Ever since the original iPad, I have lusted for a nice working tablet. Tablets have existed for a long time, believe it or not. Most ran either a full Microsoft Windows OS or some flavor of Windows Mobile. Neither OS was tailored to a tablet form so the experience was quite awkward.
In 2010 Apple released the first iPad. This was the first device to really catch on with consumers. Big beautiful display, easy to use and lots of user friendly apps. Sorry if you don’t agree, but the iPad became the benchmark for the future of tablet computing. Oh, and did I forget to mention that it was affordable? The base model, WiFi-only 16 GB model was originally priced at $499. Previous tablets have always generally hovered around the $1,000 mark, if not way above.
Critics and spec-junkies cringed at what people were running to the stores to drop $500 on. The usual “It doesn’t have a camera?”, “Not 16:9 format (widescreen)?” etc., can be heard all day long on “hater” forums and even on some Apple devoted forums. C’mon, it was 2010, what electronic device produced would consumers buy that doesn’t have all the latest bells and whistles? I’ll give you a good strait up answer, a WORKING device. Out of the box, it did everything as advertised and met all expectations of the buyer.
So I have started out this rant completely biased. Let me see if I can persuade you into believing that I am not an Apple loving Kool-Aid drinker. I HATE Macs, anyone who knows me can attest to this. I did not stand in line for the original iPhone, Apple TV or any iPad. I run Windows 7, proudly I might add, on both my laptops, netbook and desktop. I owned a Zune before getting my iPhone 3G. I still like the Zune and I really like seeing what Microsoft has done with Windows Phone 7. An Apple fanboy would never admit to any of this.
March 2nd Apple announced the new iPad 2. Most everyone already knows the new stuff, but I’ll do a quick overview…
- Dual-core A5 processor
- Front facing VGA camera
- Rear facing 720p camera
- HDMI out, with $39 adapter
- New iMovie and GarageBand apps
- Other software updates
That’s the gist of it. No mind-blowing specs here, but when I pick up my iPad 2 on Friday, I’ll not only expect all the advertised features and updates to work, they will!
Now Motorola has released the Xoom tablet a little bit before the iPad 2 release. Competition is awesome! I was really expecting the first Android tablet to knock it out of the park. Especially after the details were released. Here’s a few highlights…
- 16:9 display, 10.1 inches
- Dual-core Tegra 2 processor
- 2 MP front camera, 5 MP rear camera with dual LED flash
- 32 GB internal storage
- New Honeycomb version 3.0 of Android made just for tablets
- USB port
- SD card slot
- 3G & 4G capable
- HDMI out
- Barometer, I don’t know what the hell it’s used for, but I want it!
Full spec list can be found here: http://www.motorola.com/Consumers/US-EN/Consumer-Product-and-Services/Tablets/ci.MOTOROLA-XOOM-US-EN.alt
That’s hot shit right there! Any geek would be drooling over that, I did. Price point is set at $799. That was a shocker, but it sounds worth it. Maybe Motorola will release a WiFi only version for a couple bills less?? Have I talked you into it yet? Well, here’s why it’s not going to be a success quite yet. After laying down the $799+tax+mobile activation, you’ll get home with your fancy new tablet running the latest, hottest and most talked about OS on it just to be disappointed at every turn. You’ll be relieved to know though that fixes are all in the works for the current issues with the Xoom tablet, but if it were me, I’d cry rape if I didn’t know all these issues already existed…
Want the advertised 4G feature?
You’re going to have to give it back to your mobile carrier for that and go without your tablet for at least a week.
Wanted to watch movies and listen to music you loaded onto a SD card?
Sorry, they put in a SD card module that wasn’t compatible with Honeycomb, you’ll have to wait on new custom drivers.
Hey, I bet you just can’t wait to show your iPad friend a flash website on your Xoom.
Well, you’ll have to because flash isn’t ready yet for Honeycomb.
So you gave up on the SD card and you plugged the Xoom into your computer to load up with some movies and music.
Cool, just don’t put anything on there that’s protected by DRM. So no iTunes, no Napster (hey, they are legit now), no Zune Marketplace content.
PFFT, you don’t need a SD card when you have USB baby!
Just plug in a flash drive, just like on the Galaxy Tab….oh wait, that’s a mini-USB connector…OK, they make converters right? Don’t try it though, because it won’t work. This is merely for transferring data to the Xoom.
Screw this, at least Android has a vastly growing collection of apps!
That’s true, but you bought a Xoom, Son. Good luck finding more than 20 apps to run on it right now…natively. You can try running older apps made for the smaller displays, but I’ll tell you right now, they won’t scale properly. I hear Angry Birds runs fine tho!
FINE, I’ll just watch a digital movie that came with a Blu-Ray movie that I purchased.
Two issues are going to get you here. First, many users are reporting that HD video playback just sucks on the Xoom. They believe it’s a driver issue with the Tegra 2 processor. Another issue you will face is format. Even though the Xoom specs list many different playable video formats, it’s picky. Be sure to browse the Android forums for support, sounds like they are even having problems figuring it out.
Portable device…power brick….wait wut?
That’s right, the mini-USB port isn’t even good for charging. Hope you like lugging around your power brick and having to purchase a proprietary car adapter.
So if you’re a fan of the Xoom already, you’ve been rolling your eyes while reading this entire thing and thinking to yourself, “but, J.B., all of this is going to be fixed!”. True, some day, all the advertised features will work, the app store will be full of Honeycomb apps and Adobe will finally release a version of flash, just for you! But are you going to pay $800 just to wait?
If you really want an Android tablet, I’d advise waiting for the fixes on the Xoom, or I hear Toshiba is suppose to release an iPad/Xoom killer in late spring. Honestly, if I could wait any longer, I’d probably give Toshiba my money. I’m not going to wait though.
