With the launch of iPad 2 and recently a highly profiled Android tablet Motorola Xoom. Should you would tend to ask should you buy an Android tablet?
If you ask me, I would answer what would you be using a tablet for?
iPad 2 with no doubt a worthy successor to the original iPad simply because it has a much faster processor and lighter. I really like those changes that Apple had made. Wait, what about cameras? Well.. to me the cameras aren't that important since everything is well sync wirelessly and I wouldn't want to raise a tablet to take photos.
So iPad or Xoom? While I personally do not own any of those devices, my opinion would be purely based on the overall ecosystem of both platforms and also from different usage point of view.
I will compare and contrast them from several functions and features of both devices.
Browsing
While both devices have a 10.1" display and it is reviewed that Xoom is only slighty better than the iPad in terms of resolution, I think the screen would ultimately make no difference. In terms of being able to hold up the tablet and make long hours browsing, iPad 2 would obviously be the choice since Xoom (725g) is significantly heavier than iPad 2 (613g).
Back then Apple boast a full desktop browsing experience but most people that had use iPhone of iPod would be able to tell you that it's not true with iOS as they currently do not support Flash content. Xoom on the other hand supports flash content and you are even able to play youtubevideos in the page itself without getting redirecting to the youtube app. With this, browsing using only the browser would give an edge to the Xoom.
Browser performance in terms of loading pages would give an edge to Xoom compared to iPad's safari. That being said, the iPad's zooming and pinch to zoom is definitely more fluid compared to the Xoom. While scrolling down quickly, Safari would show checkerboards while Xoom would not. In this case, I prefer no checkerboards.
App Selection
This a no brainer, since iPad has a diverse collection of fantastic apps that are both interactive and informative such as CNN and other newspaper apps as well as Flipboard that is able to pull your social media feeds in a form of magazine, truly an innovative app. Xoom on the other hand runs Android's latest Honeycomb and being the latest and first interface for tablet, not many apps are customized or developed for the tablet form factor. Native apps are there and are well customized for full functionality.
Flexibility
Personally, I only find a space for tablet to do light pc task that I would normally do on a daily basis so I prefer something that would really be able to probably stop from buying a tiny netbook.
Emailing would be fantastic on both devices as they provide two panels for you to mange your emails. Imagine your email right smack in front of you and you don't even need to scroll to read those dreaded long emails. I suppose it is preference but being a Gmail addict, Xoom would probably be a better choice for me.
Productivity, so far I don't see tablets to replace our laptops or netbook to produce documents but iPad is able to provide a full-fledge office suite that Honeycomb cannot provide. While you can use Gdocs, iPad's app is much more powerful currently. Not to mention iMovie app that is mindblowing.
File system and drag&drop would be the archiles heels for me with the iPad, like we all know we have to go through the guardian of the iPad media entrace, iTunes. I honestly hate this part. Why do I have to sync to put a picture into my iPad or a single song that I want. I want to be able to customize where I put my files and create folders on the go. For this aspect, Android always win and so Xoom takes this round.
Keyboards and customization
It's the same old story in terms on this aspect between iOS and Android devices. with iOS, there's less flexibility unless you jailbreak it but with Android, you are able to put more than just icons on the screen like an agenda widget, photo gallery and all that.
The keyboard performance on both would be on par but then again, Android gives you choice to install alternatives later on.
As a conclusion?
If you wanna do more than browsing with tons of amazing apps to choose from, emailing and don't mind loosing the flexibility? Choose the iPad.
If you like to have that flash capability, flexibility and probably won't use a lot of different apps from day to day? Choose the Xoom.
