Motorola Xoom versus iPad 2: Find Out Which Is The Better Buy

The iPad - and more recently the iPad 2 - has really changed the tablet world. Apple presented an item which was architecturally beautiful while managing to be utterly easy to operate. It delighted both the tech fans and the ordinary public. This massive success has left its' competitors with a big uphill task getting their own tablets sold. Motorola are among them - but now they have unveiled their latest device, and with it a hope of getting a foot hold and try to get a slice of Apple's cake.

The Xoom is a stylish piece of kit. It's apparent right away that the Xoom has got excellent build quality, although a bit more heavy than you'd like - weighing 730 grams. It's both thicker and heavier than the iPad 2, and while you do get accustomed to the extra weight, but will put window shoppers off. Looking under the hood, there's a powerful 1GHz nVidia Tegra 2 ARM Cortex A9 dual core processor and 1GB RAM, which ought to aid in multi-tasking sessions. It comes with 32GB of storage space that can be expanded to 64GB via the microSDHC card slot.

The 10.1" touchscreen screen is coated with Corning Gorilla Glass. While the jury is still out on the durability of Gorilla Glass, it didn't cause any trouble during the few hours I spent with it. At 1280 x 80, the display is a widescreen and while providing more pixels than the iPad 2, it felt too slender in portrait mode. The bezel is an inch in thickness and while some may complain about the unused area, it is helpful to be able to hold the device while avoiding touching the touch screen.

The bulk of of the rear casing is aluminium, while the rest is made of plastic - obviously to help wireless connectivity. A five Megapixel camera plus dual LED flash has been placed close to the power/lock button - admittedly I can't see the requirement for a camera on a device. The volume buttons are found on the tablet's left side. The Xoom can not be recharged through a microUSB as the current USB standard is not able to supply the necessary current to power up the Xoom's battery. A non-operating SIM slot, microSDHC card slot - disabled in the EU model - but which will be enabled with Android three.

Leaving aside the tech particulars: what did I make of the experience? I was impressed - a lot. It has a fast screen refresh, doesn't have any obvious lag, has a good amount of memory and hard drive space, plus has a nice design. On the down side, it falls down, aesthetically, when compared with the iPad 2. It's heavier, is bulkier and feels more... clumsy than the iPad. However, in an Android face-off - it out-performs the Samsung Galaxy Tab handily (and far from a lousy device) - the oomph of the Xoom, the intuitive interface, and collection of top quality components - all leave the Galaxy Tab floundering.

So, here's our final word on it: Motorola's Xoom is quite simply the finest Android device currently in stores - the Xoom can't get close to the iPad in terms of aesthetics (or units shifted, either) but if you want to know which is the second best tablet out there today - this is it.