I’d been planning for some time to get a new iPad in the latter part of the year. I originally had intended to get the iPad Pro but then the specs on the iPad Air came out and it met pretty much all my needs. Nice to have a mid-price item working out for a change.

I had an idea of buying in-store when they were released but then I noticed that even the Apple store didn’t have any available to buy in-store. So I checked out local retailers yesterday and found one that had stock available at one of their stores. It wasn’t our local but it wasn’t terribly far either. So I ordered one online with the expectation of being able to pick it up during the afternoon. But then I realised I hadn’t added the Apple pencil in with my order so did another order for that. I had done the first one using a credit plan but couldn’t do that for the pencil so paid outright for that. I soon got a notice on my phone thanking me for my order. Soon after I got a notice my purchase was available for pick-up. These turned out to be for the pencil and not the iPad. I still hadn’t got anything later in the day so I tried to phone but nobody answered.

I finally went to the store to pick up the pencil and to query the other order. No confirmation ever came through. The original person I spoke to wasn’t that helpful but she was able to eventually get another person to help out. He couldn’t find any other order in the system. I don’t know where it was but it wasn’t there. But my app showed the purchase on my credit account as a pending item. In the end I just purchased one in-store and decided to sort it out later when I could get assistance from staff from the east coast (who were now closed due to time change).

Today, about 27 hours after I made the online order, I finally got a confirmation and then a notice for pick up. It must have gone into the ether and bounced out again a day later. I called the store today to cancel the order and when I explained what had happened, the woman on the phone said she’d heard of that happening a few times lately with the Apple products. Very weird stuff.

Meanwhile, I got my new iPad set up although I had a few hiccups at first. The last few purchases have involved pretty easy transfers but this one wasn’t so straightforward. I did get there in the end and now just have to wait to get the case I ordered from elsewhere. First impressions are quite good and I really like the pencil, especially as it charges up by sticking to the side of the tablet and is easy to write with. I try using it to write on the screen and it worked really well. My last iPad I got a keyboard folio case for it but I have found I hardly use the keyboard compared to my expectations and got a decent case instead. Anyway, I’m looking forward to getting good use out of this tablet and the old one will now pass along to Game Fanatic, who is using a much older one.