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My Own Tech Dilemna: IPhone coming to Verizon or go tablet?

Posted on January 10, 2011 by Travis Crabtree

Notwithstanding my area of practice, I have so far successfully avoided the iPhone craze.  In fact, I have managed to avoid the entire i-craze.  No iPhone, no iPad, no iPod. 

I’m not trying to make some social statement against the closed nature of Apple products.  I’ve just gotten by with other mp3 players.  On the phone, our firm used to be tied to Blackberry and I was tied to Verizon.  Our law firm will now support the iPhone and if the predictions are right, the iPhone will be on the Verizon network tomorrow.

Then, my friend in the oil and gas business is trying to shame me into getting a tablet.  An oil and gas business CFO?  Of course, his biggest selling effort was some game he and his kids play. 

Then, I spent last week reading all the CES coverage.  Click here for the Wired two-minute video recap.

So, thoughtx?  Go iPhone?  Stick with the Blackberry touchscreen and get a tablet?  Is the Samsung Galaxy really better than the iPad?  Hit me with your best shot other lawyers, marketers, and yes, even the oil and gas CFO’s.

  • http://lwvi.com Mike Patton

    If you like your Blackberry but need a tablet, keep the BB and just get a tablet.

    Once you get a tablet, be it an iPad, a Galaxy, or anything else worthy of the name, you’ll understand why I would caution you to avoid thinking of the iPhone (or Android, Storm, or any other smart phone) as comparable or somehow a substitute for a tablet.

    While interesting in its own right, the smart phone is not the same class of tool. Screen size really, really matters.

    If you get a tablet, your two present realistic choices are iPad and some Android device such as the Galaxy. And so far, a case could be made that the iPad is the better choice, given a combination of application selection and battery life. (any Android tablet will have a heck of a time competing with the iPad on battery life, for technical reasons with which I won’t bore you). I’ve not used the Galaxy tablet, but I’d be hard pressed to see it beat the iPad in any category other than inclusion of Flash animation functionality.

    My point, and I do have one, is that I think you’re asking two questions, with two different answers. You can’t really get the full power of a tablet from any smart phone, and while you can make calls from a tablet, trust me (and don’t ask me how I know) when I tell you you’ll look silly doing so.

    So, as I said at the start, if you can otherwise justify a need for a tablet, be prepared to use it in addition to your smart phone.

    And, nice as they are, don’t dismiss the iPad out of hand in favor of the Android-based alternatives.

    Note: until a week before the iPad launch, I swore I’d never get one, because I’m no Apple sycophant, and didn’t think I needed one. Based on subsequently visible facts, my opinion changed.

    MP