I am not sure what you mean by integrated. Integrated with what? Android has a sophisticated development environment which includes a debugger that allows on the fly changes to the code while debugging. So, no advantage there to iOS.

The claim is that the iOS API is more feature rich and we are given one -- just one -- example. Yes, it is true. iOS supports better low latency audio. In return, the Android API provides a MUCH richer background task capability. It also provides a tighter integration with various Google services such as Google Maps.

Well, lets see. The Android SDK was originally released in February of 2009, which coincided with their release of Android version 1.1. I guess it depends on your definition of "recently". The SDK, which is FREE, also comes with a FREE plugin for Eclipse. Eclipse is also a FREE, open source IDE. So, basically, you can have a feature rich Android development environment for FREE! The priority of the interface on Android is up to the developer.

Opinions are just that..., opinions. In your opinion, you make three very strong assertions. Yet, you provide no evidence to back them up. That is hardly convincing now, is it?

Very true. I do not smoke pot and I think the prohibition against it is both stupid and very harmful to people on this planet. There are a LOT of people in prison for non-violent, drug related crimes. If you have not encountered this organization LEAP, you should.

Last month, I turned 55. I am still working as a software developer. Granted, I was a bit later to the game than the typical college graduate. I spent my late teens and early 20s traveling instead of going straight to college. I did eventually get an undergraduate degree in Computer Science and went on to graduate school in the same field when I was 29. I made the choice early on to work as an independent contractor and not take an employee position in a corporation. I have worked in a variety of different domains. Some of my contracts have been long 4+ years. Some have been very short. The constant interviewing with clients and moving from one project to another has kept me on my toes. I am generally able to keep my skill set up to the latest, emerging technologies.

Perhaps, this is off topic. For that, I apologize. I see no reason that long term, multi-year contracts should not be normal. I am an independent software development contractor and have been for many years. I prefer to work for myself. I also prefer long-term contracts. I have had several. One lasted for 4.5 years. I was there longer than some of their employees.

I guess we will give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that English is not even your second language.

Deregulation is the war cry of the conservative corporatist -- not the liberals. Of course, the terms conservative and liberal are used in such general ways as to be mostly useless. Someone who is in favor of more EPA regulation can rightly be considered to be an environmental conservative (as in conservation). It is quite possible for someone to be fiscally conservative and socially liberal at the same time -- those are not mutually exclusive concepts or stances.

Just so that there is no confusion..., Google does support Java in a big way. Java is the development language for Android. They also provide Google Web Toolkit, which allows one to write browser side code in Java which then gets translated into HTML and Javascript. There are Eclipse plug-ins for both Android and GWT SDKs. I use them daily and I am very pleased with Googles support of Java and these software development kits.

I have to say, I am very pleased with my Galaxy Tab 10.1 for much the same reason you are happy with your iPad.

Google provides a test page where you can enter a URL and it will process the page and report on expected improvements. The test takes awhile -- depending on the queue. I have submitted a heavy Javascript-ed page to satisfy my own curiosity. Perhaps, you should do the same for PHP et al.

Well, the term "stepping stone" may be a bit misleading. If I had to guess, I would say one possible use of a large gravity well is as an accelerating slingshot.

Clearly, this is the case for your english spelling and grammar education.

I find my Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 to be a fair contender. It has an elegant design and the functionality is on par with the iPad 2 for exactly the same price. Granted, the iPad 2 comes in a 64 GB variety, which the Tab 10.1 does not. Also, the iPad 2 is available with 3G capability. That version of the Tab 10.1 is not out yet. However, if you compare the 2 models of the Tab 10.1 (the 16 GB and the 32 GB) WiFi only with their equivalently outfitted iPad 2 models, there is very little difference other than the OS and the available apps.

Kudos. I know where you are coming from.

Ha. Sales person and engineer are interchangeable? Ha!!! Never going to happen. Well, almost never.