Telstra Next G Xoom vs Apple iPad 2 | Full Specs Compared |Australia Motorola Xoom vs iPad 2 Speed, Features and Performance | Telstra Pricing and Plans Updated.
The monopoly iPad 2 had in the large tablet (≈10″) market in Australia has come to an end. Now Australian tablet users have more choices of tablets to choose. They have the opportunity to experience the Android Honeycomb on Motorola Xoom, which is a tablet optimized OS developed by Google. The 10.1 inch Xoom has more features than iPad 2 to offer. While iPad 2 has a 9.7 inch display with XGA (1024×768 pixels) resolution Motorola Xoom has a slightly larger (10.1″) display with a higher resolution (WXGA 1280×800 pixels) that produce sharper and clear images. Motorola Xoom has Adobe flash player for seamless browsing experience. The camera in Xoom is also of better quality, it has a 5MP camera with flash in the rear and can record videos in 720p. iPad 2 has no flash it depends on the advanced illumination sensor to take photos in the dark. Xoom’s front facing camera is a decent 2MP for a better conferencing. The other difference is the HDMI port; while Xoom has a dedicated HDMI port in the device, iPad 2 has a universal 30 pin port and to connect to HDTV you have to connect through the dock with the digital AV adapter. iPad 2 has three variations for internal memory (16GB/32GB/64GB) with a 512MB RAM . Motorola Xoom is pre loaded with 32GB memory and that can be expanded up to another 32GB with microSD card and has 1GB RAM. When it comes to the software iPad 2 uses the well tested iOS version 4.3 while Google’s Android Honeycomb is a new OS for tablets, though it has established itself as a popular platform for mobile phones.
Telstra is adding Motorola Xoom to its Next G tablet line up from 24th May 2011.
Motorola Xoom
The Motorola Xoom, which received the award for best device at CES 2011 is a large 10.1-inch HD Tablet with 1 GHz dual core NVIDIA Tegra processor and sailing on Google’s next generation OS Android 3.0 Honeycomb and support 1080p HD video content. This is the first device to run on Google’s next generation mobile operating system Android OS 3.0 Honeycomb, which is entirely designed for tablets. The display is HD capacitive touch screen with a resolution of 1280×800 pixels and 16:10 aspect ratio. It’s a dual camera tablet; the 5.0 MP camera at the rear with dual LED flash is capable of recording HD videos in 720p. The 2 MP front camera supports a better video conferencing. The storage capacity is very impressive with 32 GB internal memory, extendable up to another 32 GB with microSD card and a solid 1GB RAM.
The other features include HDMI TV out, DNLA, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n and Bluetooth. The device has built-in gyroscope, barometer, e-compass, accelerometer and adaptive lighting for new types of applications. The tablet can be a mobile hot spot with the capability to connect up to five Wi-Fi devices.
The Android Honeycomb has attractive UI, gives enhanced multimedia and full browsing experience. The Honeycomb features include Google Map 5.0 with 3D interaction, Tablet optimized Gmail, Google Search, redesigned YouTube, ebook and thousands of applications from Android Market. The business applications include Google Calendar, Exchange Mail, opening and editing documents and Bluetooth , spreadsheets and presentations. It also supports Adobe Flash 10.1.
The tablet is slim and light weight with a dimension of 9.80″ (249mm) x 6.61″ (167.8mm) x 0.51(12.9mm) and only 25.75 oz (730g)
Apple iPad 2
iPad 2 is amazingly slim, lighter and faster than its previous iPad, it’s just 8.8 mm thin and weight 1.3 pounds. The new A5 processor’s clock speed is twice faster than A4 and 9 times better on graphics while the power consumption remains same. iPad 2 has excellent multitasking feature supported by the dual core high performance A5 application processor, 512 MB RAM and the latest OS; iOS 4.3.
iPad 2 has added some new features like HDMI compatibility, camera with gyro and a new software PhotoBooth, 720p video camcorder, front facing camera with FaceTime for video conferencing, and introduced two applications; improved iMovie and GarageBand. iPad 2 has three variants to support both 3G-UMTS/HSPA network and 3G-CDMA network and available as a Wi-Fi only model also.
iPad 2 is available in black and white colors and use the same battery as iPad and also priced same like iPad. Apple introduces a new bendable magnatic case for iPad 2, named as Smart Cover.
iPad 2 was released to the Australian market from 25th March 2011. It is available in Apple online store for a price starting from A$579.
iPad 2 Wi-Fi only models are priced at A$579 (16GB), A$689 (32GB) and A$799 (64GB).
Telstra Motorola Xoom and iPad 2 – Price and Plan and Availability
Motorola Xoom Price and Plan
Motorola Xoom Wi-Fi + Next G model is available in Telstra stores and online.
Telstra has 3 plans for Xoom
1. $29 Data + Cap Plan (includes 1GB/month within Austraia) + $25 as mobile repayment with a 2 year contract
2. $49 Data + Cap Plan (includes 7GB/month within Austraia) + $25 as mobile repayment with a 2 year contract
3. $79 Data + Cap Plan (includes 12GB/month within Austraia) + $15 as mobile repayment with a 2 year contract.
You also can take it home for an outright payment of A$840
iPad 2 Price and Plan
iPad 2 Wi+Fi + 3G models are available in Apple Stores for prices starting from A$729.
iPad 2 with 16GB memory is priced at A$729, 32GB is A$839 and 64GB model is A$949.
Telstra Prepaid Plan for iPad 2 wi-Fi + 3G
The start up package is priced at A$30 that include micro SIM card and 3GB data
Telstra has 6 recharge plan for iPad 2 starting from A$ 20
1. A$ 20 that include 1GB data with30 days expiry
2. A$ 30 that include 3GB data with30 days expiry
3. A$ 60 that include 6GB data with30 days expiry
4. A$ 80 that include 9GB data with30 days expiry
5. A$ 100 that include 12GB data with30 days expiry
6. A$ 150 that include 12GB data with365 days expiry
Data usage within Australia only. Separate data pack is required for international roaming.
Motorola Xoom – First Look
Apple introducing iPad 2