For Ipad owners/users, may I pick your brain a little?

First I should give my disclaimer. I am a CIO for a media company so I have an Ipad, Xoom, Galaxy, Touchpad and a Playbook, plus a few other tablets yet to hit the market, non of which I actually paid for.

The Ipad is more stable than any of the others and for the things it does it does them just as well if not better. Think apps, streaming movies and your apple programs. Not having flash is a minor annoyance especially for online video.

So IMHO while not perfect it is the best and most stable on the market at this time though I suspect like the phones of a few years ago it wont be long until the android device become just as good

I don’t even use flash on my desktop. It’s a badly written piece of crap.

I don’t have a basis for comparision with other tablets but I did look at the Kindle. I use it daily for reading books and magazines, checking mail, surfing the net and social networking. The graphical display is amazing and some of the apps are great! Haven’t really used it yet for watching video. Not sure what Flash is for.

My one quibble is that the glare makes it hard to read outside and you can’t read it with polaroid sunglasses on but you can read in the shade.

Background: My first smartphone was the original Motorola Droid. It broke a few months ago, and I ended up with a used iPhone 4. I also own an iPad 2.

iOS is just slick. It is by far the most responsive mobile OS, and it really just feel intuitive. However, it’s really limited. It probably has 20% of the functionality of Android. But that 20% is done really well. Another problem with the limitations of iOS is that it takes many more clicks/actions per task. Things that either happen automatically in Android need you to manage manually.

Anyway, I was considering an Android tablet, but went with the iPad for one reason only: GarageBand (and other music apps). Android does many things well, but does not do music recording/creation or gaming particularly well.

While I enjoy the iPad, there is a little part of me that feels it is the Fisher Price OS. It is telling me that I am incapable of making decisions for myself about what I should be able to do or what I am safe doing.

If manufacturers stop putting out crap hardware with non-vanilla Android and they’re able to lower the price to something reasonable, my next tablet will not be iOS.

Got my first version iPad the first day of release and so far, performance wise, it’s still going great! I’m a very happy customer. It serves what I need. Writing, internet, movies, games etc. So far, I don’t think I’ll ever see myself without one all the time. I got this nice Kipling sling bag just for it.

What I would love is have the iPad 2’s video capabilities. I think I could shoot a short film with that and edit it right there! Also, I did have a chat with a mutual fund manager recently who was working on his MacPro laptop and said if he could store any files in it, he’ll switch. He said Apple won’t do it so as not to kill their laptop business but thinks going to the Cloud through an iPad to store his files might eventually win him over.

I have used a co worker’s iPad often enough to decide I wanted one of my own. However, my fiancee bought an Android tablet off one of his coworkers for a steal and gave it to me. Comparing the two, I still prefer the iPad because it has a bigger screen, bigger keypad, faster pop up and faster “righting” when you turn the screen to portrait or landscape. Also, it doesn’t prompt me to choose a browser each time I want to log into a different website.

The Apple just feels faster, simpler and more handy since I don’t need to use a stylus to be accurate.

I got an iPad as a gift and to be honest I don’t like it at all. I don’t have any experience with other tablets so many of these complaints are probably relevant to them as well.

It is pretty much useless, as far as I can tell. Typing is awkward and inconvenient, and there is really no way to hold it that makes typing comfortable or easy. The lack of multitasking drives me crazy. The office suite is total garbage, and google docs doesn’t function properly either, so there is no feasible way to edit a document, spreadsheet, or presentation. I can’t even get it to lean against a wall standing up (I wanted to use it for recipes while cooking). No usb port, so transferring data on and off it is a huge pain. When I close out of applications, they often remain open anyway.

I’ve had it since January and still haven’t figured out a single reason to use it.

After reading @nikipedia‘s post, thought of adding that in my case, I do have an Apple laptop at home. My point is the iPad for me is not a stand alone computer device. But again, imo, it’s the best mobile computing device that particularly suits my needs at the moment.

Before I bpught it, I thought, I would not need it really… and now it is my no.1-Internet-Device… for all… email, news, photos… Flash? Not a problem to be without it… there is an App for that… skyfire… and the websites are switching to html5.

@nikipedia It is not useful for working but it is great for entertainment in my experience. And if you want to prop it up, there are cases you can buy. I have one that allows me to stand it up either portrait or landscape.

I agree with @nikipedia‘s assessment. However, if you know this going into it, you’re less likely to be that disappointed. I owned an iPod Touch for years. The iPad is a large iPod Touch.