I’ve been frustrated for quite a while with my old iPad. It’s a 3rd Generation model, WiFi only -- that I think is now five or six years old. It’s slow at doing almost anything. Sure I’ve tried cleaning it out, deleting unnecessary apps and following every step online I could find to make it speed up. But it remains sluggish. Go to load a two-minute movie trailer and I'm looking at a several-minute wait for it to buffer. Watch a baseball game on the MLB app? It’s ridiculously slow. Most apps now use a newer version of iOS -- this model stopped updating after version 9.3.5. Some apps like Google Drive are just plain incompatible with it now. So pickings are slim.
Anyway, I started looking around for a new tablet. My Google Pixel 2XL phone has a vibrant 6-inch screen, and is almost like having a tablet. But still, to lay in bed and watch a movie, I wanted a slightly larger screen. And my iPad’s 9.7-inch display is frankly too large. I’ve also thought from Day One that the machine was too heavy to cradle in one hand while watching a movie. It’s just awkward to hold.
It’s definitely time for something new. But not another iPad. I’m no longer in the deep end of the Apple ecosystem like I was when I bought the iPad. And I’ve realized over the time I’ve owned my current model that I rarely use it for work, like I thought I would be doing when I bought it. I mostly use it to watch movies and TV shows -- and live sports -- as well as to read books and surf the web. So I started narrowing my sights on Amazon’s cheap little Kindle Fire 7 -- the 2017 edition. I know several people who really like theirs. And yes, I realize you get what you pay for: This model is known for poor battery life, inferior screen resolution and limited app flexibility. But it covers the basics: Watching videos and reading. And for $35 -- Amazon had it on sale this past week -- I figured it was worth a try. If it failed me, Amazon has a decent return policy.
It arrived two days ago. At first, I was alarmed that my phone had almost the same screen size. But after using both devices for two days, I can say the Kindle screen is noticeably larger without being too large. And its resolution is more than adequate. It’s feather-weight, so that’s awesome. And it's worlds faster than the iPad 3, when it comes to loading web pages. Yes, the 1.3 Ghz quad-core processor out-specs the iPad’s 1.0 Ghz dual-core. I performed several side-by-side tests on web page loading of sites I’d never visited -- so as not to skew my test in the iPad’s favor. The Kindle whipped it every time. As it did at downloading apps. And bringing up movies and other videos. And the Kindle doesn’t buffer. So much for blaming my home’s WiFi signal all the these years.
Plus Amazon lets you “borrow” current magazine issues without charge, if you’re an Amazon Prime customer. That’s a nice extra. And it comes with a free six-month subscription to the Washington Post -- owned by Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s CEO. I watched an hour-long TV show on the Kindle last night while laying in bed. And it dawned on me after 45 minutes that I didn’t even realize I’d been holding it in one hand the entire time. It’s that light. And the screen was fine. Also started reading a book on it, which is a great experience. I think it’s going to be a keeper.
As for the old iPad 3, I will either trade it in at the Apple Store for a gift card, to help fund a new Apple Watch for my daughter. I might keep it as a Presence security camera. Or I may just donate it to a local school. But I really don’t want to slow children down in their quest to learn.
