Motorola Xoom vs. Apple iPad 2 Video

Motorola Xoom vs. Apple iPad 2 Video Transcript

-What's up Prizefight fans? I'm Brian Tong. If there's one big time battle that you, the people, have been begging for, it's this one. It's a Prizefight punch out between the Motorola Xoom and the Apple iPad 2. Our judges for this fight are Senior Editor Donald "Bad to the" Bell, Senior Editor Eric "Shake and Bake" Franklin, and myself "Twinkle Toes" Tong. Now, we'll take all three judges' scores and average them out to the nearest tenth each round. The final Prizefight score will be an average of all rounds using the same decimal system. Get ready for a five-round fracas. First one is design. The Motorola Xoom impressed us when we first saw it. Its 10.1-inch, 16 x 9 display is primarily meant to be used horizontally. The map-like surface works. But what's the first thing you notice when you pick up this thing, its weight. Now, 1.6 pounds might sound light to you, but for a tablet, it's not. Apple has really outdone itself with the design for the iPad 2. It's almost half as thick as the Xoom. At 1.3 pounds, it feels a lot lighter and it's really a marvel to hold. You might think we're drinking the Kool-Aid but this is, hands down, the slimmest and most elegant tablet design we've ever seen plus it's really thin enough to cut vegetables. The iPad gets a 4.7 and the Xoom gets a 3.7. Next round is controls and user interface. The Motorola Xoom features Android's first dedicated tablet operating system in Honeycomb and it's really a geek's dream. It's a more advanced user interface with customizable options for multiple home screens, quick access to recent apps, and more bells and whistles. But unfortunately, it still doesn't make this thing easy to use. There are touch buttons and options of all four corners and a power button on the backside, but this is just not a pickup-and-play tablet. Now, Apple's iOS on the iPad 2 hasn't seen many changes and sure it can feel a little dated but if it ain't broke, don't fix it. This is an OS that our kids, our parents, and our parents' parents can all use and you can't get any more universal than that. We'd like to see an update with its archaic notification system; but when it comes to user interface, Apple takes the cake and takes this round with a 5 and the Xoom gets a 3.3. So, after averaging two rounds, Apple's iPad 2 takes a huge lead but there is plenty of prizefight left to go. Next round is features and performance. If you're looking for raw power, the Xoom is where it's at with its dual-core processors, more RAM than the iPad 2, a high-resolution screen, higher quality cameras with a dual LED flash, SD card slot, and 4G compatibility plus voice search commands and Android's turn-by-turn directions. I just wet myself. Now, the iPad 2 has dual-core processors and it's a snappy experience but what it lacks in hardware muscle, it makes up for it with an abundance of apps that really transforms it into a Netflix player or a killer mobile gaming system, a DJ turntable, or a sketchbook. Apps make this more than just a tablet and it's a one-of-a-kind experience that Honeycomb can only wish for right now. Apple takes its third round in a row with a 4.7 and the Xoom gets a 3.7. Next round is web browsing and multimedia. The Xoom brings us a full-feature browser with Flash 10.2 Support that's faster than Safari and it has tabs. You're basically touching chrome and it's the best web experience on a tablet. Now, if we're talking multimedia, Honeycomb has improved its media player but there's still no ecosystem to make it a seamless experience and it trails behind Apple's war chest of content. On the iPad, Safari is still a solid browser. Double tapping and zooming is smoother but its trailing Google when it comes to full web experience. Multimedia on the other hand is king on the iPad. There's so much content to download and rent through iTunes. Apps offer an interactive media experience and you can now create media on this device in ways we have never seen before. But our judges give the edge to the Xoom for its web browsing prowess and it takes this round 4 to 3.7. So after averaging four rounds, the iPad 2 leads by eight-tenths of a point. The final round that decides it all is value. At $599, that's as cheap as you're going to get with the WiFi 32-gig Motorola Xoom. That's the same price and technically superior to the 32-gig WiFi iPad 2. Now, the beefed up Xoom is $799 but those are your only options at the moment. Now, the iPad 2 16-gig entry level model is priced at $499 and that's not scaring anybody away who wants in on the tablet game. Now, neither of these are cheap but Apple takes the final round with a 4.3 and the Xoom gets a 3.3. So let's average out all five rounds and in a battle where the iPad 2 jumped out on top early, it dominated taking four out of the five rounds and takes this battle 4.5 to 3.6 and is your Prizefight winner. Both of these tablets are amazing products but it's the iPad 2 that prevailed with its ecosystem and a plethora of apps that can transform what a tablet can do. I'm Brian Tong. Thanks for watching. We'll catch you guys next time on another Prizefight.