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iPad mini Sold my iPhone, replaced it with an iPad Mini!

M

Monkt

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 21, 2013
27
0
I've seen a few people posting about this. I recently made the jump myself.

Why, would you ask, would you get rid of your iPhone and use an ipad mini instead? Money. Would it work for everyone? No.

I am not a very social person. I talk to friends for about 10 minutes per day, my wife for about 10 minutes per week. I do not rely upon my phone for work. The only reasons I had an iPhone were for the apps - navigation, kindle, games, music, videos, radio, etc.

I looked at my latest phone bill and I was appalled. Why spend 80 bucks a month for what I use it for when 95% of the time I could use my ipad mini for free?

How does it work? You need an ipad or ipad mini with cellular data. I don't make a ton of calls, but I want to be able to if I'm stranded on the side of the road. You also need a google voice number that you can get for free via a google account. Finally you need a VoIP app. I downloaded talkatone for free. Finally, get a data plan. I joined my mother and laws share data plan for only $10 per month! $750+ savings yearly.

Anyone else do this or considering it? Any tips or questions?
 
I think this is an interesting concept. For me it would never work, as I talk on the phone for 1-3 hours a day with work alone, but my monthly bill bothers me too.

The only thing I would worry about is your comment about being stranded on the side of the road. I find that when driving down the road there a long spots where I can get stuck with just cell signal, and nothing more than Edge, or 1 bar with 3G. If you try using anything web based it just wont work. But this all depends on where you are. I live in GA, and work in GA, FL, AL, TN, and MS. Again, this would not work for me, but I love the idea of $10 a month... :)
 
simply stunning said:
I think this is an interesting concept. For me it would never work, as I talk on the phone for 1-3 hours a day with work alone, but my monthly bill bothers me too.

The only thing I would worry about is your comment about being stranded on the side of the road. I find that when driving down the road there a long spots where I can get stuck with just cell signal, and nothing more than Edge, or 1 bar with 3G. If you try using anything web based it just wont work. But this all depends on where you are. I live in GA, and work in GA, FL, AL, TN, and MS. Again, this would not work for me, but I love the idea of $10 a month... :)
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Wouldn't work for me either for those exact reasons. I don't talk on my phone an extraordinary amount and could probably get by with VoIP, but I don't want to get stuck in a situation where I need to make a call but can't find a good data signal.

Oh, and the iPad mini doesn't fit in my pocket.
 
It would be worth getting a cheap pay as you go phone from Walmart for emergencies when you can't make s good VoIP call, and leave it in your vehicle.
 
you mean u talk 10 mins a week with your wife? just on the phone or in general? why are u married? :D
 
Amplelink said:
Wouldn't work for me either for those exact reasons. I don't talk on my phone an extraordinary amount and could probably get by with VoIP, but I don't want to get stuck in a situation where I need to make a call but can't find a good data signal.

Oh, and the iPad mini doesn't fit in my pocket.
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I forgot about the not in the pocket part. I would hate to have to carry my iPad with me for everything. Grant that I do most of the time have it with me in my bag, but I don't take it with me if I'm out on a date with my wife. I would dislike the size and hassle of something that doesn't fit in my pocket.

Different strokes for different folks. ;)
 
Talking with my wife, which I happen to enjoy, is free on our Verizon plan, and I mostly text everyone else.

But good for you that you found somewhat of a solution.
 
Great Idea!

I love this idea. I really liked the idea of a larger phone. The mini seems to fit the bill. It's portable, great screen size for notes and tasks, and like you I'm not glued to my phone.

However, my 4s retina screen is fabulous. I can definitely tell the difference. I actually take off my eyeglasses when reading on it. It's that clear. (or maybe its time for bifocals, who knows. lol)

If the next version is retina, I may give it a go.

Good Luck with it. Follow up and let us know how it works for you.
 
LightOnAHill said:
It would be worth getting a cheap pay as you go phone from Walmart for emergencies when you can't make s good VoIP call, and leave it in your vehicle.
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Somebody actually makes a phone that only dials 911 and nothing else. So there is no monthly fee. I believe it has a lithium battery in it that will last five years. I think I saw it described on TheWireCutter Web site. I believe it is called the SpareOne and is made by Energizer.

Of course, you can dial 911 from any cell phone. So you can take any old phone and throw it in the car and use it as long as it is charged.
 
My wife and I both teach for a living so we have be exact same schedule and share a car... So lots of talking, not so much need via phone.

I carry all my work stuff in a satchel, so that is where my mini resides.

I have a flip phone in my glove box with a car charger just in case (had not been on since 2006) for emergencies.

This is not for everyone, but it works for me and I love just the idea of it and I thought I'd share my experience.
 
Just did the same

I just sold my 4S for a mini & its worked out just fine with google voice & talkatone. I have it on the Tmobile $30 plan and I work from home 80% of the time so home & office have wifi plus most places I goto Bars/Restaurants have wifi as well so I'm hitting like 1GB out of my 5GB throttled plan. It fits fine in my cargo pants and three jackets so its convenient. I take it to workout & it sits there fine as well. No regrets so far one bit and its way more productive for me many places where my iphone was just "too small" to do more real work. TMobile in Seattle has been refarmed so I get ~ 8-10Mbps most of the time which is totally fine by me.
 
This is an idea that I wish I could work out. So sick of paying huge monthly fees for my phone.

I thought about keeping my iPhone and using it for calls on a pay-as-you-go and get a Mini with cellular and tether to my phone whenever I need it.

I only make 1-2 calls per week so this might be cheaper for me. Only problem is text messages as I could use the Mini for that but only if people have iMessage.

Finding a way to (semi) screw the telecommunications companies would be sweet!
 
I'd probably lose my job if I did what u guys are doing.. My job requires me to have RELIABLE communications.. Not communication by chance (3G data, wifi connections).
 
Greggae512 said:
I just sold my 4S for a mini & its worked out just fine with google voice & talkatone. I have it on the Tmobile $30 plan and I work from home 80% of the time so home & office have wifi plus most places I goto Bars/Restaurants have wifi as well so I'm hitting like 1GB out of my 5GB throttled plan. It fits fine in my cargo pants and three jackets so its convenient. I take it to workout & it sits there fine as well. No regrets so far one bit and its way more productive for me many places where my iphone was just "too small" to do more real work. TMobile in Seattle has been refarmed so I get ~ 8-10Mbps most of the time which is totally fine by me.
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hey, which ipad did you get, the att or verizon? i have the same plan and have thought about doing this. maybe not getting rid of the smartphone, but if i could swap my sim, it'd might be worth the extra cost for a 3g ipad.
 
I'm thinking I could go this route as well. I might just get a mini and keep the iphone 4 for a while until I feel I can drop it. The rural signal issue concerns me but not as much as the cost of data plans. It would be hard to give up my unlimited data on ATT with the iphone, but heck data is so slow that it is unusable anyway.
 
I've been considering this, as well. I'm going to be travelling a lot starting this summer, and I just figure it would be easier to cart the iPad across borders and get a 3G service whenever I'm staying somewhere for an extended period. I mainly use my phone for apps, never for calling, and rarely for texting. I think next time they update the iPad mini, I may finally swap my iPhone and iPad mini for a cellular iPad mini.
 
The practice of an iPad Mini as a Smartdevice replacing the woefully little iPhone (any model) is a very smart move.

For calls one chooses a no contract feature phone that saves loads of money.

Study after study reveals that people who use smartphones for what they were designed for, make very few calls anyway.

I like lots of choices, therefore I have quite a selection on each platform. For those times when I only want to carry just one, nothing beats my Galaxy Note II. It's highly useful large screen is terrific & if I need it, the phone is there too.

Fast, fun, with stellar connectivity, I really enjoy what Samsung has created.
 
You have raised some questions in my mind about the absolute need for a data plan. To be honest, all I really do with my phone is play music in the car, use it as a GPS to get where I'm going, or check out something on the go. To be honest, I could wait until I get to a place with public WiFi to do internet browsing or update social media.

I really think if worse comes to worst, I could sever my data plan and live quite comfortably.
 
This is a really impractical idea. If it was about saving money, you should have gotten onto a prepaid plan. Good luck relying on having data signal in an emergency.
 
I don't know why some of you guys are running to the "emergency" scenario. How many of you have ever called 911 on a cell phone in a bona-fide emergency in your entire lives? How often does a bona-fide emergency requiring an immediate call for help happen in your life?

Besides, OP probably bought the iPad mini with on-demand 3G/4G since he was trying to preserve some phone (voice) utility. So in an emergency where he is away from wifi signals, he can use the very same signals you guys are worried about him losing in these rare-to-very-rare scenarios that he would have a bona-fide emergency and need to make a call but there's no wifi around.

The only real emergency scenario where an iPhone has an actual edge of an iPad Mini with cellular is in the speed at which that call can be made. iPhone guy can just dial 911. iPad guy might have to first buy a month of data from AT&T, Verizon, etc- which can be done right on the spot through the mini whenever it's needed- and then make the call. The latter might lose up to a minute or two while he buys the month, but it's a pretty fast process.

All other "emergency" scenarios that do not require maximum urgency to call for help can all be dealt with just fine with an iPad mini with the 3G/4G option. I went with this mini as phone replacement as soon as the mini came out. It's fantastic to save all of that money every month while not really missing a beat in phone-side functionality. I have turned on 3G/4G once since it came out because I knew I would be traveling in some places where I might not be able to access wifi. Otherwise, it's been a "free" (service) iPhone killer for me except that one round of $20 in the last half year.

I'm mid-40s and have never had to call 911. Do I worry about such a scenario while depending on the mini? Not at all. If it's a real scenario where I must call 911 right away, I'll use the same 3G/4G the iPhone guys use, only I'll pay $20 for it in that moment, instead of $100/month for it every month even if I go another 20+ years without ever dialing 911. 20 years times $100 per month = $24,000.

The OP is right in that this is not for everyone. But it can work for many... especially those that would rather keep $80+ each month in their pocket instead of just handing it over to AT&T or Verizon, etc. Phone-side utility it not nearly the sacrifice that many imagine. In fact, I don't feel like it's personally affected me one bit and I do make a fair amount of use of the phone functionality in my life.
 
HobeSoundDarryl said:
I don't know why some of you guys are running to the "emergency" scenario. How many of you have ever called 911 on a cell phone in a bona-fide emergency in your entire lives? How often does a bona-fide emergency requiring an immediate call for help happen in your life?
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This is such a profoundly ignorant and foolish statement.

By that retarded logic, you might as well stop wearing your seatbelt if you've never had it save your life.
 
darngooddesign said:
While I agree with you mostly, there are many times where I have a phone signal but less than 3G data signal which means that the phone works but VOIP doesn't.
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VOIP works with a data signal. Strength of the signal only matters when it's really poor. And I'm yet to see a poor data signal with a good voice signal myself.

----------
iamthekiller said:
This is such a profoundly ignorant and foolish statement.

By that retarded logic, you might as well stop wearing your seatbelt if you've never had it save your life.
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I see. So you are one of those that rationalize $100+ per month just in case you ever have an emergency that is so urgent you couldn't buy some data in up to about 60 seconds and then make a call through VOIP software. If we're going to accuse someone of lacking intelligence, I feel just as covered as you and I'll probably spend about $40 this entire YEAR on 3G/4G service.

What you're doing is thoroughly endorsing what is actually a very rare scenario for most people to justify giving AT&T or Verizon $100 per month. If it makes sense to you, pay them that $100 every month. And let that extra $1160 you spend above me this year give you the sense of security to know that if we're both in the same super-urgent emergency, you'll be able to reach a 911 operator about 20-60 seconds faster than me.

Now buckle that seatbelt while a dummy like me can only hope my much fuller wallet and modestly heavier "phone" will hold me down in a crash. :p
 
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