I hate decisions

Flip a coin teh buck.

How did you decide to write this blog?

Edit: I'm sorry.

Simple: Cut off your penis. If it hits the floor glans-first, get a smartphone. If it lands stump-first, get a tablet.

Or a coin if you want to be boring.

The S III is not much better than the S II and is, in some respects (the screen, for instance. Also the fact that they're not selling the LTE S III here), worse. Save the cash and get the S II instead.

But the S II only has a dual core processor and it doesn't do cool stuff like dial the number you were going to text when you life the phone to your ear or tell you what messages you've had when you pick it up or dim the screen when you look away from it... and it's only $100 cheaper, and it's not saving me any cash if my parents buy it...

You need to put the decision in context. Why do you want a tablet? Why do you want a smartphone? Which would you be likely to use most often? Which would be more useful to you?

I want a tablet mostly to have something portable that I can Google things on. I'd use the smartphone for the same thing as well as phoning people. I'd probably use the smartphone more often, since it'd be for all the same things as well as others. The smartphone would be more useful for the same reason.

But it's $300 more, and I'm not sure whether I'd want a bigger screen for watching videos (and I'm not sure whether I'd want the smaller screen so that I fit it in my pocket, which would be extremely convenient).

So second question: do you need that $300+ model of phone? Can you get one that still serves your needs without the big cost?

Can you get a phone on contract and avoid paying upfront for the handset?

I already have a stupidphone, and although it's old it's in good condition and still works fine (it's a Nokia). If I was getting something cheaper it would just be the tablet.

As for getting it on contract... I think it's mostly around $60 per month for at least two years, which works out as about twice the price of the actual phone. In other words, the plan I get with it is $30 per month - I guess I'll look at that more closely and see if it's worth it, but I can't imagine that it would be. I always assume that option is so the companies can get more money out of people who don't have enough to spend that much all at once.

Get a Mac.

No.

Get a Wii.

The phone spectrum has a lot of smartphones that aren’t top of the line but still pretty damn handy. It’s not just a case of dumbphone vs. S III.

Go with a smartphone. It will outlast, outuse and otherwise be more practical then any tablet. In my experience, unless the tablet is being used for something professional or otherwise work related you will be pissing your money away on a square foot of very breakable toy. I am not criticizing your consideration of getting one, but a smartphone would be the better choice, given your expectations of use.

If you're unsure about whether to get a smartphone or a tablet, try out the Samsung Galaxy Note. It's essentially a smartphone that's also a small tablet. Or possibly a small tablet that can make calls.

Or get one of the recent premium smartphones, as they're not much smaller than the Note these days.