Motorola Xoom Shadowed By iPad2 - Gadget Review

So, do you think the guys over at Motorola are kicking themselves for launching their Xoom tablet just less than a week before Apple unveiled the iPad 2?

I think they have to be.

Any merits that the Xoom has over the iPad have been immediately eclipsed by Apple's mighty marketing juggernaut.

Of course, it would help if the Xoom actually had any real features that distinguished itself from the iPad as a must-have device.

About the only thing that the Xoom had going for it when it was released is that it had cameras on the front and back. But, guess what? Now the iPad has that, too.

I don't mean to get all negative about this newest competitor in the tablet wars, but it's hard not to. It just doesn't offer anything that can't be found in that other product that starts with a little "i" but has a big presence.

As far as what's positive about the Xoom are many features that are more than adequate. It is the first device to use Google's Android 3.0 Honeycomb operating system. I am a big fan of Android. And despite competition from Apple, I doubt Android is going anywhere.

It has a 10.1-inch screen and the front camera has a 2-megapixel resolution, while the back-facing camera is 5-megapixels which also can capture 720p video.

The Xoom boasts 14 hours of battery life, which is impressive considering the new iPad supposedly can go only 10 without a recharge. I also like that the keyboard has the Swype feature, which deciphers the words you want as you slide your finger across the virtual keyboard. Pretty cool. Oh, and the Xoom's screen is a whopping 0.4 inches larger than the iPad, but that's hardly a deal maker.

Two things that were interesting: A few colleagues who are rabid iPad users immediately noted that the Xoom felt much heavier and that it took a long time to boot up once turned on.

Despite whatever the Xoom has over the iPad (which isn't much), the bottom line is exactly that: the price. The Xoom starts at $600, and that's with a two-year contract with Verizon. Without the contract, the Xoom will eat an $800 hole in your bank account. And if you get the 3G Wi-Fi, it'll run you an additional $20 a month for 1 gigabyte of data.

With a price that practically mirrors that of the iPad, the choice between which to get becomes a no-brainer.

Why should I buy a Xoom when I can get an iPad that costs about the same? Answer is: I wouldn't. And I doubt you should either.