Wah, well said and very logical
Thanks bro
Luckily there are converters around ~

But I suggest waiting for more honeycomb tablets to get released? If its cheap.. like 279. I dont see a why not!

Ok, I'll wait...

Acer Iconia A500 appeared in Amazon.com

US$449...

Looks like I was posting in the wrong place. Posted in the Xoom thread in the Android section, and was quickly disgusted by the lack of quality posts in that thread, where towards the end, the thread was more towards b****ing about the price than any useful information and discussion about the Xoom generally, and the Android Honeycomb OS particularly.

Been looking around for my options, and based on past experiences, I've picked the Motorola's tablet out of the Acer and Asus's own. To me, build quality is paramount, and Xoom does not disappoint, it is solidly built. That said, I am still interested to see if the Asus Transformer can match Xoom's built quality, and am particularly looking forward to the IPS panel it sports. Comparison between my Xoom and my iPad 2 shows how much more superior the IPS panel is on the iPad 2.

I am personally turned off by the Acer Iconia A500 because of the huge bezel and weird silver edge design, not to mention the weird port placements. Built-in slots are of course more superior on the Acer and Asus(particularly the Asus with its keyboard dock), but I came from the iPad and I do not miss any of these ports, nor do I have any immediate compelling need for them. They are "nice to have", not a "must have". Since my iPad days I've shifted to cloud-based storage and delivery for contents I need. I am also a consumer, not a content creator, so therefore I do not have the need to transfer content around between multiple users all the time at any time, so built-in ports aren't on my immediate needs.

Talking about the OS itself, it is a huge improvements over 2.2. I've used the DHD as my standby phone (my iPhone 4 being primary), and are not particular taken by the quality of the OS(still laggy) or the amount of content available on its apps-delivery system(Android Market). I am also partial to rooting, and the fact that you had to root to access the full content of the Android Market (MarketEnabler to buy the apps from US Android Market) turns me off. I see a lot of promise on the Honeycomb OS, particularly when paired with promising specs like on the Xoom (dual core Tegra 2). Games offered on the TegraZone app is particularly good, and in some cases, better than the one on the iOS AppStore. Example is Samurai 2 Tegra Edition compared to the version on iOS, and Galaxy On Fire 2 on both platform(shaders made available by Tegra 2 compared to the iOS put the iOS version to shame).

As for productivity purposes, I've tried to make the two tablets I have mirror each other as close as possible, although like I said, I don't do heavy duty productivity on them. I got them both running similarly on the reading apps(Zinio, Google Books, Nook, Kindle, Pulse News) as well as social networking apps (Facebook, Twitter, any IM apps), but the polish seems to be more prevalent on the iOS compared to Android. Not a big enough issue to me to pick one over the other.

Android has the edge in terms of tabbed browsing with the stock browser, although iOS's Safari still is king when it comes to sensitivity of the pinch-to-zoom/selection accuracy to copy-paste/smoothness when swiping to scroll, or rotation especially.

Honeycomb scores big with its widgets though, very easy to peek though the content without having to go through the actual app itself.

I've mentioned before, I'm a consumer, not a content creator. Because of Google's lateness to the table with offering a good enough tablet OS (to me, 2.2 on a 7" device is not tablet OS) for me to enjoy my contents (songs, photos, videos like TV Shows, Movies), I've invested heavily on contents purchased from iTunes. Therefore it makes sense for me to either convert my video/audio content to the type acceptable in iTunes, and this has shown limited compatibility when trying to put those contents in my Xoom. These contents are also DRM-protected, therefore can only be played on an iDevice, until recently when DRM-free music was made available on iTunes (but still on purchase). Videos are still DRM-protected.

I may be on the minority side (purchasing content instead of downloading them from shady sources/sharing them between people), but Android's lateness to bringing a tablet-worthy OS had me invested so much on iOS-friendly content that in turn, turns my iDevice into my primary content cosumption device instead of the Xoom.

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love my Xoom, and of recently, I've been taking around my Xoom more often than my iPad 2. The strong build quality and heftness made it more confident for me to lug around than the iPad 2 with its thinness making me perceive it as being unnecessarily fragile. I desperately hope the new iterations of future Honeycomb updates can match the speediness of iOS, and I may just ditch my iPad entirely.

Personally, I'd like to see how the Asus Transformer looks like IRL. Particularly the screen. Design IS is a feature to me, and I'm willing to pay for it, which made me discard the Acer Iconia as a viable option (sorry, ugly bezels/side designs). I hope the Asus Transformer steps up to the plate when it comes to the built quality, and I may well be picking it up as the third tablet.

nice one string.. when u on job to oversea.. borrow me.. hehehhehe =P

Nicely elaborated and an unbiased review..

Somehow I feel that iPad2 isn't as solid as their previous version.. My gf's iPad2, the edge there got a bit chipped off dy for no reason, still not sure how it happened cause she take cares of it very gently.. And the smartcover isn't that durable either.. It scratched the iPad at the attaching place and the magnet's silver paint came off a bit also, at first the smart cover firmly attaches to the iPad, but now if u hold it upside down, it easily comes out and the magnet isn't as strong dy.. Well I think that iPad2 still meets expectations but the smartcover is somehow a failure.. It's successful due to the marketing..

Then comes Asus transformer, the pricing in USA and the detachable keyboard+extended battery life+dedicated android keys on keyboard is really the bomb.. I have very high expectations with it and I think it might beat iPad2 easily if iOS 5 doesn't come out with smth really impressive n innovative..

as1000 at rm 1k here is it good does it play 1080p mkvs? currently only 2.2 can it be upgradable to 3.0?

This post has been edited by RayKazansky: Apr 11 2011, 02:16 PM

is toshiba the only one available in malaysia with honeycomb? what other tablets are threre avail here?

Galaxy Tab, motorola xoom?

So far, I have not seen any Honeycomb tablets around. Maybe Acer has launched Iconia A500? Anyone seen it? I just received SMS that Acer was launching Iconia @ Low Yat Plaza when I was at Korea last 2 weekends

Nice review on Xoom especially since you having a iPad2 as well. I'm currently using iPad1 which really make the same experience. Based on my observation, here is my 2 sen thought:

1. IPS screen definitely is a go for tablet - Thanks to Apple for almost standardized it. Eee Pad Transformer is using IPS as well, the next version of Xoom most likely will move to IPS because Taiwan LCD manufacturer got licensed to build IPS LCD screen already..

2. Honeycomb still feel a bit immature; we still don't know about upgrade ability of future Android OS - iPad1 most likely can be upgraded to iOS5 which I believe will open up more functionality

3. I like the stereo speakers build-in the the Xoom, u just couldn't believe iPad1/2 doesn't come with stereo speakers.

The toshiba folio AS100 tablet is around but it only runs on froyo 2.2 and the ROM kinda sucks..

Most people like me opt for a custom rom from XDA which makes it alot smoother..

No news regarding honeycomb yet.. Honeycomb AOSP has yet to be released and the only chance of getting honeycomb for this Toshiba AS100 will be when the 2nd Gen of the Toshiba Tablet is released and ported over to this 1st Gen since they both run Tegra 2 and hopefully have the same hardwares.

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Added on April 12, 2011, 3:31 pmI would certainly agree that iDevices is much more user friendly and smoother in their software compared to Android.

Android has more customization ability and users and freely explore and try out various roms or softwares developed freely by people all around the world. Makes android a big sharing community.

It is a very subjective matter and it all depends on how the user want to user their tablets

This post has been edited by Batusai: Apr 12 2011, 03:31 PM

Transformer Keyboard poped up...

US$150 (PC Richard & Son)

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Added on April 12, 2011, 6:16 pman also caught on spy cam...

Motorola Xoom 4G (WiMAX) - price not available yet (Sprint Nextel)

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Added on April 12, 2011, 6:24 pmHTC Dream and Magic (the original Android phones) are capable of running Android 2.2

we re talking abt some 3yr old hardware...

This post has been edited by astria: Apr 12 2011, 06:24 PM

Applicable only for Betelgeuse and Harmony chips...
NVIDIA drops Android support for older Tegra 2 devices!

This post has been edited by RayKazansky: Apr 13 2011, 02:48 PM

Wow. Thanks for the information.

You are so updated with this kind of stuff.

Wow, don't even know Tegra2 got so many revision already? So Toshiba Folio AS100 and ViewSonic Tablet G are out of support list - so much for Honeycomb upgrade....

Dun be surprised if AMD supports their users all the way (drivers update) due to strong competition from Atom Z670 and Tegra 2 in tablets market in near future.
AMD

It is a bit sad to see why a powerful SOC like Tegra 2 lack of support within same model. I'm sure unsupported user will move to Atom or AMD with the bad experience from Nvidia.

BUSTED!

this is wat NV has to say:

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Added on April 14, 2011, 11:08 ambtw Ray, pls update:

http://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopi...post&p=41491329

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Added on April 14, 2011, 11:16 amalso spotted in the wild, a Motorola rugged tablet...



Key features:
7" capacitive LCD
1GHz dual-core TI OMAP processor
1GB RAM, 8GB NAND onboard storage
Android 2.3 Gingerbread
8MP rear camera, 1.3MP front camera
Stylus for signature capture
Removable battery good for 5.5 hours of video
Can withstand 4′ drop onto plywood (oak, cherry, ash, maple certifications pending)
Works in temperatures of 0-50 degrees Celsius
Tons of enterprise-friendly security
Fingerprint scanner



This post has been edited by astria: Apr 14 2011, 11:16 AM