I've been giving mild consideration to getting one or the other, so I was curious what you guys think about the two - they do mostly the same thing, with a few differences, and I'm not really sure which one is preferable.

iPad: ~$500 flat cost, larger for typing and viewing, gets WiFi but not cellular internet (unless you pay for it), also too large to fit in a pocket but more portable than most laptops.
iPhone: cheap to buy and fits in your pocket, also works as a phone, gets internet everywhere you have service, but smaller for using and also you're tagged with a $20-$30 per month ongoing data charge

Thoughts?

Do you travel a lot? Do you call people a lot? Would you want it around you at all times? You should probably think of these things. The way I see it, the iPad is more for business and work stuff, whereas the iPhone is a really fun phone. Personally, I'd have the iPhone, seeing as how I could take it anywhere and take it out at any time to check someone on the internet.

iPad is better as a portable computer replacement. It's nice when you go on trips and can play games on it with others, surf the web, etc. You can also easily carry it around the house, similarly to how one would a laptop; its big screen is a viable TV replacement, as you can stream Netflix onto it via wifi (you can do it on an iPhone too, but with the smaller screen, it's not really a replacement, just a portable supplement). The iPhone can do everything the iPad can, but on a smaller screen, and it's a phone. It's less pleasant to surf the web on, it's less pleasant to game on, but it's portable. I don't want an iOS product, so I'd buy neither (If I wanted a tablet, I'd get the upcoming Motorola Xoom; as for phone, I'm waiting for a Verizon WP7 device).

I'd wait, either way. Both are slated to be replaced with new models in a couple of months.

I'm really not up to date on those things, but isn't iPad in its first generation? I've made the experience that first gen devices have much more bugs and problems than devices that have already evolved several gens. I wouldn't buy something that's "brand new" just to be among the first to have it. Just a thought.

I'm not planning on buying anything tomorrow; I'm more thinking in terms of the uses of something the size of an iPad versus a smartphone with its constant data costs. I currently have a fairly bulky 17" laptop which is great except when I have to drag it around too much, and an old flip phone which I have to motive to replace with a similar model because all the flip phones suck these days.

I think in terms of utility, I learn toward a smartphone, but I really dislike the concept of being tied to such an exorbitant cost for a data plan since I am in range of WiFi about 90% of the time.

iPad/iPhone are for snobs.

Yeah, the rampant consumerism exhibited by the consumers of Apple products is really disgusting.

Don't you own an iPod?

I only talked about iPad and iPhone.

/hypocrite

Buy a jailbroken smartphone, then you can use wifi on it all the time without the monthly fee. Not sure how legit jailbroken phones are but it's ridiculous if you can't buy a phone without a data plan in the USA. In NZ you can choose to have a plan or have nothing, and you can have pay-as-you-go data with some companies, so on days you don't use it you don't pay anything.

You can buy the phone directly without it being jailbroken. You're only tied into a network if you sign up with one of their plans and they subsidize your phone for you - an iPhone without a plan should cost ~$500.

From my limited experience with both, I wouldn't go for either, but, if we must decide...

iPad:

Pros:

• Large screen, similar to that of paper .
  
• The keyboard is the proper size for typing.
  

Cons:

• To me, it just feels like its the wrong size, its not big enough to warrant carrying in a backpack, but its not portable enough to just go everywhere with you.
  
• It doesn't have a camera (yet).
  
• No flash.
  
• No effing input ports.
  

iPhone:

Pros:

• Portable
  
• Small
  
• Light
  
• Has a camera.
  
• Can call and text.
  

Cons:

• Can't really DO anything with it.
  
• Turns into a brick if you don't have service.
  

So, if you're going to choose, I'd say iPhone.

Quote from Centreri

You can buy the phone directly without it being jailbroken. You're only tied into a network if you sign up with one of their plans and they subsidize your phone for you - an iPhone without a plan should cost ~$500.

You can get a goddamn computer for $500 or less...

What's your point? All high-end smartphones cost around $500. Hardware-wise, Apple is at the top, and I really wish other hardware manufacturers would learn something from them and really, really focus on the quality. From what I've seen, iPhone build quality is unparalleled - the iPhone 4 has what I believe is still the best non-AMOLED screen on a smartphone, it was the thinnest smartphone, it had very, very good battery life, and it was incredibly sexy. Stick the WP7 OS on that and I'd buy it in a heartbeat. Other manufacturers generally put out inferior hardware, which annoys me to no end.

Smartphones impress me more than laptops, generally. They tend to have better quality screens, a small and efficient processor, battery, a cooling system, etc fit into a really small form factor. I don't really see why you're surprised about the price - For below $500, you're getting some pretty crappy, cheap laptops, probably with comparable processor speed and significantly worse performance.

Post has been edited 2 time(s), last time on Feb 4 2011, 2:55 am by Centreri.

Isn't the iPad in the same generation as the iPhone since its the same thing with a bigger screen and no phone functionality?

Yes. It's the same OS, scaled up. They run on the same processor, and the main difference is a slight increase in resolution and a large increase in screen size.

I'd kinda agree for the ipad, but seriously, this whole iPhones are the devil thing is really stupid. I've seen it all over the place where people hate on ALL apple products, calling them over expensive and such.

TBH, the only truly overpriced things apple sells are the ipad, macbook pros, and their mac pros. imacs are actually good compared to most other prebuilts as far as price, and the iphone doesn't cost any more than any other decent smartphone you're going to buy.

Android is open source yeah, but I've never seen an android phone work as smoothly as iOS. All of them seem choppy whenever they run. As far as WP7, still doesn't have flash, just like the iphone, not really superior.

Saying iphones are for snobs is like saying that anyone who wants a smartphone is a snob, since most cost just as much as the iphone and are of worse quality.

I'm in love with WP7 purely for the interface. I have a Zune, and WP7's GUI is based on that, but even more awesome. With one of Samsung's Super AMOLED screens, it'll be beautiful. Just waiting for one to move to Verizon. I'd probably buy a tablet with a similar GUI too, but that's not coming anytime soon.

I'm not a fan of iOS, but Apple doesn't price their products unfairly. The reason I'm not on a macbook myself is because at the time when I was buying a laptop (and, admittedly, still) they didn't have a 13" macbook that can compete with Windows alternatives spec-wise. All the premiums you pay for apple products are made up in areas apart from normal specs - Apple products generally have superior battery lives to the competition, better, more expensive build quality, superior displays (though I prefer mine, most laptops are inferior to that of the macbooks), etc. Additionally, Apple needs small premiums to pay for the development of MacOS. As for iPads, why do you consider them to be overpriced? What are you comparing them to? Windows tablets are bulky with low battery life, and the only decent Android tablet, the Galaxy Tab, is comparable in terms of price.

If I'd have to choose one or the other, I would definitely go with an iPad. Otherwise, as others have said, I'd wait for newer models or competitors to come out with similar models. I think the fact that there's a data charge for iPhone is enough reason to stick with iPad. For the same cost you could probably get a cricket phone Sure it'd be two pieces, but I think it'd be more useful anyways.

$500 for what basically is a netbook, with probably less storage space, is overpriced to me. I have friends who have ipads. As far as i've seen, they're not really that much more than an ipod touch with a bigger screen. Yeah the iOS for it is a little nicer looking for some of its apps, but meh. Yes, there isnt that much to compare it to, but for me, it seems overpriced. And that's just the wifi 16 GP model. And why apple charges 130 extra dollars just so that the ipad can use 3g is beyond me, especially when you still have to pay for a data plan.

As far as phones go, the iphone costs $200, same as the galaxy S phones, and same as the WP7 phones, or at least the biggest screened one. So i wouldnt call that overpriced.

Edit: kinda misread "not unfairly priced" as "unfairly priced", so take it as you will.