Yeah, that, the title, is what I said last year. But as I wrote about last month, I bought a new iPhone 16 Plus. This week I got fed up with my old iPad Air. So I did the sensible thing and bought a new iPad Air as well. Turns out the alternative isn't nearly as good as Apple's offering.

I do think that the iPad is the kind of product that nobody with a laptop and capable phone really needs, but it's cool to have. A luxury extra. It's also the product that, for many, serves no real purpose because it's not a laptop and doesn't have a 'real' operating system, like a phone. But it's too big to be a phone.

I sort of solved the 'it's not a laptop' issue a few years ago with one of those foldy-touchy-cover-keyboards. But iPadOS remains a limited piece of software. Even Stage Manager or having a touchpad can't fix that. Still, I can use the keyboard as a stand, set it on a desk or in my lap and write lengthy texts with ease. That's a huge improvement. And also, simply as a stand it's neat to watch a movie on in bed.

Oh the luxuries!

Because reasons

This is coming from the guy who last year decided that Apple was done, overpriced and stale. The software they churn out is buggy and full of stupid features nobody needs. And the overall software quality is just 'meh'. It has been a downward slope for years. Tim Cook is a boring nerd, and his minions seem to have no direction! The magic is well and truly gone for me.

Considering that, I figured that better brands should be sought out to satisfy my tech needs. Because, why not? I've used Android tablets before. Huawei makes a nice sized device, for example. But I've survived without a tablet, too. So why get one at all? And specifically, why an iPad?

Similarly, why spend almost a $1000 on a phone that takes nice pictures but otherwise does pretty much the same thing as a $300-500 Android phone? It's not like that for what an iPhone costs it lasts much longer either.

Well, to answer that short and succinct - I don't need an iPad. But I want one. Because reasons. And I don't think the iPhone is truly worth the money, but it integrates so much better with my life than other brands. And that, for me, makes it (almost) worth it. At least, that's the excuse I'm going with for now. I still think a base iPhone and iPhone Plus should be at least $200 cheaper though!

I want an iPad because I like the idea of not having a laptop or computer in bed. Because if I do, I might break the super expensive computer when I sleep on it. But also, the limited function of a tablet prevents me from staying in bed all day. Sure I can do my email, or write this blog post. But I won't write a ton of code or do complex troubleshooting tasks for anything on it. No, to actually get some work done I need to leave my bed and sit at my desk.

Similarly with my iPhone. I'm coming from a Motorola G84 and a Samsung A52 before that. Both were perfectly fine mid-range phones. They take decent enough photos. Both have modern Android and tons of features that work just as well as whatever iOS has to offer. But there was always that small thing that didn't quite work, or not reliably. Fingerprint unlock taking too long, or not working the first try. Apps not doing Face ID. The camera being slow to focus, or switching between lenses would get different quality photos because the software sucks. I've never been able to find a decent password manager. The GPS often got inaccurate or just didn't work at all. Just to name a few things.

Whenever I use it, I always feel that Android in general is just a duct-taped together mess for many things. So yeah, it's fine. It all worked, but I also cursed at the phone a lot.

I haven't cursed once at my iPhone yet, and I've had it for almost 6 weeks. Maybe not all the magic is gone.

Why a new iPad

My previous iPad Air was a 4th gen from 2020 or something. A nice big-enough blue chunk of aluminum with 2 dented corners from when I dropped it. Of-course after dropping it I bought the protective cover. But even then, the cheap design of it failed me and it slipped out a few times anyway. One time that cause it to fall to the tiles. After dealing with that I got a Chinese bluetooth keyboard - A knock-off to the Apple Magic Keyboard. This enhanced the use of the iPad by a lot. I could actually write text on the thing now. Plus the magnets on it were much stronger - yay!

But over time, as with any portable device, the battery started to give out. The A14 CPU began feeling slow on modern websites like Reddit and Mastodon. Somehow the thing constantly ran out of memory and felt sluggish because of it. I blame an overabundance of Javascript and background nonsense for that, but it is what it is.

And then there were those 2 damaged corners. Spoiled nerd that I am! I did get used to it. But screw that flattened corner pressing up against the glass front. It was just always taunting me.

So I set out to buy a basic new iPad. Just the cheapest 11inch model I could find. iPad Air is nice, but if the simpler model does the same for half the money then that's the way to go... Except, it's not the same iPad. Not by a long shot. Well, it is the same - Compared to my 5 year old iPad Air. But somehow with less CPU cores, and a little bit more memory. That's right, the 2025 base iPad is practically identical to the iPad Air from 2020.

The only noteworthy difference I could find is that it has the A16 chip instead of an A14, but it has less CPU cores on the A16. It has 2GB more ram, more storage and that's about it. No oleophobic layer, no faster wifi or improved battery. Nothing, not even Apple Intelligence, should you want that. So that wasn't an upgrade at all. It is very affordable, and I seriously considered it for a moment. Until I remembered why I wanted a new iPad.

I want something faster, better, nicer. Not a re-hash from 5 years ago. And since I definitely don't need an iPad Pro the iPad Air M3 was really my only choice. So that's what I got, along with a Belkin Keyboard Folio case - Belkins version of the Apple Magic Keyboard. Even the shop attendant said the Belkin typed nicer than the Apple version. So I saved that $4000MXN (~$200USD) and got the Belkin keyboard.

Turns out he was right, damn this keyboard is nice!

Of-course the iPad is really nice too. But aside from the faster M3 chip I don't really notice it much, it's visually the same iPad as the previous one. Just in Space Grey this time. The inside got massively upgraded and that's noticeable, but my use of the device didn't change.

Hopefully it lasts another 4-5 years.