Apple iPad "Essentials"

My problems with using the iPhone as a hotspot: a) battery life is atrocious on the iPhone 3gs but acceptable on the iPad; and b) I get lots of phone calls. The iPad data plan can be started and stopped; if you only want it for a month every so often, you can do that. The carriers bet you'll just let it automatically renew; they've won that bet with me...:redface:

And they caught me multiple times when I had the ipad1 3g. So I got monthly plan renewals and charges even when not in the country. Now with the ipad2 wifi and hotspot smartphone solution I know my monthly costs, no surprises there.
 
Hmm, I can see I'll have to look carefully. Right now, I don't travel all that much...so I think that's why I felt that the month to month thing might be cheaper for me. More reading to do... I take a long time to make purchases, obviously.;)
 
BBW as the ad says "Just Do It". Think in 18 months the hubby will have it and you will have a new better one and then you will then know exactly what you want based on your experiance with the old one. :rolleyes:
 
I have a 16G wifi + 3G iPad 1. I'm about to buy an iPad 2.

Initially, I'd had the top-end iPhone, but when I got an iPad, it was given to me, so I didn't get a choice about the size.

What I've found is that I use far more on the iPad, so when I upgraded from an iPhone 4 to a 4S, I downgraded my storage from 32 gig to 16 gig.

I haven't decided if I'll go for 32 gig on the iPad or 64 gig.
 
I got a 64 primarily with the idea of using it for photo storage on a long trip, and maybe a bit of processing, but mostly storage and review (and deleting the obvious garbage) before I get home. Time will tell whether going from 32 to 64 was a waste of money, but I definitely didn't want to limit myself to 16 gigs. I don't keep any music on the ipad - my new iphone is 64gb and all of the music in the world is on that. I didn't get the 3G for the ipad. I actually started to buy it and was walking out of the store and I reminded myself I was very unlikely to have the ipad with me and NOT the iphone and the iphone already covers that. For those times when I can't find wi-fi, that's good enough - I just couldn't see paying the extra for the machine and for additional data charges as I used it. If I commuted by rail every morning or something, I'd have definitely gotten the 3G and probably had a permanent data plan. But for the exceedingly limited amount I'd use it, I just couldn't see it. I may end up feeling that way about the 64gb too, but that was just a one time $100 without any additional charges. And there's no downside to having it...

I was really resistant to getting an ipad - just couldn't see the point with a mac and an iphone. But my wife was out of town one weekend and left hers behind and I started using it and realized it was REALLY handy for everything except extensive typing (I'm entering this on my Mac). Now I have one and I use it a LOT - money well spent.

-Ray
 
Ray, my wild card was an iPod Touch that I already had when I bought the iPhone. When I realized how abysmal the battery life on the 3Gs was, I knew my music would continue to reside on the iPod. Not that much hassle as I usually only listen to headphone music on a plane; the iPod has its own little compartment in my carry-on. I did go with the music on the iPad knowing I had both space and decent battery life. I often play background music on the iPad while doing other "work" on it. The i's have it!
 
My thing with music on the phone is soooooo far beyond irrational that it makes irrational look like a pimple on the chin of someone with a gaping gunshot wound in the forehead - this is REALLY stupid. Up to about 10 years ago, I was an absolute music junkie. I was listening to music nearly ALL of my waking life. I played it badly too, but mostly just loved listening, collecting, learning, reading about it - the full on obsession from my teens into my early 40s. And it didn't go away gradually - it was like a switch flipped and I started losing interest somewhere in my early 40s and the transition was complete within a year or so - I just didn't really care about it much anymore. And we were JUST shy of having really good mp3 players when my head started to shift and middle age started to actually kick in and I started losing interest in music. Mind you, I still love it, but I doubt I listen to music an hour a day anymore and can go days without listening to it at all. BUT, when I first started getting mp3 players I was SOOOOO psyched about the idea of having my whole music collection in my pocket, or even just in a backpack that I was totally taken by this. I got pretty close, but the mp3 players were still quite big by today's standards - I remember one from Creative that was about the size of a small paperback. And I remember saying that once they can put everything I have in my cell phone, my pda, and my mp3 player into one small device, my technical life would be complete, a dream would be realized. I had a Blackberry for a while that came close, but never loved using it.

THEN, the iphone, which I finally switched to about two and a half or three years ago. But the iphone 16 gig wasn't near big enough and then even the 32 gigs wasn't big enough to hold all of my music, so I had to create an iphone playlist in itunes and actually pick and choose what I was going to put on the iphone at any given time. I had to THINK about which music to keep which me and which music to leave behind. You know, like I'd ALWAYS had to do before with tapes and CDs, but suddenly this was unacceptable, intolerable, horrible!!! But 32 gigs was close to large enough - 40 would have probably done it. So I was yearning for a 64 gig iphone. Regardless of how thoroughly I didn't NEED it, I had to have it! Now I finally have an iphone with the capacity for everything I'd ever want to put on it. I'm not buying a lot of music anymore - again, I don't listen much, so I doubt I'll outgrow it, but now its meaningless in every sense except that I've GOT TO have it. I still MUST have all of my extensive music collection available at ALL TIMES! And now and I do - I can live happily, I could even die in peace. I don't listen to most of it EVER anymore. This is the most ridiculous obsession that I've ever held onto long enough to actually see through to the end, waaaaaay past the point where it even mattered to me except at the level of a lifelong dream realized. Its almost like having a particular tennis racquet or set of golf clubs in mind as a young athlete and then finally buying it when it becomes available even though you gave up tennis and golf years ago!

So my lifelong dream has been realized with the 4s - I sleep easier now. And now I can move on to my fantasy EP4 which will essentially be an m43 version of the Nex 7's features all built into an EP3 body. I will probably have given up photography by the time it happens, but evidently I'll have to buy it anyway! :confused::confused::confused:

People are funny - evidently, I'M frickin' HILARIOUS!! :D

-Ray
 
I know I am appreciating everyone's input. Ray, I so you succumbed after all! Good for you for being so flexible and not feeling you had to stick to your "I'll never..." feelings.
 
I know I am appreciating everyone's input. Ray, I so you succumbed after all! Good for you for being so flexible and not feeling you had to stick to your "I'll never..." feelings.

The only thing I'll NEVER do is stick to any I'll NEVER pledges, unless it just happens by accident. Some would say I'm malleable - I prefer to think of it as open minded. :cool:

I don't want or need anything right up to the minute I do, and then it somehow seems important to have it...

I don't have too many things on my NEVER list right now, but I don't see anything I'm itching to buy either. I'm sure both of these will change in time...

-Ray
 
As my mother used to say "Never say never." Wait...isn't there a James Bond book/movie:D with a title akin to that?

Well … the initials are the same but it was its the title of an album/song/video/? by that prepubescent Justin Bieber. For what it is worth I have all of the Bond books on my iPad but none of the movies.
 
Ray: If I were next to you I would give you a big hug (manly one that is). That was quite a testiment to your love of music, and I can't stop smiling about it. Personally I do have some albums on mine, Neil Young, Buffalo Springfield and the like. But also a few children books and even one kids movie (Cars), just in case I get struck watching the little rugrats and need something to do. It seems the iphone has made quite and impression here with all the talk and posts... like it or not its staying around for awhile.... Cheers, Pete
 
Pete, don't know how old your grandkids are, but there are a number of apps that mine find entertaining. Whenever my older grandson (2 1/2) sees me, he looks for my iPad and wants "Bussy". That's the Wheels on The Bus app...
 
Chuck: Dont let my youthful picture sway you. My oldest grandchild is nearly 12 but the youngest is 3 and I know just what you mean. I'll check it out...thanks
 
Ray, you might find this story funny.

I had the original iPod, the 5 gig model. I filled it, then I wanted to buy a bigger iPod when the 3rd gen came out, so I gave my old one to my mom (who was around 65 at the time). She went crazy over music and filled it, then wanted more. So I went with her to the Apple store to help her shop for one. They suggested a Mini, but she said it was too small. The woman asked if she liked classical music a lot. My mom says, "Hell no, I have thirty gigs of trance!"

That's my mom for ya.

Fwiw, I have about thirty gigs of music in iTunes. Last I checked, I had 6,006 songs.
 
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