Face Off: Apple iPad 2 vs. Motorola Xoom
March 25th, 2011 by K. T. Bradford 
The Motorola Xoom is the first tablet to hit the market bearing Google’s Android 3.0 OS, made specifically for tablets. In a way, this slate represents the template for all other Honeycomb Android tablets with its revamped interface, enhanced multitasking and web browsing, and a system bar that replaces the traditional hardware menu buttons. The Xoom itself also packs some nice hardware, including a dual-core processor, HDMI output, and dual cameras. But soon after the Xoom hit the streets, Apple released the iPad 2. This hot-selling sequel also features a dual-core CPU and dual cameras, all wrapped up in an ultra-slim design. This is the device that all other tablets will be measured against, including Motorola and Google’s baby.
So how do the Motorola Xoom and the iPad 2 compare when you put them head to head? Read on to find out.
Motorola Xoom vs. iPad 2
Our Related Content
- Top 10 iPad Alternatives
- Top 10 Tablets To Buy (Or Avoid) Now
- Motorola Makes Xoom 2 and Xoom 2 Media Edition Tablets Official
From Other Sites
- KegDroid proves ICS and NFC beer-drinking prowess (SlashGear)
- Verizon to Blame for Lack of Galaxy Nexus Update? (GottaBeMobile)
- Android 4.0 for Droid RAZR, RAZR MAXX and Rezound Likely Coming in May (GottaBeMobile)
Related Deals
- Nero BackItUp & Burn $26.82 (via LogicBUY)
- Symantec Norton 360 Version 6.0 (3 User) [download] $31.49 FREE SHIPPING (via LogicBUY)
- Spotmau PowerSuite Golden Edition 2012 [download] $48.97 (via LogicBUY)
- Norton Online Backup 25GB $9.99 FREE SHIPPING (via LogicBUY)
- Lenovo ThinkPad T420 14" Laptop w/ Intel Core i3 $611.15 FREE SHIPPING (via LogicBUY)
March 25th, 2011 at 3:53 pm
Funny, my impression of the videos taken on each device show that the iPad is better than the Xoom for taking video in both low light and bright light conditions. The color balance on the Xoom looked wrong and the footage looked consistently overexposed. Was any objective criterion used to judge the video quality?
From my experience with a generation 1 iPad, page loading speed is the most important aspect of the web browsing experience. These tablets are not PC’s, so web page rendering speed is not measured in milliseconds but in many seconds. Slow page loading is a serious usability hiccup on any ARM based mobile device. I’d have to give the browser category to the iPad, simply because it loads pages so much faster than the Xoom.
March 25th, 2011 at 4:09 pm
Nice review! I do take exception to the browsing category. You gave the Xoom the win based on the fact it has flash, even though it is 3-4 times slower than the iPad? I’d go for speed and less animated ads any day.
March 25th, 2011 at 4:12 pm
You can keep the rear camera on both of these things. I’ll never be the dork holding up a tablet to take a picture!
March 25th, 2011 at 5:11 pm
This is the second review I’ve seen that gives the UI edge to XOOM. Ridiculous! The UI should not be a distraction.
You lost me at “Using Android 3.0 requires a small learning curve compared to iOS”
Consumer FAIL – Nerd WIN!
March 25th, 2011 at 7:16 pm
So… the iPad wins in being a toy, but when it comes to being useful the Xoom wins?
March 25th, 2011 at 8:47 pm
The web browsing loading speed was not fairly tested. The Xoom had flash enabled and was actually loading more content than the iPad 2. Other test results on the net have shown that both the iPad 2 and the Xoom are very close (1 or 2 second differences) in webpage loading times.
March 25th, 2011 at 9:17 pm
@PTtilted, a few things:
1. Nerds are consumers, too.
2. There’s nothing wrong with being a nerd. Nerds are awesome.
3. If a product causes you to add another wrinkle to your brain, to gain more knowledge and open up experiences to new things, that is not a fail. If it was, humans would have never learned written language or discovered fire. (Not in that order, necessarily…)
@pjs_boston
On video quality, the YouTube versions don’t display the difference as well, but the raw video files do. That said, if you’re only ever going to upload to YouTube the iPad’s output may be good enough. But since yu can use the tablet to cut and even throw the videos up on an HD screen, you don’t want to look at the result and go: ew.
March 25th, 2011 at 11:14 pm
Hey, Apple sold more iPAD 2′s in the 1st hour than Motorola Xoom’s did in the past month.
The iPAD 2 could turn out to be Apple’s killing machine:
1st it will kill the Galaxy & Xoom. Pretty much a given already.
Then the Playbook. In the meantime, notebooks and maybe PCs too. Acer just issued a warning.
And then it will do in HP’s tablet and you might as well count the phones too because they’re not going anywhere with just a different logo on them.
And finally, the iPAD 2 killing machine will do in Google (no more copycat products- per Steve Jobs).
Hooray for the iPAD 2!
March 26th, 2011 at 3:36 pm
until the touchpad is released that is, for now we’ll let Apple take down the inferior products.
March 26th, 2011 at 3:50 pm
You left out the most important factor: Which has the highest “joyful and sheer delight to use” quotient? I’d be shocked if iPad did not win that one by a landslide.
March 27th, 2011 at 2:26 pm
@Ird
Tablets will not be taking over notebooks and PCs anytime soon. They simply don’t have the power, and more importantly, tablets are toys. They don’t offer to people anything they can do on another product. They are more or less fancy toys that can browse the internet and use apps your phone can.
It’s going to be a while before the tablet because a product that takes more importance then the notebook or pc.
March 28th, 2011 at 9:14 am
Of course the Ipad2 is the clear winner as it should be. What’s scary for apple is how good the Zoom actually is. It does beat the original ipad in many ways. Which was its main competition. With 4G the zoom will blow away the ipad2 in website loading speed. Plus the included hardware ports at no extra charge are a plus. Apples answer to this is “there’s a dongle for that!” In terms of value it depends on needs. Though def. Not an ipad2 killer. The Zoom is an excellent alternative and for a first time product very compelling indeed.
March 28th, 2011 at 10:46 am
The color in Xoom’s camera is so off that you won’t be using that for shooting any video either. Did you configure the colors to be like that or is it hardcoded? Also: Does Android still require you to use Task Manager? That’s a no-deal for me ever since I bought the iPhone: automatic task management is a must-have.
March 28th, 2011 at 1:02 pm
So, Xoom wins the “Software” category with it’s amazing array of 30 apps? All the bells and whistles of Android 3.0 means squat if there are no apps to download and use.
March 28th, 2011 at 3:58 pm
The ipad screen is physically bigger in area than the Xoom (45.2 sq. In. Vs. 43.6). The Xoom has 30% more pixels (higher pixel density).
March 29th, 2011 at 5:35 pm
Interesting review. I’m not sure the XOOM won the browser category for, in part, having Flash. Really? I thought Flash was “coming at a later date.” Also, you mention software. Where? And as far as the interface goes, how good is it if it can’t charge and sync at the same time? I learned long ago that when it comes to tech, it’s the here and now that counts. The blue sky stuff many times never arrives. Look at the crop of tablets that were slated (pardon the pun) for last year. How few actually came out.
April 6th, 2011 at 10:04 am
Ipad users, you can tell who you are. I don’t like Apples closed ecosystem on its products. I like to do what I want with my product and you can’t do that with Ipad unless you hack it. It’s nice but not for me, I prefer and Android tablet and lets so who wins the race. 24 months from now when the smoke clears I believe the tale of the tape will be different, just like cellphones.
April 14th, 2011 at 10:46 am
I think the article missed a few important issues:
1. Expandability – iPad does not have memory card slots. When you travel and wish to view your photos, you must bring with your laptop and use iTunes to upload your photos to iPad. For the Xoom, you can use a micro SD card insert it to an adapter as a micro SD card into your camera.
2. Big Brother – please view Computerworld’s review: http://blogs.computerworld.com/17901/eight_reasons_the_motorola_xoom_beats_the_ipad
Apple treats their customers as pirates and must go through its big brother iTunes.
3. Interface with PC – once you connect your USB with the PC, it is almost instant that you will see the drive and again, iPad needs iTune for interface. It is so slow and not user friendly.
4. Email/Contact Sync – If your contacts, calendar and email are all resided at gmail, then Xoom is your choice. However if your stuffs are at Microsoft Exchanger Server, Honeycomb is not your choice. For those who has multiple contact files and many folders, the Honeycomb O/S is very difficult to navigate around folders (even though it has improved quite a bit). There’s still problems on sending emails via the Honeycomb email software – sometimes it does not work.
5. User Interface Response Time – The Xoom is still not as smooth as the iPad. This is very obvious when moving an icon from one location to another location. Some very simple application or games’s responsiveness is slower even than the Galaxy Captivate (same app).
In general, I think it all depends on the user, what points are more important. For myself, I think expandability and big brother are the most important issues.