My shiny silver, 10.2-inch, 8th generation iPad arrived via UPS this morning, and I am busy setting it up today: connecting my email account, installing Kindle, Netflix, and Amazon Prime, etc.
Although it is much the same size as my trusty old iPad 2, it is so much thinner, and the screen is slightly larger, too! This is going to take a little bit of getting used to. But it will be nice for streaming movies and TV shows, reading novels, and following Reddit, Twitter and Discord (I will continue to use my iPhone for Clubhouse).
I decided to splurge and buy a model with both WiFi and cellular capabilities. However, I discovered that the sim card from my iPad 2 is slightly too big to fit into the slot on the new model, so I will need to upgrade that, once I feel safe venturing out to the cellphone store at my local shopping mall. Then again, I so rarely use cellular because I am so infrequently in any space where I would need to use it! Ninety-five percent of the time, I am within reach of a public or private WiFi network, and anyways, at present I am still stuck within the same four walls of my apartment while Manitoba is in pandemic lockdown. Still, I decided to get cellular in the rare times that it would come in handy.
I also decided to go for 128GB of memory, since I expect I will be using this model for quite a while (my iPad 2, which I used nearly every day, lasted a whole decade and then some, before dying on me). That’s plenty of space for music, photos, videos, what have you. I’d rather have that extra space than rue not getting it down the line.
After my iPad 2 died, living without an iPad for two whole months was an interesting experience. My iPhone did double duty as both my cellphone and as a mini-tablet, and while I did get used to it, I do appreciate having all that real estate again! No longer will I have to squint at the screen to watch a movie or read a book!
I am still taking a break from most social media and from the news media, in order to get some respite from the doom-and-gloom headlines (the transfer of some patients from Manitoba’s overloaded healthcare system to Ontario, and further pandemic restrictions are to be announced before the long weekend). I don an avatar and hang out in my favourite escape spot, Second Life, or I pop into various discussion rooms on Clubhouse, and that’s about it for me this week. I am feeling very tired and anxious, and I am sleeping a lot this week, another sign I need to recharge my batteries and take care of myself.
Stay safe and stay healthy!
