Spring loaded, credit card bloated
A tile user with a 2018 iPad Pro (11") attempts to justify buying the new 12.9" iPad Pro and a four-pack of Airtags. Let’s see how that goes.
After Apple’s spring loaded, my bank account already began sweating. The new iPads and the Airtags instantly grabbed my attention, and of course, soon after the money.
As of today, April 30th, 2021, you can preorder the new iPad Pros. I did precisely that, and according to Apple, between the 21st and the 27th of May, my brand new, 12.9" iPad Pro should be delivered to my doorstep. The four-pack of Airtags already arrived today. It is safe to say, the spring loaded event bloated my expenses. However, as a tile owner and someone who just last year bought an 11" iPad Pro from 2018, why would I be intrigued by these products? Let me explain.
Starting off with the more straightforward explanation, the Airtags. About nine months I bought a four-pack of tile pro trackers as well as a tile slim. The slim fits perfectly in my minimalist wallet, and the other trackers neatly accompanied me, my keys, and whatever backpack or bag I carried with me.
The trackers are handy, no more extensive searches for keys or my wallet, just a simple press of a button, and I hear where the misplaced item is hiding. However, apart from the slim in my wallet and the one tile pro attached to my keys, the purpose of these trackers wasn’t to help me find my “misplaced” backpack while it is in Bluetooth range.
Their purpose was to help me find my backpacks etc., in the case I would lose them. I would simply mark the item as lost, and other tile users would passively update the item’s location as they passed it, allowing me to find and recover it.
But, I encountered two issues: the first, completely independent of the product itself, the Covid-19 pandemic. Just a few weeks after the tiles arrived, the university again shut down entirely, and so losing something like a backpack became wildly unrealistic. The second “issue” I found was something I had thought about even before buying the tiles. Their network to find things probably would be pretty thin. Even though Switzerland is quite crowded, I doubt there are so many Tile users that the location of the would-be lost item would be updated a lot.
Hence, when Apple announced the long rumored Airtags in their spring loaded keynote, I immediately was delighted. In order to find the lost thing, the principle is the same as Tile, passively updating the location through devices that pass.
However, unlike Tile, there is no extra app and setup required, just Apple’s find my. So rather than having a loose, stretched-out net of potential helpers, every Find my user passively updates the location of a lost item. This is a real game-changer and was enough to convince me to switch to Airtags. Yet, I have to mention that the Tile Slim will stay in my wallet, as its form factor is far superior to that of the AirTag for my wallet.
The precision finding feature is also unique and exciting. Even though my iPhone 11 Pro can take advantage of it, it wasn’t hugely impactful for my decision, as it is somewhat gimmicky. Letting the AirTag/Tile play a sound is sufficient most of the time, and the item will be found rather quickly.
So, after all, the reason why I switched from tiles to the Airtags (except the Tile Slim), is because if I lose something, the chance of me finding it again is significantly higher due to the sheer number of find my devices around me. Furthermore, also the feature that a message is displayed helps with the finding of lost items.
Going from tiles to the Airtags as someone who is deeply in the Apple ecosystem is hardly a wrong move, even though both products do basically the same thing.
What also is not a wrong move, yet way more expensive and also a bit more difficult to layout is to upgrade from a 2018 iPad Pro (11") to a new, 12.9" m1 iPad Pro, mainly because I bought the 11" in 2020 right after the 2020 model was announced, while stores were clearing out the “old” models.
The difference between the 2018 and 2020 iPad Pro models was literally one extra GPU core as well as a bit more RAM. However, the A12X processor is already incredibly fast, so why buy a 12Z when the other model is so much cheaper? I asked myself the same question and concluded that the 11" 2018 iPad Pro was the perfect device to accompany me to campus.
In my head, I was convinced that the big screen of the 16" MacBook Pro would make up for the smaller size of the iPad Pro. I would just use the iPad Pro for the university trips and then use the big screen of the MacBook Pro back home for all the tasks that require more real estate than the eleven inches of the iPad Pro. Anyways back at home, I could even use them simultaneously, so going for the more portable iPad Pro seemed to be the right call.
Well, it was and somehow was not. First of all, I only went to campus for 3 Weeks before everything shut down again. Hence, I couldn’t really try out my theory, as most of the time, I carried the Laptop along anyways, just in case I would need the bigger screen. Once everything shut down again, I was at home, and the 11" iPad Pro really was a perfect addition, just like I had thought. The Zoom presentation ran on the MacBook Pro while I took notes on the iPad.
However, as things started opening up a bit again and I went to CoWorking spaces, an accident happened, and I needed to replace my screen on the MacBook Pro. While my device was being repaired at the local Apple Store, I had to work solely on the iPad Pro. While I can now confirm all the titles alongside the following narrative: “Everything is more exciting when doing it on an iPad Pro”, screen size became an issue.
iPad OS allows for a maximum of three windows to be open at the same time, and not even all three are side by side, but one “hovers” over one of the others. While I had adapted my workflow so I would not need multitasking as much as on my Mac, the 11" iPad Pro proved to be too small for my needs. The Zoom class covered one half of the screen, notability with the PowerPoint slides the other, and the third app hovering over one of the apps, at least that was the idea. However, it proved to be almost unusable for me, as either I could not see the teacher’s slides or I couldn’t take notes.
Hence, when my Mac came back from the repair, I was relieved. Nevertheless, the thought of an iPad with more screen real estate was intriguing, so I followed the rumors leading up to the spring loaded event closely to see if the 2021 iPad Pro would bring any significant upgrades.
As we now know, it did. The m1 chip is nice, but the one thing that tipped the scales in favor of the 2021 model is the new mini LED screen. Especially with more and more rumors of Apple’s creation apps like Final Cut Pro coming to the iPad rather sooner than later, I think this screen will be astonishing and an immense addition to the other tasks, like studying, taking notes, and procrastinating with a glorious looking Netflix series.
When the new iPad Pro arrives at the end of May, I hope it lives up to the high hopes I have for it in order to justify its hefty price point. All in all, I have to admit, maybe my theory with the 11" model providing sufficient screen real estate was flawed, but I hope the 12.9" will solve this issue and can really fill this role of a highly mobile and portable every day carry device for the campus.
As soon as I have some more hands-on experience with the Airtags, I will provide a more insight comparison to the tiles, and once the iPad arrives, I will also be putting it through its paces. So stay tuned.
As always, thank you for reading, and stay safe.
Raffael
