OK, I'll join the cadre of whiners ...

[Hmac]

I just don't understand the fascination with the 3G model. I can hook my iPad up to my droid wirelessly and get 3G for free.

I don't understand why some people:

--assume every iPad buyer has a Droid
--assume every iPad buyer has an iPhone
--assume every iPad buyer wants to tether

 

[illutionz]

I don't understand why some people:

--assume every iPad buyer has a Droid
--assume every iPad buyer has an iPhone
--assume every iPad buyer wants to tether

Lots of people are assuming those facts just because smartphone is really accessible nowadays and one could get one for a fairly low price... If you can shell at least $500 for an iPad, you probably can shell $99 for a smartphone. I understand some people hate having smartphone but that's another story

 

[Hmac]

Lots of people are assuming those facts just because smartphone is really accessible nowadays and one could get one for a fairly low price... If you can shell at least $500 for an iPad, you probably can shell $99 for a smartphone. I understand some people hate having smartphone but that's another story

Or I could shell out $130 for a 3G iPad (which also gets me GPS, btw) and then shell out (at most) $30 a month for an unlimited, no-contract data plan that I can activate or deactivate whenever I feel like it.

I already have a Blackberry Curve on Verizon. Don't need another smart phone, and absolutely don't want to screw around with tethering for every spur of the moment web access I want to do. The iPad is about (among other things) convenient web access. Having to connect it to the phone for that stuff is, like, exactly the opposite of convience.

If one can afford $500 for an iPad and then $99 for a smartphone (as in your scenario above), they can probably afford the $130 extra for the possibility of using no-contract 3G (and GPS) at either $15 or $30/month.

 

[fishepa]

However, every single time I talk to her, it drops the call. Every. Single. Time. But, she's happy with her great phone.

That's funny, the same thing happened to me when I had my iPhone on the AT&T network.

 

[readsomething]

My cardboard ipad is getting frayed at the edges and is creased from being taken in and out of its case for charging/syncing

Well, you're better off than I am -- my cardboard Newton *died* last week. Now I'm stuck just killing time by playing games on my Atari 2600.