iPad Mini: My new phone is my new iPad Mini. Replaced my iPhone.

[jdcell100]

I love the magic jack app I always have my ipad 4g with me many many times I forgot my phone had to call someone used the magic jack app. Never failed me excellent app!!!!

[SomeDudeAsking]

Originally Posted by jasonbond

Isn't saving a few bucks and not having a contract reason enough? What else do u want?

Not looking like a complete nerd that carries an iPad everywhere.

[Batavian]

Originally Posted by jdcell100

I love the magic jack app I always have my ipad 4g with me many many times I forgot my phone had to call someone used the magic jack app. Never failed me excellent app!!!!

I'm a magicjack user myself. Never thought I would be as I don't trust that guy in the qvc ads or infomercials. But the quality is great. And it's free. Just can't receive calls without paying for the service. Quality is better than talkatone, though that is not saying much.

[darngooddesign]

Originally Posted by SomeDudeAsking

Not looking like a complete nerd that carries an iPad everywhere.

People with original iPhones looked like nerds, but I didn't care. But if you spend your life worrying what other people think of you, best stick with something safe looking and more expensive to use like an iPhone. Then again, you probably sholdn't leave your house with a laptop or tablet either.

[Infinitewisdom]

Originally Posted by darngooddesign

People with original iPhones looked like nerds, but I didn't care. But if you spend your life worrying what other people think of you, best stick with something safe looking and more expensive to use like an iPhone. Then again, you probably sholdn't leave your house with a laptop or tablet either.

I don't know if the demographics on this site are just skewed towards the young side or what, but I do not know of any other group of people online or in person who collectively care so much about appearances, particularly when we're just talking about electronics. No one's saying to parade around in pantyhose and a tinfoil hat or anything.

[polbit]

While for me Mini is still too big to carry everywhere like a phone, I've made the switch from iPhone + small tablet to Galaxy Note II. I played with co-worker's NII for a bit, and it started to make a perfect sense. I hope Apple sees the light and comes up with something similar, as there are a lot of people that are looking into phablets. The less we talk, the more we need a comfortable screen.

[Infinitewisdom]

Originally Posted by polbit

While for me Mini is still too big to carry everywhere like a phone, I've made the switch from iPhone + small tablet to Galaxy Note II. I played with co-worker's NII for a bit, and it started to make a perfect sense. I hope Apple sees the light and comes up with something similar, as there are a lot of people that are looking into phablets. The less we talk, the more we need a comfortable screen.

I wouldn't mind a bigger screen than what's on the 5, but the Note is too big for a phone and too small for a tablet. I had one as well and it was unusable one-handed, which to me is a big deal. And then for tablet purposes, the screen just wasn't big enough. If I'm going to use a tablet, I'd rather have a mini or something of that size. The Note is a weird in between size

[aleni]

Originally Posted by polbit

While for me Mini is still too big to carry everywhere like a phone, I've made the switch from iPhone + small tablet to Galaxy Note II. I played with co-worker's NII for a bit, and it started to make a perfect sense. I hope Apple sees the light and comes up with something similar, as there are a lot of people that are looking into phablets. The less we talk, the more we need a comfortable screen.

agreed! i'll be the first to queue if apple release a note2 like display size.

[725032]

So you cant make normal calls now.

This is not a new phone.

FAIL OP!!!

[rmhop81]

Originally Posted by SiPi

So you cant make normal calls now.

This is not a new phone.

FAIL OP!!!

No one can just call him up. It's not a true solution

[yinz]

I'm thinking of getting my Uncle an iPad Mini. Not to replace his phone like the OP, but I think it's a great compliment to people still using "dumb" phones. It can replace the iPhone in all functionality except the phone calling business which can be easily solved with a cheap pre-paid phone card.

[Rhinoevans]

Originally Posted by kevroc

You could have done the same setup with the iPhone couldn't you? I mean doing it with the mini is pretty cool, but from a cost savings standpoint using your existing phone would work as well. And if you unlocked your iphone you could always pop in a cheap prepaid sim if you just had to have cell service.

I've been doing some experimenting with the Obi 110 / Obi app and it's pretty cool, need to look into line2 some more though, thanks for the post.

If you terminate yout service with ATT/Verizon, how do you use the iphone with Line 2 on a cellular network? I dont think you can avtivate an iphone with just data service, can you??

[DelMac]

Originally Posted by SiPi

So you cant make normal calls now.

This is not a new phone.

FAIL OP!!!

Bullcaca, yea I can. I've been making them for close to a month now.

[DelMac]

Originally Posted by rmhop81

No one can just call him up. It's not a true solution

It works for me. People can call me straight up. If I don't answer, I can always call them right back or whenever I want. It's not a true solution for you, that's your issue.

[725032]

Originally Posted by DelMac

It works for me. People can call me straight up. If I don't answer, I can always call them right back or whenever I want. It's not a true solution for you, that's your issue.

Fail

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Originally Posted by SiPi

So you cant make normal calls now. This is not a new phone. FAIL OP!!!

Yes, you can. VOIP has been able to make any calls (mobile or landlines) for many years now. Post your number and we'll call you via VOIP on an iPad Mini.

Originally Posted by rmhop81

No one can just call him up. It's not a true solution

Wrong. When we call the first guy via our iPad Mini's, he can be the test to see if he can call us back. It's easy to get calls from mobile or landlines via VOIP. It works just like an iPhone (minus vibration options).

Originally Posted by hljoo8

I would look like a darn fool
"hey what's your number"
"Oh, I'm sorry I don't have a phone anymore, I just use my iPad Mini, do you want my iPad Mini number?"
"Uh, nah that's ok I'll just tell you later"

None of that. You just give the number. It's got the same number of digits as any mobile phone. It will be completely transparent to anyone calling you (they'll never know you are receiving or making calls on an iPad unless YOU tell them).

As to "looking like a darn fool": for those where this makes sense, we enjoy saving about $1,000 or more per year. If we're trying to go this way, we probably don't care what other people think (I don't). In the few times when someone has noticed that I'm calling with iPad, they've asked about it. I explain VOIP, how I can both make and take calls from mobiles or landlines (just like they do), how I can text and receive texts (just like they do), etc and then I explain how I save more than $1,000/year doing things this way vs. using an iPhone. Believe me, they pay attention to that advantage (and want to know the exact details of apps & setup so they can do it too) and I'm seen as "tech savvy" vs. "darn fool". Recently, I saw that one of those people who asked me about it had already made the same change. I guess he wanted to be a "darn fool" too.

If "darn fool" is the narrow-minded view of someone holding an iPad up to their ear, think earbuds with microphone or bluetooth headset. Lots of people with iPhones use those too so they can see their screen while talking to someone. This just yields a bigger screen to see with iPad-formatted apps.

-------------

You guys so against this: why feel threatened? If you're happy with the iPhone and giving AT&T or similar a big toll every month, great! More power to you. We're choosing to enjoy much of the same benefit without giving AT&T or similar as much as you do. It works good enough for us. In doing so, it doesn't hurt you at all... so why the "Fail" and similar?

[bursthead]

Originally Posted by Rhinoevans

If you terminate yout service with ATT/Verizon, how do you use the iphone with Line 2 on a cellular network? I dont think you can avtivate an iphone with just data service, can you??

I think if you have a celluar ipad mini or 3/4. You can take the activated prepaid data sim and put it in your iphone.

[aleni]

What i hate about apple is they dont allow us to make calls and sms within ipad. I believe it's being done to save the canibalization of the iphone.

Well if they allow it, my main purpose is not for using the ipad as a telephone. But rather for sms and whatsapp.

[bursthead]

Originally Posted by aleni

What i hate about apple is they dont allow us to make calls and sms within ipad. I believe it's being done to save the canibalization of the iphone.

Well if they allow it, my main purpose is not for using the ipad as a telephone. But rather for sms and whatsapp.

I would be content with SMS + Data for the iPad. Hopefully iMessage, google voice, and line2 will be enough to push the carriers to allow SMS with Data. Since it is already occurring and they are losing revenue.

[RevTEG]

Thanks OP for posting this thread. The wife and are giving our 10 year old son an LTE mini for Christmas. He's really worked hard saving his money for one. So we decided to reward his effort and just buy it for him.

I will be setting up him a Line2 account so he can call us if need be from the mini! Perfect!!

[Batavian]

Originally Posted by fronesis

If you buy a Verizon iPhone 5 (they are all unlocked) you can do the same thing with a data-only iPhone. You just pop your iPad mini LTE sim into the iPhone (sim swapping now ALLOWED on Verizon) and you are set. You can even swap back and forth between the iPhone 5 and the iPad mini depending on your needs.

Would this work with a Verizon MiFi? I have a Verizon MiFi right now. If I got a Mini LTE from Verizon, could I pop my sim from my MiFi into my Mini and use the Mini as both an LTE tablet and wifi hotspot?

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Originally Posted by Batavian

Would this work with a Verizon MiFi? I have a Verizon MiFi right now. If I got a Mini LTE from Verizon, could I pop my sim from my MiFi into my Mini and use the Mini as both an LTE tablet and wifi hotspot?

VOIP apps will work with any wifi connection so yes, you could use the wifi from your mifi and a voip app(s) to do this (I've done it for a couple of years using the virgin mifi with a laptop). However, unless I'm mistaken, I don't think there is a SIM for Verizon (I think SIMs are associated with AT&T & similar devices).

If you are happy with the mifi, you could save some money and get a non-LTE iPad Mini and use them together. On the other hand, if you get rid of the mifi, an LTE iPad Mini gives you on-demand access to broadband whenever and wherever you need it. In my own case, I hardly ever need to activate the LTE (I'm almost always around a source of wifi without it) but I picked up the LTE version anyway for those "just in case" scenarios where I can't find free wifi nearby and for the GPS hardware. I expect to activate the LTE maybe twice a year in such scenarios (which means my oversized "iPhone" is going to have a toll of about $40/year instead of above $1000/year.

A related app to get is the jiwire free wifi app which can work offline (at locating nearby free wifi). When I need to connect and can't spot any free wifi nearby, I fire that up and locate it. Should I ever urgently need to connect and can't find anything close enough with that, I'll fire up the LTE for just that period.

For my purposes, this is a win in every way.

[Batavian]

Thanks for the comments Hobe. There is definitely a sim in my Verizon MiFi. I agree with you in that older Verizon devices did not have sim cards. But the one I have does.

Here's my thought process. If I put the sim from the MiFi into a Mini LTE, the advantages would be....

1) Carry one device (Mini LTE) vs two devices (MiFi & Mini).
2) Longer battery life as a hotspot in the Mini vs MiFi (provided Mini can act as a mobile hotspot).

Sadly, I still have to carry a laptop for work (LotusNotes, Excel) so I need the hotspot capabilities.

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Interesting. If the mifi would not have another purpose, consider selling it to help subsidize the mini. I'm selling the virgin mobile mifi now that I won't need it anymore.

Would the data toll be less by doing what you are trying to do (moving the SIM)? Better than $20 for 1GB?

Yes, mini can be a hotspot: http://www.apple.com/ipad-mini/ultrafast-wireless/

[dukebound85]

Originally Posted by MrXiro

why pay for line2 over using GV Phone app for free Google Voice calls?

Goggle voice does not give you free calls. It uses your plan's minutes.

I like GV and been using it for years but it is not a VoIP service