I'm planning to get one and most reviews favor the Ipad 2. But I've never been a big fan of Apple though. It just seems that most of their products are more about them than the users. They're just not very functional to me. Why do I have to go through jailbreaks and all sorts of apps just to be able to transfer any files I want to the ipad? Not to mention buying adapters. Why couldn't they just make a usb port or SD slot dammit? The Mac I use at work never grew on me either. Any other recommended tablets? Or should I stick with Ipad for it's vast apps store and support?
Atenolol, Triamterene, Lisinopril and Amlodipine for blood pressure, and Metformin for diabetes. And plenty of OTC ibuprofen. Oh, not that kind of tablets.
If you want something functional, lightweight, portable with decent battery life, get a netbook. They're designed to be functional, rather than be a hipster status symbol. Thus, you'll get a couple of USB ports a SD slot and a keyboard that doesn't suck because it exists in the real world rather than virtually on a screen. If you want a big-ass smartphone without the ability to make phone calls, but with the ability to pay your wireless carrier another $30/month, get a tablet.
I have an iPad2 and I really love it. It is the first Apple product that I have ever owned. It is great to have it when I am bedridden as it is much easier to use when I am in bed than any other device. I use it mainly as an eReader, to browse the Internet, to play games and I have also started to draw and 'paint' on it though my artwork isn't very good.
They also have cramped screens that aren't really suited to running Windows effectively and dinky little trackpads with mouse buttons at either side. No thanks. I think the iPad 2 does so you can connect your camera to it to transfer photos, but I don't see the big deal. Then again the only thing I'll be using my iPad for is reading books and playing games so file transfer on the go is irrelevant. Hell I only use my USB pen drive once a year. SD for expandable storage would be nice I'll warrant, but it's not a deal-breaker for me either.
While the iPad (and I presume most other tablets) are perfectly capable of interfacing with a Bluetooth keyboard, I've found that for everyday usage, the virtual keyboard is just fine. The advantage of it is it doesn't require you to have a convenient place to put the tablet down in order to use the external keyboard effectively. You can just type as you walk down the sidewalk. Any tablet with a camera and microphone ought to be able to make VoIP calls at the least, such as through GMail. The monthly fee for the 3G data plan is completely optional and non-contract. So you don't have to pay anything at all. But if you happen to be planning a vacation or otherwise not have your normal Wifi access, it's very nice to have the option of buying a data plan ($15 for 250MB, $25 for 2GB, up to 1 month). Especially if you don't happen to have a smartphone yet for on-the-go info retrieval/GPS/whatever.
I've got a Bosch diagnostic tablet (WinXP), a ZTE Light (Android 2.3.4) and a generic chinese 7" ePad or aPad (Android 1.6) or whatever. I use the ZTE the most cause the Bosch is a tool and the 7" is, well, shit...
My cousin's had a Asus ePad for about a week now. Pretty sweet thus far. Functions, looks and feels better than an iPad.
I would be all over the recently announced Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 if I didn't already have a hacked Nook Color (CM7/Android 2.3). I think 10" tablets are too big and aren't really much more portable than my 13" laptop. But once you get down into the 7" range you can start cramming it into a jacket pocket but still have the screen real estate that you don't get with a smartphone. I picked up one of the HP TouchPads in the firesale the other week so that'll be my first 10" tablet (I won't get my hands on it until this weekend finally). I'm curious to try it out, but I have a feeling I won't find it to be all that compelling. My Nook Color is a fully functional tablet but it spends most of its time sitting unused on my table... aside from being a fun toy, I only find it useful when I'm traveling. I paid less then the cost of an iPad for my two tablets combined and if they hadn't been so cheap I wouldn't have bothered.
I don't own any as my laptop and blackberry do what a tablet can (and can't). If I did I'd try and get a smaller 7" model.
I can transfer whatever I want to my iPad without jailbreaking it. The situation here is pretty simple. The iPad is the best tablet. End of story. You can debate different kinds of phones or laptop brands and come up with several good options, sure. But as of right now there's no competition in tablets. But you've read those reviews and you still want to cling to the fear-mongering misinformation of the bloggers who don't like Apple. So I don't know that anything else we say can convince you. It sounds like you've made up your mind to go with something else no matter what the facts tell you. So I suggest going out and buying something like the Jetstream. It sure seems to have a lot of specs. Sure, it costs quite a bit more than the iPad (and requires a contract) but that's the kind of sacrifice you have to pay if you want to cling to an anti-Apple ideology in the tablet market.
So... your position is that the only reason anyone would dare to buy a non-Apple product is bias? The only people who buy any other product are victim of "the fear-mongering misinformation of the bloggers"? Goodness! Of course there are plenty of non-ridiculously priced non-Appple tablets aside from a questionable product announced yesterday (and the on contract price is slightly cheaper then the similarly speced iPad). And while they aren't nearly as mature a platform as the iPad, that doesn't mean that for some people there can't be a compelling reason to buy them. But maybe that's just my fear-mongering talking.
International rate is robbery though. I would get a local prepaid data sim. Still haven't decided on whether to get it or not though. Maybe I would just get a 3G modem/router and surf with my Kindle. Yes I'm getting the Ipad for travel purpose. I'm too lazy to do any research now so any reviews on 3G devices would be most welcome.
Non-Apple tablet product. Yes. I believe that if you don't want an iPad then the reasons you have are probably reasons that should push you towards a laptop (or a smartphone). I've yet to see a person that doesn't fit that description. And, yeah, lots of folks don't want (or need) iPads. I'm not saying they do. I'm just saying that the trip "away from an iPad" doesn't end up stopping at another tablet.
Then quite frankly, I think that you're not really fully aware of what other options are available, what state they're currently in and all of the potential reasons consumers can have for picking a product. As I said, none of the non-Apple tablets are nearly as mature and it shows... but there are some benefits to some of them that you don't find in the iPad. And misrepresenting the cost of the Jetstream doesn't exactly demonstrate that you have an unbiased view of the market.