Apple iPad 2 VS Motorola Xoom – Detailed Comparison

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Adnan Farooqui on March 4, 2011

Continuing with the theme tonight, let us present a detailed comparison of the Apple iPad 2, with the first ever Honeycomb powered tablet device, the Motorola Xoom.

First, check this out: Apple CEO Steve Jobs took a jab at the Honeycomb OS, as well as the Motorola Xoom, initially when he was telling how the over 65,ooo apps in the App Store made specifically for the iPad shadow the around 100 apps made for the Honeycomb tablet OS. He capitalized on the fact that the Motorola Xoom costs more than five iterations of the iPad 2.

So after BlackBerry Playbook vs Apple iPad 2, here we have the Apple iPad 2 vs the Motorola Xoom:

	Motorola Xoom	Apple iPad 2

Manufacturer	Motorola	Apple Inc.
Operating System	Android 3.0 Honeycomb	iOS 4.3
Processor	1 GHz Dual Core	A5 Dual Core
RAM	1GB	512 MB (confirmed)
Memory	32 GB	16 GB, 32 GB, 64 GB
Screen size	10.1-inch	9.7-inch
Dimensions	9.8 inches tall, 6.6 inches wide, and 0.5 inch thick	9.5 tall, 7.31 inches wide and 0.34 inch thick
Multitasking	Yes	Yes
Camera	Two cameras, front and rear	Two cameras, front and rear
Video Recording	Yes, 720p	Yes, 720p
WiFi and 3G	Yes (supports 4G)	Yes
Flash Support	Yes	No
microSD Card Slot	Yes	No
USB Ports	Micro USB port	No
Price	starting at $600	Starting at $499

There you have it, the Motorola Xoom vs the Apple iPad 2.

Verdict:

There are a couple of reasons why the Motorola Xoom can prove to be a competitor for the iPad 2. First of all, the RAM. Second, Flash Support and third, Micro USB port.

The basic reason why the Motorola Xoom won't perform that well against the Apple iPad 2 is because it is ridiculously expensive. Even the Wi-Fi only model costs $600, where as five of iPad 2 models are below the $799 unsubsidised retail price of the Motorola Xoom. So price, is why iPad 2 beats the Motorola Xoom.

What would you want, the Apple iPad 2 or the Motorola Xoom? Sound off, in the comments below.

Hickabilly

Definitely the Xoom. A SD slot and USB port makes all the difference in the world. But most importantly, there is a chance that something that isn’t made by Apple will be allowed to have apps that aren’t censored or deemed inappropriate. If people don’t like an app that lets you “shake the baby”, then they don’t have to download it. But they shouldn’t be able to have some moral code that prevents other people from doing what they want with it provided that it doesn’t break any laws.

I’m not a fan of Google or Android, but it is certainly the lesser of two evils. As soon as the Xoom is available with the 4G and Wifi in the box on the day of delivery to my doorstep, I will have one. Apple made the same mistake with the iPad that they made in the very early days of the PC.
Piquedram

xoom for me.
Millersnmeva

xoom hands down… come on now less then 1mega pixel camera are you kidding me … not retnia display like the iphone 4 and to top things off 256mb memory what arrogance by apple again!!!!
Bukhari

surely Xoom
apps will become more and more upon time , especially with google ( open source ) system
and you dont need all apps, you will find the more necessary ones .

But when the tablet does not have microSD or USB port , you will never be able to add them ! And surly you will need those two necessary things.
Ipad is just a big Ipod !

Jj_ukboyz

anyone know whats the duration of motorola xoom? 10hrs?
Scottfree4

Tablet devices are and always will be used to consume media not create it. What do you plan to do with a xoom that you can’t do with an iPad? For $40 dollars I purchased the iPad Camera Connection Kit . It has two devices. One is for a SD Card that imports photos directly into the iPad. The other is a usb port for a camera, keyboard, microphone, speakers, headsets. Considering that I rarely use them, most other users wouldn’t either. I you want to create media, don’t buy a tablet.

Below the bottom line: Specs mean nothing. What can you do with it? What do real people want it for? Doctors, lawyers, teachers, students, politicians, artists.

Oh and while I’m thinking about it… the cameras on the ipad are for video conferencing and shooting video clips for hobbyists. No one is going to use them for photography.

Apple does not support flash simply because Flash is an Application Creation and Distribution environment. If iDevices supported flash, you could access Apps on the web through a browser. Apple would lose revenue doing that. That is why it uses a curated App Store… to control the sale of apps for their devices. Open Source means lost sales and lost control. Good luck with that Google. Let’s face it, open source isn’t better, it’s just the “alternative” when you can’t compete with the big boys. Spin it any way you like. Open source means amateur… which doesn’t pay.

Bottom line: anyone can make the hardware. Hell, it’s all made by the same people.
It’s the software!!!! And post-pc technologies like “touch” interfaces. It’s a whole new way of looking at manipulating an interface. It’s not just using your finger like a mouse cursor. Apple’s lead in “touch” interfaces is way ahead. Everybody else is still trying to make the machine look like Apples. They don’t get it!

Kp0ccobep

where did u get this idea of everyone trying to make apple-like devices from?))) or u just being funny?
Scottfree4

They look the same to me. That is to say the design of the box. Which anyone can do. Of course the OS differs. You know, that free one looks a lot different from the one you have to pay for. You know, the one that the competitors chose as the best OS because, 1) they could’t write one themselves, 2) They couldn’t license iOS, 3) Oh ya, it’s free. 4) All the above.
http://about.me/adnanfarooqui Adnan Farooqui

Considering the fact that the tablet race in 2010 was fuelled a lot by the introduction of the original iPad.
Anonymous

I read in a number of places yesterday while researching this that Apple’s latest OS update has nerfed the camera connection kit by significantly reducing the power that can be drawn by connected devices. So a lot of people are getting a “your device requires too much power” error message. The reason for this change, it is claimed, is that people discovered they could use the kit to connect (the horror) USB drives, non-Apple keyboards, etc etc. You’re right, it’s all about control – the Apple model is to control the environment on the grounds that a) it means they retain control over the “experience” they are so vocal about, and b) it means more money for them. Can’t fault them for wanting to make as much money as possible. I just don’t want to be locked in like that.
Scottfree4

Please give me an example of an App that Apple would not publish that you’d like to use on a Xoom.
eg. Content that can’t be accessed through a browser.
Content that wouldn’t have Moms and Dads or Schools suing Apple for.
Apps that don’t kill batteries.

I agree that there are a number of disadvantages for developers with a Curated App Store. But the disadvantages to the User for an Un-curated one are much greater.

To use Apples words “The app approval process is in place to ensure that applications are reliable, perform as expected, and are free of explicit and offensive material. We review every app on the App Store based on a set of technical, content, and design criteria.”

Fair enough to me (User, device purchaser, app purchaser, accessory purchaser, you know, the guy paying for all this stuff.)
CanaganD

To Scottfree

MyTracks
Grooveshark
etc
Anonymous

I can’t reply to your reply to my post so I’m replying here instead.

I want a tablet that lets me:

- download and save files such as PDFs, photos, Office documents, etc from my web browser onto the tablet, and then easily copy them to other computers or USB thumb drives

- browse my archive of 1000s of photos stored on a 1 terabyte network drive which I connect to wirelessly, without having to actually copy the files to the tablet

- ditto streaming MP3s and possibly video

I don’t think any of the above is particularly unreasonable.

Now I have no idea whether this is possible under Android but I’m pretty damn sure you can’t do any of this stuff with an iPad. And before you go on about how the iPad “isn’t meant to do these things because it’s not meant to replace a proper computer”, my PS3 can do all of the above and that definitely isn’t meant to replace a proper computer.

Anonymous

And how many apps made specifically for the iPad were there a month before it was actually released on general sale? Probably not 65,000. Stupid comparison.

The main thing for me in favour of the Xoom is simply the greater freedom it will hopefully allow me, the user. OK, you can buy a dongle which allows you to download photos from your camera to the iPad via USB, but apparently it won’t allow you to connect a USB memory stick. Then to get the photos off the iPad you (again, so I have read) have to sync to your main computer and it automatically shunts them into iPhoto. I don’t want to “sync”. I want to copy the photos to where I want them. And I don’t want to use iPhoto because doesn’t do what I want either, and I have a perfectly good photo manipulation package already, which does.

Scottfree4

All good points. Not a fan of iPhoto myself. The iPad is not intended to edit Photos. Do that on your Mac.

Here’s the thing though:
Xoom is over a year late to the party. Why? Because they have no vision to lead innovation in devices. They only know what their customers want by watching Apple give it to them. Nobody, NOBODY thought the iPad was a good idea a year ago. And now they are everywhere. If you have a touch device, thank Apple. If you get your Apps online, thank Apple. The competitors think that “it’s the specs”.

It is “the experience”.
It is “the software”.

That’s why it is a brilliant comparison to point out the limited software of the Xoom… because thats what it is all about!!!

1GB of RAM is meaningless with out some one’s and zero’s to fill it.

http://about.me/adnanfarooqui Adnan Farooqui

That brilliantly sums up all of the comparisons.
Anonymous

Actually I think everyone realises that it’s not about the spec of the hardware; this is glaringly obvious since all the tablets recently announced are basically identical from a hardware perspective. Experience is very important and many companies, not just in this field but across a broad range of industry sectors, are focusing on trying to deliver a good “user experience”. However, at the end of the day if the product doesn’t do what you want it to do, then the experience doesn’t matter a damn.

“The iPad is not intended to…”

This, in a nutshell, is what I don’t like about Apple anymore, even though I am writing this on a MacBook Air. Who says it’s “not intended to”? If I want to use an iPad to edit photos why the hell shouldn’t I be able to, if the hardware is up to it? If I am at work and someone wants to give me a big file, why shouldn’t I be able to plug in a USB memory card, transfer the file to my tablet, and then copy it onto my desktop when I get home? Because Apple doesn’t want me to. Some people don’t care about this sort of thing. I do. So I won’t be buying an iPad.

efn

I’ll go with the xoom
Chilli71

The price of the Xoom Wifi is 589US$ (special offer best buy), the price of the 32GB iPad2 Wifi is 599US$. How comes that the article suggests that iPad2 is cheaper?
It was a close decision between iPad2 and Xoom but I finally decided for Xoom and I’m happy with it.
The comparision also does not mention that the iPad camera is a bad joke and the pictures are interplolated to suggest state of the art equipment.
The interresting thing is:
If you enter best buy you find the iPad2 at the entry. You find the iPad2 also at the start of the computer section. But you can not buy it because they have non. They do have Xooom (they might have to look it up in their system by number) but you won’t find the Xoom unless you ask for it because it’s hidden in the darkest corner of the computer section. I observed this in two best buy stores.
If the special offer of best buy was initated by a discount of Motorola, Motorola has made the worst contract I’ve ever seen.

Apple iPad 2 VS Motorola Xoom – Detailed Comparison

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