cellphone and my camera. One reason I wanted the iPhone was that my old phone was just a candy bar not-smart phone, and I find that keeping my calendar and to-dos on the iPad only was kind of awkward. It's a big thing to pull out in a meeting when looking for the next meeting time, for instance, and it's heavy to carry just in case I might want to check e-mail or get on the internet while I'm having a quick cup of coffee someplace. So, even though many functions are redundant, I chose the iPhone specifically because it is a smaller device that is compatible with the iPad and allows for easy syncing of e-mail, tasks, calendar items. I find that I'm liking having InstaPaper on the iPhone as well.

The iPhone is easier to use as an iPod, especially in the car, and I expect to get a CD-drive-based stand and a GPS app for it before an upcoming trip--there are good GPS apps but the iPad is really awkward to try to use in the car.

It does feel a little redundant. My partner loves his iPhone, whereas I merely like mine, perhaps because much of what it does, I have been doing with the iPad. It's less that they do different things than that they do the same thing in different ways, and that is useful for my purposes.
posted by not that girl at 7:47 PM on June 10, 2011

Best answer: Synchronizing data (email, contacts, calendaring) is much easier, especially if you use a Mac as a desktop OS and you don't want to deal with the downsides of web-based synchronization. For non-web-services, you wouldn't have to deal with the mostly Windows-only synchronization options that restrict other devices, or which make syncing with Macs expensive, difficult and error-prone.

Any so-called "universal" commercial apps you buy for the iPad can run on an iPhone for free, without having to buy an iPhone-targeted copy. Any iPhone/iPod Touch app can run on an iPad directly. This can be handy for data sharing and running certain apps, depending on what you use the iPad for.

If you plan to store lots of videos and music, or other large datasets, then the 64 GB model is nice. Otherwise, 16 or 32 GB probably meets your needs just fine.

The benefit of having 3G on both devices is that you don't need to run the battery down on your iPhone-as-wifi-hotspot, to serve networking to the iPad. 3G connectivity uses the battery charge pretty quickly on the iPhone. However, you might need to pay more per month, depending on Rogers.

For me, on AT&T, it's cheaper and more convenient to have the iPad have its own 3G account for occasional use ($15/mo) than to pay for iPhone tethering ($25/mo) for what would still be occasional use.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 7:49 PM on June 10, 2011

I own a wifi iPad 2, a 1G iPod touch, and a dumbphone, and all of these things were gifts/my parents pay for phone service.

My hypothetical plan for my future when I am paying for things myself is to someday acquire an iPhone with a tethering plan. iOS is pretty great from my experience with it, and iCloud or not, the iPhone will still go places the iPad won't go and the iPad will still do things the iPhone can't really do (usability-wise).

So I'd say go for option 4; 64GB might be "overkill" but assuming your media collection increases in size monotonically over time (not a bad assumption) you'll fill it some day. And Apple devices (when they don't die hilarious premature deaths, which occasionally happens as with any device) can last for a long time if you aren't an upgrade freak.
posted by silby at 7:51 PM on June 10, 2011

I don't have an iPad, but to me it's clear that they are two different devices with different benefits.

With a smart phone, I can go almost anywhere without really needing to carry anything on my person besides my phone, keys, and wallet/money/ID. I can use it as a GPS, a camera, a way to figure out where to meet a friend for drinks, an mp3 player, a planner, a notebook, a game system, an e-reader, etc. (and a telephone, of course.) And I don't even need to carry a purse to do any of this stuff.

Now obviously the iPad does all/most/a lot of that stuff. And, I dunno, maybe your clothes don't have pockets, or you rarely leave the house, or you drive a car everywhere and keeping a tablet computer near to hand all the time is no problem. But it's still a big object that I wouldn't necessarily want to have with me at all times.
posted by Sara C. at 7:58 PM on June 10, 2011 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I've got both an iPad2 and an iPhone3G (a luxury, no doubt), and I find that I use them for very different things. The iPad is far superior for reading (esp. books, pdf docs and newspapers) and some gaming; the iPhone is better for certain on-the-go applications (e.g., navigation) where you wouldn't want to carry around the iPad.

But now that you've got the iPad and you're choosing the type of phone to get, I would definitely say that the iPhone is the way to go because of the ability to share apps between the devices (thus amortizing their cost to some extent) and being able to link content across devices (e.g., to-do list apps like Remember the Milk, music, etc.). Perhaps some of this can be done between an iPad and another smartphone, but not as seamlessly, I'm sure.
posted by hawkeye at 10:22 PM on June 10, 2011

I don't have either, but toy with the idea of both. The capability versus constraints mix of the two varies with the details of the moment, and the details of all moments are not possible to predict.

So it boils down to economics. So far, for me, economics speak against either, so I remain loyal to my 1G iPod Touch, which fills the bill for 95% of what I do. What I do, currently, that is. Like you.. life is subject to change! Who knows what tomorrow brings?

The only reason I bothered to answer this was to emphasize that the usage pattern is only one part of the equation. It's a complex variable. Economics is the elephant in the room for any engineering decision and you've got an economic problem, not a tech/lifestyle problem. There is a lot of overlap on these tools. Sara C is right... unless you are a mesomorph with huge ass pockets, the little one clearly seems to cover most of the tech bases and the iPad provides only screen real estate. If economics dictate choosing one, iPhone wins. If not, choose both and have fun.

It is possible to get through life with neither. Turn back the calender a mere 4 years and you'll remember. (Man, it's only been 4 years!)
posted by FauxScot at 12:48 AM on June 11, 2011

Ever since watching Star Trek as a child, I dreamed of having a real pocket computer.

My iPhone fulfilled that dream.
posted by fairmettle at 4:43 AM on June 11, 2011 [2 favorites]

Best answer: I got an iPad2 from work recently too (everyone did, we had a good quarter), and at first I thought I wouldn't use it much since I already had an used an iPhone heavily. As it turns out, I use the iPad a lot and can't really imagine jettisoning either.

The iPhone is ideal for in-pocket, the iPad is the dream device for couch-surfing or airplane/airport movies.

Somewhat to my surprise, my iPad2 (wifi only) has become my primary web surfing, web-reading and e-mail device, to the point that I ignore PCs, Macs, my laptop and my netbook most of the time, unless I need a specific app for work reasons.

But my iPhone (an older 3GS) is still my alarm clock, all-day music player, SMS alerter, pocket calendar and roll-over-and-check-email-from-bed device, but if my phone ever alerts me to something I must actually do, I find the iPad or a computer and do it from there.

Keeping everything synched is not completely painless (yet), but you can already sync most everything that matters (calendars, mail etc) with Google apps, and documents with DropBox. I imagine iCloud will make that deeper and easier, but we'll see.

I've never desired 3G on my iPad. Every usage case I come up with, there's wifi, or the 3G iPhone in a pinch.

Shorter version: yeah, you will use both, and your usage pattern will adapt.
posted by rokusan at 6:31 AM on June 11, 2011 [1 favorite]

Wifi iPad + 3G smartphone is the best combo, IMHO. iPads are fantastically small for computery stuff, but they're way too big for phone stuff.
posted by willpie at 9:58 AM on June 11, 2011

Or, you know, exactly what rokusan said.
posted by willpie at 9:59 AM on June 11, 2011

If you have a data plan with Rogers of 1GB or more per month, there is no charge for using the 'personal hotspot' feature in iOS4.0 which will allow you to use your iPhone's data plan for occasional use on the iPad when you are out of wifi range. There is no additional tethering charge the way there is for AT&T users in the US (as blazecock mentioned). That alone to me suggests your best bet is to return your 3G ipad for a cheaper wifi model, and upgrade your phone to an iPhone.
posted by modernnomad at 11:08 AM on June 11, 2011 [1 favorite]

Mister and I both have both and find our iPhones just more portable. They hold a charge longer so they usually give us a better signal and there's less chance of running out of juice. The one time I needed to use my iPad's 3G on a week-long retreat it did not get a signal while the iPhone did. Both had fully-charged batteries.
posted by Mertonian at 11:40 AM on June 11, 2011

Some iPhone data plans include free tethering for your iPad (or laptop, etc). Before I got an iPad I never came anywhere close to reaching my data cap. Now with tethering, I can use about half my data. It's dead simple, the two machines connect via Bluetooth, so there's no literal physical tether, they just need to be near each other.

This saved me money in not having to buy a 3G iPad and not having to buy another data plan for the 3G iPad.

In terms of memory capacity, I bought the bottom of the line first gen 16GB WiFi model last year. With the cost of the higher memory models being significantly higher as a percentage of the product cost, I figured I rather put the extra $200 towards a third gen iPad, and swap out apps and videos as needed. It hasn't been a problem.
posted by fairmettle at 12:18 PM on June 11, 2011

My usage scenario is basically the same as rokusan. They are different devices and you use them for different things. The iPhone is your pocket device, the iPad is your couch device / commute device / meeting device and both are better at some things.

The only difference I have from rokusan is that I bought the 3G iPad. I did this because at the time the personal hotspot didn't exist, but I think I'd still do it now anyway. Apart from giving me GPS on my iPad, it also allows me to have a prepaid 3G card for occasional use with the bonus that it's on a different network so at least one device will work! Also helps with battery because personal hotspot eats your phone battery.
posted by ranglin at 4:07 AM on June 12, 2011

...your best bet is to return your 3G ipad for a cheaper wifi model, and upgrade your phone to an iPhone.

Phone hotspot is my solution. If you want 1GB or more data per month on Rogers, tethering is free. I do this my phone/wifi-only tablet. Works great and saves $10 or $15/mo for their device sharing plan. For a standard 3-year contract, that's 360 to 540 dolars saved.
posted by bonehead at 6:20 AM on June 12, 2011

Response by poster: Thanks everyone! I ended up going with the 3G version and switched to Telus at the last minute after I finally experienced the famous Rogers Customer Disservice in action. 3G is working out to be a great fit for me as I am often mobile but needing to be in contact with my team via skype, and I can access our webapp etc. to work on the bus ride home instead of staying at the office.
And I just found out that my company supplies managers with iPhones and I just became a manager, so... all worked out pretty well in the end.
posted by L'Estrange Fruit at 8:01 PM on July 8, 2011