I have to sympathize with the OP.
The iPad 2 was my first Apple device although I've supported both Macs & PC's in business environments for several years--but obviously, mostly PC's. I bought the iPad 2 because of the form factor and because Android operating systems aren't yet as fine tuned for tablet form factors as Apple's product is. I have not yet experienced Android's Honeycomb OS but perhaps I will for my next tablet device.
My first experience of note with the iPad was how much they skimped on the power cord. I charge my Ipad on a nightstand next to my bed and I literally have to pull an extension cord to the top of the stand since the cord is so short and pricing for the few limited extension cables are ridiculous. If I break down and get an extension, if I can find one that will actually CHARGE through the extension effectively, I'll already be hacking the out of box experience to make it a functional one--a simple power cord.
My next shocker was that I had to actually plug it in to my PC to sync with iTunes. Coming from the Android Market I guess I've been spoiled with over-the air installations and SD cards. The last time I had to plug a device to a PC was, I think, on a Palm phone way back when. My first real annoyance due to this was when my girlfriend & I decided to trade iPads--mine had an engraving on the back that I didn't like (bought it off of
Amazon at the time) and we couldn't switch out in the field since it would require a PC to activate them. On practically any other current device in existence we could have swapped them at the restaurant, factory defaulted them and then started syncing with our online accounts to get our apps and set things up. But nooo... As I become more familiar with the Apple way I understand now that I have to unplug the power from it's charging area, walk the iPad to my desktop, plug it in, and do an occasional sync to make sure everything is backed up. Awkward.
So I decided to hit the famed App Store where there's an app for everything... so I heard. My first item on the agenda was to find a profile app that will keep the auto-lock from locking when it's plugged in to power. Nope. Not one app. Android has half a dozen of these apps if not more. I soon began to realize, at least for my purposes, that despite Apple having the mother of all app stores that it's a tossup if I'll find anything I'm looking for. Search after search merely turns up nothing, and if you buy an app, if I'm not mistaken, you're stuck with it so paid apps are definitely a gamble. On Android you can return the purchase within a certain amount of days/hours.
So now, my general usage is just reading or composing an email--maybe some instant messaging & checking out the social networks. The same thing my EVO 4G does but definitely a better reading experience. I've almost replaced my nightstand laptop but not entirely since I have to use my main PC for certain things that aren't allowed on an Apple device (like Flash). I'm still evaluating. I may return to my laptop as a night stand device, I might not.
I originally had an Android gTablet but figured that a blown up mobile phone operating system just wasn't worth the point of having an extra device so I sold it. So I guess the question is whether or not I'll return my iPad? Probably not. Due to the lower pricing I knew that, at worst, I'd probably get my money's worth and it won't be the "all to end all" device like many people tout it to be. It is a GREAT ebook reader! It's just too bad one couldn't have the freedom of an Android device on the sleek Apple hardware. I guess it makes it worse because the iPad *could* be all that but it's intentionally not so in so many ways ON PURPOSE.
My girlfriend loves hers. She's not a tech. She doesn't know what she's missing (not being facetious). I suppose 80% of the rest of the Apple world doesn't either, or at least doesn't care, so I guess that's okay for both Apple and the typical consumer.
