One of the toughest things about being an Apple fan is that pressure to upgrade. Apple is always great at making that thing you got last year seem even older. But I told myself to hold out on the iPad, because I took it as more of a computer than a device like my iPhone. The iPad 1 has served me pretty well. I’ve surfed on it, controlled podcasts, tele prompt productions like Unsung, and played my share of games on it.
But I don’t really need a new one.
The more I look at it, there’s not much I can’t do with this older, first generation device. I can still use it handily as the teleprompter so Chachi knows the important words to say (because if it’s not on the prompter, it’s not important to him.) When talking with my wife, who also has a gen 1 iPad, we wondered if just getting a keyboard would spark some new life in her device, and keep her more mobile than just getting a new laptop, which isn’t really a necessary upgrade just yet either (she’s still rocking a Gateway with Windows 7 that doesn’t seem too strapped yet). And seeing that she’s plugging right away at her new keyboard inputting recipes into the cloud, I guess it was right.
I can deal with the lack of camera. People look stupid taking pics and videos with those things. And I believe the iPhone is consistently the better camera anyways.
Maybe I have to wait a little longer to let things load. I’m not going anywhere. I have plenty of other consoles and devices to play the new hotness in gaming. (and really only Grand Theft Auto 3 looks shoddy on it, amazingly).
The major thing that worries me, at this point, is the lack of iOS 6 upgrade. This is one of those Apple decisions, it feels. iPhone 3Gs, which have lesser hardware at it’s core, get some semblance of an upgrade to the most recent os, but not the more powerful iPad 1? The difference: The 3GS has been on sale to new users as recently as the early fall thanks to their move to the free option on some carriers. The iPad disappeared off shelves as soon as the iPad 2 showed up.
Nice way to force the point of upgrade, Apple. In the end, that’s the thing that can push me to the new shiny. When new options appear that I will want to take advantage of for work, much like my “cheap” telepompter solution now, that isn’t compatible with the OS or hardware, we start looking.
Or if Missy keeps looking at those iPad Minis so fondly…