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rbrian

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 24, 2011
784
342
Aberdeen, Scotland
I broke my iPhone 5 today. My work iPhone 4 rang, so I pulled it out of my pocket, and the rubber from the Otterbox Defender I'm required to keep it in pulled my iPhone 5 half way out of my pocket; it then fell face down on rough concrete. Now I see why I have to keep my work phone in that big ugly case!

I'll get it repaired, but it got me thinking. Keeping two devices in one pocket is not a good strategy, but I don't have enough pockets. I started to think about what I use my own iPhone for, and how much I need it. I use the Kindle app every day, I spend too much time on Twitter, Facebook, and MacRumors, and I use it as an alarm clock. I often use Maps, IMDB, and various other reference apps. I hardly ever play games; I have an XBox for that. Sometimes I use it as an iPod, and occasionally as a TV.

My work iPhone has all the restrictions on, so no personal email, no App or iTunes Stores, and we're not allowed to connect to iTunes. We are allowed to make phone calls, so long as we pay for personal use; and we can use 3G, so web apps can replace most of the apps I use.

Every so often the powers that be decide that a certain app is now allowed - they have recently approved Google Maps, so now I have satnav; BBC iPlayer Radio, so I don't need music; all the popular UK TV apps. The only thing missing is Kindle. iBooks is there, but without access to the Book Store, and without connecting to iTunes, and with the Open In button not working in Mediocre, sorry "Good" for Enterprise, I can't see how to get books in there.

I thought I might as well just get a real Kindle, or perhaps an iPad mini. What else should I look at? It's not going to be for a few months, until my contract runs out, so speculate. A retina mini would probably cover all the bases.
 

ChazUK

macrumors 603
Feb 3, 2008
5,393
25
Essex (UK)
If you are in a position to wait, a Retina mini will be a killer little tablet to go for.
I'd say wait to see what Apple add to the thing.

Those restrictions do sound bad. Pity out was such a limited device that managed to kill your own personal phone through accident. :(
 

rbrian

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 24, 2011
784
342
Aberdeen, Scotland
Yep, it's pretty frustrating to be so nearly great! I don't want two devices, but they won't let me put our internal apps on my own phone, so I don't have much choice. I'd thought about an iPod touch, but has the same pocket issue, so why not something bigger? I have an iPad 3, but its just that bit too heavy to make it the device I reach for. It's spoiled me for any screen with lower resolution though. Perhaps I'll try a Kindle Fire...
 

jamojamo

macrumors 6502
Feb 12, 2010
387
7
You should also look at the Nexus 7.

Has a nice Kindle App that I use daily. Can adjust background colors, text colors, highlight, bookmark, etc.

At $199 for a 16GB wifi, and $249 for 32GB wifi, and $299 for 32GB wifi+Cellular the prices are really good for what you get.

I have found all of the normal apps I use available for it. Facebook, Falcon Pro (for Twitter), of course multiple browsers (I like Dolphin) and you can even load apps from Amazon or Google Play of course.
They all have GPS built in so that's nice, and of course you have native Google Maps.

Music from iTunes can be synched to Google Music.

All in all it's a great little device and I wouldn't be surprised to see a new one released in middle of this year but that's just a guess.
 
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