Tablets

OK, I’m not Moses and I haven’t bought one down from a walk to the top of Mount Lofty.
However my thoughts have turned to Tablet pc’s after youngest son recently purchased one from China via the internet.  Eldest son has an Apple iPad and when I first looked at it I couldn’t see much use for one.  I’m starting to have second thoughts!  Tablets have come some distance since the iPad was released and I can see one might be useful onboard Waiouru.  I have a thing about Apple.  Both sons appear to be devotees whereas I objected to being locked into the Apple Apps Store.  Nor do I particularly like the marketing where Apple appears to ensure all retailers sell at the same price.
Youngest sons new tablet is a gPad.  Darned hard to tell the difference!

The gPad is a couple of hundred dollars cheaper at US$298.96.  The operating system is Google Android 2.2
The specifications look good and I’m informed the quality of the construction is pretty much on par with the iPad.  If you want to look at the gPad the website is here.  Curiosity got the better of me and after some additional searching I found the Flytouch 3 tablet.  This one is US$209.99 making it cheaper than the gPad.  It has a slightly bigger screen (10.1”) and faster processor (1GHZ –v- 800MHz).  It also has inbuilt GPS, ethernet port, HDMI out, 2 x USB ports and to micro SD card sockets.

However it is twice the thickness of the gPad and probably heavier.  The gPad has slightly better screen resolution at 1024x768.  The Flytouch is 1024x600.  The remaining specification are the same.  Wifi, webcam, battery life, RAM memory, G sensor, etc.
There is also a nice looking leather compendium style case with built-in usb keyboard on the gPad website.

Either tablet will fit into the case. 
So the questions are; what would we use the tablet for and which is the better choice.  We already have the laptop but the tablet would be useful as an eBook reader, email and internet surfing, music and video.  It is also smaller and handy to take a tablet from the boat when looking for a wifi hotspot.  The Flytouch 3 has gps but wifi would be needed to view Google Maps, and we already have a gps, so that’s not essential.  The increase in processor speed isn’t necessary and the gPad has the higher screen resolution.  The Flytouch has more in/out sockets but we’re not likely to stream HDMI from a tablet to a TV.  The gPad is thinner and lighter.  The Flytouch has an ethernet port so if the planned wireless network on Waiouru failed it could be connected to the network using the LAN port.
Yes… I haven’t made up my mind.