Need advice on phone and tablet conundrum

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Swede88

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First, the facts:

Phones:
I have an iphone 3GS
My wife has an old Nokia flip phone (2009/2010)

Phone Plan
ATT FamilyTalk Nation 700 with Rollover (Contract expired a while ago)
Includes: (all per month)
--$60 for line 1, $10 for line 2
Line 1 (my iphone): unlimited data ($30), messaging (1500 texts for $15)
Line 2 (wife's phone): messaging (200 texts for $5)

What we actually use: ~300 texts for me (~50 for spouse), ~1.5GB data, 400-500 minutes

What we use them for:
Me: use 2 apps for work, both available on google play/itunes. take a few pics here and there; use google maps for gps purposes, use texting and e-mail for work. I don't play games or use social media and I rarely watch movies/stream music.

Wife: phone calls, very few texts and that's it.

So, here's what I'm needing advice on:

I would like to buy a tablet because the screen is too small for me on the iphone 3. I went to bestbuy and looked at the galaxy 4, but even with the 5 inch screen viewing of pdfs and documents on evernote still wasn't ideal. Plus, I would love to launch presentations from the tablet.

So if I considered buying a nexus 7 (LTE version to hopefully be released soon) that fulfilled my needs for the above, what cell phone choices would be good for:
texting, decent picture taking, maybe a good keyboard (digital or physical) to text?

Keep in mind I am not particular about carriers, but I'm hoping there will be a drop in my monthly bill (unless the data plan for the tablet would negate those savings). If you have suggestions as to doing something different, I welcome those too!

Hope this makes sense!
 
If you can hold out until mid-September, Apple may suit you nicely with either the iPhone 5S (higher end) or a budget 4-inch model. Apple has a knack for good cameras, the on-screen keyboard is good at auto-correction, and iMessage will work between iOS users over WiFi (handy if you're in an area with poor cell reception).

The only catch here is that you'll probably want to use the same OS on your tablet as on your phone, so that you have an easy time switching apps. Apple should hopefully have new iPads in or before October, but you could be waiting a little while longer. And if you end up getting Android on one device, you might as well get Android on the other.
 
$120 a month? You arent going to lower your monthly bill by much unless you do prepaids/mvnos.

All phones take decent photos, have good keyboards etc.

My personal opinion is the iphone still has the best keyboard though.
 
Ill add, it may be hard to find something better then the nexus 7, in price and awesomeness.
 
Aurelius said:
If you can hold out until mid-September, Apple may suit you nicely with either the iPhone 5S (higher end) or a budget 4-inch model. Apple has a knack for good cameras, the on-screen keyboard is good at auto-correction, and iMessage will work between iOS users over WiFi (handy if you're in an area with poor cell reception).

The only catch here is that you'll probably want to use the same OS on your tablet as on your phone, so that you have an easy time switching apps. Apple should hopefully have new iPads in or before October, but you could be waiting a little while longer. And if you end up getting Android on one device, you might as well get Android on the other.
Click to expand...

Good point about the OS being the same. While I enjoy the iphone, I'm not married to it or apple products. They seem to be more expensive than other similar products out there and it would be nice to save some $$$ some where in this process. With that being said, I'm not in a rush to buy at this point either.

Trimlock said:
$120 a month? You arent going to lower your monthly bill by much unless you do prepaids/mvnos.
Click to expand...

That's what I'm trying to get a sense of. Honestly, I think I read somewhere that adding a data plan for a tablet could end up being something like $10/month which is perfectly fine. I just wasn't sure if what I wanted to do would bring about significant cost savings or not...but from what you're telling me it doesn't.
 
Not entirely no, but If you wanted to go for a used phone from current to last gen, hit up a prepaid/MVNO, then look to see how much it would cost to tack on a tablet after that I'm sure you could save a chunk that way.

But adding a tablet onto anything you plan to do is probably going to prevent you from saving anything on the current plan. Also you could take the ATT sim and use it in your tablet if it supports it. I'm sure it still works.
 
Have you thought about a phablet? Note 2 and xperia z ultra are excellent. Note 3 should be out soon. Even the galaxy mega would work out much much cheaper than getting a combo.
 
Rash said:
Have you thought about a phablet? Note 2 and xperia z ultra are excellent. Note 3 should be out soon. Even the galaxy mega would work out much much cheaper than getting a combo.
Click to expand...

Not really. I went to best buy the other day just to take a look at the difference between the 7 and 10 inch screens. I'll look into it. Thanks for the suggestion.
 
So after looking around more at other devices and the like, what do you folks think about this plan:

1. Give my iphone 3GS to my wife; switch to straight talk plan ($30/month) after unlocking it
2. Purchase Nexus 4 since the price just dropped; switch to straight talk plan ($45/month)
3. Purchase Nexus 7

Given the context of my original post, this should save us money in the long run and give my wife a phone with a camera, give me a more current phone for work purposes, etc...Thoughts?
 
iPhone 3GS takes terrible pictures and is basically dead as far as app support. Why not get two Nexus 4s and pickup a tablet later?

Your wife doesn't do shit with her flip phone because she can't. So I wouldn't assume her same behavior would carry over to a smartphone.
 
I think it boils down to a cost saving measure and what she wants and doesn't want.

For her you're right, she would enjoy the ability to text more easily and take better pictures and her old phone limited her in that respect.

Other than that, she doesn't care to use the phone for apps, social networking, games, etc... She's a bookworm and even though I bought her a kindle a long time ago, she goes to the library weekly and checks out a ton of books.

She has told me to disregard a data plan because she wouldn't use it. That's why I didn't think of spending the money on 2 nexus 4's...because if there's a cheaper alternative for her phone, then that's what she wants.

Also, I need the tablet for work purposes.
 
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