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Why Apple's iPad Has Been Good For Sprint

Posted by timothy on from the one-more-thing-to-carry dept.

itwbennett writes "Today, Sprint CEO Dan Hesse said in an interview with Om Malik that the iPad has been good to his company because many people are opting for the Wi-Fi only iPad and pairing it with Sprint's 3G/4G Overdrive MiFi device (which the company sells with a special Overdrive case for the iPad) rather than choosing an iPad 3G that is limited to AT&T's network."

7 of 76 comments (clear)

  1. It's an ill wind that blows no good by mveloso · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Indeed! Now all that needs to happen is for Sprint to sell a VoIP kit with an iPad/iPod Touch, MiFi, and Skype/Google Voice. Whoa nelly!

    1. Re:It's an ill wind that blows no good by hedwards · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Unless I'm greatly mistaken, that's already possible with some of the Android phones. I haven't personally tried it, but I believe it is possible with the Nexus One and presumably other phones of similar or better features.

    2. Re:It's an ill wind that blows no good by Dachannien · · Score: 4, Funny

      Unless I'm greatly mistaken, that's already possible with some of the Android phones.

      Who cares? The entire point of VoIP on an iPad is to make it into a hilariously gigantic phone.

  2. But no GPS with WiFi only! by ad454 · · Score: 3, Informative
    The WiFi-only version of the iPad and the iPod Touch are both missing one key feature present in the 3G iPad and iPhone, that I personally consider to be very important. And that is GPS! And that is a shame, since GPS maps look especially nice in the iPad's XGA and the retina display on the latest iPhone and iPod Touches.

    There are external GPS hacks on iOS devices like:

    But these are awkward to use, and in my experience, a lot of GPS software does not work with these hacks, as they do with Apple's built-in GPS receivers.

  3. Your "GPS" is wifi-based by rsborg · · Score: 4, Informative

    That's funny, GPS on my base model iPad works great.

    And won't work in the boonies.

    The iPad wifi "GPS" is based on wifi points, and can work somewhat in the city, just like the original iPhone did.

    There is no dedicated GPS chip in either.

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    1. Re:Your "GPS" is wifi-based by farnsworth · · Score: 3, Informative

      That's funny, GPS on my base model iPad works great.

      And won't work in the boonies.

      The iPad wifi "GPS" is based on wifi points, and can work somewhat in the city, just like the original iPhone did.

      There is no dedicated GPS chip in either.

      The GPS on my iPhone 4 doesn't work in the boonies, either. Or if it does work, it takes far too long to lock a signal making it essentially useless.

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  4. iPad 3G is not locked by prichardson · · Score: 4, Informative

    Contrary to the summary and many comments here, the iPad is unlocked. It will take any micro-SIM.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPad#Storage_and_SIM

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