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I own a Nexus 7 and iPad (3rd Gen) among other tabs. The biggest thing you'll miss (this is not a myth) are the great iOS apps.

I'm an RSS junky. I've owned every imaginable RSS reader on all my tabs. The worst ones on the iPad are par for what you can hope to get on Android. If you have time play with Reeder on your iPad. Android has nothing like it, it's amazing.

Another example, I love Reddit and there is no better way to experience it other than Alien Blue on the iPad. alienblue.org
Using this app is like a fluid masterpiece. The layout, the smooth animations, the attention to detail, it's quite amazing. In comparison the Android Reddit clients are clunky, choppy, and appear like they were desktop apps graphed to a touch display. Very disappointing.

Jelly Bean is a big step in the right direction for Android and the built in apps have gotten the love they deserve but from a 3rd party app perspective iOS completely crushes Android.

I have them both. (Actually, I have several tablets of various apply/androidly flavors....hey, it's my job, man!) I just realized today, that all of them - literally - have fallen into disuse since I got the Nexus 7 at Google I/O.

7" is a great size, and the tablet itself is just superb by basically every measure. (I also prefer Android - especially Jelly Bean - to iOS in a pretty major way.)

So, yes, I would say it's worth the switch. Will you be missing anything? Since you are coming from the iPad 2, not really. If you are coming from another Android tablet...you will miss a few things... the lack of an microSD slot for instance, and the lack of HDMI out are annoying...but I get that they wanted to meet the $200 price point.

It almost isn't fair comparing an iPad2 to the Nexus 7. The N7 is smaller while having a better screen, about the same battery life, and a more advanced operating system. You should consider it a massive upgrade at an amazing price. It has become my "leaving the house" tablet since I can tuck it in a suit jacket pocket. I still use my TF700 more because I do work on it and like the keyboard dock, but for fun or watching videos or streaming content, the N7 is all I use anymore. I'm strongly considering selling both my New iPad, and the iPad2 refurb I recently picked up for 150 bucks. Here's an N7 story:

I'm at Tyson's Corner last weekend, and my tablet starts ringing. I had forgotten that I set up GrooveIP on it, and it will take calls for my Google Voice number. I had on the excellent (and cheap) HBS700 bluetooth headset from LG because I was listening to some NOFX and trying to figure out how to use the Tyson's Corner Center app from the Play Store. I tap the call button on the headset, and I'm talking to a guy from my company's hosting provider. They can't reach the regular oncall guy. A partition has filed up on an Oracle server. Without dropping the call, I flipped to the VPN settings, connected to the provider's network, used Connectbot to ssh into the Oracle machine, compressed some logs, checked out Oracle and restarted it, logged off, and said goodbye to the guy from the hosting provider. When the call dropped, the music started back up.

All of this was easy and seamless and I guess I'm just so spoiled by how tight the Jellybean/N7 experience is, it kinda hit me and made me smile. If I had been on my ipad? Something would have gotten shut down without asking me. Flipping between chrome and issh would have made the ssh connection drop. The VPN connection probably would have dropped all by itself. I'd have had to stop the phonecall to do anything useful because both of the ipad's cores would be monopolized. I'd have used up all the ipad memory with Puffin trying to use the flash based control panel software the provider uses for system monitoring, rather than having my flash-based original browser back (admittedly a hack, just a useful one).

Get the Nexus 7. Also, do the root hack so you can add additional storage with microUSB port, get adblocking, etc. It's worth the effort, and since it's a Nexus device, it's practically encouraged. Just good luck finding one. Last I checked, they are still sold out everywhere. It's the hottest tablet in the world right now.

I also have both the Nexus 7 and the new iPad. I tend to stay pretty stock on most of my Android devices. One of my favorite things about android is being able to change things and make it more my own device. you can change keyboards, browsers, lock screen and many other software related things to really make the device your own. Thats not something you can do on an iPad.

The nexus 7’s best and most compelling feature is its price. you get the quad core processor and 1GB or RAM and the 8 GB of storage, GPS, NFC, front facing, IPS display and i think most important of al Jelly Bean. Yes its missing a few things but at the $199 price this thing is a steal.

Whats Better about the Nexus 7 compared to my iPad.

• Size, the 7inch form factor make a huge difference on portability it can actually fit into a pocket unlike the iPad.
• Customizability of the OS and its features. With android you can customize it to really make more customized to you and your needs.
• you are not stuck in just one ecosystem. With android you can buy media from the Play store or from the Amazon store or even side load content that you just can’t easily do on the iPad.

What i think is worse on the Nexus 7.

• Yes the play store is getting better for applications that take advantage of the larger screens and there application selection is getting a lot better but i still feel that it lacks behind the Apple App store.
• No, 3G or 4G on the device. I like having 4G on my tablets. Yes there is almost always a wifi connection out there but i prefer having the always on that you get from 3G or 4G. i don’t have to log into or register or get a password from that barista this way it’s just connected.
• No rear facing camera. I actually take pictures and video with my iPad. I use applications like Evernote and tend to take pictures of whiteboards in meetings. Also i am a believer that the best camera is the camera that is with you. I usually have my iPad with me more than i do my phones.

If you already have an iPad and are happy with i don’t think the Nexus 7 is something you have to run out and buy. if on the other hand you are looking for a smaller device that is well worth the price then i would suggest getting it now while google still offer the $25 play credit.

Also ICS and especially Jelly Bean are what i think really makes any Android tablet a viable option to the iPad. JB may not be as huge an upgrade as ICS was but it definitely fine tunes and polishers it to make it better.

I had a brand new 16gb ipad2 still shrink wrapped given to me as a gift for completing my masters degree. As soon as the Nexus 7 was announed, I tossed that sucker on ebay, sold it for $406, bought my N7 and used the difference to pay for my daughters daycare costs for the next 2 weeks. Having used an iPad 2 in the past, I can say that the N7 is it's equal (and sometimes superior) in every way except screen size which is not an issue for me.

I'd stick with the iPad 2 though if you're really don't have any problems with it or I'd probably wait for Surface (if you do want Windows, that is)