There is a reason why the Apple iPad 2 is the top selling tablet of the year! The specs were impressive, the design was elegant, the performance was exemplary and most of all, even though it is an Apple product, the price was right! These factors together lead to the high sales figures of the iPad! The iPad stand on one end of this comparion and it does indeed look really good. But on the other side, stands a pretty impressive tablet with slightly greater specs, performance that can impress, design to dwell on and everything else! This piece of wonder is known as the Motorola Xyboard, which looks good on paper but hideous when you see the paper along with the price as it is too darn expensive for a tablet even if it does prove to be better. But does it? Lets find out!
But before we begin, we would like to add on a note: The comparison is between the Motorola Xyboard 10.1 and the iPad 2 because the iPad 2 is a 9.7 inch laptop and the Xyboard 10.1 is more sensible to compare with than the Xyboard 8.2.
Design:
On the design front, the opinions may vary as it is a very subjective topic! But practically, the iPad 2 is indeed a gorgeous piece of device! Out of the two, the iPad definitely has a premium feel to it than the Motorola due to its design cues and the dual color combination. The Xyboard/Xoom 2 on the other hand does not look as great as the iPad, but it does not look bad one bit. They are of the same thickeness, whereas the iPad is wider and the Xyboard is longer. The Xyboard comes with a 1280×720 pixel resolution while the iPad comes with a 1024×768 pixel resolution! The pixel density is however more dense with the Xyboard than the iPad, hence giving better and slightly brighter screen visuals. Though the chipped corners of the Xyboard definitely looks a little weird, it does help in getting a better grip at the tablet. The rear of the Xyboard is not as clean and impressive looking as the iPad however.
Hardware Specs:
The Apple, as we know comes with an Apple manufactured A5 1GHz dual core processor which is paired with a 512 MB RAM. The Motorola Xyboard or Xoom 2 (as it is called outside the US) comes with a Texas Instruments manufactureed TI OMAP 4 1.2 GHz dual core processor which is paired with a 1GB of RAM. From the given specs, we can say that the performance levels of the Motorola Xoom 2 or Motorola Xyboard 10.1 is definitely better than that of the iPad 2.The Xyboard features (10.1 inches) a bigger screen than the iPad 2 (9.7 inches). The iPad 2 is primarily a portrait mode tablet, whereas the Xoom 2 is primarily a landscape mode tablet. The iPad supports 2G, 3G, Bluetooth and WiFi, but the Droid Xyboard 10.1 supports all of the features that the iPad supports along with 4G connection.
Storage & Battery:
When it comes to storage, the iPad does not disappoint! The Apple product comes with 3 storage options, which is the 16GB, 32GB and 64GB models. The Xyboard on the other hand also comes with a 16GB, 32GB and 64GB options. The sad part about both of these devices is the fact that you cannot extend the storage by a microSD card or even an SD card slot. The Apple iPad comes with a built in 25-watt-hour rechargable litium polymer bettery which is capable of upto 10 hours of heavy usage on Wi-Fi and 9 hours of heavy usage with 3G data network. The Droid Xyboard or Xoom 2 comes with a 7000 mAh Litium Ion battery and promises upto 10 hours of heavy usage with WiFi turned on. As 3G is switched on, the battery life drops down and on the 4G, the battery is sucked out even quicker.
Camera:
The iPad comes with pretty low camera specs! The front is equipped with a 0.3 MP camera while the rear is accompanied by a 1.3 MP camera. The Droid Xyboard on the other hand features a 1.3 MP in front and a 5 MP camera at the back. Picture quality is much better in the Droid than it is on the Apple! Both these devices take HD video capturing, but video calls can be enjoyed much better in the Android device.
Operating System & App market:
The Droid Xyboard runs on the well acknowledged honeycomb android operating system while the Apple runs on its famous iOS platform and the iPad can now be upgraded to the iOS 5. Motorola had promised its users that the Ice Cream Sandwich update will be reaching Xyboard owners soon enough and it clearly meets the requirements! The app market in iOS is still larger, but the app download in Android is much larger than the iOS which showcases the quality of apps that the Android app market has. Soon enough, the Android app market will be overtaking the iOS market.
Conclusion:
The Droid Xyboard is easily a better performer out of the two with a better camera, better specs and what not? But the price is the aspect that lets the Motorola device down! If you arent bothered about spending, then i would suggest you go for the Droid Xyboard or the Motorola Xoom 2, but if you do then you will have to slide in with the iPad. Also, the iPad 3 is speculated to be launched early 2012, so the Droid Xyboard seems like a much better choice than a going to be outdated iPad.
