Each of my three kids wanted to get the iPod Touch.

As their birthday's came around, we purchased one for each of them.

While making my 3rd purchase, I started doing some "research" to compare the iTouch to other tablets, but came up with very little information.

My most basic question is: What is a typical "Tablet" used for?

The iPod Touch is a small screen. The iPad is huge.

What do most people use the 7" Tablets for?

It's too large to be an Mp3 player.

Too small for decent video playback.

Is a 7" touchscreen too small for efficient web browsing?

If it has 3G, is it typically subscription or free?

I see that most are "Android" OS. Any major concerns/limitations?

Just looking for some general info.

I may pick one up for myself in lieu of a dedicated eReader when the time comes.

Sounds like you need to goto the Apple Store and talk to a geek.

3g is a pay by the month for all devices with the exception of the Kindle which has it built into the price of the device (but it ain't a tablet).

Tablets are primarily aimed at media consumption.

Since around a billion people use smart phones with 4" screens or smaller to browse the web browsing the web is subjective.

If you want to see what it out there seriously spend a little time at a retailer with a few models and play with them to see what you like.

Tablets are the all in one email-websurfing-MP3 player-document reader-movie viewer-picture viewer-combination snack-pack.

While they do all of these things, but do none of them extremely well.

They are just convenient to carry as a single device.

Their main strong point in business use is that of a universal document reader - great for people who need to carry around lots of briefs and data sheets or documents, for reference, but don't need to make many annotations to them, as onscreen keyboards kind of suck. Doctors, attorneys, some use for engineers. The volume of documents that would have filled a suitcase, now can be carried on a device that is hardly larger than a legal pad.

Other than that, they are toys.