Trade in your iPad2 for top dollar

Need money for the New iPad?  Trade in your iPad 2 with Amazon and get top $.  Currently the black iPad 2 (32GB, Wi-Fi + 3G Verizon) is going for up to $420.  By comparison, Gazelle.com is offering only $290 for the same iPad.  The catch?  You receive the payment in an Amazon gift card.  Considering you can use that credit to buy a new iPad, this is a great deal.  Particularly if you don’t want the hassle of an Ebay or Craigslist adventure.

Which iPad should I buy part 2: Verizon or AT&T

Which 4G iPad should I buy, Verizon or AT&T?

Short Answer: Verizon

According to a post on The Verge and confirmed by Macworld, Verizon will be including a wireless hotspot capability FOR FREE. Couple that fact with Verizon’s far larger 4G footprint and its an easy call to go Verizon over AT&T.

Verizon Data Plan Options (Current as of 03/09/2012)

Which iPad should I buy?

Which iPad should I buy?

Short Answer: 64GB either Wi-Fi or Wi-Fi + 4G

Longer Answer:

The new iPad retina display is, from all accounts, awesome. To take advantage of that beautiful display, app developers are going to include higher resolution images/graphics in their apps. These apps will get bigger in rapid fashion. 16GB, already paltry, is going to look laughable in a few weeks. This impacts you whether you purchase a new iPad or have a previous generation iPad. Why? The apps designed for the new iPad will include higher quality images than your older device will support. Further, in many cases they will include both the high resolution and low resolution versions of images. This is because downsampling the high-res images to work on the older displays would really slow down an app.

Bottom line:

If it is at all financially possible, get the 64GB version of the new iPad.

Additional reading: Macworld does an analysis of the file sizes of the iWork suite.

I’m disappointed in the new iPad

I watched the demo of the new iPad and instantly wanted one. It has the retina display that would be awesome to use. It has a 4G connection that would make Netflix actually work without being so pixelated. So, why was I a little disappointed by the announcement?  I’m still longing for a way to better manage multiple users on the iPad. In my house, the iPad is used by everyone for a wide variety of reasons.  Netflix, games, email, calendar management…and a lot more.  The problem with having a device so popular and versatile is that we all can get into each others stuff. My kids do not intentionally try to get into my stuff…at least not yet. However, I’d really rather not give them easy access to all of my email accounts and my Omnifocus files. I wonder when Apple will get around to addressing this or if they think it is a problem at all.