Originally Posted by
Sunlover53
I have an IPad and have found it has been a very long learning curve to get to where I am today. I have always used a Microsoft product( nearly 25 years) and have owned my IPad for almost 2years. The drawbacks I see to the IPad is unfamiliar apps to replace some of the Microsoft programs such as office, I currently do not have a way to do any excel type work or even write a letter which with Microsoft at least you can use word pad. We bought a wireless printer so I could print to it as I have no port to attach it to. I can't use the software for my embroidery machine (Janome9700) because I have no USB ports on IPad. This last one is the most annoying. If I had to do it again I would stay away from Apple and buy a Microsoft product.
Although the IPad is convenient in size, there are numerous other systems coming out today that are just as compact and in my opinion easier to use than IPad. If you are unfamiliar with Apple products or don't have a good support person to help you to learn the system, I would recommend not buying an IPad.
If you are trying to use an ipad like a computer than yeah you are going to be frustrated they were designed for email, internet browsing, apps, and games, not to be a computer for word processing and such. I have used both the ipad and kindle fire. My inlaws have the ipad and my husband had the kindle fire HD. I chose the original kindle fire because of the size and I prefer it to the ipad. apple products get outdated and replaced too quickly IMHO and the devices then have problems with anything new you want to add not working. Its one of the reasons I still don't have an iphone. Don't get me wrong its not a bad device but as others were saying outside your home you have to have access to some sort of wi-fi for any of these type of devices to work. I like my little kindle fire. i find the screen not to be as sensitive as the ipad which I don't like but typing on it is easier for me to do quicker with the kindle dictionary I rarely have to type a full word as it pulls up several words in that spelling which I do like for chat boards and email-type thing. Apps are pretty similar among both but as she said you will not see microsoft products on an ipad. I only use it at home or my inlaws for internet access, outside of that for work and travel I use it for book reading, games, watching movies, reading my pdfs I download from the internet for quilt projects and such. You can print from both the ipad and kindle if you are able to download certain apps. It can be a pain to print from either so I rarely do it unless my laptop is off. They both get the same rating about even for good and bad so they are pretty comparable in that area. I haven't tried the samsung galaxy which is also popular so I can't comment on that but should be similar.