[Nexus 7 General] hanthesolo:
Wow, I am honestly suprised that this has not erupted into a major Apple VS. Android riot yet, maybe people are becoming more civilized :D.

As both devices are equally matched technical spec-wise (Ipad 3 may pixel-for-pixel have a slightly faster GPU, but the quad-core CPU of tegra 3 takes that advantage right back). Sure, the screen is a lot higher-density on the Ipad 3, but you are also paying $200 more for that. So specs are a draw, which boils your decision down to which ecosystem you are comfortable with.

As to the ecosystem, it really comes down to a matter of choice. Android is far more open, with many, many options as to how you use it, and what you can do with it. Wanna bypass your carrier's tethering restrictions? go right ahead! Wanna install an app that's exclusive to xyz device? There's probably a hack out there for that. The tradeoff is less stability, and somewhat-scattered support (although that has improved by a LOT over the past year, and as a nexus device, almost everything supports, or will support it).

This ecosystem is FAR better (speaking as a developer, and someone who ditched apple never to look back only 7-8 months ago) for someone who likes to tinker, and prefers a LOT more control and options, even if they sometimes need to finegle with the OS a bit. This is my personal choice, as I enjoy being able to control my device 100%, and I have enough time on my hands to enjoy the roadblocks that arise sometimes. Android also seems to stay on the cutting edge most of the time, but the tradeoff is potential poor implementation, or flaky support, althoug that all has vastly improved over the past year.

The Apple ecosystem, on the other hand, is FAR different. You get a neat, "sterile" enviroment, where everything works (or SHOULD work), and you get a completely hassle-free enviroment. The UI is slim and simple, and apps normally work flawlessly, provided that you have a latest-gen device Things should be just fine.

Older devices I have found are sometimes "crippled" by IOS updates after being outdated. My mother and aunt both have Ipad 2's. Before the Ipad 3 came out, both Ipad's were scrolling through webpages just fine on IOS 5.0.xx, no lag whatsoever, all apps worked perfectly. After the update to 5.1 though, both are, while not necessarily slow, but will freeze for a second or two before somewhat haltingly scrolling through a webpage, and UI apps/elements take a noticeably longer time to load. The control element here is my father, who I convinced to update his Ipad to IOS 5.0.xx. His Ipad works perfectly, with no lag, like the others were before the update. and he uses it as much if not more than my mother+aunt, so usage ("clutter" if you will) is not the issue. IOS 5.2, was a evolutionary update, that brought battery improvements, and some "performance" tweaks, so theoretically there should not be any new services to worry about. This is just my personal (documented) theory on how older devices may be hampered via IOS updates.

Anyway, this ecosystem is good for people who want things to be efficient, and work most of the time. This is alos good for people with deep pockets, because apple releases a new iteration of XYZ line every year, and unlike Android, IOS users really have nothing to do to "improve" the performance of their devices, and are at the mercy of IOS updates (assuming my theory is correct), plus they seem to add just enough features (at least before Steve died), to make the upgrade seem worth the money (coincedentally, most features are items that Android already has, but as I said, it may not be well utilized, or not have decent support yet).

So if it was up to me, I would choose the Nexus 7. You get the best there is to offer for android right now, excellent support, quick OTA updates, and more, plus you get to push it a bit beyond specs if you ever feel like it's getting a bit slow/laggy. Of course, the choice is up to you, and my analysis, as an admitted android user may be abit biased, since my Ipad 1 experience was kinda ruined by the fact that I bought excatly 1 month before the Ipad 2 came out, but that's just my 2C.

When it all comes down to it, although I have to grit my teeth and go against everything I stand for (not really), as getting an Ipad 3 for FREE, or for that matter, anything, will win over the competition. Since they are both so evenly matched, I would say go for the free deal, although depending on your user type, you may regret it when it comes time to upgrade again.