[miffed]

I am currently pondering , I need you good folks to convince me one way or the other !

I have had a 16GB wifi iPad pretty much since day one , I haven't really used it as heavily as I'd have liked , simply because there is ONE website I use / Moderate on , that is not iOS compatible .. I say "is" , they recently upgraded , and now everything works on the iPad / iPhone , so it is JUST starting to come into its own , my conclusion is , I prefer the iPad to my laptop 98% of the time now.

So , I had decided I WOULD buy a new iPad 2 , it would have bigger storage and 3G (a power cut yesterday , and realising my wi-fi connection does not reach my bedroom reminded me how useful that would be.
Trouble is , no one has any left ! , What I SHOULD be doing now is be very patient , but instead I have found myself contemplating THIS deal

http://threestore.three.co.uk/dealsummary.aspx?offercode=24IPAD017

That £224 for a 64GB 3G iPad (NOT 2!!) - then £20 per month for 15GB data (24 mth)

I have to be honest , I don't think I'll "need" the speed improvements or the cameras -sure they'd be nice to have , but I think I could live without them .

Should I simply hold out , then buy the same model iPad 2 , or take advantage of the deal here ?

Would be interested to here from people who have had good experience of both (Hands0n ;) )

[Hands0n]

LOL, why, as I was reading through this did I suspect that I'd be mentioned by name later on :) You do realise that I'm a completely hopeless case when it comes to these things ... but seeing as you have asked, here goes...

I have had the original iPad since day two (sound familiar?) and it has been good experience. I did, however, curse Apple for not implementing at least a rear-facing camera for the use of Skype (well before Facetime). But it wasn't to be and so I made do. The experience as you have seen with your 16GB WiFi (same as mine) is generally all good. I don't even miss Flash - and recently uninstalled it from my Nexus S only to see its battery life increase to a couple of days easily! I digress.

At the launch of the iPad 2 I had made up my mind that the new model was not that much of an update, but I have to admit that I was wavering all of the time.

Visiting the Three store at Bluewater, holding one in my hand, using it for a few minutes convinced me to go for it. Plus I really did miss not having built-in 3G, even though I did make good use of the MiFi that I'd picked up on the same day as the iPad nine months back. And that combination has been a godsend, especially when we had a power cut late last year and I was able to continue unhindered.

Now having the iPad 2 in my possession the built-in 3G is actually astonishingly convenient. I'm not sure how well 15GB is going to last me per month, but I have been running it on 3G even when I'm at home in WiFi reach. Needless to say that the device does seamlessly flip between 3G and WiFi as you move about. All of a sudden I have stopped thinking about connectivity and instead just get on with the job at hand.

Should you hold out? I'd say "Yes", that you should if you can stand to. The larger RAM shows up with some browser activity, particularly where the site is particularly busy/messy. There is no chequerboard unless the data is simply not there (ie. it is pending coming down the line to your iPad).

That said - if you can do without the dual-core A5, larger RAM, twin cameras - then go for the deal you've found on the Three website. That is a superb offer, with £5 a month cheaper airtime and a low start-up price to boot. And that 64GB of Flash is going to store a ton of "stuff"

I'm not really helping, am I? :D

[Ben]

Wait, miffed!

It took a while for my original iPad to find its element, too. But it has, and over the last few months I've quickly become hungry for exactly the improvements that Apple has shipped in the iPad 2.

Bar the cameras. I really couldn't care less about those but I'm sure they'll be handy.

The RAM is a biggie - the browsing experience on the original iPad just isn't optimal. If you're serious about using the iPad for the majority of your browsing then you need multiple windows open, and when you can't switch between them without inducing a refresh it gets infuriating rapidly.

Then there's general speed. The iPad 2 isn't a small update; A4 vs A5 are worlds apart. I don't really game on my iPad but I do feel the stuttering in the OS. iPad to iPad 2 is a little akin to iPhone 3G to iPhone 3GS - the update no-one thought we needed until they tried the 3GS for themselves.

But lastly there's the whole issue of form-factor. When Steve announced the original iPad he made a big deal of how thin it was. iPad 2 has shown us that, actually, it wasn't that thin at all! iPad 2 is like a wafer, and noticeably lighter, and once you've played with a Smart Cover you'll wonder how you ever lived your life without one. I hope they do a teeny tiny one for iPhone 5! When it's attached the iPad looks like a diddy MacBook Air - I was blown away.

So stop looking at the original iPad and start putting your energies into finding an iPad 2 3G. You wont regret it!