It’s hard to believe that my first-generation iPad (64 gig, w/3G) is having its second birthday this month. In ways it still feels new, but in many ways I feel like it is a grandpa (as the 3rd Gen family member has already come out.) So after two solid years of using it, I thought about if I still liked it, and if I found it still useful. My immediate answer was “Yes… but….”

Yes, I still use it everyday. Yes, I love it. Yes, I use it for work. Yes, I still find it useful.

But… When I traded in my Android phone for an iPhone last Christmas, I noticed that there were many things that I did from the iPad (email, songs, basic web browsing) that I could just as easily do from my iPhone. All with the convenience of placing the device in my pocket when I was done, rather than lugging it around in my left hand all the time. However, the iPad is still my go-to device for conference and meeting material reading, as well as a few other apps that benefit from the bigger display.

But… the iPad first-gen has suffered somewhat from the iOS upgrades over the (two) years. The latest upgrade has significantly impacted the keyboard response (I’ve checked with a few other iPad first-gen owners and they also seem to suffer from this “feature.” Now, if I were to think that Apple were made up of evil geniuses, I’d think they did this little feature on purpose to try to get first-gen owners to upgrade to the new iPad 3 (codename: Just iPad). However, Apple tends to be really good about fixing features like this, so I’ll wait until the next iOS upgrade to see if they’ve worked it out.

But… no camera? meh… I can grab the iPhone out of my pocket for things like that.

But… slower processor. In today’s world, it’s not about being too rich or too thin… it’s about processing power and storage. Although Apple is stupid when it comes to storage (stupid from the consumer’s point of view at least), the processing power of the third-gen iPad is a significant change and one that might make me want to upgrade.

But… no retina display? Not sure about that. I hear that retina display is great for HD movie watching (which, honestly I don’t do a lot of on my iPad), but that, just like in the porn industry, sometime HD doesn’t do web pages any favors.

But… everyone has a new iPad than me?? This does play on my mind. However, I kind of gave up on the idea just by having an iPad, I was cool and cutting edge the first time I rode up the elevator and saw one of the Partners had one.

But… I only have 3G capability!! The 4G does tempt me. One of the things that keeps me from upgrading is that I was grandfathered in to the “unlimited 3G” term with AT&T. I still haven’t seen a clear answer on whether I could keep that unlimited status if I upgraded to 4G. My guess is that I probably could not keep it.

But… won’t the iPad 4 (AKA “The New New” just iPad) come out next January? Probably. Maybe I should just wait until my first-gen iPad becomes a great-grandpa before I plunk down $900 for the younger, sexier model. I’m leaning toward waiting another year.

What’s your opinion? Should I jettison my old iPad first-gen (or at least give it to my high schooler), and purchase the new iPad??