Although this blog has become less 'editorial' in recent years, I still like to look back on my opinions from years (or decades! 😳) past to see how they hold up.

I'm the type of person who has no problem admitting when I've been wrong or mistaken with something I've said or done in the past. I believe it's a crucial part of how we can grow (both personally and professionally) to be better people.

After a recent hospital stay that was primarily caused by a salmonella infection, it became obvious that using my phone for entertainment in hospital was quite inadequate. Maybe it's my ageing eyesight, but I needed a larger screen for comfortably watching TV shows and movies.

I looked at what was out there in the tablet space, and ended up buying an iPad.

This is what I said about the first iPad when it was launched back in 2010:

I have no idea what they were thinking both with the announced device as well as the name. ... I don't get who they aim to target with what essentially is an oversized iPod Touch.
...

I don't really see a market for such a device that doesn't allow multitasking, has no native USB or flash card connectivity, nor the rather basic ability to display flash in a web browser.
...

Apple's proved me wrong before, but I struggle to see how they'll do it with this product.

😂 Well, I was wrong; very wrong. Wrong to the point where Apple now has the vast majority of the tablet market all to themselves.

So, yeah, also wrong enough that I just purchased an iPad, too. It's the first Apple product that I've bought for myself with my own money since the iPod Nano (5th gen) back in 2010.

I don't feel bad about it. At the moment, there's pretty much three players in the premium tablet space: Apple's iPads, Samsung's Galaxy Tabs, and Google's recent Pixel Tablet.

Samsung is still the company I won't buy anything from, so they were out. Google's history of tablet investment/development, both from an OS and hardware point of view, means that they have a lot of trust to rebuild with people like me before I feel comfortable spending my money on them.

So, an iPad it was. I decided to go an Apple-direct refurb of an iPad Air 4th gen to save a bit of money, and get a good screen with a decent amount of storage.

Other than hospital/travel entertainment, the main use of the iPad at home will be reading comics. I've recently gone all-digital for comics because of convenience, price savings, and physical space savings. The reading experience is better too, as there are no physical differences because of paper stock and print quality, and I can also easily zoom in on stuff.