If you’re like us, you probably find new technology almost irresistible. It’s always nice to have the latest and greatest devices and gadgets, but justifying the purchase can be a bit tricky. This is especially true with similar devices, such as Apple’siOS line — the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch.

Familiarity
If you have an iPhone or an iPod touch, you’ll be very comfortable finding your way around on an iPad. It offers the same app store and the same ability to surf the web, play music and videos, and do everything else you would expect from an iOS device.

Navigating the touch interface is the same, as well. Pinch the screen to zoom in, or swipe your finger across the display to flip to the next home screen or page.

Portability
One of the key things you’ll need to consider before purchasing an iPad is just how mobile you plan on being. An iPhone or iPod touch can easily slip into your pocket when you aren’t using it. Due to its larger size, this obviously isn’t possible with an iPad.

Another thing to keep in mind is that unless you are sitting down somewhere, the iPad takes 2 hands to use — one to hold the device, and one to actually use it. An iPod touch or iPhone can easily be held and operated with one hand, using your thumb to swipe, tap, and text.

Screen size
One of the biggest differences between an iPad and any other iOS device is the screen size. There are thousands of iPad-specific video game, cookbook, art, and music apps (just to name a few) that far out-do anything their smaller-screened siblings are capable of.

Apps and activities that all iOS devices are capable of, such as surfing the web or watching a video, also tend to be much more enjoyable on a larger screen. This is primarily because you don’t have to squint to see details or zoom in and out just to read text.

Speed
The iPad definitely has a leg up in the speed department when compared to an iPhone or iPod touch. The latest version comes equipped with a dual-core 1GHz A5 processor, as well as drastically improved graphics performance. Once the new iPhone and iPod touch models come out, it’s probably safe to assume that they will get a nice speed bump as well — but for now, the iPad has them thoroughly beat.

Things to keep in mind
Here are a few things to keep in mind before making your final decision.

• Phone calls Remember that an iPad is much like an iPod touch — while it is capable of making FaceTime calls, it is not able to make traditional phone calls.
• Internet access While all versions of the iPad are capable of connecting to a wifi network, there are other models that can also access either the AT&T or Verizon wireless cellular networks. If you think you’ll need access to the web while on the go, you may want to pick up one of these models. Just remember, there will be a monthly charge from the carrier for this access. Head to an AT&T or Verizon store for details.
• Other alternatives If you only plan on using your iPad for surfing the web, watching some videos, and listening to music, a laptop or netbook may be a better alternative. Most have larger screens and faster processors and can even cost roughly the same.

Post by Jacob Bolm

More from Tecca:

• Kindle vs. iPad: How to pick the best ebook reader
• iPad vs. TV: which is better for your kids?
• The iPad 2 Super Guide

One Wall Street analyst smells what Apple’s competitors are cooking and decides to get take-out. Then, speaking of Wall Street, who let the Journal in on the Apple rumor business? There goes the neighborhood. Finally, Ryan Block shows us how to try to start an Apple scandal with items you might find around the home!

What part of “open” don’t you understand?!

Deutsche Bank analyst Chris Whitmore sniffs the iPad competitor vaporware and says:

Ultimately, we expect the slew of upcoming competition to fall flat from a user experience standpoint while stuggl[ing] to materially undercut the iPad on price.

Apple seems to have more or less weathered “Antennagate,” but now there’s a new report claiming that the glass-encased iPhone 4 is susceptible to scratches and cracks from slide-on, third-party cases — hence “Glassgate.” Is there really a widespread problem, though?

The story comes from Ryan Block, the co-founder of gadget site GDGT (get it?) and notable for being just the second editor-in-chief of Engadget — in other words, Block counts as one of the original tech bloggers, and as such his word carries a fair amount of weight in tech circles.

Anyway, Block says he’s have heard from tipsters “both inside and outside of Apple” that engineers in Cupertino are in a state of “quiet lockdown” after discovering “another potential design flaw” in the iPhone 4 — namely, the potential for “unexpected scratching” or even “full-on cracking” of the handset’s rear glass panel when the phone is used with a third-party, slide-on case due to “particulate matter getting caught between the rear of the phone and the case.”

What about Apple’s own Bumper cases, the ones that Apple were handing out for free (until recently, anyway) in the wake of Antennagate? Well, the Apple Bumper case doesn’t have a rear protective panel — instead, it’s just a flexible, rubber-and-plastic frame that covers the stainless-steel edge of the iPhone.

Block goes on to claim that Apple has gone as far as to “create a lab” to investigate the problem and pull slide-on-style third-party iPhone 4 cases from the shelves of Apple stores … although having just been to the Apple store in Soho a few days ago, I’m pretty sure I saw plenty of third-party iPhone 4 cases on display.

Apple has yet to respond to Block’s “Glassgate” story, or whether Apple engineers are indeed on the case. (Sorry for the pun.)

Of course, reports of cracked front and back panels on the iPhone 4 have been easy to find since the handset went on sale — the thing is made of glass, after all, and apparently a drop of just a few feet could leave you with an ugly spiderweb of cracks on your snazzy new device.

But this is the first I’ve heard of slide-on, non-Apple cases causing scratches or cracks on the iPhone 4. For now, it’s impossible to tell whether we’ve got an epidemic of iPhone-scratching third-party cases on our hands or just a few isolated incidents.

So, let’s conduct a little poll right here. Any iPhone 4 owners out there with third-party cases finding scratches or even cracks on their new iPhones? Let us know.

• GDGT: With Antennagate over, is Glassgate next for the iPhone 4?

— Ben Patterson is a technology writer for Yahoo! News.

Follow me on Twitter!

SEATTLE – A new report says Apple Inc. is getting ready to manufacture an iPhone model that works on the cellular network operated by Verizon Wireless, though it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s coming to that carrier any time soon.

It has long been rumored that Verizon Wireless will eventually start selling the iPhone. But Lowell McAdam, the head of Verizon Wireless, on Wednesday downplayed the possibility of an iPhone on Verizon’s current 3G network. Verizon expects one to come later for Verizon’s newer, faster 4G network, McAdam said at a wireless conference in San Francisco, echoing comments the company’s CEO made in September.

The Wall Street Journal, citing people briefed by Apple Inc., said Wednesday that the company will start mass-producing the iPhones that work on CDMA cellular networks, the kind used by Verizon, by year’s end. They could go on sale early next year.

But that wouldn’t necessarily be for Verizon Wireless. Sprint Nextel Corp. uses the same technology, as do some Chinese and Korean carriers. Sprint and Apple declined comment.

Current iPhones only work on GSM networks, including that of the iPhone’s exclusive U.S. carrier, AT&T Inc.

The Journal also said Apple is developing a fifth-generation iPhone that looks different from the ones on sale today. New iPhone designs, including ones with smaller and larger screens than the existing models, have also long been rumored to be in the works. Apple has been releasing a new model each June.

Shaw Wu, an analyst for Kaufman Bros., wrote in a research note Wednesday that “in our checks with industry and supply chain sources, we have picked up indication of development and progress on new form factor iPhones.”

Apple’s stock increased 25 cents to close Wednesday at $289.19.

Verizon shares rose 28 cents to $33.36, and AT&T’s stock lost 32 cents to $28.62.

Verizon will have the iPhone by the beginning of next year, the
Wall Street Journal reports.

I know what you’re thinking: No way! Verizon? The iPhone? Together? What a completely
brand-new
rumor!

Well, according to the Wall Street Journal and “people familiar with the matter,” Apple plans to begin mass producing a special iPhone for Verizon by the end of this year–an iPhone that will be released in the first quarter of 2011. While the new iPhone will resemble AT&T’s iPhone 4, it will be “based on an alternative wireless technology used by Verizon.”

The alternative wireless technology is CDMA (code division multiple access), which is a channel access method used by Verizon, Sprint, and various smaller carriers in the United States. The alternative to CDMA is GSM (globally system for mobile communication), which involves a SIM card and is used by AT&T and T-Mobile. While CDMA tends to have stronger coverage in the United States, particularly in rural areas, GSM has a larger global footprint and is the standard in Europe.

The Journal reports that the CDMA iPhone is being made by Taiwan-based Pegatron Technology Corp. Pegatron is the manufacturing subsidiary of Asustek Computer Inc. Qualcomm Inc. will be providing a “key chip set” for the new iPhone.

This new(ish) rumor comes just a couple of weeks after Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg told investors that he would welcome the opportunity to sell the iPhone–though his tone suggested that such a partnership wasn’t going to happen anytime soon. Seidenberg said that Verizon would have to “earn” the right to sell the iPhone, which sounds a bit like Verizon hasn’t quite yet managed to do that.

However, Verizon President Lowell McAdam said that at “some point” Verizon and Apple’s business interests would align, though he declined to comment on whether or not Verizon would soon have an iPhone in its lineup. “I fully expect it,” he said, “But I don’t have anything to say.

In addition to the not-so-new rumors of a Verizon iPhone, the Wall Street Journal also reports that Apple is working on developing a new iPhone model all together. According to the Journal’s unnamed sources, the new fifth-generation iPhone will be a “different form factor than those that are currently available.” (What does that even mean? Will it be a flip phone? Square-shaped? Have three touch screens? Leave your thoughts in the comments.)

Sure, rumors of a Verizon iPhone pop up just about every other week, so you should probably take this news with a fairly large grain of salt. That said, the Wall Street Journal has been pretty accurate in reporting iPhone-related rumors (they were right when they said Apple was developing a new iPhone for the summer of 2010–and yes, this was before the Gizmodo fiasco).

Apple appears to be looking to Verizon Wireless, the nation’s largest carrier in number of subscribers, to beat back the Android invasion. The computer giant is now all but certain, reports say, to end its exclusive U.S. relationship with number-two carrier AT&T and roll out a CDMA version of the popular iPhone 4 early next year.

The Wall Street Journal cited “people familiar with the matter” in its front-page story Thursday, capping months of rumors about a Verizon iPhone that would give the carrier, which has also spearheaded the growing popularity of phones based on Google’s Android operating system, another powerful weapon in its arsenal.

Big Boost

So far this year, sales of Android phones, available from multiple manufacturers and several carriers, have overtaken those of the AT&T-exclusive iPhone, according to numerous analyses. Last June, Barclays Capital analyst James Ratcliffe estimated that a Verizon iPhone would add 900,000 subscriber’s to Verizon’s base in 2011 while selling nine million handsets for Apple.

While reports of a Verizon iPhone have appeared steadily for months, the Journal’s is the first to report a manufacturer for the device, Pegatron Technology of Taiwan. It also said Qualcomm is working on a chipset for the phone, and Apple considered a phone that could work both on CDMA and the more widely adopted GSM networks before deciding against that route.

The report comes as Verizon is preparing to roll out its high-speed, fourth-generation LTE network in major cities. The news leaves unanswered several key questions: Whether the CDMA iPhone will be compatible with that network; whether it will be available via other CDMA carriers, such as Sprint Nextel; and whether its design will address the antenna problems that plagued the iPhone 4 release in June, bringing bad publicity but having little impact on sales. Verizon’s price for the phone, which comes with different storage capacities, was also not addressed.

Verizon wouldn’t confirm the report to the Journal, and a company spokesperson told us he had no comment. However, Lowell McAdam, president of Verizon Communications, which is a partner in Verizon Wireless with Vodafone, said at a news conference on Wednesday that “at some point, our business interests are going to align,” referring to Apple. “I fully expect it, but I don’t have anything to say,” he added. Apple has also declined to comment.

‘We’ve Heard This Before’

The report has its skeptics.

“I’ll believe it when I see it,” said IDC Research wireless analyst Ramon Llamas. He noted that as recently as Sept. 23, Verizon Communications CEO Ivan Seidenberg said he hoped Apple would make a phone for Verizon’s LTE network. That was seen as negating reports of an earlier version. “Until someone [from Verizon] is willing to put their name on the line, I say we’ve heard this before,” Llamas added.

Llamas questioned why Apple would break its pattern of releasing new iPhones in June, and particularly why it would do so before March, when it has traditionally introduced updates to its phone operating system.

“A lot doesn’t add up,” he said. “June is always the time. I would question anything before March.”