Personally I’m waiting for a functional windows-based tablet because I use too much software that isn’t and probably won’t be available for either android or iOS.
My wife bought the Samsung Note II as a replacement for her laptop because she doesn’t do much on her home computer and when she needs to type long documents or put music on her ipod she can either use my laptop, her work laptop, or an old laptop we keep as a backup. She really likes the Note II and from playing with it a little myself it’s a very fast and very stable system. It’s on the higher end of the tablet market (but still cheaper than an equivalent ipad) but it’s a 10" screen and runs very fast. I think Samsung products are all generally very good and there are some Samsung tablets with a lower price point. Bluetooth keyboards are widely available for the tablets, both built into cases and free-standing.
To answer Nateo’s question, I don’t think Office is available for either format yet but I can only imagine it will be a matter of time before that changes because the absence of Office is a key reason why a lot of people have not replaced their laptops with tablets. However, there are some decent options available for android. I believe Polaris Office is included on all android products. I don’t like it on my phone but it’s fairly comparable to Office on my wife’s tablet and saves/loads Office formats. On my phone I use Documents To Go Pro, which is $15 and also works with Office formats and pulls documents from the device and Google Drive, which is a huge plus because I use Google Drive to store a lot of work documents. It’s not as robust in functions as Polaris but works more efficiently on the phone and I really only need it for word processing. You can always access Google Drive online and use their tools. Same goes for OpenOffice.
We’re not completely anti-Apple in my house but I am not in love with their products. I have an ipod I use at the gym and it is fine for that purpose. My wife also has an ipod and an iphone. She likes her phone but it’s a 3 and Apple has decided it won’t update the OS on older models so when her apps update they don’t always work, so the phone is losing a lot of functionality. That’s the whole problem I have with Apple. They design all products so you never have a complete product, so you feel like you always have to buy the new product, and when you have a product it eventually becomes irrelevant due to Apple’s control over all the software. Personally I also think the products are designed to force users into simplistic functionality and I don’t like that. Otherwise they are great devices and there are plenty of good reasons to go with the ipad if it’s a good fit for your needs and preferences.
I would take a hard look at why you need the Tablet. My wife got me a Samsung Galaxy 7 (something) and before I got an iPhone I primarily used it to snap photos of beer and to post on Facebook. Other than that some web surfing while watching TV or a game. Now that I have an iPhone I really don’t need it, other than the screen size is bigger. My work encourages us to purchase a partially subsidized iPad, but I refuse to put money out of my pocket for something I will almost exclusively use for work. For work it would be useful, I carry a binder of documents which could be presented in a digital format like an iPad in an instant, but until it’s free you can bet I’ll still tote around the binder.
If it was just a want kinda thing I would look to getting an iPhone.
My $0.02. Keep in mind I gravitate to my desktop computer and spend a crapload of time on my laptop for work.
A bit of an aside:
I just bought a Jawbone Big Jambox bluetooth speaker that absolutely rocks, it is the size of a brick, lasts about 14 hours (or more) on a charge, connects wirelessly to my tablet and phone, and sounds amazing for its size. Found it at a good price on eBay.
I have to look at well logs all day, so I need a bigger screen than any kind of phone has. But I get tired of lugging my 17" laptop when I travel, so I’m looking for something in between. My Samsung phone has the biggest screen I can find but it just doesn’t let me look at the logs in a useful way. I also have to open Excel and word documents, but I’ve used products like Open Office so I don’t necessarily need MS Office
Everyone is obviously different, but after years of laptops and Android tablets (I don’t care for Apple and its ecosystem), I went with a Microsoft Surface Pro. I thought I was done with Microsoft and was pulling away with an increasing dependence to Google, but I’m getting pulled back in. I really like it and it now is my laptop/tablet replacement for work and personal use. I use a 64GB micro SD card with it. It’s a little on the heavy side, but I have a small reader or can use my phone for night time book reading if I want something lighter. I even left Google apps for my work e-mail/calendar/sync and went to Microsoft Exchange Online for $4/month. Good luck!
I bought a Belkin Snap Shield case that snaps in place to cover the back and sides - and an iPad Smart Cover to cover the front of my mini. They provide excellent protection, look great, and add little weight or thickness to the tablet.
The nice things about the Smart Cover are, it attaches magnetically and is easy to remove and reattach, when you close the cover the iPad goes to sleep, when you open the cover the iPad turns on. It doubles as a two position book stand.