Admittedly I've never owned an iPad, so my first tablet is the Galaxy Tab 10.1 from Verizon. The display is gorgeous, it is fast, 4G is indistinguishable from WiFi (except for cost, of course) and after a month I still get a surprise now and then. It's a great companion to an Android smartphone.
The HD camera on the back takes pictures every bit as good as a moderately priced point-and-shoot, and give you a 10.1 inch viewfinder as well. Shutter response is slow, but that's the biggest negative about the camera, whether for still photos or video.
Battery life is great as long as you remember to turn it off if you're not going to use it in the next few minutes. If you leave WiFi set on, the Tab will look for an 802.11 signal before it kicks on the 4G, so you can save the data plan bandwidth until you really need it.
All in all, a lot to like and no significant downside as far as I can tell. If you need file transfer, either plug it into your PC or download and sign up for a free Box.net account. I have literally all the apps I want, and most of them were free. Good deal!