Ipad 2 or Android Tablet? (or boring old netbook)

[J Arcane]

Interesting. So they can multitask (to some extent) but the default behaviour is not to?

Sorta. iOS didn't actually support any form of multitasking prior to version 4, it always did the save state and quit thing except for certain built-in apps like the music player. Then in iOS 4, they introduced the current method of multitasking, where apps are allowed to keep doing their thing in the background for a limited time, enough to wrap up a task, and some apps that need to keep running like GPS or music apps can background themselves.

It's limited, and up to the app developer to choose to use it (or choose to update to support it, for those apps that were around before the update, some apps still don't even support the "save and quit" behavior from iOS3). The reason for all this is that Apple didn't want to go full multitasking for everything because it's actually exceedingly hard on the battery, which is why the iPad has such great battery life, and also why when you jailbreak one and switch on full multitasking it drains the battery in half the time.

[CuriousOrange]

I feel like I live in a different universe. I've never spent as much on a gaming rig as an iPad is worth!

That's why to me they seem like a massive rip off. As they cost more than a 'proper' computer so it's impossible to justify. Plus I've never had an issue with my smartphone that could be fixed with a bigger screen. The problem I have with it is it doesn't have a mouse and keyboard.

[J Arcane]

It costs that much because it can make games that look like this: http://www.epicgames.com/infinityblade/

While still only weighing like 10 ozs and having 12 hours worth of battery life. That kind of engineering doesn't come cheap.

Comparing your home built gaming rig full of off the shelf consumer parts to a custom engineered tablet computer is silly.

[Quetzal]

The question of iPad versus Android is really based on preference.

The iPad is the system that is marketed as a device that simply works.
It's simplistic controls both inside and outside are easy to master, however the software -although abundant- is arguably limited by it's design (no easy connectivity with other devices, no things like DLNA built in) but most software vendors made great workarounds to say the least (apps like Quickoffice Pro and their webDAV, Dropbox and Googledocs support comes into mind here).

On the other side, Apple's strict grip on the software side does make for a very sleek and accessible experience.

The Android devices shine in their customisibility and variety, there is always a device for your price bracket and preference wherether it's the powerful "Xoom The First: Beloved of Google" and the enduring and versatile EEEpad Transformer or one of the many chinapads that flood ebay and import shops.

However this variety comes at a price, the performance, consistency and general of the Operating System is usually at the mercy of the OEM which usually hold shorter maintainence cycles, make a lot of crapware for the device (remember the AV program that comes with your laptop? now imagine you can't remove it!) and sometimes delay the deployment of software upgrades.

The app selection compared to apple might be considered meager to some but the bleeding edge hardware features and easy possibility to gain superuser access to the device (along with its perks like ROM management, NES emulation) could make this the more promising of the two!

It have an Android phone and a second-generation iPad.