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iPhone or iPod Touch?

T

twodollars

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 17, 2007
55
0
Right now I'm considering between an iPhone and an iPod Touch/LG Voyager.

Where I currently live ATT coverage is spotty at best, and Verizon pretty much rules. But I'm moving to Colorado in a month and the coverage looks pretty even on the maps.

So, is the Touch pretty crippled compared to the phone (besides the phone and bluetooth, obviously), does the phone have nationwide roaming? How is your experience with the ATT Edge network? Is an updated iPhone expected this year, seriously? And how is your overall approval feeling with the iPhone?

Please list any pros or cons dealing with either too, thanks.

The price is a worthless point either way. With the iPhone I'll only pay $400 up front, but I'll spend a lot with the $60+ plus a month. The Touch/Voyager may be $700-$800, but a cell plan with Verizon may save me $10 or $15 a month over the course of two years.

Thanks guys!
 
I was in the same situation only AT&T and Verizon are about equal here.

I just couldn't justify buying the touch over the phone. The fact that the touch doesn't have a mail app killed it for me.

Plus for web browsing, Edge is sufficient. Wi-fi kills the battery and is only available sporadically.

Go for the phone.
 
I personally think that there won't be a v2 of the iPhone this year or early next year.
I prefer the iPhone to the touch for many reasons and have enjoyed my phone thoroughly. Even though I had to switch carriers.
I'd reccomend the iPhone.
 
Not sure this will help you, but I own both. I keep my phone un-hacked, and I bought an iPod Touch 16gb, and hacked it. I was able to install all the apps from the iPhone, like Mail and weather... Everything but the camera, the phone, and the SMS. So, if you want to jailbreak your device, the iPod Touch is great to play with.
 
I am lucky enough to have both. I use the iPod touch a lot, around the house, out and about at the sports centre etc.

The iPhone is great as a phone and I use it solely when travelling.

If I had to choose just one, the iPhone would win every time.
 
Mine did not do this. With 'recent' mode on, I believe it only downloads unread email from within the last 30 days.

Sobe said:
it has a few minor annoyances like downloading every fricken email you have in your gmail when you start for the first time...but once you sort out the kinks it works pretty near flawlessly.
Click to expand...
 
I got a Touch, but I would have gotten an iPhone if they had 16GB ones and AT&T didn't suck here.
 
Pretty simple choice you know, do you want a phone or just a fancy iPod?

No one knows if a new phone will be out.

Do you want 16GB or just 8GB?

Do you want to have to carry around two large devices, phone and Touch?

I'm perfectly happy with my iPhone and Shuffle, meets all my needs.
 
twodollars said:
The price is a worthless point either way. With the iPhone I'll only pay $400 up front, but I'll spend a lot with the $60+ plus a month. The Touch/Voyager may be $700-$800, but a cell plan with Verizon may save me $10 or $15 a month over the course of two years.

Thanks guys!
Click to expand...

What is Verizon's monthly data plan rate? Are you planning on using internet on the V'ger*?

If you dont plan on taking advantage of unlimited data OR you desperately need 3G service then go with the V'ger. If you want cheap unlimited data and you don't care as much about speed (you aren't using graphics intense sites) go for the iphone.

Just remember that data shoots up real quick if you aren't on an unlimited plan. Admittedly I am biased but I always assume Verizon has a higher price for the same plan versus ATT, especially with the iPhone, since the data plan is only 20.00 per month for an iphone plus you get rollover minutes, so if you aren't exact with your daytime minutes after a few months you'll never go over.
 
If I got a Voyager/Touch I'd just use the Touch on wifi for my data. And I will have wifi availible nearly 24/7 when I move.

Right now I'm really swinging towards the iPhone/Zune flash.

One more question. When you're on the internet or youtube on iPhone, does it take up minutes? I believe when you buy data like WEB2.0 or something on Verizon you pay the fee and lose minutes.

450 minutes just wouldn't work, and I can't pay more monthly then that.

Thanks again.
 
It wont take up your calling time minutes. Usage will be calculated in kbs and billed to you unless you are on an unlimitted plan for internet usage
 
I would go with iPhone for a few reasons. First, with the touch you do get Safari, but it only works when you are in a wifi hotspot. If you are on a road trip or outside for a long period of time and there is not much to do, you won't be using the internet on touch. At least with iPhone in this situation you get to use EDGE and still have pretty close to the full internet.

Second is email. If you are someone that uses email a lot then the fact that iPhone has it and touch doesn't should be a big deal.

Third is the maps widget. This has been more useful than I originally thought. It is great for directions and for looking up places to go or things to do when you are in a city you aren't too familiar with. If you are moving soon the maps widget would come in handy for finding directions as well as new places to shop or eat.

The final thing for me is the difference between carrying two things or one. With touch and the LG you are always going to have two things for music and a phone. With iPhone you have music, phone, email, and internet all in one device that is easy to take with you anywhere.
 
Eh, crap. My decision just got made for me, at least for the time being.

Even though I live on my own and have my own legal debit card, you must be 18 to activate on account thru ATT.

Oh well.
 
twodollars said:
Right now I'm considering between an iPhone and an iPod Touch/LG Voyager.

Where I currently live ATT coverage is spotty at best, and Verizon pretty much rules. But I'm moving to Colorado in a month and the coverage looks pretty even on the maps.

So, is the Touch pretty crippled compared to the phone (besides the phone and bluetooth, obviously), does the phone have nationwide roaming? How is your experience with the ATT Edge network? Is an updated iPhone expected this year, seriously? And how is your overall approval feeling with the iPhone?

Please list any pros or cons dealing with either too, thanks.

The price is a worthless point either way. With the iPhone I'll only pay $400 up front, but I'll spend a lot with the $60+ plus a month. The Touch/Voyager may be $700-$800, but a cell plan with Verizon may save me $10 or $15 a month over the course of two years.

Thanks guys!
Click to expand...

In order for the Verizon plan to save you money given the $60 plan and the $400 phone, the Verizon plan would have to be less than $43 a month. In order to save you $10 a month, therefore, the Verizon plan would have to be $33/mo.

Also consider that with the Verizon plan you are talking about an expenditure of $400 additional dollars up front for a $240 savings capitalized over the course of two years.

Assuming you can get an equivalent Verizon plan for $33 a month (which I very seriously doubt), you're spending 66 percent more up front than what you stand to save over two years. If you are arguing that you are saving $10 a month, it would take you forty months to recoup the $400 you spent up front... by which time you'll have spent $1320 in service fees and $800 in hardware. So your total spending (because you're not actually getting the $400 BACK, you're just spending $10 less a month which is probably going to waste unless you are really conscientiously tucking it away in a jar) with the Verizon route is $2120. So you're spending $280 more in total to save $400, ending up actually only saving $120... $5 a month or 15% a year or one sixth the one year return on Apple stock.

You just spent $2120. If you start with $2120 and end up with $120, that's a net loss of $2000 versus a net loss of $1840 buying an iPhone with a $60 plan.

But here's the kicker... If you invested $2120 in Apple for a year, you'd yield nearly $4200... after taxes about a $1700 profit. There's nearly two years of iPhone service PLUS $2100 more in your pocket!

Personally, I don't know why people even ask questions about which way they should go because if you truly want to save money, the above paragraph is the way to do it... You don't "save" by spending even more.

Might you want to rethink your strategy?
 
twodollars said:
Eh, crap. My decision just got made for me, at least for the time being.

Even though I live on my own and have my own legal debit card, you must be 18 to activate on account thru ATT.

Oh well.
Click to expand...

You're not even 18 and youre asking whether you should spend $1800 versus $2100?

Please read my above post.
 
You assumed that I bought the 16 gig Touch and that the Voyager was $400, when it could be anywhere for $250 to $400...

If I get an 8 gig Touch and a $300 Voyager, that's $600 up front compared to $400. Now, a Verizon plan with the same amount of minutes and more texting yet sans the data (compensated by Touch) is $50/month. So over the course of 24 months (24 x 10) I gain $40. If the Voyager ends up being $400 I lose $60.

The cost either way is virtually the same.
 
Avatar74 said:
You're not even 18 and youre asking whether you should spend $1800 versus $2100?

Please read my above post.
Click to expand...
This isn't about the money, it's about the features and reliability and overall feeling about the product.

$300 over the course of two years isn't going to bother me too horribly much.
 
twodollars said:
You assumed that I bought the 16 gig Touch and that the Voyager was $400, when it could be anywhere for $250 to $400...
Click to expand...

Your original post said $700-800 for the two. I'm basing it on your figures.

If I get an 8 gig Touch and a $300 Voyager, that's $600 up front compared to $400. Now, a Verizon plan with the same amount of minutes and more texting yet sans the data (compensated by Touch) is $50/month. So over the course of 24 months (24 x 10) I gain $40. If the Voyager ends up being $400 I lose $60.

The cost either way is virtually the same.
Click to expand...

Ok... Either way you lose roughly $1800. You gain service but, let's be clear... You are not "gaining" $40 or $60 or anything... there is no "net" gain as this is not an investment transaction. You may say that you spent $1800 versus $1840.

The problem is that advertisers love to use weasel words and reverse psychology to prey on you... They'll never say in the commercial "you could spend $1800 instead of spending $1840." That is what's happening but it doesn't sound as appealing as confusing a price differential with a net gain.

twodollars said:
This isn't about the money, it's about the features and reliability and overall feeling about the product.

$300 over the course of two years isn't going to bother me too horribly much.
Click to expand...

So what if it is or isn't? Do you think I'm hurting for $300 right now? Do you think I'm hurting for $2000? Still, money going out your pocket is money going out your pocket. Wouldn't you like more money to come in your pocket than goes out?

If you don't learn the time value of money now you will find yourself growing debt at an alarming rate, each step of the way rationalizing the imaginary "savings" you will reap by handing your money over to merchants now as opposed to investing it now and being handed more money later.

Do what you want but I think the primary motivation kids your age want these toys so badly is because you see people in the media who are affluent and you want to emulate that. Now more than ever in surveys teenagers think the most important goal is to be rich... but more and more, as you demonstrate here, you kids don't seem to understand what it takes to get there.

Believe me I understand the allure of instant gratification... but I have a different kind of gratification now being on the other side of that equation. Sooner or later, you're going to want to know how its done... I just hope you come to that conclusion before you find yourself in a pile of debt that arises from precisely this kind of confusion over what a "gain" really is.
 
The only reason i would go with a touch is because of the non monthly charges. Besides that, iphone all the way.
 
I don't comprehend the point you're trying to get across to me. Yes, either way I'm go I could be spending 'less' rather then 'saving' money, sure.

Are you encouraging me not to go with either option? Let's be clear, I'm not going into debt or even close either way, and I'm been putting aside extra money anticipating switching to ATT or buying a Touch iPod for a good while.

You don't buy a phone or MP3 player to make money. You buy them to talk to friends and listen to music.

I have never bought anything on credit and hopefully never will. I didn't with my first iPod, first computer, and not even with my first car.

I do appreciate the advice though. I don't necessarily need the iPod but I do need a phone one way or the other, period.
 
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