Has the Toshiba Thrive been notably upgraded in the last year or so?

Yes. The new model name is "Excite".

It is slimmer, lighter, and faster; but the battery is not replaceable, the HDMI port is gone, the USB port is now micro, and the SD card drive is micro.

I had PalmOS devices from 1997 through 2007, and have had various iOS and Android devices since then. I doubt I have spent as much as $50 on add-on applications, and most of that was in PalmOS: $10 for a planetarium program, and $20 for PocketQuicken.

You can get an 8G iPhone 4 for free at Verizon right now with a 2 yr contract. Your monthly bill with 2G data would be between $70-$80, and unless you're going to stream music or movies that should be plenty.

Ah, but both the T-Mobile no-contract and Virgin have plans that seem good enough for $30-$35, and they have decent-looking phones for $150.

they have decent-looking phones for $150.

I'm considering going no-contract as well, but I'll probably get a more expensive model, that way it will last me longer (or so I hope). My current phone is only two years old and I'm already cranky about how it's slower than my BIL's.

When did the Excite come out? Are 3MP and 1 point something up to the high end tablet specs?

They first came out just over a year ago. What you see offered on that page is a newer version, which I don't remember seeing offered this past November and December.

I leave the specifications comparison research to you. That was why I included the link.

I don't expect to be in the market for a tablet again for at least a year, and probably much longer than that. Almost everything I do on my tablet I can do on my phone now, and the phone still fits in my pocket.

Hm, going through my iTunes purchase history, I've spent closer to $50 on apps overall, but enough of those were (a) impulse games I wouldn't bother replacing or (b) apps for Dylan's iPod Touch that I could probably replace everything I use regularly for under $25.

I have spent an awful lot on media though. Getting hooked on Big Love was more expensive than I thought. (Cheaper than an HBO subscription, but still!)

I haven't spent more than $1 or $2 per app, and that's one or two apps. The only app that I've paid signficant money for is the PDF annotator.

yep. and I have purchased a few PDF annotation apps. It was difficult for me to get exactly what I wanted until I paid for a few.

Apps are the new jeans for me.

I've read people complaining about a lack of decent tablet camera power, but then saying that the tablet shape and size is going to prevent them from using it to take pictures (because they'd look silly, which..Gizmodo, really? But a lot of their commenters agreed). The front camera, I assume, is for video chatting and self portraits--1.2 there seems a common enough standard. I'm just wondering if 5MP for the rear camera is OTT, or it's the new normal.

My phone is only an efficient laptop replacement for a few hours. If I hadn't had to plug directly into a router on my Christmas vacation, I'd have been okay with a tablet instead of a laptop (and as it was, I just borrowed) for the week and a half. I'd have gone *nuts* or into some sort of withdrawal on a phone for that long. I need my connection, and, I need my ability to compose longer pieces of text.

I am pretty cheap.

No way I've spent more than $20 in the two years I've had my phone (and three or four that I've had my iPad.) I spent $.99 on one game because a friend way gleeful about being able to end the world with pathogens. And just ponied $5.99 for Wonders of the Universe. I know I spent a couple of dollars on a nutrition app that I don't currently use and $.99 on a alarm that I hated.

So maybe $10 lifetime.

Frankly, give me a try before you buy and I'd increase that by a lot. But if I can't find out if I like it, I pass generally. I download too many free apps, try and them and delete. I'm willing to pay money for things but I want to know I like it or that if I don't like it after a week, I can "return it."