Ok, team, I need help. I'm getting my wife a tablet for her birthday next month. I need some input mainly from anyone who has used a non-iPad tablet, or used both. I'll get her an iPad if that's the best for the money, but I know she likes how Android runs on her phone. Anyone have any of the Galaxy tabs or any other decent Android tablets?

I guess I'm open to a Windows tablet, but not really haha.

You and Mrs. Ruddock deserve so much better, man.

I have an HP touchpad and run android on it almost exclusively, it's just like a big phone that nobody calls me on. Use it mainly for surfing, reading, games and watching videos. I have an older laptop so it's nice to take along the tablet when I travel.

I somehow fell into the trap and bought my wife a Asus Windows RT tablet w/keyboard for her birthday last year and that's been...dissappointing. I actually really like the way the tablet actions work (swipes and such), the desktop ability is truly excellent, espescially from a work pov, the connectivity is brilliant, and having the keyboard is great. But the hobbled system that demands programs from the app shop only (although that's been worked around a bit now), and the absolutely lame app shop itself, are too big of a down side. Real shame.

I do love my android phone though, and would be interested in checking out an adroid tablet, but never have. Speaking as a general "i-voider" I will admit that the ipad is a great piece of kit. Our kids have them and they are very well done tablets indeed. You won't be disappointed with one, for sure.

I've seen the displays of the Samsung units and they are pretty wonderful and of course their hardware is top notch, I only purchase their phones as well; however I did not feel the price was justified for what I was going to use it for: comic books, surfing (mostly for recipes instead of printing), books (for my train commutes). Pretty much lighter use so I went with an Asus EEE Pad. Display is nice and the price point was just right. We also have a few EEE netbooks and have been very happy with them as well.

I love my Nexus 7. The 32GB version is $249. The only down sides are no HDMI out and no SD card slot, but an update is expected in July that will reportedly bring a 1080p screen, an SD card slot, an HDMI out and a quad-core processor.

Thanks for all the input. I'm really impressed with both the Galaxy Tab 2 and the Galaxy Note. Haven't checked out the Nexus yet.

Yeah the tab and note are real cool. If you haven't seen it, be sure to check out the 8 inch Note as well as the 10, especially if price or bulk are an issue. Personally, i'd stay away from a Windows tab for the time being.

Is a 7" screen big enough or should I go 10.1"?

If it is going to be your wife's main web surfing device, I would go 10. I love my Nexus 7, but anything more than a hour or so of web surfing gets tiresome.

On a side note, I'm currently using a Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 at work (for app development) and it's a lovely device. The S Pen is outstanding and performance is top notch. It should be high on your list.

I have a note and think it's the best one I've tried. I tried a surface pro but returned it after a week.

I have to take tablets when I get a migraine.

OK, Google's TOS is officially pissing me the fuck off. I'll be switching to Ubuntu on my tablets this weekend.

Toshiba Satellite Click! I'm not complaining about the combo bday/xmas gift this year.

have you played with it yet? how is it?

i really like android less and less as time goes on. i don't know if anything can change this for me.

looking at maybe picking up an ASUS transformer book T100; it'd be replacing my laptop. thoughts?

My boss just gave me a Galaxy Tab 3 along with my Christmas bonus. This thing is pretty damn cool.

It's like Toshiba read my mind. It takes a bit to get used to, but I'm thrilled with it.

I really got spoiled this year. It's almost humbling because now that everything has been awesome - it's sure to turn to sh*t.

(Also, it was only $499 at Bestbuy) 500GB internal storage.

Touchy screen. OMG the touch screen...

I clicked that heart smiley using my finger ^ on the screen. That was so fun..