iPad for the car...

[Tobysleight]

Never used a forum before....

I have both iPhone 5 and iPad 2 and I wanted to use my iPad to make calls, I am in my car for hours a day and I am thinking of mounting my iPad and using it as satnav and phone. But I need to fin a way of calling from the iPad via my iPhone. Any ideas?

 

[scifan57]

Never used a forum before....

I have both iPhone 5 and iPad 2 and I wanted to use my iPad to make calls, I am in my car for hours a day and I am thinking of mounting my iPad and using it as satnav and phone. But I need to fin a way of calling from the iPad via my iPhone. Any ideas?

While the iPad will do fine for satnav, it's not a phone and can't make regular phone calls. Your best bet is to use your iPhone to make and receive hands free calls. Siri can help connect the call by telling it to call the number.

 

[oberkc]

While the ipad may not be ideal for making phone calls, I disagree with the idea that it cannot. Using skype, it certainly can. Some of the google voice apps also nable phone calls via ipad.

But, again, I expect you may find limitations that make the idea less than desirable.

 

[scifan57]

While the ipad may not be ideal for making phone calls, I disagree with the idea that it cannot. Using skype, it certainly can. Some of the google voice apps also nable phone calls via ipad.

But, again, I expect you may find limitations that make the idea less than desirable.

While Skype would work, it's certainly not as convenient as a phone. Google voice is not available in all countries.

 

[AQ_OC]

While the ipad may not be ideal for making phone calls, I disagree with the idea that it cannot. Using skype, it certainly can. Some of the google voice apps also nable phone calls via ipad.

But, again, I expect you may find limitations that make the idea less than desirable.

And he would need to either use his phone for an internet hotspot or he would need an iPad with cellular capability to use something like Skype or GV or any other VIOP solution. If he has a wifi only ipad, he can do the Nav function by getting a BT enabled GPS receiver like the Dual XGPS 150. I would stick to the phone for calling and use the iPad for Nav. And the iPad 2 is better for this than the later ones since you can turn the screen up bright and it will maintain a charge if connected to a quality 10W car charger. This is more problematic with the 3/4 Gen iPads because those screens consume more energy on bright due to the 4x pixel count compared to an iPad 2.

 

[twerppoet]

The biggest drawback to relying on an iPad for phone calls is coverage. To make a phone call from an iPad you must have a good data connection. To make a call from an iPhone all you need is the basic cell connection, which is available in far more locations.

Of course, if you primarily drive in urban areas, this is not a problem. It's only when you get out in the more rural parts of the country that you're likely to run out of good data connections. Heck, around here there are still spots where you don't get any cellphone coverage at all; and that is without going into the mountains and state parks.

My recommendation. Go ahead and mount the iPad to use for navigation and calls; but keep your iPhone handy, maybe even set up a second mount for it. That way you have redundancy and multitasking (used appropriately for safeties sake, I hope). Be sure to have power available for both if you are going to use them this way. As AQ_OC warns, you're iPad will need to be on full brightness to be easily visible on sunny days, and that will drain the power quickly.

 

[yellowhorse]

Yah good luck on rural, it's hard to find a good wifi connection 100 miles out. I don't think apple did this because every other device in the market would protest. If an ipad could run a business out of a car..... Well, maybe they will do this once they get to the cliff on reselling us machines with slight upgrades.