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Own iPad. Want smartphone. Any perks to the iPhone4/iPad combo?

C

cas85

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 4, 2010
121
7
-Own and use the hell out of my iPad for notetaking (college student) and "media consumption".

-used to own iPhone3g and loved that also. researched and tried iPhone4 and i believe it's amazing. very familiar with iOS.

-any advantage (i'm not talking about feature comparison, but since i already own an iPad) to getting the iPhone 4 instead of Samsung Focus (Win Phone 7) for example?

Sorry if this has been asked before but i used the mroogle thing to search and i couldn't find much.
 
The only benefit is buying into the Apple ecosystem. Other than that, not much. Perhaps the added value would be to jailbreak the iPhone and make it enable tethering, thus giving the iPad a nice Internet connection.
 
since i have a iMac aswell, i like that i can sync alot of data over all my devices so i have access to it whatever i've got with me. for example, i use an app called iHomework for organising myself for college assignments, and i can see this information on my iPhone4,iPad or on my mac at home. it's little things like that that make me love this combo of devices. i don't know if you get the same kind of thing on Windows if that's your poison.
 
All the apps you buy on the iPhone 4 will work on your iPad (either natively if they are universal, or at 1x/2x screen magnification if they are iPhone only)

Syncing is easier too, as you can organize all of your school notes, media, and apps in one place.
 
I agree with the above. I have both as you can see by my signature and the ability to sync info between them is a real plus. Also buying only one app and sharing it is also a plus. I find myself more often turning an app off on one of them because I don't use it on that unit.
 
thanks for your inputs everyone. i've decided to go with the iphone.

i love the display, the feel, the typing, and my comfort level with iOS.

one thing that i can't get over is how "substantial" the iphone feels in your hands compared to other handsets. i feel like i'm holding more than some cheap plastic with some thrown together silicon inside. i just like how every square inch of the phone is engineered.
 
i have both plus a macbook pro. Makes mobile life really nice. Life in my work crashpad is much easier with these iDevices and they all fit in a single bag, makes traveling really easy
 
When someone "helpfully" points out your iPad can't make phone calls, or is "just a big iPhone", you can say I've got that too. :D

ATM the only downside is being reminded I don't have iOS4.x on the iPad when I use the iPhone. :rolleyes:
 
No real need to buy a iPad 3G if you have a jailbroken iPhone since you can just install MyWi.
 
Several as far as I'm concerned:

1) Since everything syncs w/ iTunes you don't need (to learn) multiple pieces of s/w or have to store music or videos in two different locations on your computer.

2) Ability to share apps. -- a lot of "iPhone only" apps look fine on the iPad. Angry Birds, for example. Not stunning, but not horrible either. Worth saving a few bucks.

3) The both work exactly the same way so less time wasted in memorizing where settings are, etc.

4) iOS is a proven winner. It's going to be around awhile. OTOH M$ doesn't have a great history w/ it's mobile OSes but does have a history of quickly abandoning products that don't have fast adoption rates. With all the Android competition out there and the likelihood of Verizon getting iPhone, that doesn't put Win Phone 7 in a great position.
 
Indeed having the same platform for two or more devices is quite nice. You mit find yourself cursing the fact that you are getting both worlds - the disadvantages of both platforms are immediately apparent when switching between them.

The iOS App catalog is incredible large. Jailbreaking gives you the option of using even more applications and having the same type of interface elements on multiple devices makes you appreciate them a little mlre.

Then again, if you are a kind of hacker (you know what xda developers is and what a repository does) you can have oodles of fun customizing an Android phone or even an N900.

Windows phone 7 is a platform that, while very promising and doing a lot of big things very well, is still miles behind the various operating systems that include iOS and Android, and to a similar extent WebOs as well. I do not recommend the platform until issues like multitasking, copy/paste, and app capabilities are addressed. These same issues plagued the iOS experience until recently, but they were no less troublesome then - we just started to expect more now that a (reasonably) good solution or two have been found for them.
 
As much as I love Apple, I wouldn't buy an iPhone (or any other smartphone) along with iPad (unless it was about getting shallow chicks fawning over my gadgets!)
Just max-out your utilization of the iPad and get a dumbphone for phone calls.
Give the 200 or 300+ bucks to charity.
 
kim2272 said:
I use my iPhone 4 sim card in my iPad when I don't want to pay for extra data.
Click to expand...



I am VERY weak on sim card knowledge etc, but you can really do that? Just pop out the iPhone sim and toss it into your iPad and essentially turn on the 3G that way rather than pay for a plan?

If so, curiously, what happens if you have your iPhone sim in the iPad and someone calls you? It goes directly to voicemail?

Mike
 
DuckSoup said:
I am VERY weak on sim card knowledge etc, but you can really do that? Just pop out the iPhone sim and toss it into your iPad and essentially turn on the 3G that way rather than pay for a plan?

If so, curiously, what happens if you have your iPhone sim in the iPad and someone calls you? It goes directly to voicemail?

Mike
Click to expand...
iPad 3G does not require Data plan contract. You can pay as you use... or use your existing phone 3G plan.
 
Bernard SG said:
As much as I love Apple, I wouldn't buy an iPhone (or any other smartphone) along with iPad (unless it was about getting shallow chicks fawning over my gadgets!)
Just max-out your utilization of the iPad and get a dumbphone for phone calls.
Give the 200 or 300+ bucks to charity.
Click to expand...

Maybe in theory, but I neither carry my iPad w/ me all the time nor use it for the same purposes I use my iPhone, and neither to attract shallow chicks. Honestly, I don't see a lot of iPads in public the way I see iPhones so I'm not alone here. If I had to give up one I'd have to fork over my iPad. I suppose you are the type that only owns one size screwdriver.
 
Chupa Chupa said:
Maybe in theory, but I neither carry my iPad w/ me all the time nor use it for the same purposes I use my iPhone, and neither to attract shallow chicks. Honestly, I don't see a lot of iPads in public the way I see iPhones so I'm not alone here. If I had to give up one I'd have to fork over my iPad. I suppose you are the type that only owns one size screwdriver.
Click to expand...

Ok forgive my smugness. If your main concern is compatibility/consistency go for iPhone 4. But there's nothing bad testing other platforms and trying new experiences.
Just go with your gut feelings.
I'm sure you're informed enough to know the perks and pitfalls of each smartphone platform.
Personally I'd go iPhone. FaceTime is cool.
You can't really compare Ipad, iPhone, smartphones to screwdrivers.
There are other factors as well, if your iPad isn't 3G, you may prefer a phone that can tether easily...
 
Last edited:
DuckSoup said:
I am VERY weak on sim card knowledge etc, but you can really do that? Just pop out the iPhone sim and toss it into your iPad and essentially turn on the 3G that way rather than pay for a plan?

If so, curiously, what happens if you have your iPhone sim in the iPad and someone calls you? It goes directly to voicemail?

Mike
Click to expand...

You pop in your iPhone sim card in your iPad and you have to change a setting. Check out this youtube video, it explains it all. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjaJLg2q-Qs

Basically all you do after swapping them is change the iPad's APN setting to "phone"

The only down side is that the iPad's sim will not work in the iPhone 4 obviously because I am not paying for data on that sim card.

I did not want to jailbreak my iPhone to tether my iPad to it for personal reasons but that is also another way to go!
 
Good question. I just yesterday asked mysel the same question. Actually i asked myself why i own an htc desire ( android ) and not another phone like e iPhone 4 . I've actually been asking myself this question for a few months. Android is nice but ot spectacular. Buying an ipad and using the app store for the first time in June of th is year made mms realize as nice as the android OS is, it's still not even comparable to the apple app store .

I bought the iPhone 4 for consistency reasonsl i have newsrack and atomic browser running on both my devices which is nice. Major reasons for buying an i phone 4 , migrating from android and getting both an ipad and iphone4 are :

1- consistency
2- nothing on the android managed to make me stick to it

The android is great really. But I diverged more towards apps than hacking and tweaking my device lately.
 
UI consistency
Synchronization of personal data
Plays well with Macs and Mac software
Responsive UI..
 
kim2272 said:
I use my iPhone 4 sim card in my iPad when I don't want to pay for extra data.
Click to expand...

I get that this works, but does ATT catch on and automatically charge you anyway? Granted the sim would only be in the iPad for a short amount of time.

I have been wondering about this. Has anyone done it successfully, more than a few times, without any charges showing up?
 
I wouldn't get a WP7 device yet, and not sure if I ever would. I got to test the HD7 for my work... it is nice and all, has its pros, but there are a ton of cons, all centered around it being a M$ product.

For me, I have a Macbook Pro, iPad, and an Android phone... I like having variety in my devices (I also have a BB I will use on occasion). While the iPhone4 is impressive, I much prefer having variety in my devices, and would see that as being the only downside to getting the iPhone4 over an Android/other device.

FWIW, I have no problem syncing all of my data between my different devices. I have docs2go on my iPad and Android's (don't care to on my BB since it is only used to keep me up to date on BB since I sell cell phones). I use an online drop box for my docs, pics, etc. About the only "syncing" issue I have at all is with music and iTunes/ Android. But my phone isn't my music player, it is my phone, and I prefer my iPod or iPad for music, much better latency etc. I am not a big music guy, though, so maybe I write that off more than others would.
 
Not sure if this has been mentioned already but for me it has been BATTERY LIFE on my iPhone. I find myself using my iPad for things that I used to do on my iPhone which in turn extends the battery life of the phone itself. I just can't watch movies or tv shows on my iPhone anymore now that I do so on my iPad. :p
 
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