So tempted by a tablet with a data plan. .

When your out and about with family are you usually carrying your mobile ? If so you could simply tether (wifi hotspot) it.

If not sure you can get LTE variant, but I'd personally wait - especially if the Tab S isn't what you really want to start with. I find resale wise the price difference you pay for LTE/GSM tablet over wifi is never reflected in resale value difference.

So if you plan on selling the Tab S when a Note 2015 8.4" is inevitably released - it could be a false economy.

The Game 161 said:

Honestly due to the restriction on tethering with my carrier I would rather have a data plan.

S tab 8.4 is a great device bug given how quickly tablets are out these days maybe waiting is best.

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Yeah especially Samsung ones

Wait till CES anyway and see what gets shown off. As soon as we start seeing rumours and early hardware it won't be long for the new one to be released.

Ever since getting my iPhone 6 plus, I've not used my rMini on cellular, so much so, I removed it from my wireless plan. I've not missed it. While I still use my rMini, the need to take it out, has largely diminished

I think along the same lines of the IP6+, the Note provides a lot of functionality and flexibility that largely reduces the need for a tablet with cellular connectivity - just my $.02

maflynn said:

Ever since getting my iPhone 6 plus, I've not used my rMini on cellular, so much so, I removed it from my wireless plan. I've not missed it. While I still use my rMini, the need to take it out, has largely diminished



I think along the same lines of the IP6+, the Note provides a lot of functionality and flexibility that largely reduces the need for a tablet with cellular connectivity - just my $.02

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Yep my 6plus has unintentionally replaced my Retina IPad Mini too.

I much prefer a data plan tablet. It's annoying to have to turn on hotspot, wait for my tablet to connect, worry about my phones battery life, etc. I wish my SP3 had 4g.

The Game 161 said:

Yeah I hate waiting

Will be a Samsung one though yeah. .does just what I want and need.obessed by widgets too now.its a must on a tablet for me.

Ipads are great but too restrictive for my needs

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if you are looking for a good android tablet with LTE then i would look in too getting the shield tablet they are vary good with android upgrade has the tablet is all ready on android 5.0.1 and this may be the best pick for you if you dont like waiting for android upgrades

http://store.nvidia.com/store/nvidia/en_US/custom/pbPage.ShieldTabletPage

the LTE tablet is $399 for the 16GB

This is pretty much the reason why I won't give up the LTE LG G Pad 8.3. The tablet is by far a clunker with all of Verizon's bloat to boot but that good ol LTE signal is even stronger than my iPhone 5s and I never have to worry about tying it in to a hotspot.

The Game 161 said:

Question is should I get that with a data plan..I want a data plan when I'm out and about with work and family etc.

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I echo your sentiments, which is why I bought the cell version of the iPad Air 2 64gb this past weekend. It truly changes the dynamic....

spinedoc77 said:

I much prefer a data plan tablet. It's annoying to have to turn on hotspot, wait for my tablet to connect, worry about my phones battery life, etc. I wish my SP3 had 4g.

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This is exactly why I get them with data plans. Plus I think it increases the value and you can always turn the data off if you decide you don't need/want it. Its nice to just get in the car and go.

spinedoc77 said:

I much prefer a data plan tablet. It's annoying to have to turn on hotspot, wait for my tablet to connect, worry about my phones battery life, etc. I wish my SP3 had 4g.

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I generally agree but with myself owning multiple tablets and a family using a bunch of devices (tablets and laptops) when away from home, I went with a mobile hotspot. Now, I have a luxury most don't in that I still have my grandfathered unlimited data plan for iPad from AT&T and was able to just move my SIM over to the hotspot over a year ago but even if I didn't, I'd still go this route. The hotspot device cost <$100 off contract from Amazon, I save the premium paid for onboard LTE access on our devices as well the monthly fees to have them all added to our family plan, and don't have to worry about using my phone and draining it's battery by tethering to it.

tbayrgs said:

I generally agree but with myself owning multiple tablets and a family using a bunch of devices (tablets and laptops) when away from home, I went with a mobile hotspot. Now, I have a luxury most don't in that I still have my grandfathered unlimited data plan for iPad from AT&T and was able to just move my SIM over to the hotspot over a year ago but even if I didn't, I'd still go this route. The hotspot device cost <$100 off contract from Amazon, I save the premium paid for onboard LTE access on our devices as well the monthly fees to have them all added to our family plan, and don't have to worry about using my phone and draining it's battery by tethering to it.

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^^^ makes sense if you have multiple tablets/devices that need internet access. For me I only have one tablet so I have a data plan on my account. The charge is only $10 a month to add a tablet so it is not expensive.
I can just tuck it under my arm and away I go.

I have done the hotspot thing in the past but it tends to kill the battery of the hotspot device.

Only time I use a tablet away from home is in my car or at someone else's home. In my car, I don't need to worry about battery life when tethering from my phone since it's on the charger. Everyone I vist has wifi.

I once tethered my Macbook to my Note 4 for about an hour. Battery life on went down to like 70% on my Note 4.

Even if I'm chilling on the beach for half the day, I always bring my 20,000mah external battery pack.

I just can't see a reason for myself to need to pay for a tablet data plan.

The Game 161 said:

Ok as most know I get tempted by alot hense having a

Note 4
Gear S
Note 12.2
Note 8.0
Ipad 2

But after having the note 4 and 12.2 I badly miss a great screen on my 8 inch version.

I want to wait for next note 8.0 but rumours are that might not happen. So I'm tempted on S tab 8.4 as my mid range size.

Question is should I get that with a data plan..I want a data plan when I'm out and about with work and family etc.

S tab was out in July my only question is..is it worth getting that now or waiting to see what's out in 2015 from Samsung as chances are I will stick with Samsung tablets over the ipad. .

Hmmm

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I will go nuts if they don't do a new Note 8. Tab S 8.4 + S Pen would be just way too good a combo for productivity.

tbayrgs said:

I generally agree but with myself owning multiple tablets and a family using a bunch of devices (tablets and laptops) when away from home, I went with a mobile hotspot. Now, I have a luxury most don't in that I still have my grandfathered unlimited data plan for iPad from AT&T and was able to just move my SIM over to the hotspot over a year ago but even if I didn't, I'd still go this route. The hotspot device cost <$100 off contract from Amazon, I save the premium paid for onboard LTE access on our devices as well the monthly fees to have them all added to our family plan, and don't have to worry about using my phone and draining it's battery by tethering to it.

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Hotspot is a great option. I've considered it when I used to use a small phone and wanted to bring a Note around with me as my phablet/tablet, but ATT doesn't allow a data plan on it. I'm waiting for the hotspots to get a bit smaller though, I hate carrying around another phone sized device with me.

The Game 161 said:

Hope so...been looking at iPad mini 3 but just doesn't compare to the features I'm used to since moving to android.

Can't believe the price from mini 3 to the 2 just for the touch Id

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The only reason why I got the mini 3 is because I wanted more than 32GB of storage. Otherwise I would have got the mini 2.

The Game 161 said:

You liking it?

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It's ok. I like the form factor more than anything but the screen is a bit disappointing. The colour gamut is not as good as even the iPad air let alone other tablets like the nexus 7 2013 or my tab pro 10.1. Overall it's a nice tablet though.

I think my next purchase (next month) will be the S5 or note 4 to go with my 6 plus. I can't stick to one platform.

jamezr said:

^^^ makes sense if you have multiple tablets/devices that need internet access. For me I only have one tablet so I have a data plan on my account. The charge is only $10 a month to add a tablet so it is not expensive.
I can just tuck it under my arm and away I go.

I have done the hotspot thing in the past but it tends to kill the battery of the hotspot device.

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No disagreement here--loved the instant access on my iPad when I was out, not having to worry about finding usable wifi, especially considering most public wifi are utter crap. Difficulties arose once I started owning more than one tablet.

And then my kids grew old enough to have a need as well so, I'm grateful I kept the unlimited data plan.

The Game 161 said:

Yeah hotspot thing is great in theory but it's annoying waiting for it to connect. So I get why others feel the same

Ipad would be a option right now..if I got one it would be the mini

Last apple tablet I had was ipad 2 so not sure I could go back given the features I love from android

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I here ya but to be honest, I just turn on the hotspot once I leave the house and it's battery life is almost always good enough to get me through an entire long day of use. Once it's on, all devices are always connected.

spinedoc77 said:

Hotspot is a great option. I've considered it when I used to use a small phone and wanted to bring a Note around with me as my phablet/tablet, but ATT doesn't allow a data plan on it. I'm waiting for the hotspots to get a bit smaller though, I hate carrying around another phone sized device with me.

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Yup, size is not ideal but since I usually have some sort of bag with me, I just turn it on and forget about it. Shrinking em down to about half their current size would certainly be more ideal though.

I prefer data tablets especially iPad as they have Gps chip. We have data share phone plans so get 2 extra sims for tablets and share data across all devices. Works great.

Hotspot is the way to go especially for people like me with Verizon unlimited data and with Foxfi it's just one press to activate hotspot and client devices with saved wireless profile can be set to connect automatically. Doesn't get any easier than that.