We have a "nearly ancient" original iPad 3G. It still does the job, we're still happy with it. Besides all the typical internet, photo, Skype, eReader, e-mail, video viewer, etc, etc stuff, it serves as a back-up chartplotter on our boat. We find it very useful.
Regarding an iPhone: my lovely wife has an iPhone4. She is delighted with it. Uses the heck out of it. She was late to come to the smartphone party, but now says she would NOT give it up. I use a now-one-year-old Droid Bionic; I got that because it was 4G... important to us because we travel a lot and the phone is now our wifi hotspot (we used a Mifi card before that). We do not have a land line, DSL, or cable modem; haven't for years. The Bionic runs all our internet devices, and does a fine job. When it is time to update, I will certainly consider the iPhone5, now that 4G is available - it really makes a significant difference.
If you want to read an exchange from another forum posted to our cruising thread in regards to the "Apple Event" today, look here...
http://captnjim.blogspot.com/2012/09/shdd.htmlYes, very tongue-in-cheek.
Smartphones and iPads - if you have never used 'em, you can't imagine what you'd need 'em for... and once you do use 'em, you can't imagine NOT having them. Oh, and to keep this OT for a guitar forum, you can do ALL KINDS of music stuff with 'em, too!
Best wishes,
Captain Jim