If you are a regular to this site, you know that I have a love for Android. I'm still enjoying my Nexus One, recently upgraded to Gingerbread. When I compare the Android experience to the iPhone, Android wins out with me. But I'm talking phones, and if the subject changes to tablets, then suddenly, I have a totally different opinion.
A year ago, Apple intro'ed the iPad. It's only competition months later was the Samsung Galaxy Tab, a 7" display model running a version of Android that Google said was never designed to be used for a tablet platform.
Apple just unveiled the iPad2 this week. Thinner, lighter, a new processor, a new battery, a couple of cameras. The competition from Android is still almost non-existant. But soon there will be a couple of potential competitors coming in the Motorola Xoom and the Samsung Gallaxy 10.1 tablets, running Google's tablet OS, dubbed Honeycomb. Reviewers have praised the Xoom for it's hardware specs and the OS seems to have a few things done right. However, those specs come at a price. The Xoom available at launch is an $800 32 Gig model. The iPad2 16 Gig WiFi model remains at $499. There has been some evidence that a WiFi only Xoom will soon show at a $539 price.
I'm not going to go down the road of comparing specs in this article. The reason? most people don't care! They only want to know which tablet they should buy. As much as I love Android on my phone, at this time, if you are lusting for a tablet, then go grab an iPad. Other than Maps, I can't think of other advantages Honeycomb offers. Adobe has promised Flash soon for the Xoom, but it has launched without it. I much prefer Android's over the air updates to hooking up an iPad to my PC to take an update, but this is a minor inconvenience, and not a show stopper. When compared to the competition, iPad has more apps, is cheaper, has slightly better battery life, and is more consistant in it's functionality. At some point, my opinion might change, but I'm pretty confident in saying, I don't think it will happen for at least another year. If you wait until late in the year, then there will be a multitude of Android choices from makers like LG, Visio, Samsung, Motorola, Asus, and more. If you are buying today, in this guy's opinion, it's a very easy decision.
Buds who Blog