I’ve completely stopped reading the newspaper, books and online articles. I’ve stopped playing the 1-2 games I like (Simpsons and Plants vs Zombies) and I’m spending a lot less time in bed lately. When I lay down, I’m going to sleep, not to read or browse Reddit. Why has my consumption of the best of the web and current events stopped so abruptly?
I sold my iPad.
I didn’t have to sell it but the iPad 3 was feeling very long in the teeth. I owned an iPad 1 and a 2. The 3 was thicker but had a retina display. I didn’t go 4 because I was still financially recovering from the 3. Two iPads in a year was too much. When the 5 came out, wow. The iPad Air is insanely fast, has a thunderbolt connection, has a brighter and more color-rich display, supports more Cellular radio bands and the form factor is perfect. When the iPad mini was announced, I was convinced I’d switch to it once a retina model came around. The biggest reason being the footprint of the device, not the screen. The iPad mini’s screen is too small for me as I can use the iPad 4+ hours a day on average to read books, ingest the paper and occasionally play YouTube videos. I need a device that is completely separate from the iPhone screen and the mini is just not large enough to differentiate itself. However, the mini compared to the last gen iPad, that bezel and weight made a huge difference. I almost went mini until the air came out and whoa, I’m sticking with air.
I haven’t even held an iPad air yet. The nearest Apple Store is 2 hours away but I’m certain that I want it over the mini. The thing is, the devices are almost technically identical so there is a sort of feeling that I should go mini just for the price for performance aspect. Nope…iPad air it is.
While financially, things are pretty tight right now with the holidays coming up and a new business venture that is cost me a bit more than I’d care to admit, I’ll be ordering an iPad Air soon. But believe me when I say that it’s very hard to read on a MacBook or iMac or iPhone. The iPad is my consumption device now and I like selling my iPad 2-5 weeks before ordering a new one simply because I like to make sure I absolutely need one in my life and yes, I need one. While I could go back to a flip-phone very easily and I could ditch the iMac and just use my MacBook if I had to, the iPad has put itself as a device that I must have. I bought the NY Times the other day and the New Yorker and flipping pages, the need to stuff a wad of paper in my back pack and open it in a huge spread is cumbersome. Digital is the way to go and the iPad is here to stay at least for this tech guy.
I’ll be ordering one in a week and look forward to having the tablet back in my life.