momto5

I am tech-overloaded: iPhone5, iPad 2, Kindle, Nook....and I use them all.But I agree, if you need the web, the one to carry with you is the iPhone. I take the Kindle with me when on a trip and reserve my Nook for reading at home in the comfort of my recliner or my bed. I love being able to do pretty much what I want/need to!

NJ Quilter

Just went through this process myself. You mention you have 1 smartphone with no data plan. I would double check that first. When I recently had my dumb phone die (under warranty) and needed to have a phone in the interim I took one of DH's old smartphone's with me to the Verizon store (our carrier). They ported my number to the smartphone but because it WAS a smartphone I was required to pay the data plan for the duration between the port and when I got my replacement dumb phone (only a couple of days). So you just MAY have a data plan and not be aware????

If that is the case, I would recommend a smartphone as well. If you truly don't have a data plan...and don't want to pay the $$ for one, I would go with a tablet. I'm too cheap to be willing to pay $75/month for a data plan for myself (DH carries 2 smartphones but they are paid for by work/fire co.). I went with the Galaxy tablet (7") as I didn't want the bulk of a 10" and don't anticipate really using it all that much. It was about 1/2 the $$ of a microsoft Surface with enough MS Office apps to satisfy my needs (word; excel; powerpoint). I anticipate my needs to be email and excel when I'm out for extended periods during the day. An hour or 2 here & there while running errands, etc. ...I'm not really going to have the time to deal with it anyhow before I get home. If I'm doing a several hour trip and plan to stop for lunch or a meeting...then I would have the time/need to check those apps. At that point I'll rely on someone's wifi connection being available to me.

I was quite impressed with the Samsung lady at the Best Buy store I went to explaining the differences between e-readers; tablets; etc. to me and what expectations I could have from each. I explained to her what my needs were and my budget considerations and she was extremely knowledgeable and helpful without being condescending at all. I would guess she was 45-55 yr old so 'got' where I (58) was coming from. One of the more techie, younger dudes in the store....not so much. Take that for what it's worth.

If you need to access files from your pc, Skydrive seems to be the best bet. Samsung Galaxy has Dropbox (similar cloud storage to skydrive) as a default. I've loaded skydrive to my pc and it's on my galaxy tab. Can access my excel file with no issue. Still working on my Outlook calendar but haven't made a career out of the tablet yet.

Good luck with your decision.

hopetoquilt

I have an iPhone and iPad. I have apps for: music, gps, calendar, address book, Internet/email, dieting, running journal, quilting (craftsy among others), alarm clock, stopwatch, timer, recipe book with all my recipes on it, camera/photos, speech therapy apps for work, pinterest, some games, (books including a bible and quilt books... Only on iPad) and more. Easy to learn for me.

EllieGirl

I have an iphone, ipad, Mac Pro Book, and DH has an iphone, samsung notebook and and ancient (4 years old) PC lap top. I agree with everyone else that if you're looking to access the internet while away from home, go with the smartphone. I honestly very seldom us my ipad, especially since DH bought me the Mac Pro Book. I do have a kindle, and if I'm out, like at the doctor, I have the app for kindle on my iphone and just read from there. I even have the bible on my iphone and read from that every morning before I get out of bed. I think an ipad is great for students, but for those of us who are at home, and not in high need of technology, the smart phone is the best choice.

Dolphyngyrl

If you are trying to use an ipad like a computer than yeah you are going to be frustrated they were designed for email, internet browsing, apps, and games, not to be a computer for word processing and such. I have used both the ipad and kindle fire. My inlaws have the ipad and my husband had the kindle fire HD. I chose the original kindle fire because of the size and I prefer it to the ipad. apple products get outdated and replaced too quickly IMHO and the devices then have problems with anything new you want to add not working. Its one of the reasons I still don't have an iphone. Don't get me wrong its not a bad device but as others were saying outside your home you have to have access to some sort of wi-fi for any of these type of devices to work. I like my little kindle fire. i find the screen not to be as sensitive as the ipad which I don't like but typing on it is easier for me to do quicker with the kindle dictionary I rarely have to type a full word as it pulls up several words in that spelling which I do like for chat boards and email-type thing. Apps are pretty similar among both but as she said you will not see microsoft products on an ipad. I only use it at home or my inlaws for internet access, outside of that for work and travel I use it for book reading, games, watching movies, reading my pdfs I download from the internet for quilt projects and such. You can print from both the ipad and kindle if you are able to download certain apps. It can be a pain to print from either so I rarely do it unless my laptop is off. They both get the same rating about even for good and bad so they are pretty comparable in that area. I haven't tried the samsung galaxy which is also popular so I can't comment on that but should be similar.

Sandygirl

NOTE: i use my Iphone and Ipad2 for business and entertainment. I also have a company provided Ipad. I sync my personal apps To all three devices. Sounds crazy, I know, but I use them all.

happy shopping.
sandy

jitkaau

Have a look at the Asus Transformer tablets before you purchase a tablet. You just need to purchase an external wifi device to connect to the internet and you are on. You can use it without internet connection at any time. Happy choosing. I didn't think I needed/ wanted one as I have a laptop. Now I rarely use the laptop. A smartphone is no good - the screen is too small.

BellaBoo

I have unlimited data on one phone plan and it's worth it's weight in gold when you have a teen in the house. On another phone I have the $30 a month data plan and haven't went over the allowed data so far. It's enough to use the internet to check email, browse, and send pics when not in wi fi area. The smart phone will alert you when you are getting close to going over the plan.

quiltmom04

I have an iPad 3G ( can access the internet without wifi) and the ONLY thing I've found that if can't do that my laptop can is my embroidery software. I have games,yes ,but rarely play them. I get and send email, pictures and videos, I can access netflix, hulu, pandora, and YouTube - which of course gets me lots of quilting videos! Plus any other web stuff. Also, all the ebooks and kindle books are easily accessible. Since I've had the iPad, I haven't written a grocery list ( or vacation list or whatever) on paper - it's all on the I iPad. I took pictures of our back patio and used a drawing program to sketch in the new parts of what I wanted there. I'm not sure I would have purchased it for myself, as I'm pretty cheap when it comes to getting things for myself (except for fabric!), but my husband got it for me for an anniversary gift and I have used it SO MUCH, I don't know how I got along without it! If you're predisposed to fighting technology, and really don't want to use something like this, it's probably not for you. But I'm trying not to get left in the technological dust and keep up so I can function in my old age!

mighty

I have Iphone, Kindle fire, and Surface pro. They are all nice but find I still use my desk top and lap top the most I guess because I am home most of the time and it is hard to teach an old dog new tricks.