Sprint ZTE Peel

$79 slider case for the iPod Touch from Sprint, including a 3G hotspot. $29 per month for service. Interesting, but why not just buy an iPhone?

Update: My thinking on the “why not just buy an iPhone?” is that almost everyone is going to want a cell phone, too, and even a cheapie feature phone is going to run another $30 a month in service. So, once you’re paying $60 or $70 a month, why not just get an iPhone? But clearly, there are reasons to be tempted by the ZTE Peel. Maybe you don’t like or can’t use AT&T. Maybe you already have and rely on an iPod Touch and just want Internet access everywhere. And, perhaps most enticingly, it’s a real Wi-Fi hotspot, so you can use it to get your laptop or Wi-Fi-only iPad online too. It’s just that my first instinct is that $29 a month is too much. But if you can make do without a phone, and just use Skype or something for voice (FaceTime, perhaps, eventually) $29/month is cheap if that’s your total bill.

★ Wednesday, 10 November 2010