xoom vs. ipad2 vs. others

[twenty5]

I have been looking into tablets lately and was trying to talk my boss into getting me one

I was hoping some of you would be able to help me out here. I am not looking for fanboys of either side to bash the competitors, just some opinions of which is better and why (with some proof would be nice).

At our office and at my apartment we only have pcs, I know apple people say it is stupid easy to link apple products together but this is obviously not a concern for me.

Another thing, should I keep waiting for something better or different to hit?

I will be getting the wifi only version of whatever tablet I end up getting.

Any help would be great! Thanks!

 

[vivalanation734]

If you want usability and flexibility the iPad2 is going to be the logical choice IMHO.

You get 65,000+ native apps plus 200,000 or so more apps that will also run on your device. The xoom has about 50-60 native apps right now...

iPad2 has better build quality/materials IMHO. Aluminum v. Plastic.

Apple has a year up on the competition as far as development/trial/error goes.

The xoom has better cameras, but I'm not sure if this is a deal breaker.

I haven't held a xoom, but the iPad2 feels great in your hand and is FAST. Its actually surprisingly fast.

Apple has great customer service and if you have a local Apple store, you have immediate customer support... not sure how this would be with a xoom, but last time i checked going to a cell carrier for tech support was a big fail and there aren't any motorola stores.

my $.02

 

[twenty5]

Thanks, I will take that into consideration. I have read excellent reviews on both and some reviews that were completely contradictory of each other. Its just hard figuring out who to listen to lol.

 

[vivalanation734]

If you have any specific questions, let me know.

 

[CAJoe]

For what its worth 3 of my buddies got the ipad and 2 have switched to the Android tablet and say it is much better. Both of them use it for business and personal.

 

[twenty5]

If the Ipad doesnt have flash, how does it access a lot of the stuff online?

For what its worth 3 of my buddies got the ipad and 2 have switched to the Android tablet and say it is much better. Both of them use it for business and personal.

Switched for what reason? Seems like a big chunk of change to just discard and move onto the next thing..

 

[vivalanation734]

Most stuff doesn't use flash or uses both flash and html5.

Maybe players like youtube/vimeo/etc... all use both.

 

[elderboy02]

I have been using my iPad2 for a week now and I absolutely love it. It has outstanding battery life, and does what I want it to do. I use it when I am out smoking cigars to post on the cigar boards, read books via the nook app, listen to pandora, watch TV from my local cable company, stream netflix, twitter, etc.

I highly recommend it.

 

[twenty5]

I have been using my iPad2 for a week now and I absolutely love it. It has outstanding battery life, and does what I want it to do. I use it when I am out smoking cigars to post on the cigar boards, read books via the nook app, listen to pandora, watch TV from my local cable company, stream netflix, twitter, etc.

I highly recommend it.

Do you have any other apple products?

 

[elderboy02]

Do you have any other apple products?

Nope. I have a PC, Droid phone, and an iPad2. You could say I am partial to no one :thumbsup:

 

[Tegu]

I have an ipad, and had the opportunity to use a xoom for a week or so. I primarily use it for work, but have some personal stuff on it also. I am not a mac guy I prefer PCs, but I do use an iphone.

I preferred the ipad. I see why people like the android OS, it is cool, and I would imagine you would be happy with either one.

 

[CAJoe]

If the Ipad doesnt have flash, how does it access a lot of the stuff online?



Switched for what reason? Seems like a big chunk of change to just discard and move onto the next thing..

Some reasons they said were Flash cannot be used on the Ipad, Citrix does not integrate on the Ipad easily but is flawless on the Android tablet, they perfer the Android OS a lot more. Android OS is an open program also so you can easily get 3rd party programs for it unlike Apple. If I see them tonight I will ask them if any others.

 

[NCost]

There really isn't anything you can't do on the Android ones that you can do on the iPad, although the reverse is not true do to the proprietary OS on apple.

 

[Crypto Sailor]

I think in the end it depends on your needs/wants. I've got an iPad and for certain sites you can't use due to flash. Overall I'd get the ipad2, and I've got a droid phone, and all PC's/Laptops...

Does your job require you to use any certian types of software, remote logins, etc that might not mesh well with a tablet? Have you been into any stores to give them a quick test drive?

 

[twenty5]

Have not been able to test any of them out yet. I have played around with an Ipad but I assume the 2 is a lot better.

At work we use MS Outlook which works well with my droid. Besides that I would need to use a couple Office products, MS Project and Autocad dwg viewers. I would think that I could get the CAD stuff to work on either tablet but the MS stuff would be a pain on the Ipad???

Looks like I have 1-2 weeks to make a decision here so I will be reading more reviews. After weeding out the fanboy reviews it seems that people think they are basically equal, just depends on which OS you like better.

No one has mentioned any other Tablets here, I assume that none of the others can compete w/ the Ipad2 or Xoom?

 

[theribdoctor]

I'd look into the archos tablets, they have been making tablets for a long time. Had a better quality music player when the ipod came out. They have both windows and android tablets. and several sizes.

 

[AZsteelman]

I hope I'm not too late, but here's my. 02. I had an ipad and it was a nice toy. Its a great app launcher, didn't fit my business needs. Its basically a large itouch and I have one of them already.

Got a 3g Xoom and put it thru its paces on 3 trips and its way more suited. With the soon update to activate the SD slot, its a winner. Fast as hell, customizable, and easily adaptable. Not as many apps. But its full web experience just takes car of that need. It still has some growing pains, but so did the ipad when it was released a year ago. More apps are coming out all the time if that's what you want. I liked it so much I got one for my wife. She loves it.

I also bought a Blackberry Playbook and it was very nice. Geared towards business - it was a nice size for travel, but the lack of an sd slot killed it for me and I returned it in 5 days.

If you want a business and also fun tool, get a Xoom. If you want the popular toy get an iPad.

 

[Starz26]

At work we use MS Outlook which works well with my droid. Besides that I would need to use a couple Office products, MS Project and Autocad dwg viewers.

Above lies your problem. I have an iPad2, just got it so what I say is said without a long time using it......

MS Office stuff, not going to happen. You will need to buy an APP and I believe there is an "Office" like app for 60 or $90 but not sure how well it imports and exports MS office stuff, if at all.

Basically, I have found for business use, unless your company has developed stuff specifically for the iPAD, it is not a good choice. I like my iPad but I find myself having to use my laptop a lot.

Once thing that is a drawback for me is in Salesforce.com, using Safari, there are rich text boxes that I cannot enter data into because the iPad because it does not recognize it as a text field. Not a good thing....

As with any proprietary OS you are stuck with what is developed specifically for that OS. At least with a laptop, etc, you can use most business applications. I know nothing about the XOOM or other tablets...

For me the iPAD is a TOY and nothing more....

 

[orangedog]

bunch of new tablets/slates that have come out running full windows 7... that's an option versus a tablet with a prop OS if you need full computer functionality

 

[twenty5]

I think I am leaning towards the xoom. If it was up to me I would be using it right now but the higher ups still need convincing as to why I would need one... LOL