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12-08-2012, 12:21 PM
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#1
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: NC
Posts: 21,304
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Phablet, ideal size
I have a wifi only iPad and a cheapo semi-smart phone (voice/text/data), though I had a (company) BB smartphone when I was still working. I know I'll abandon my Luddite ways and buy a full fledged smartphone one day but I wonder if phones and tablets will morph completely into phablets. I am guessing yes, in the 5-7 inch size range. Hopefully the morphing takes place before I make the plunge. If the mini iPad was a phone, I could see that (I often hold my phone away from my face on calls anyway)...only downside, it won't fit in my pocket any more.
__________________
No one agrees with other people's opinions; they merely agree with their own opinions -- expressed by somebody else. Sydney Tremayne
Retired Jun 2011 at age 57
Target AA: 50% equity funds / 45% bonds / 5% cash
Target WR: Approx 1.5% Approx 20% SI (secure income, SS only)
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12-08-2012, 12:30 PM
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#2
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Moderator
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Flyover country
Posts: 25,357
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The key is carrying it. My iPhone (and I guess all other smartphones) basically lives in my shirt pocket (occasionally my pants pocket when I'm just in a T-shirt). Even a small tablet fails that requirement.
__________________
I thought growing old would take longer.
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12-08-2012, 12:44 PM
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#3
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 12,901
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I don't really want my smartphone to be bigger than an iPhone, and my tablet to be smaller than an iPad. I would prefer to keep 2 distinct devices instead of getting an hybrid.
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12-08-2012, 12:52 PM
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#4
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: NC
Posts: 21,304
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FIREd
I don't really want my smartphone to be bigger than an iPhone, and my tablet to be smaller than an iPad. I would prefer to keep 2 distinct devices instead of getting an hybrid.
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I would too if I wasn't so cheap. Maybe I'll end up with a smartphone (current iPhone size) as a hotspot with a wifi iPad. I understand the iPhone5/iOS6 can act as a hotspot...and then I could carry one or both as needed. I'm definitely too cheap to have a subscription for two devices, I'm too cheap to pay $130/mo or more for DW and I to have iPhones.
__________________
No one agrees with other people's opinions; they merely agree with their own opinions -- expressed by somebody else. Sydney Tremayne
Retired Jun 2011 at age 57
Target AA: 50% equity funds / 45% bonds / 5% cash
Target WR: Approx 1.5% Approx 20% SI (secure income, SS only)
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12-08-2012, 12:58 PM
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#5
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Dryer sheet wannabe
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: lexington
Posts: 22
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Good point about the phone being able to fit in your pocket. Anything bigger just won't work. As for the ideal tablet...it depends on what you want to do with it. I use the original Kindle Fire (about the size of a paperback book). It's excellent for email (and playing Sudoku) but awful for the Internet. It's just too small for that. And certainly too small for word processing or any other Office software.
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12-08-2012, 01:47 PM
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#6
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: New Orleans
Posts: 47,500
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I am doing pretty much the same thing as you, MidPack, with a wifi-only iPad at home, but with an iPhone 4 that I carry with me.
I really don't want to lug around my iPad anyway, and in fact the iPhone 5 might even be too big for me. My present iPhone is enough to keep me occupied when waiting at places away from home.
__________________
Already we are boldly launched upon the deep; but soon we shall be lost in its unshored, harbourless immensities. - - H. Melville, 1851.
Happily retired since 2009, at age 61. Best years of my life by far!
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12-08-2012, 02:22 PM
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#7
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Gone but not forgotten
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Peru
Posts: 6,335
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Waiting for the right size and the right human engineering... I would expect that clothing style will change to provide for easy carrying/holding. Maybe something like the holsters of the Old West. Waiting a tiny earbud bluetooth sound, and a flexible roll out or snap out screen, or perhaps a virtual projected keyboard, and /or google peripheral screen glasses.
Of course this will depend on the expansion of Gogle ultra high speed internet, and the a no-operating system interface, that will bring the price down to about $50.
Young engineers of today, just have no imagination.
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12-08-2012, 02:33 PM
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#8
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Administrator
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Chicagoland
Posts: 40,715
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Midpack
I have a wifi only iPad and a cheapo semi-smart phone (voice/text/data), though I had a (company) BB smartphone when I was still working. I know I'll abandon my Luddite ways and buy a full fledged smartphone one day but I wonder if phones and tablets will morph completely into phablets. I am guessing yes, in the 5-7 inch size range. Hopefully the morphing takes place before I make the plunge. If the mini iPad was a phone, I could see that (I often hold my phone away from my face on calls anyway)...only downside, it won't fit in my pocket any more.
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Interesting question. I'm guessing not. I recall discussions and heated debates about convergence 25 years ago. Very little of what those in the know thought back then is happening today. Portability seems to be such a high priority requirement the smartphone size product looks pretty safe to continue. The tablet looks to be knocking off bigger products, so I would guess they both will continue to grow in sales at the expense of other product lines.
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12-08-2012, 03:14 PM
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#9
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 969
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Midpack
... Maybe I'll end up with a smartphone (current iPhone size) as a hotspot with a wifi iPad...
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I am considering something similar for myself when I finally cut the corporate apron strings and start doing more traveling on my own dime:
- Find a tablet device that I like:
- Probably Android rather than iPad, personal preference.
- Not sure about size: 6, 7, or 9 inch. I may actually want two such devices:
- Larger color, maybe with physical keyboard option, for web surfing, light email, etc.
- Smaller/lighter e-ink if somebody doesn't make a color tablet readable on the beach in direct sunlight soon.
- Local phone, likely pay as you go service, that can act as a WiFi hotspot
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Sailing on the cool and bright clear waters; There's lots of those friendly people
Showin me ways to go; And I never want to lose your inspiration
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12-08-2012, 04:01 PM
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#10
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Washington, DC
Posts: 11,329
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Midpack
I would too if I wasn't so cheap. Maybe I'll end up with a smartphone (current iPhone size) as a hotspot with a wifi iPad. I understand the iPhone5/iOS6 can act as a hotspot...and then I could carry one or both as needed. I'm definitely too cheap to have a subscription for two devices, I'm too cheap to pay $130/mo or more for DW and I to have iPhones.
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That is what I went with - iPhone 5 and a WIFI only iPad. I haven't needed to use the WIFI hotspot on the phone very often - there is usually WIFI available when I travel.
__________________
Idleness is fatal only to the mediocre -- Albert Camus
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12-08-2012, 05:29 PM
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#11
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: NC
Posts: 21,304
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Quote:
Originally Posted by donheff
That is what I went with - iPhone 5 and a WIFI only iPad. I haven't needed to use the WIFI hotspot on the phone very often - there is usually WIFI available when I travel.
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The more I think about it, the more sense that makes. As long as I don't end up paying for a subscription for each device, the initial cost doesn't bother me. Now I just need to better understand the phone hotspot effectiveness/limitations, but no rush there either...lots of time. I'm guessing public wifi may become less common long term (say 5-10 years), as more folks have 5G/6G XYZ devices (or whatever the next levels are called...
__________________
No one agrees with other people's opinions; they merely agree with their own opinions -- expressed by somebody else. Sydney Tremayne
Retired Jun 2011 at age 57
Target AA: 50% equity funds / 45% bonds / 5% cash
Target WR: Approx 1.5% Approx 20% SI (secure income, SS only)
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12-08-2012, 05:45 PM
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#12
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Oahu
Posts: 26,860
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I'm holding out for an e-reader that's tattooed on my left forearm, just a few inches away from the iPhone82 that's tattooed on the thumb & pinky finger of my left hand. Of course both devices would consume so much power that we'd have to eat more chocolate to keep up our weight.
Quote:
Originally Posted by imoldernu
Young engineers of today, just have no imagination.
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You apparently need to spend more time hanging out on college campuses.
__________________
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Co-author (with my daughter) of “Raising Your Money-Savvy Family For Next Generation Financial Independence.”
Author of the book written on E-R.org: "The Military Guide to Financial Independence and Retirement."
I don't spend much time here— please send a PM.
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12-08-2012, 06:10 PM
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#13
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 3,433
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Nords
I'm holding out for an e-reader that's tattooed on my left forearm, just a few inches away from the iPhone82 that's tattooed on the thumb & pinky finger of my left hand.
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Nords' comment about the phone in his thumb and pinky made me think of this device...a Bluetooth glove (for folks in cold climes). hi-Call - Bluetooth talking glove - hi-Fun
omni
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12-08-2012, 06:38 PM
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#14
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Gone but not forgotten
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Peru
Posts: 6,335
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12-08-2012, 06:59 PM
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#15
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Oahu
Posts: 26,860
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Quote:
Originally Posted by imoldernu
If I did that, I'd be arrested.
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They'd release you as soon as you assured them that you were just seeking young engineers with imagination...
__________________
*
Co-author (with my daughter) of “Raising Your Money-Savvy Family For Next Generation Financial Independence.”
Author of the book written on E-R.org: "The Military Guide to Financial Independence and Retirement."
I don't spend much time here— please send a PM.
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12-08-2012, 07:29 PM
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#16
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: May 2011
Location: South Eastern USA
Posts: 1,068
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I looked at a Samsung Galaxy Note 2 today. Fits in my shirt pocket just fine and has a 5 inch screen. I may get one next time.
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12-08-2012, 09:40 PM
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#17
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 4,366
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I use an HTC EVO 4G LTE smart phone, which has a 4.7" screen. It stays in my front pants pocket with my wallet, but fits into my shirt pocket occasionally. Needless to say, I'm not terribly fashion conscious. But I could fit something larger without too much trouble. maybe a fold-up 14" screen would fit?
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12-09-2012, 09:51 AM
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#18
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Sarasota, FL & Vermont
Posts: 36,371
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Quote:
Originally Posted by braumeister
The key is carrying it. My iPhone (and I guess all other smartphones) basically lives in my shirt pocket (occasionally my pants pocket when I'm just in a T-shirt). Even a small tablet fails that requirement.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by coolowl
Good point about the phone being able to fit in your pocket. ....
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I used to routinely carry by BB in my breast shirt pocket when I was w*rking and then I saw a news report that there were concerns about people carrying a device that sends/receives cellular signals so close to the human heart. After that, I tended to use the hip holster more - geeky I know, but I figured better safe than sorry until the health risks are proven or dis-proven.
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12-09-2012, 10:06 AM
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#19
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Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 120
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Im really behind the technological power curve, Im afraid. I just got my very first iphone, having finally killed my Motorola flip phone. Wasnt really sure Id need it, but it was paid for by work, so I tried it. Excellent for phone calls, what few I made, love texting, and the camera and video are outstanding. I do get my email on there, which I really love. Dont surf the web much, tho. Screen just too small to enjoy that.
Now it looks like my old Dell Desktop computer is starting to go on me, so I need to decide what to do. I just started shopping, and realized theres so much more to choose from now. Last time I purchased one, it was either the Desktop, or a superexpensive new to the market laptop. So I just dont know which way to go. I guess theoretically, from what I understand, I could just surf on the iphone, but I cant read all that teeny print. So I need to get something, I can't even hardly find any desktop models anymore. Laptops have gotten cheap, and now theres these tablet things. Im just so confused. Only good thing is I guess I wont have phone wires all over my floor anymore. I guess whatever I get will now be wireless, but Ill have to figure out how that works.
I just dont think I could get comfortable working on the computer if the screen was teeny. For me, Ill need 2 different devices.
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12-09-2012, 10:15 AM
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#20
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: NC
Posts: 21,304
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Quote:
Originally Posted by carnivalday
I just dont think I could get comfortable working on the computer if the screen was teeny. For me, Ill need 2 different devices.
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Not a universal answer, but there are many options. Your iPad or iPhone can have a screen as large as your TV for $99. http://www.apple.com/appletv/airplay/
__________________
No one agrees with other people's opinions; they merely agree with their own opinions -- expressed by somebody else. Sydney Tremayne
Retired Jun 2011 at age 57
Target AA: 50% equity funds / 45% bonds / 5% cash
Target WR: Approx 1.5% Approx 20% SI (secure income, SS only)
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