I've done a lot or research on this recently, since I was going to get my wife one for Christmas!

While Apple is good stuff, I don't think it's worth the price premium. You're also "locked in" to their operating system, apps, etc. IMHO Android is much better. It remains to be seen how the new Windows OS will perform. My wife has an iPhone, but she now prefers my HTC Android.

After doing my own research and getting the lowdown from some incredibly geeky mates, I decided to get a Google Nexus 10. It has a higher resolution display than the new iPad, as well as all the functionality you would expect from a high end Android tablet. It's actually made by Samsung, but has the Google badge. Price for the 16GB version is £319, which is well below the equivalent iPad.

Now the problem: you can only get them from Google Play and they're out of stock! My wife has agreed to wait until after Christmas, but there's no news on when they're likely to be available again. In fact, i've just taken a punt and written an e-mail to the Managing Director of Google in the UK to ask for some info!