Went and bought a Xoom when iPad2s were not to be found. Honeycomb is, without a doubt, the ugliest interface designed since Bob. Unlike iOS, the Android tablet OS and the phone OS don’t operate in the same way for all tasks, and I found myself stumbling through various routines, hitting dead ends because the method to accomplish the task on my Nexus One was different from the Xoom. Apps which ran well on my phone ran fitfully, or not at all, on the Xoom.

I kept it for 30 days (got it at Costco), and returned it within the time allotted. I replaced it with an iPad2, with the difference being night and day. What was a brain teaser on the Xoom is intuitive on the iPad (though, in the interests of full disclosure, I have an iPod touch and was thus familiar with iOS, but that just illustrates my point).

I have Flash on my phone, and if that is the single biggest reason to go with Honeycomb, then I’m pleased to have the iPad. Flash drains my phone battery at a frightening clip, and is the single largest app I have installed on the phone (which matters when up against hard memory restrictions). I’m not a gamer, and don’t find numerous websites for which being Flash-less is a restriction.

I think I would have liked a tablet which ran a tablet version of Gingerbread, without being one of those dorky, underpowered tablets which really does run Froyo or Gingerbread. The next generation running Ice Cream Sandwich might be great, but I have bonded with the iPad (more importantly, so has Mrs Kaplan, and my tech support role on that device here is nil).