iPad Makes a Surprise(!) Comeback

So, as most of you know, about a month ago, I sold my iPad, mainly due to having the MacBook Air 11" which does a lot more than iPad in a package not much larger or heavier. So what changed?

The main change is that yesterday I finally decided that the iPhone 4 is on it's way. I am so happy with the Samsung Galaxy S using a custom ROM, I found myself in the very unusual situation of trying to force myself back to the iPhone so I could maintain one iOS device, and one Android (Galaxy Tab). For a couple of days, I took the iPhone 4 to work and left the SGS at home, but missed it like crazy. Once used to the home screen control, and notifications on the Android system, iOS feels too constricted to me, and that is WITH a jailbreak lock screen solution, and various tweaks. So once that decision was made, it was curtains for the Galaxy Tab. I have been hanging onto it as it is dropping in price like a stone, remember when it came out at that (false, bait n switch) price on CPW site? Well, it launched at £569 in the UK and is now available from Tesco at £359, and you know the saying, "every little helps", well not in this case Tesco, you bastards! I paid £499 for mine I think, and am gonna be lucky to get out losing under £200, but to be fair, I have done well over the years, so no issues from me on that one.

So, with that decision made, the decision was pretty easy, a new iPad, would give me the iOS I want to play with, and in effect it gives me an iPhone in the same package, OK, phone calls excepted, although with Skype and the wi-fi Hotspot on the SGS I could even use it for that!

But surely the iPad 2 is only a short while way? Well, it maybe, but with Steve taking some more time off, and assuming he does return, which I think (and hope to God) he does, maybe a late March reveal, and on sale right away would be OK. After all, despite HEARING about all these iPad killers, how many are actually on sale yet? The other thing they might do is announce it now to stop people even thinking about an Android Tablet, and not ship it till April again?

But of course, my decision to buy now had to be made under an assumption that iPad 2 might be out soon, so why not wait? Well, me and waiting are a bit like Strawberries and Engine Oil, not really great bedfellows. Add to that I had a £250 comet credit note burning a hole, and well, you can see the difficulty I was in! I would also add here that I really like the current design, and home button and am not keen on these rumours of Apple ditching the button in favour of gestures. Although I don't buy the rumours about iPhone losing the button anytime soon, on the iPad it could certainly happen.

Add in the fact that my other half would probably be able to do everything she does with an iPad as opposed to the POS Windows Laptop she has, and, well, you have a plan forming. But I had said that the iPad was a waste of time while owning an MBA (MacBook Air) so I should try and explain that a bit more. My comments on that were based on early ownership of the MBA along with the glow of techie joy that accompanies that state :-), in reality, (only becomes clear when you no longer have the iPad) there are a few things that the MBA do much better such as flash websites, but I was finding it really hard to take it to with me, something I had always done with the iPad. First, good though the battery on the MBA is, I was never 100% confident it would last the whole day, where as the iPad definitely would, but more importantly, when I had the Air in my office, I was forever locking the office door (not at all practical for me) or constantly putting the MBA in the drawer but then worried about putting something on the screen in case it got damaged etc. With the iPad, I just had it in a £15 case, chuck it in the draw and cover it with a load of files or something.

So, with £250 of it already covered by the Comet credit, which Mrs Kevwright rather worryingly had her eye on for a poxy new Dishwasher!!!, it was just a case of choosing which model. My first one was a 16GB base model, Wi-Fi only, and was fine, apart from GPS. This was my one concern with buying now, I believe the new one will have GPS as standard, I even think 3G may become standard as if not, with the CDMA iPads we know are coming, Apple will have so many SKU's to deal with......anyway, my last iPad was the 32GB 3G and Wi-Fi model, the sweet spot for me, I can get all my media on it without messing about, and I did find the 3G handy on a few important occasions. I probably would have gone for the 16GB 3G one TBH, but Comet had none, and by now I was in full "gotta have it now" mode, so I reserved a 32GB 3G model form my local store, using my old favourite Quidco, it gave me a voucher code for 5% off, and gave me 3% into my Quidco account, so the £610 (new VAT) became £581 payable on collection, and the Quidco credit is already showing up as another £17 to come in a few weeks time. I already have the keyboard dock and the Bluetooth keyboard, and I still have my old cheap case, so I am all back up and running for about £565.

One thing we geeks forget is that its a fairly small number of us that follow new releases as closely as we do. Take the Verizon iPhone for example. All the usual naysayers are saying that nobody will switch or even buy one yet as they all know the new iPhone will be out "soon". Well, first of all, when did "soon" mean 5 months, and anyway, 90% of potential iPhone buyers for Verizon will either not know this, or not care about it at all. I predict huge lines at Verizon stores in a couple of weeks. Back to this article, what I mean by that is that even if a vastly improved iPad gets announced in 5 mins time, I am still confident that I could get a decent price back on this new iPad, put it this way, will it lose 40% of its retail value in about 6 months time like the Galaxy Tab? Not a chance!

Kev