I thought I would share my thoughts on the possibility of replacing the iPhone with an Wifi+Cellular iPad Mini in this new thread. I have a Wifi+Cellular iPad Mini on order, and I'm hopeful this will work out.
A few things make this a possibility:
1. I almost never hold my iPhone up to my ear for phone conversations, preferring instead the speakerphone or the earbuds.
2. I visited my local Apple store and verified that the Mini will fit in my pants pocket, making the prospect even more hopeful.
3. I don't talk on the phone that much anyway.
4. Some iOS apps allow both free incoming and outgoing calls and texts without any dependence on your existing phone service, if set up properly.
The advantages I see are:
1. The simplicity of having two computing devices (tablet and laptop) instead of three (smart phone, tablet and laptop).
2. The iPad Mini, which in this scenario would be with you at all times, can comfortably be used for more tasks than the iPhone.
3. Consolidation and reduction of expenses: A $30 - $50 Verizon data plan with no commitment, which will allow a mobile hot spot, versus about $100 for a smartphone plan with a contract.
The disadvantages are:
1. The size of the iPad Mini. I won't know how big a disadvantage this is until I try to carry it everywhere, but as I said above, the mini will fit in my pocket.
2. 911 calls may not work.
This is all experimental at this point. Of the four apps that I've been experimenting with on the iPhone, two of these apps provide these services for free (GV Phone and Talkaton) while two (TextNow and TextPlus) are free with a points earned system and or very low cost if you pay. As I said above and repeat here because there is some understandable confusion on this, all four of these apps can work without any dependence on your existing phone service if configured correctly. There are other similar apps that I haven't tried.
My initial experiments on the iPhone show very promising results. Even so, if I do follow through with this, I may decide to get a small dumb phone with a cheap prepaid or pay-as-you-go service with the intent to dump it after some time.
A few things make this a possibility:
1. I almost never hold my iPhone up to my ear for phone conversations, preferring instead the speakerphone or the earbuds.
2. I visited my local Apple store and verified that the Mini will fit in my pants pocket, making the prospect even more hopeful.
3. I don't talk on the phone that much anyway.
4. Some iOS apps allow both free incoming and outgoing calls and texts without any dependence on your existing phone service, if set up properly.
The advantages I see are:
1. The simplicity of having two computing devices (tablet and laptop) instead of three (smart phone, tablet and laptop).
2. The iPad Mini, which in this scenario would be with you at all times, can comfortably be used for more tasks than the iPhone.
3. Consolidation and reduction of expenses: A $30 - $50 Verizon data plan with no commitment, which will allow a mobile hot spot, versus about $100 for a smartphone plan with a contract.
The disadvantages are:
1. The size of the iPad Mini. I won't know how big a disadvantage this is until I try to carry it everywhere, but as I said above, the mini will fit in my pocket.
2. 911 calls may not work.
This is all experimental at this point. Of the four apps that I've been experimenting with on the iPhone, two of these apps provide these services for free (GV Phone and Talkaton) while two (TextNow and TextPlus) are free with a points earned system and or very low cost if you pay. As I said above and repeat here because there is some understandable confusion on this, all four of these apps can work without any dependence on your existing phone service if configured correctly. There are other similar apps that I haven't tried.
My initial experiments on the iPhone show very promising results. Even so, if I do follow through with this, I may decide to get a small dumb phone with a cheap prepaid or pay-as-you-go service with the intent to dump it after some time.
