Apple iPad 2 Wi-Fi + 3G 32 GB

A few months ago I got an iPad 2 3G with wifi. It has been incredibly useful both at work and at home, although the ease of being able to switch it on/off does cause me to use it a little too much!

Features
1) Wifi and 3G - I needed both as I have a sim for when I am at home but use wifi when I am at work and my parents house. Also I could pick up wifi in coffee shops etc, saving my own 3G allowance. I find its good at picking up signals.

2) Camera - I have only used this a couple of time as the iPad is quite large to be taking photos with, also the quality wasn't great. I guess the quality is the same as with the iPhone, however the images come up lager on the iPad screen which can look a little grainy depending on how much you used the zoom.

3) Language - as with the iPhone you can enable multiple languages, also languages of non-Western script. I use Chinese sometimes, so this is very useful for me.

4) Capacity - I went for the 16gb as its cheaper than the 32gb or 64gb and it is more than enough. I must have of 20 apps plus loads of photos and I am only taking up 10% of the capacity. It would however depend what you want the iPad for, I know some people have 100s of apps, so I guess then you would need more capacity.

5) Display - the screen resolution is 2048 x 1536, screen size is about18cm x 23cm. You can use the screen both horizontally and vertically, which is very useful, especially for typing as horizontally the keypad is larger.

6) Keypad - this took a little getting used too as the letters are on the "front" pad and you have to go into a number pad for numbers and from the number pad you can go into another pad where lesser used symbols are. So it's kind of like a 3 tier keyboard. It's fine for typing emails etc, but I wouldn't want to be writing essays with it!

7) Durability - this is something I haven't put to the test. I haven't dropped it and am not intending to as I don't reckon it will bounce! Apparently you can get a screen replacement, however I don't even want to think about the cost of it. I keep mine in a sleeve which I got for £15 from Amazon, it's much more padded than the official iPhone sleeves, which are also very expensive at about £60.

8) Apps - I guess thistle major plus, that there are so many programmes which you can purchase or a small amount, or even get for free. I do quite a lot of art and if I had purchased for my PC programmes which do the same as some of the apps I have downloaded then it would have cost £100s.

9) Photos- I back up to the cloud, which means I can keep 100s of photos "on" the iPad. The photo stream is really good, it's instant to use and excellent quality and make emailing pics very easy. I've bought a little device for £5 off Amazon so I can load photos straight from my digital phone to my iPad.

10) Email - I've synced all my email accounts so at the touch of the "mail" tab I go straight to them without have to log in, very useful, especially if you need to check emails regularly. It also syncs my work calendar in Outlook to my iPad calendar, again very useful.

11). Music - its not just an iPad, it's an iPod too!

12) TV - I watch iPlayer, the quality is generally really good with wifi, but sometimes a little grainy with 3G, this could be to do with not a good connection though.

13) Battery - unlike the iPhone this is excellent and I can't believe how long it lasts. I guess you could use the iPad for about 10 hours continuously before it runs out of juice.

Appearance
I think it looks sleek, it's design is simple, not unnecessary buttons and those which it does have are well integrated.

Price
At the moment I have seen the iPad 2 on sale for £320, which I think is a good price. I got mine from 3 for a monthly tariff of £25 for 24 months plus a one off cost of £69. I also get 15gb of Internet allowance a month, each is massive!

Issues
The major issue I have with the iPad is it doesn't support Flash making it impossible to load pictures to some sites, or even view them. There is no way round the Flash problem, there isn't an Apple equivalent. It is possible to upload pics via Flickr and then transfer them onto other sites, but this depends on the sites you want to use.

Overall
I give it a 4/5 it loses a mark for the Flash issue. It's an excellent lee ice and I wouldn't be without it.