How do the iPad and Xoom compare? I put both through their paces for a few weeks to find out. Follow me as I walk through their key capabilities and compare them. I also point out any changes promised in the new iPad, in case you're waiting until it's available to make a decision. As you'll see, the Xoom is a credible competitor to the iPad, even exceeding it in some areas.
But it has odd omissions and flaws that Android smartphones do not, making me wonder if the tablet and smartphone teams at Google and Motorola Mobility ever compare notes. It definitely feels as if the Xoom were rushed to market to reach stores before Apple's new iPad announcement.
Both devices work directly with IMAP, Gmail, and POP; my email, email folders, calendars, and contacts all flowed effortlessly among the tablets, my laptop, and the server. Both devices try to autodetect your settings wherever possible, and both do a good job. Setting up Exchange access on both devices was also simple. Unlike most Android devices, the Xoom supports on-device encryption, so it easily connected to our corporate server and passed its Exchange ActiveSync policies.
My email, contacts, and calendars flowed into the Xoom's apps. And unlike the Motorola Atrix smartphone's convoluted set of email applications and difficulties sending email accounts in some configurations, the Xoom's regular Email app allowed me to access and send my messages and easily switch among accounts as needed. Email messages. Working with emails is equivalent on the two tablets: Both use the large screen to provide common controls at all times, and both let you see a selected email without opening it when in landscape orientation.
The Xoom tablet displays mail as black text on a white background as does the iPad , not as white text on a black background in the manner of Android smartphones; the messages are thus much more readable. In both devices, you can reply, forward, mark as unread, delete, and move messages while reading them. You can also delete and move emails to folders from the message lists.
On the iPad, you can easily delete individual messages from the email list: Swipe to the left or right and tap Delete on the iPhone. On the Xoom, you long-tap that is, tap and hold the message to get a menu of options such as Delete and Open. The iPad's email display keeps a folder or message list on the left and the message preview on the right, whereas the Xoom's display works more like Mac OS X's Columns view: If you tap an account, its folders appear at left, while the list of messages for the selected folder appear at right.
If you select a message, the message list moves into the left column and the right column becomes the message preview window. The iPad approach is more predictable, and the Xoom approach more flexible. For example, it allows you to drag a message from the list into a folder, which you can't do on an iPad because you can't see the folder and message lists simultaneously.
Where the Xoom stumbles is in not retaining the subfolder relationships in Exchange, instead displaying all folders and subfolders in one big list. Well, not all -- some of my Exchange subfolders went missing. The upshot: With the Xoom, you can download any app you want, either through the Android Market, or from the Web.
And because of the Xoom's Tegra 2 chip, you'll be able to use vector graphics and 3D rendering in Google Maps. Note: Computerworld has plenty of other Xoom coverage.
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