Difference Between Motorola Droid Xyboard 8.2 and Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9

If you have been following our reviews, you may already know that we consider Motorola and Samsung to be rivals in the same arena. They compete against each other and sometimes they even create internal competition to come up with better products. This competition has yield in some unusual products, as well. For instance, Samsung has come up with Galaxy Tab 8.9 with a screen size of 8.9 inches while it already has the much hyped Galaxy Tab 10.1 with a screen size of 10.1 inches. The 1.2 inches gap seems to be meager, but let us look into it in depth to understand the concept behind it. The good thing about this is, Samsung is been pursued with similar products. That was the case even for their Galaxy Tab 7. So the intention of the tablet will not be easily questioned. On the other hand, Motorola Droid Xyboard 8.2 is quite a puzzling device. It has some cutting-edge features, but as we go on with it, you may understand that it has some cutting-edge blowbacks, as well. But in general, these two devices will be a good competition to each other. Therefore, it is worth looking at the specs individually, to realize how they compete with each other.

Motorola Droid Xyboard 8.2

Announced in early December and released only a few days ago, one would expect the Xyboard 8.2 to have specs that’d beat Asus Transformer Prime or Galaxy Tab 8.9 for that matter. However, unfortunately, that is not the case. Motorola Droid Xyboard 8.2 is a scaled down version of Motorola Droid Xyboard 10.1, which is known as Motorola Xoom 2 in the other parts of the world besides USA. The good thing is, the scaling down is only with the size and not with anything else. The Xyboard 8.2 scores dimensions of 139 x 216mm which is smaller than the predecessor and it’s also slightly thinner scoring a thickness of 9mm. The 390g weight is surprisingly lighter than its competition, Galaxy Tab 8.9. It comes with not-so-curved-and-smooth-edges, which certainly isn’t going to please the looks; However, what it does provide is more comfort when you’re holding it, because it’s designed not to sink into your palms. The Xyboard 8.2 features 8.2 inches screen as predicted by the name. The HD-IPS LCD Capacitive touchscreen is quite a wonderful addition to Xyboard which features 1280 x 800 resolution and 184ppi pixel density. It has great viewing angles and quite crisp reproduction of images and texts. The Corning Gorilla Glass reinforcement would keep the screen out of scratches all the time, as well.

Inside the Xyboard 8.2, we can see 1.2GHz Cortex A9 dual core processor on top of TI OMAP 4430 chipset. It also has PowerVR SGX540 GPU and 1GB RAM to back up the configuration. Android v3.2 Honeycomb binds the hardware together to provide a good user experience, and the cherry on top is that, Motorola promises an upgrade to IceCreamSandwich, which we expect to be out soon. It comes with two storage options, 16GB and 32GB but doesn’t provide the flexibility to expand the storage with a microSD card, which is unfortunate as 32GB just won’t be enough for you if you’re a movie junkie. Motorola has graced Xyboard 8.2 with a 5MP camera, which beats Galaxy Tab 8.9. This has LED flash and autofocus and can capture 720p HD videos @ 30 frames per second. Geo tagging is also available with the support of A-GPS. The 1.3MP front facing camera bundled with Bluetooth v2.1 and A2DP gives a delightful video calling experience.

The best competitive advantage of Motorola Droid Xyboard 8.2 would be the LTE connectivity. It gives surprisingly fast network connectivity. It fully uses Verizon’s LTE infrastructure while it has Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n for continuous connectivity. It can also act as a Wi-Fi hotspot, which is great with the improved speeds of LTE. Besides the usual suspects, it has a 2.1 virtual surround sound system and a mini HDMI port. The UI seems to be the raw Honeycomb built without any modifications by the vendor. It has 3960mAh battery and Motorola promises us usage duration of 6-hours, which is only moderate.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9

We have started the review by mentioning that Samsung is trying to test the usability of tablets with different screen sizes to come up with the best. But they are doing it with making competition with their own, which I’m still not sure worth the cause. Anyhow, the 8.9-inch addition seems to be quite refreshing as it has the same specs as its predecessor Galaxy Tab 10.1. Same as Motorola Droid Xyboard 8.2, Galaxy Tab 8.9 is a slightly scaled down version of its 10.1 counterpart. It almost feels the same and comes with the same smooth curved edges that Samsung gives to their tablets. It has a pleasing metallic grey back that we can cling on comfortably. We expected it to come with the amazing Super AMOLED screen that normally Samsung ports their devices with, but we have to suffice with a PLS TFT capacitive touchscreen of 8.9 inches, which can do a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels in 170ppi pixel density. While we have no complains about neither the resolution nor the crispness of the images and the viewing angles, Super AMOLED would certainly have been an eye candy for this beauty.

Galaxy Tab 8.9 has a 1.5GHz ARM Cortex A9 dual core processor, which is better than its predecessor Galaxy Tab 10.1. It’s built on top of Qualcomm chipset and comes with 1GB RAM, to optimize the performance. The Android v3.2 Honeycomb does a good job in binding them together, but we’d have preferred if Samsung would promise an upgrade to IceCreamSandwich as Motorola does for Xyboard 8.2. Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 also gives rise to the same storage restriction as Xyboard 2, since it only comes with 16GB or 32GB modes with no option to expand the storage via a microSD card. The 3.2MP back camera is acceptable, but we would expect more from Samsung for this beauty. It has autofocus and LED flash along with Geo tagging backed up by A-GPS. The fact that it can capture 720p HD videos @ 30 frames per second is a relief though. Samsung hasn’t forgotten the video calls as well since they have included a 2MP front facing camera bundled with Bluetooth v3.0 and A2DP.

Since the Galaxy Tab 8.9 comes in different flavors of connectivity such as Wi-Fi, 3G, or even LTE version, it’s not fair to normalize and describe them generically. Instead, since the counterpart we’re comparing features LTE, We will take the LTE version for comparison of network connectivity. It does have the same speeds as the Xyboard 8.2 and has no problem whatsoever in been connected to the LTE network. It also has Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n and the ability to act as a Wi-Fi hotspot, which as we mentioned before, is great. It comes with an accelerometer sensor, Gyro sensor and a compass besides the usual suspects and features a mini HDMI port, as well. Samsung has included a lighter battery of 6100mAh but surprisingly, it can stay up to 9 hours and 20 mins which only fall behind 30 mins from its predecessor. 

Conclusion

We have provided some derivative facts on why choosing a tablet below 10.1 inches over 10.1 inches tablets. Nonetheless, they aren’t conclusive. It all depends on your requirement so as to why you want to buy the Tablet and what’s the use you’re going to put it up with. For instance, if you are so much into watching movies / videos, you are better off with a 10.1 than eights. Especially because, both of the tablets we reviewed are merely scaled down versions of their 10.1 predecessors. Anyhow, the purpose of this comparison is to find out what suits your needs among these two tablets and for that, Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 excels in terms of performance with a superior processing power. It also has eye candy looks and an expensive feel to it, while Droid Xyboard 8.2 has a rough feel to it, which assures you to not to worry about using it under harsh conditions. Besides that, both are of the same configuration while Xyboard has the advantage of IceCreamSandwich upgrade. It seems rather complex to make up our mind, but I’d go for Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 because it has relatively higher screen size and a superior processor because I’m a tech junkie. Had I been a business personnel who wants to use the tab under rough conditions and extended periods of time without a mount, I’d have gone for Motorola Droid Xyboard 8.2.