Difference Between Motorola Xoom 2 and iPad 2

Motorola Xoom 2

Motorola Xoom 2 is a very competitive Tablet available in the market. It comes with a 1.2GHz Cortex A9 processor on top of NvidiaTegra 2 chipset with a ULP Geforce GPU and 1GB of RAM. This is a very solid combination that performs without the slightest lag in any benchmark. It comes with the Android v3.2 Honeycomb while Motorola promises an upgrade to v4.0 IceCreamSandwich soon in the future. The OS uses the resources very efficiently and generates an amazing user experience.

Motorola has included a 16GB internal storage that can be expanded by the use of microSD card. The earliest version did not have this extension which was an eminent flow. Xoom 2 comes with a 10.1 inches TFT capacitive touchscreen with 16M colors featuring a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels and a pixel density of 149ppi. The 10.1 inches screen is larger than that of the iPad 2 and features a higher pixel density and a resolution. But the LED backlit IPS TFT capacitive display of Apple iPad 2 compensates any differences created by the size of the screen. The tablet weighs 599g, and is 8.8mm thick. This is a radical improvement compared to its predecessor, which used to weigh around 750g. Xoom 2 also feels good in the hand and emanates a glow of superiority and expensive looks. Same as the Asus Eee Pad, the only connectivity in Xoom 2 is Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n which is a disadvantage when you can’t find a hotspot to connect with.

Motorola Xoom 2 has a 5MP camera with autofocus and LED flash with Geo-tagging and 720p HD video capturing @ 30 frames per second. This is of course a pretty decent camera but just doesn’t beat Eee Pad’s 8MP eye. Xoom 2 comes with the usual suspects for an Android Tablet along with a HDMI port and Gyro Sensor. The Gorilla Glass coating on the screen ensures it’s scratch resistant and smooth. Motorola has also included a 3D virtual surround sound setup which is a pleasant surprise. Xoom 2 promises an effective battery time of 10 hours, which is fair compared to the screen size and the processor.

Apple iPad 2

There is a clear cut difference in an Apple tablet and a non-Apple tablet. It is not an understatement to say that Apple has indeed redefined the way consumers feel about tablet PCs. iPad 2 comes with the tagline that indicates you won’t make up your mind to put down the handset. This actually emphasizes how much trust Apple places on their usability engineers, which is one of the reasons why Apple products are so popular. They come with just the things general audience look for, and the software does not make people look foolish. The end result is people love Apple products. Another reason as to how Apple has gained the competitive advantage is owing to the unified nature of the OS and the hardware infrastructure. The iOS comes optimized to the specific hardware of the iPad 2 and makes sure that it takes the maximum out of the hardware in an ultra-efficient manner.

The fact is that, Apple iPad 2 has such unmatchable user experience that nobody else in the market is capable of providing, at least for now. The much reputed device comes in many forms, and we are going to consider the version with Wi-Fi and 3G. It has such elegance with its height of 241.2mm and width of 185.5mm and the depth of 8.8mm. It feels so good in your hands with an ideal weight of 613g. The 9.7inches LED backlit IPS TFT Capacitive touchscreen features a resolution of 1024 x 768 with a pixel density of 132ppi. This means that you can even use the iPad 2 in bright day light without much of a problem. The fingerprint and scratch resistant oleophobic surface gives an additional advantage to iPad 2, and the accelerometer sensor and Gyro sensor come in built, as well.

The particular flavor of the iPad 2 we have chosen to compare has the HSDPA connectivity as well as the Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n connectivity. This is a differentiating factor in iPad 2. While Wi-Fi connectivity can be located in most of the places, nobody can guarantee the wi-fi connectivity wherever they go. That is where the HSDPA connectivity comes into play and keeps the user always connected no matter what.

The iPad 2 comes with a 1GHz dual core ARM Cortex A-9 processor with PowerVR SGX543MP2 GPU on top of Apple A5 chipset. This is backed up by a 512MB RAM and three storage options of 16, 32 and 64GB. Apple has their generic iOS 4 responsible for the controls of iPad 2, and it also comes with an upgrade to iOS 5. The advantage of the OS is that, it is correctly optimized to the device itself. It isn’t offered for any other device; thus, the OS does not need to be generic like android. iOS 5 is thus centric on iPad 2, and iPhone 4S, which means it understands the hardware perfectly well, and optimally manages every bit of it to give an awesome user experience, without the slightest bit of hesitation.

Apple has introduced a dual camera set up for iPad 2, and while this is a good addition, there is a large room for improvement. The camera is only 0.7MP and has a poor image quality. It can capture 720p videos @ 30 frames per second, which is good. In a manner of compensation, Apple has been gracious enough to introduce some cool applications using the camera like Face Time and Photo Booth. It also comes with a secondary camera bundled with Bluetooth v2.1 that would please the video callers. This gorgeous gadget comes in either black or white and has a sleek design that just pleases your eyes. The device features Assisted GPS, a TV out and famous iCloud services. It practically syncs over any Apple device and has the element of flexibility included in it like no other tablet has ever done.

Apple has bundled the iPad 2 with a battery of 6930mAh, which is quite bulky, and it features an effective time of 10 hours, which is good in terms of a Tablet PC. It also features a lot of niche iPad based applications and games taking advantage of the unique nature of its hardware.

Conclusion

Whenever an Apple product is been evaluated, it tends to win on the usability perspective in most of the cases. In our comparison of Motorola Xoom 2 to Apple iPad 2, that is the case, as well. The user experience the iPad 2 gives is unbeaten as of now. But with the transparent market trends and the rapid development of mobile devices, competitors are also gaining strength. The advantage of that is the user gets to invest in certain spectrum of products that give the same level of performance with a lower price tag. In the case of Motorola Xoom 2, it’s better in terms of raw performance and it is a state of the art. But iPad 2 rather has an optimized OS to compensate that. Then again, Apple comes with a relatively high price tag for their brand, as well. Thus, the bargain is actually in your hands whether you want to invest in an iPad 2 or Motorola Xoom 2.