But the U.K. survey found that the computer was still their primary entertainment device

Source: Cooper Murphy Webb

According to a telephone survey of iPad owners published Thursday by the British copywriting firm Cooper Murphy Webb (they "enliven your copy with bursts of color"), Apple's (AAPL) tablet computer is more popular than television and has become the preferred device for reading books, browsing newspapers and magazines, and playing games.

The computer, however, remains the most popular entertainment device in iPad households.

The survey of 1,034 U.K. iPad owners conducted between July 28 and Aug. 10 (two months after the device was launched in Great Britain) also found:

• 43% used their iPads more than 10 hours a week. 15% used them more than 20 hours
• 5% never left home without them. 27% always left them at home.
• 38% said the iPad was their preferred way to browse the Web
• 31% said it was their favorite way to read magazines and newspapers
• 41% said it was their preferred method for reading books

You can see the full results here.

[Follow Philip Elmer-DeWitt on Twitter @philiped]