Help me choose a tablet

[gonz13]

So I'm starting to look for Christmas gifts for my wife. Im thinking a tablet and could use some help. We both have iPhones 4s and was thinking to make things easy go with an iPad. Main reason was to be able to use AT&T service for Internet and not have to worry about wifi. My buddy mentioned getting an asus and just use the IPhone's hotspot. I like the idea of having something other than an iPad for the reason of having adobe and flash. I'm looking to spend around 400-500. I know it's low but don't want to spend more than that. She will be using if mainly for movies and games to kill time while work is slow. Any recommendations or info is appreciated!

[HoneyBadger]

Definitely get the iPad. Everything just works, no hassle, and since you already have everything set up for iPhones, it'll be a piece of cake. When i got an ipad as a gift last year, I went about 4 months without even touching my laptop. Looking back, i wish I would have sold my laptop back when it was still worth something because it can do nearly everything that I ever used my laptop for.

Disclaimer: I used to have an iphone 4, but I sold it and bought an HTC Thunderbolt. After almost 2 years of using the Thunderbolt, I wish I had my iPhone back.

[wadero]

Purchased my wife the Asus Transfomer EEE last year on Black Friday from Best Buy. Was able to get the Tablet and the keyboard dock, which adds a USB port and an additional battery which lasts for days. The thing has worked perfectly since, and both pieces landed rite in your price range listed. The Asus also has a SD card slot for memory expansion, which is a plus you cant get with the IPad. The Android OS is user friendly, and just as many Apps available.

[HoneyBadger]

Purchased my wife the Asus Transfomer EEE last year on Black Friday from Best Buy. Was able to get the Tablet and the keyboard dock, which adds a USB port and an additional battery which lasts for days. The thing has worked perfectly since, and both pieces landed rite in your price range listed. The Asus also has a SD card slot for memory expansion, which is a plus you cant get with the IPad. The Android OS is user friendly, and just as many Apps available.

Not trying to discredit you, but in my experience (having owned 2 different iPhones for a total of 4 years and an android phone for almost 2 years), there are more QUALITY apps available through Apple than the Android Marketplace. Also, I think iOS is the ultimate user friendly OS and that is Apple's software claim to fame, but that's totally subjective.

[asmo]

The Asus Transformer kicks the iPad's (and every other tablet) butt. I have a TF201 Transformer Prime and I love it. Just bought my wife an Asus Infinity TF700 and it rocks. Both of them are very fast (my TF201 will kick an iPad 3's backside all day long and its almost 18 months old), very capable, and have stupid amounts of battery life (especially when you add the dock/keyboard).

I travel 75% of the time and my TF201 goes everywhere with me. Its been beaten, dropped, hit, and abused and there isn't a mark or scratch on it.

The best thing about the Asus is that it runs Android -- and that makes it all full of win compared to anything that Apple has. Especially when you take into account all the security issues Apple has with keeping people's information private.

As for your Flash requirement - give up on it. Flash is unsupported past Android 4.0 (ICS). Still runs great on my TF201 though.

[brutal]

If you're going to continue as iPhone users, it makes sense to stick with iPad. There's always something newer, faster, better just released, announced, or coming to muddy the waters.

I bought a Google Nexus when they came out and love it. However, I still require and use daily, a PC laptop.

The new Kindle Fire HD looks promising. Their biggest downside is the lock into Amazon, but they too can always be rooted if you want to go the geek route.

8.9" 4G LTE http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008GFRBBW/ref=fs_jw
7" http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008GGCAVM/ref=fs_ta

[DeusExMachina]

iPad would be good if you already have money spent on the Apple store, but in my opinion the Kindle Fire (and now Fire HD) are more useful and better tablets. And way cheaper.

The size of the Fire is great, whereas the iPad is really only good for sitting on the couch and surfing. When I had an iPad, I just would use my iPhone and the iPad would sit idle.

There are rumors of a "iPad mini" coming out, though. Which might be killer.

[Fromk]

Don't forget that Apple is probably announcing a smaller ipad next month. You'll just have to be on top of that pre-order schedule for a Christmas delivery.

I do agree that if you're already invested in the Apple app store you should just stick with them. It's great that once you know one device it transfers to the others pretty easily. I am by no means a huge Apple fan but I do see the appeal. Flash really isn't that important any more.

[anomad]

I got my folks a droid tablet earlier this year and they love it.

But I would definitely stick with the apple platform if you already use iStuff.

[alan0269]

I've had/used both the iphone/ipad and Android based phones/tablets and I prefer Android because of the control you can have (started with me hating the iphone keyboard and being able to change keyboards on the Android and grew from there - I have a Samsung Nexus phone and a Samsung tablet), but if you already have iphones and like them, I'd go with the ipad. That way any apps that you have purchased on your account can be transferred over to the tablet without having to buy them a second time. If you don't plan on keeping the iphones, go Android and then when you get new phones you'll be ready with the apps that you have on the tablet. Both systems work and have their advantages, so it's a lot like firearms - get what you like and will be able to use efficiently.

iPad - the biggest advantage is that the apps and updates are developed for one device, so they should all work; disadvantage is that the user doesn't have any control over things that they do in the Android system

Android - biggest advantage is user control; disadvantage is that with many variations of each operating system (each manufacturer has their own little quirks built in to their version) apps may not work as well on one device as they do another (I have not personally experienced issues with this, but I've heard of them) and updates may not be available for all devices at the same time, or in some instances at all

Disclaimer: I used to have an iphone 4, but I sold it and bought an HTC Thunderbolt. After almost 2 years of using the Thunderbolt, I wish I had my iPhone back.

I had a Thunderbolt and hated it as well - one of the worst phones I've ever purchased. When I went to get something different, the salesman said that the phone had a very poor history overall and wasn't offered for sale very long because of it.