Operation
The quick control system on Honeycomb browser allows you to go back, forward, refresh, bookmark and other actions using your thumb when holding the tablet. This is not a default setting. User will need to enable it in the settings. Once enabled, the action bar will disappear and thus give you more real web page display. You can popup an action menu by swiping either of your thumbs from edge. The popup menus will display where your thumbnail swipes and is arranged around the thumb so that you can easily click an item.
On iPad2, you move your hand to click on the buttons on the top.
Winner: Xoom
Multitab Browsing
On iPad2, to switch between tabs, you have to click the tabs button then chose a tab from the new tab grid view, this is a bit cumbersome especially if you are familiar with multi-tab browsing on a full pc/mac browser. On honeycomb, tabs are always displayed on the top just like they are on a desktop browser and switching tabs is a 1-click thing.
Also, Xoom has 1GB memory while iPad2 has 512MB, whether this translates to more tabs supported on Xoom is yet subject to test.
Winner: Xoom
Typing
The touch screen keyboard on iPad2 is designed for a phone (just like the whole OS) and thus not suitable for the bigger tablet layout. Typing on it is even slower than typing on iphone, basically you are forced to type a full size keyboard using one finger. On honeycomb, you can download the thumb keyboard input method from market (free). This soft keyboard layout the keys around the bottom left and right corner so that you can type using both thumbs while holding the tablet with both hand, pretty much like when you type on smart phone with both thumbs, and thus achieve the same typing speed.
Winner: Xoom
Screen real estate
Xoom has a higher resolution 1280x800 comparing to ipad2's 1024x768. This means Xoom displays more content than iPad 2 when viewing the same page.
Winner: Xoom
Color Rendering
iPad2 is the clear winner in this category due to the superior IPS screen it's using while Xoom is using TFT which is common on laptops. Basically Xoom gives you the same color as normal laptop, while iPad2 gives you the color as on macs.
Winner: iPad2
Flash
Xoom supports Flash while iPad2 doesn't. It means there a great number of websites that xoom can visit normally while iPad2 simply can't. According to a survey done in 2008 , somewhere between 30% and 40% of all pages tested contained Flash files. Most popular websites already started to provide versions compatible to iPad, but it could be annoying when you bump into one that doesn't.
Winner: Xoom
Speed
According to several tests, when both on the same wifi network, Honeycomb browser on Xoom is on par with if not slightly faster than safari on iPad2. However, when without Wifi availability, Xoom will be able to work on the LTE 4G network (after the coming free upgrade from Motorola) while iPad2 can only work on the slower 3G network.
For now: tied, Winner in the near future: Xoom
Dude - come on.
ReplyDelete1. Flash - "according to a survey in 2008...". It's 2011. HTML5 has made TREMENDOUS strides. And, by the way, the Android-Flash support is still in its infancy, is slow as hell (see: ThunderBolt), and is known to kill battery life further.
2. Web browsing/navigation - really? You're that lazy that you can't move your finger to the top of the screen?
3. Did you forget APPS? The whole point of this thing is content. And Android is still "wild west" with malicious apps. Apple has CRUSHED Android when it comes to this.
4. UI/home - many reviewers (and myself) find Android (and MotoBlur, etc. etc.) confusing, overloaded, bloated, and whatever else you want to call it.
5. Missing things. SD support? Card is there. But can't see it.
6. Browsing speed over 3G. It took over TWO MINUTES to load WSJ.com (http://online.wsj.com/home-page to be exact) on the Xoom. iPad? Began showing it (in pieces) after 1-2 seconds. This was done at a Verizon store in Atlanta, GA.
7. Final note - give a Xoom to a new user (who has never used it before). Have them turn it on. Give up? Oh, yeah, the power/wake button is on the BACK of the device. This underscores design issues when a single company doesn't control hardware and software.
@bofdem,
ReplyDeleteThis article is about Internet Browsing experience
1, Flash is definitely usable on Xoom. Many people found this very useful. For example, I can simply go to thedailyshow.com and watch all the jon steward as I want.
2, you got this one right, I am lazy. I like devices that helps me with that.
3, This article is about Internet Browsing experience
4, This article is about Internet Browsing experience
5, This article is about Internet Browsing experience
6, Just google xoom vs ipad2 browser speed.
7, This article is about Internet Browsing experience
@bofdem
ReplyDelete1. Flash has been greatly improved with Honeycomb 3.1 and Flashplayer 10.3. I agree is was that bad before, but now Flash is just aces.
2. People need to do stuff with minimal operations. End of story.
3. Apple platform has way more games than Android. Other than that, most widely used apps exist for both platforms. And for malicious apps, I agree. But it's like spam emails with virus in it, any same people won't open it.
4. Point taken. Honeycomb UI has been greatly improved. 2.x UI hasn't been very intuitive.
5. It's funny an iOS device doesn't support any standard interfaces and you wine about a SD card support missing for now, lol
6. You comparison is nonsense. The network speed over 3G is the most unstable measurement. There's a reason all the reviewers compare browser speed over wifi. You need to gain some basic knowledge of mobile network.
7. When I received my iPad, it took me an hour to figure out how to turn it on. You need to install the fraking iTune! Why do I need to install a crapware on my laptop to turn on a mobile device?! I'd rather just push a button on the back..