DH and kids bought me the ACER HONEYCOMB, took me to Best Buy and said, get what you want/need for your birthday! Great hubby and kids :0) I wanted one next to my sewing machine to watch tutorials...I'm such a visual learner!
I compared different brands and decided that the honeycomb system on the Acer was what I wanted...it had a larger screen ~ larger on screen keypad were the main reasons. It had all the apps I could imagine wanting and they're adding more all the time. iPad definitely has more apps available and that was the only complaint I heard.
I'm not an expert, but I would suggest anyone considering buying any tablet take your time and compare the many different brands out there. All the whistles and bells available, and everyone has different ideas what is the 'perfect' brand/model is best.