5punk

Spec me one, bitches. Well, sort of. I've got some money to burn from a bonus and I want to spend it on something flash before I squander it on food and bills. So I was looking at iPads, since I've seen a few people with them and they're pretty. I've not spoken to someone yet who owns one who doesn't love it, but I can't help but wonder if I'd actually use it. So do you own one? What do you use it for? Do you like it?

I use mine for shitloads. Its easily the most used gadget I own, and im including my iphone in that. Hell, I probably use it almost as much as my desktop (which for some reason I dont think of as a gadget).

Its food tiem now. I'll write further words later.

I've got an ipad as well and it's surprisingly useful. I use it to browse the web while i'm slouching on the sofa, watch videos while cooking (or in the bath) and play a fair few games on it too.
Sword & Sworcery EP, Starfront, Galaxy On Fire 2, World of Goo, etc. All pretty good.

I've got the 16GB wifi ipad (the first one) and i use it pretty much exclusively for apps, internet and movies (i use a VGA adapter to plug it in to my telly) and it's rare that i'm left wanting for more space. However much memory you can afford, though, go for it. you can never have enough.

You know what the iPhone needs? A button that turns it into an iPad.

Right, food eaten.

Mostly, what Legoshoes said. What I mostly use it for is browsing the interwebs, reading various news things, reading twitter, watching video whilst doing the dishes/having a poo/whatever.

I read a shitload of comics on it (the comic reader app I have is absolutely amazing). I also read ebooks on it; it's not as good for that as a kindle proper, but it's a lot easier than reading on a computer. I've got through several ebooks. It's also excellent for reading PDFs, to the point where I tend to read them on my iPad even if I'm actually sat at my computer.

I use the RDP app a fair bit, when I'm too bloody lazy to go up/down stairs from one computer to the other. Course, if you don't have multiple computers spread through your house that is less useful.

I've got an excellent organiser app, which I can set reminders, organise things into tag based categories and so on.

I've got a couple of sketch/notepad apps which are handy when you want to...well, make notes or sketches.

The on screen keyboard is surprisingly easy to use once you have got over the initial weirdness. I'm using it right now, in fact. Like I say, it was a bit odd at first, but now I'm touch-typing as fast on here as I am on a proper keyboard.

Of course, most of those things are not iPad specific. You could do them on any tablet. And despite what the fanboys on both sides of the tablet wars will tell you, there is not a clear "better" option, it's all down to what you want.

There are positives of the iPad over the android tablets I've played with (I've not actually had any hands on experience on a windows tablet for several years, so I can't really comment fairly on those). The main one that is immediately obvious is at the iPad has a biggest screen than a lot of the other tablets, whilst being thinner and therefore weighing pretty similar amounts. The other big advantage is that the interface, whilst not perfect, is a hell of a lot smoother and more polished than the android ones. I've noticed that even though the hardware specs of some of the other tablets are better than the iPad, the iPad seems more responsive. I'm guessing this has something to do with the fact that the iOS is written for a specific set of hardware, so can be coded sleeker than android. That's a guess, mind. The final advantage is that, some exceptions aside, apps tend to come out for iOS before android, and that's if an android version gets made at all.

That's not to say it's all good for the iPad. It has basically bugger all connections, other than the standard USB connection to sync it to a computer, and the video output shoes mentioned (which is an optional extra), so you can't plug in USB keys, printers, cameras or whatever. Also, it's got the well known apple problem of being locked down tighter than a gnats arsehole (though you can get around that to a point by jail breaking, if it really bothers you).

Tl;dr: tablet pcs are fucking awesome, I would really miss mine if I didn't have one. If you want one that you just want to use, get an iPad. If you want one you can fiddle with and plug stuff into, get one of the other ones. From what you have said/what I know of you, I think you would probably be best off with an iPad. Also, I really wouldn't bother with a 3G one. Nowadays, the only times I'm really anywhere that doesn't have wireless access is when I'm walking down the street. And let's be honest, if you are using a tablet pc whilst walking down the street, you are a fucking nobber. I also have the same recommendation as shoes about the size: get as much as you can afford, but dont worry too much. I've got the 16gig, and I've never filled it.

The eee pad transformer from Asus is good, plus it has a specific dock with a keyboard on. The Samsung galaxy tab 10.1 looks very nice too if you want plug in things. Like Joose says ease of use is apple's bag, if you want to pick it up and go it's still the best, I'd be torn between that and the Samsung galaxy.

I has one. I got the 32GB sans 3G, at the cost of Mrs Pants not being happy about me squandering nearly £500 on something she can't see a use for. However, the sound of Angy Birds brought her over for a look (ironically), and now Sprog has hijacked it to watch Octonauts on Youtube.

Ah, yes, mine has proved exceedingly popular with my nieces. I've got a couple of daft apps here somewhere that they love: not exactly games, more pretty toy things. A bit like software versions of those plasma sphere things, where you touch it and pretty lights happen. Kept the youngest quiet for fucking hours at centre parks. Remind me to dig out the names of them.

I about to buy one of these. Have done much research on the matter and I feel this is the best. It also comes in 32Gb flavour for a few more pennies !

http://www.trustedreviews.com/Asus-Eee- ... top_review

I have a blackberry Playbook.
It is the awesome. But i can see that for non blackberry users it might be a bit more frustrating than an Ipad. Its not as developed in terms of apps and stuff available yet, it feels a little rushed to market. The hardware is awesome, and the software is being updated all the time. I love it because it has a great browser with flash etc, and its small and fast, responsive, great at multitasking, audio is great quality, has hdmi and usb etc, and good cameras. Plus i got it for free.