Motorola Xoom
The first tablet to ship with Android’s Honeycomb operating system tailored for tablets, the Xoom was the darling of CES this year.
Motorola describes their tablet as being a powerful dual core tablet with Flash support and dual cameras, a camcorder and a 10.1” display with higher resolution than the iPad. It comes with 32gb on board storage and can be expanded using an SD card. Let’s see how it stacks up.
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Requirement |
Met? |
Comments |
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Light-duty internet surfing |
Yes |
No Silverlight support |
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E-reader capability |
Yes |
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Well-developed app store |
Yes |
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Netflix access |
No |
Netflix is working on bringing their product to Android but has not yet released a working app |
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Access to corporate email and calendar function |
Yes |
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Data access when traveling |
Yes |
3G at launch; will be upgradeable to 4G on Verizon |
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Playback of video content, including Media Center TV recordings and DVD rips |
Yes |
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Playback of music |
Yes |
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Remote access to your home server console |
No |
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Gaming |
Yes |
Broad selection of games, from racing games to first person shooters to educational for kids |
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Ability to edit Excel, Word and PowerPoint files while on the go |
Yes, with optional software |
Requires Quickoffice $19.99 USD or Documents to Go $15.99 |
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Handwriting recognition |
No |
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Integration with One Note |
No |
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DLNA compatibility |
Yes |
Various DLNA applications available for Android |
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User expandable storage |
Yes |
Onboard SD card |
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Front and back facing cameras |
Yes |
Suitable for video calling |
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Integration with handset |
No |
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Battery life |
TBD |
Probably lower than iPad |
This device might be a better fit for someone with an extensive media collection. With better resolution than the iPad and an easier way to get content onto the device (loading to an SD card), this looks appealing. DLNA capabilities mean that you can probably use the Microsoft Media Connect DLNA server, or Twonky/Orb etc., with this device. No additional software to load on the server, no muss no fuss. The Android market has plenty of apps, including games, so you should be safe there, and if Sony extends PlayStation capabilities to Android tablets as we told you about here, you’ll have more than enough choices for gaming. Of course, no Netflix is a problem here. In addition, it relies on similar applications as the iPad does for Office document editing. It has not been announced for sale in the UK yet, but is expected Stateside on Verizon in Q1 2011. No pricing has yet been announced, but latest rumors suggest a price of $800 USD and availability around February 24th.
Xoom Press Release Xoom Portal Android Market
Are you going to add the Tab2 tomorrow?
If money were no object I would get the xoom. If money is an object, it’s hard to beat the “value” of the ipad 1. Unless some major price reductions happen, I would put the ipad 1 second only to the ipad 2.
I didn’t include the Tab as it was not designed around Honeycomb, but Tab 2 would be in the mix. Let’s see what they announce.
What about the ExoPC? Windows 7, 4h battery life. See for yourself: http://www.exopc.com/
Ii recently had one of those in my hands for a few hours. Absolutely terrible performance. Laggy, slow, not very usable. Atom just does not cut it for this application.