if you are into ebooks, comics, browsing, outstanding battery ( 10 hours ) but no phone : iPad

I have a Dell Streak - it is very pocketable. Run it on Froyo is amazing. I have no regrets buying it. Personally I feel if you want to get the SGT , do not even consider the phone function ( consider this feature it is a bonus ). I would say it is practical as a phone when you want to call some one but just imagine you recieve a call, how you going to manage to take the call unless the call come in at a time you are sitting on a desk

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Added on November 22, 2010, 12:13 pm

The iPad has no phone function. the ipad is great as a browser, magazine & ebook reader. The apps store has 25000 apps for it ; you can use the rest of the 275,000 apps available if you dont mind viewing it on a reduced size - if you expand the size the resolution is poorer and alphabets especially will be blur. If you are consideroing using the iPad as asubstitute for even anetbook - it is better to consider the SGT as the ipad lacks USB and its editing features is horrible and in a word lousy. The iPad is not meant to be a tool for content creation - it is more for content consumption

To decide between the two, ask yourself wha you want in the tablet. I repost below ( with added comments ) here my earlier postings about the iPad deficiencies. If you can accept these and the methods to overcome it - get the Ipad BUT no phone function.front camera

I always say buy ipad if you have already a good notebook , it can never be a substitute for your netbook or notebook. I posted this earlier in the galaxy tab forum
I have a IPAD 3G 64GB and has been using for 6 months. From a functionality point of view, the Samsung Tab beats the iPad flat. I am using a Android phone Nexus Froyo before ( Galaxy S, and now DELL STreak )  so I can more or less understand the software the Samsung Tab has. As was said before the ipad was considered a oversized ipod touch , similarly we can view the Samsung Tab as a oversized Galaxy S

The iPad is good as a gadget for CASUAL browsing ( it does not support Adobe Flash 10.1 , meaning as of now 75% of web videos you cannot watch ) , emails, a great ebook, magazine reader, rss and tweeter, games, watching Apple format videos etc. I have Jailbreak it to enhance its usage with other non-Approved JB apps

I'd like to highlight here here some points that one should know about the iPad's deficiency. One should know these limitations , then you can make a fairer comparison with the Android Tablet. I only list down here the main ones which most users will face

Hardware - it has no USB port and not even a front video camera. The absence of the USB port has hampered its functionality, which I will elaborate later

Officework Suite : iPad comes without any. Cheapest is to purchase Quickoffice US$15 or you buy Apple default iWork package of Pages, Keynote, Numbers - each will cost you US9.99, meaning all 3 will cost you close to US$30. It comes with just a simple note app. I bought Quickoffice and Keynote

Safari : Poor browser , main issue only one window one time and basically just a expanded phone browser. You can switch to another window but lose last window. I replace it with Atomic Browser and Life browser : cost me another US$3

Videos : Apple approved formats only , ie H.264 and MPEG-4 video in mp4, m4v and mov. In its approve formats, video is great. Others you need to convert using , say Handbrake or Air Video ( both free software ) or use third part free and paid ( I bought YX Player , CinexPlayer ) plays other non-Apple approved format but generally quality playback is poor. Is still a better option to convert. Some 3rd party video player works only on Jailbreak ipads

File Transfers to iPad : Easiest email yourself to retrieve file but not workable for big files, say above 10 MB - email over and download slow. You can use iTunes to transfer but this only for apps that are approved by Apple to read the files.
You can set up cloud services accounts eg GoAruna or Dropbox and upload files to them and access download files from ipad.
Only on Jailbreak iPad, you can use Wireless transfer using WinSCP ( Windows) or Cyberduck ( MAC). If you have a MAC, you can use Netatlk to transfer and also access files on the ipad

If you often need to transfer photos JPEG format, you can buy the Camera Connection Kit ( US$29) and plug into the iPad connector. The CCK also allows you to plugin SD card and thumb drives

You need to Jailbreak to install a File EXplorer ( quite few types available costing average US$1 to US3 ) . By default you cannot access the ipad files

EBooks : iPad reads only ePub format and PDF. If you have a collection of pdb, prc formats you have to use Calibre to convert it to epub format

Saving files from email : Attachments on email cannot be saved to the ipad for , say future reference. Only way you save the email or use 3rd party apps eg ReaddleDocs ( US$4.99) , open and save thro Goodreader ( US$0.99 ) or upload these to your Dropbox account

iPad does not support Multitasking. You close an app, you lose it. You need to Jailbreak and install Backgrounder ( free app ) to have multitasking. Disadvantage it takes up memory and I often have to close down apps manually else ipad will freeze with too many apps open