The Decision!

It's Friday morning and I'm about to set off to make the final leg of my trip, from Newark to Manhattan. OK, so it's not really, I'm writing this on the plane the day before and will set this up to auto publish.

The issue is, which iPad to get!

The first one is easy, I'll be getting a black, 16GB, WiFi model to give away on the show. I won't get a case as there are so many colours, the winner may as well choose their own.

But what to do for my one.

My current iPad 1 is a 32GB 3G model and I've been very happy with it.

The three main decision points are the colour, the storage and WiFi or 3G.

First, the colour.

Easy, it has to be black. Don't like the white one in the photos on the website, besides, I think the white bezel would be too distracting.

Next, the storage.

16GB is probably fine if your not intending to put any media on the device. Say you just want to use it for apps and browsing. I have no plans for any music, all my music (at least the music I want to carry around) is on my iPhone. However, movies presents a fresh challenge..

32GB has been fine for me for general day to day usage. The only time I have an issue is when travelling. You can easily put six or eight movies on the 32GB iPad, a mixture of SD or HD, but I always struggle with which movies to select. A new consideration with iPad 2 is the ability to create video content on the device. Even if you don't intend to use the built in camera of the iPad, with it having iMovie, you may well want to transfer iPhone movie footage onto it for editing. And when might you want to do this? When you're travelling and your iPad is full of movies to watch. Not going to happen often, but it may be worth looking to the future, when this scenario will happen.

64GB is very expensive! But may well get you out of a hole in the future.

My gut feel is that it would be more sensible to go with the 32GB but when it comes to the crunch, I may go with the 64GB.

Finally, WiFI or 3G

Of course, if you're an iPhone 4 user, the obvious answer may well be the WiFi model. iOS 4.3 now has a built in personal Hotspot allowing you to share the iPhones 3G signal. It comes at a extra cost from your service provider of course. But, if you use this infrequently, it may be the one for you.

However, I already pay for a separate data SIM, that gives me 3G data. I can use this both in my 3G iPad and my Mifi. It's actually provided by a different carrier than my iPhone (Virgin Media rather than O2) and it's great to have the choice. I've noticed considerable differences in performance between both carriers depending on the location, with the Virgin Mobile SIM getting a much better signal when O2 network let's me down.

The 3G iPad also has a full blown GPS chip in it. I'm not sure how significant or important this will be, but it's possible this may be advantageous when the next generation of augmented reality apps come out, taking full advantage of the iPad camera and gyroscope.

Of course, I'll have to go with the GSM (AT&T) version of the 3G iPad if I go down that route as only GSM is supported in the UK.

So, to sum up, I'll most likely be getting:

• A Black 32GB GSM 3G iPad 2

• Plus a Black Smart Cover

• Plus the special AV adaptor with HDMI out.

I just hope that I get in early enough, and they have the stock to match my requirements!

I'll let you know via Twitter.