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IPadOS — the operating system that powers Apple’s iPads — should be immediately familiar to those who own an iPhone. The look and feel are very similar to those of the iOS operating system.

All iPads offer a Wi-Fi version or a Wi-Fi plus cellular option, should you want wireless connectivity outside the home. Plans are typically $10 a month through your existing mobile carrier.

Because of their popularity, you will easily find accessories for any iPad model: iPad mini (8.3 inches), iPad (10.2 inches), iPad Air (10.9 inches with a Liquid Retina display) and the

supercharged and larger iPad Pro (12.9 inches with a Liquid Retina XDR display). Like other Apple devices, iPads are very secure, and you have access to the App Store for more than a million

iPad apps and games. IPads can also run most iPhone apps, and you can expand them to run full screen. For people who like to use their iPads for video calls, a handy feature called Center

Stage has been added to FaceTime. It allows the camera to follow you around, keeping you centered in the frame. Center Stage works with these tablets: the fifth generation of iPad Air, fifth

generation of the 12.9-inch iPad Pro 12.9, third generation of the 11-inch iPad Pro, ninth generation of iPad and sixth generation of iPad mini. It also works with some MacBooks. Just as

Macs tend to cost more than Windows PCs and Chromebooks, most iPads are more expensive than Android and Windows tablets, though you’ll find some exceptions. IPads with Wi-Fi only start at

$329; iPad minis, $499; iPad Airs, $599; iPad Pros with an 11-inch display, $799; and iPad Pros with a 12.9-inch display, $1,099. TABLET OWNERSHIP RISES In 2012, about two years after Apple

introduced the iPad, 1 in 5 U.S. adults owned a tablet computer. By 2021, that number had grown to more than half. Adults 50 and older had lagged in tablet ownership but now make up a

greater proportion of tablet owners than those younger. _Sources: Pew Research Center surveys and AARP Tech Trends of the 50+ surveys, 2016-22_ MANY ALTERNATIVES WITH ANDROID TABLETS Choice

is one of the best reasons to consider Android. More than a dozen companies sell tablets with this open operating system, and the devices range in size from 5 to 13 inches. Most are 8 to 10

inches. Since Android is part of the Google family, most of these tablets have popular Google apps built in, such as Chrome for web browsing, Duo for video calls, Gmail, an integrated

voice-activated Google Assistant, Google Drive for cloud storage, Google Maps, Google Photos and YouTube. Not only do you have several options in hardware — Android tablets start as low as

$40 for a 7-inch Amazon Kindle Fire tablet and $70 for a 10-inch Digiland tablet, and range up to $880 for the 12.4-inch Samsung Galaxy S8+ tablet with 256 gigabytes of storage and an S Pen

stylus — you also have a greater selection of apps than in the Apple App Store and Windows Store combined. The Google Play store has more than 3.5 million downloadable apps and games, plus

other stores have apps to download, too.