I spent most of last year working on Android apps for one of the major device manufacturers, but haven't used an iPad or iPhone heavily.
Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) is rather like iOS, but lacks the same polish. From my brief experience, Apple's software is a lot slicker.
Android 3 and 4 (Honeycomb - tablet only and Ice Cream Sandwich) are better than their predecessors, but I've not really got to play with them that much. Somehow I never got to hang onto the newer long as managers always seemed to need it desperately for something.
In terms of hardware, Android phones are more capable than iPhones, but can be larger. Much larger in the case of the Samsung Galaxy Note.
However, Apple's products feel much nicer in the hand. I find Samsung phones feel a bit plastic, though there are rumours that the Galaxy 3 is going to have a ceramic chassis. Some of Sony's offerings are nice, and I like the top end Nokias (not Android, I know).
Apple's app store is ahead of Google's. Part of that is down to rampant piracy on the Android store, and part of it is that an iOS app only has to concern itself with two or three different devices, rather than the proliferation of different handsets running different versions of Android.
Alex mentioned using an iPad for web browsing and email. The Asus Transformer Prime could be worth checking out too, as there's a keyboard attachment. But get the latest version with the 1920 x 1080 resolution.
Funny names
Android now has "Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean)"
