Where to get? Any Apple store I guess.
But what to get? Personally, I'd say skip the iPad and go for the many 'clones' out there.
Here's my review of the Gome Flytouch ePad, which I bought back in June and, by now, better ones are out there.
CPU：VIA WM8505
RAM：256MB DDR2
Flash ROM：2GB
Screen：7" Resisitive Touch screen at 800*480(16:9)
Operating System：Android 1.6
Camera: 0.3 Megapixel (some have reported no camera in their units, but there's a slot)
Expansion memory：SD/SDHC/MMC up to 32GB
Network connectivity：Wifi or ethernet (RJ45)
Sensors: accelerometer (supports rotation)
Vibration: yes
Battery capacity：2400mah
Ports：USB 2.0 Host /USB 2.0 Device port/3.5 mm headphone jack
Sound: internal microphone and speakers
Pros:
Cheap
Accepts micro-SD upto 32GB
Available Firmware support/development
Plenty of app support available
Cons:
Resistive touch-screen
Android 1.6
Battery life is shorter than iPad
Back panel can get quite warm
Ultimately, it's the price that seals the deal. Also accepting upto micro-SD 32GB is quite a good but given the prohibitive prices of 16GB and above for micro-SD, most users would probably end up buying multiple 8GB cards. Although this tablet has only been in the market for a few months, there's already a pretty active forum of users discussing about it. Firmware development does exist and surprisingly, the distros themselves are also developing FW for this tablet which is a good thing. Finally, there are plenty of apps available for the android, many freeware although, like Apple, plenty of duds and crap although there are still plenty of gems to be found.
Unfortunately, Gome decided to go with a resistive touch-screen instead of a capacitative screen. But we may see newer versions upgrading their screens seeing that China seems to be launching new models every other month. Installed with Android 1.6, this tablet won't be able to handle full-Flash programs and, currently, its unlikely that the hardware will be able to support later versions through firmware upgrades. There have been reports of users experiencing shorter battery life than others although this could be down to use of apps. A new firmware (1.8.2 from 1.7.4) seems to have improved the battery life of the tablet considerably, by about 30%. Users should also install an 'app-killer' program to remove TSR (Terminate-Stay-Resident) programs as these hog up the memory and suck battery life as well. All in all, this ePad can run for about 3-5 hours.
So what's my conclusion? Let's face it. It's cheap. Yes, it's running only Android 1.6, has a resistive touch-screen and the battery life is shorter. But it's still cheap. And with what seems to be ongoing firmware support and plenty of apps available, this tablet is still able to hold its own. If you're not 'hard-up' for the iPad and can live without a tablet for a while more, adopt a wait and see approach. Many other brands are jumping on the tablet bandwagon now and prices can only go down. This may not necessarily be true for the iPad.
:thumbsup:
