In my experience, book reading on the phone is only when I'm really desperately bored. But it is nice to have then. I don't play many phone games, touch plus tiny screen to me is irritating. Probably the one I played the most was King of Dragon Pass.

For provider, coverage is the most important thing to me, AT&T and Sprint both had notable holes out in Hull where I am when I help Mom. Definitely an ask around thing.

Apple maps just doesn't have good enough data, but you can now again get Google maps for the new iOS.

But mostly what I do with it is have email all the time, podcasts for commuting, and web for things I need to know right now, and both platforms could do that fine.