Detailed Comparison of iPad2 against other tablets

[cmanbrazil]

That $539 price is "possible". They Ipad price is actual!

[Bilbo1967]

Originally Posted by cmanbrazil

That $539 price is "possible". They Ipad price is actual!

And your point would be?

IPad 2 32g Wifi only = $599
Xoom 32g Wifi only = $599 (if you ignore the Sam's Club possibility)

Pick which one suits you best!

[madsquabbles]

Originally Posted by Bilbo1967

And your point would be?

IPad 2 32g Wifi only = $599
Xoom 32g Wifi only = $599 (if you ignore the Sam's Club possibility)

Pick which one suits you best!

don't forget the extra cost for an hdmi adapter if you need one for you ipad.

i don't watch tv so i don't have an hdtv to hook my devices to.

[cmanbrazil]

Originally Posted by Bilbo1967

And your point would be?

IPad 2 32g Wifi only = $599
Xoom 32g Wifi only = $599 (if you ignore the Sam's Club possibility)

Pick which one suits you best!

Where can I purchase one today for this price or which retailer has confirmed this price and a date for it to go on sale?

It will be nice when android does have a comparable device to the ipad, but now they have a lot of work to do to get app development and the os to catch up. There is just no comparison at this time

Went to the apple store today. It's packed. They are sold out so people are just playing with them.

[debteb]

Xoom is availabel for pre-order now at Amazon...and it's $599 (no tax). Not surprisingly this Wi-Fi only model is priced on par with the32 GB iPad2.

[JTravers]

Originally Posted by debteb

Xoom is availabel for pre-order now at Amazon...and it's $599 (no tax). Not surprisingly this Wi-Fi only model is priced on par with the32 GB iPad2.

Thanks for the link! I didn't realize that Amazon already had it available for pre-order. That's, hopefully, a good sign.

I wonder why no one is trying to challenge the iPad 2 at the low end. I realize that the 32GB models are priced the same, but there is a cheaper iPad available with only 16GB. Why isn't Motorola trying to match that price point? For someone that doesn't need the extra storage space, the iPad 2 is $100 cheaper than the Xoom.

[SCION]

Originally Posted by JTravers

Thanks for the link! I didn't realize that Amazon already had it available for pre-order. That's, hopefully, a good sign.

I wonder why no one is trying to challenge the iPad 2 at the low end. I realize that the 32GB models are priced the same, but there is a cheaper iPad available with only 16GB. Why isn't Motorola trying to match that price point? For someone that doesn't need the extra storage space, the iPad 2 is $100 cheaper than the Xoom.

I agree. You do get an SD card slot with the Xoom. Don't understand why they and others are trying to go head-to-head on price. Many feel these gadgets are overpriced. No one's breaking out of that mold.

[afv011]

Originally Posted by JTravers

Thanks for the link! I didn't realize that Amazon already had it available for pre-order. That's, hopefully, a good sign.

I wonder why no one is trying to challenge the iPad 2 at the low end. I realize that the 32GB models are priced the same, but there is a cheaper iPad available with only 16GB. Why isn't Motorola trying to match that price point? For someone that doesn't need the extra storage space, the iPad 2 is $100 cheaper than the Xoom.

Wholeheartedly agree. The iPad also has 1 year advantage, meaning it has a strong foothold and everybody knows about it; the only option Moto has is to come in at a significant price discount - the same price, or even a tad lower won't sway many people, even with the extras the Xoom has. And I believe these gadgets are still way overpriced; $499 is probably the max it should be sold for.

[soondai]

if price matters to ya, hold off for the holidays. I have 400 bucks of tax refund in an envelope to upgrade my PDN this Fall/xmas.

really hope there's a 4:3 ratio 7-inch slate (with a user replaceable battery) coming down the pike from someone

[cmanbrazil]

they need some stand out pad specific apps, and they need to beat apple's price, matching it is only enough if you have the market share and they don't

[kennyc]

I love my Xoom, I love my Xoom, I love my Xoom.

[snipenekkid]

Originally Posted by kennyc

I love my Xoom, I love my Xoom, I love my Xoom.

ohoh, kenny is wearing his ruby slippers again...theres no place like home, theres no place like home, theres no place like home.

I looked at a Xoom the other day but like many I just don't see the value for the price. Much of that is the whole CellCo factor in all of this. Really, I cannot remember a time in my life when companies simply refuse to compete on price as they do today. And it's not only tablet/slate devices but the cell phones are priced at six-bills off contract. Huh?

I look at it this way, I can buy a throw away cell phone with 3G for $10-$30. Right there tells me what the 3G and actual cellular hardware and software are worth. In other words for the value in a tablet computer the cellular side of things is worth about $10-$30 of the price. Wifi is worth maybe $5 and we know the prices on the other hardware is dropping like a stone, save from some of the discrete chips on the system board due to demand, production issues and the Japan factor now. But all totaled I don't see a slate device being more than a $150 cost to make. Even touch layers are very inexpensive these days. And LCD's are, well no costly. So that $150 tear down just seems generous to me. I can see a fully decked out 64GB 3G/Wifi device for $350-$399 as the sweet spot.

I wonder if a lot of the prices are tied to the actual cellular components and their related firmware, patents and such belonging to the CellCo's so they are nailing the device makers hard on those licence fees. But if they give the CellCo exclusivity the CellCo will pay near to what the true retail price would be. So rather than seeing independent hardware with SIM slots where the end user has freedom of choice, the Cellco's are eliminating any potential freedom wireless 3g/4g offers over actual cell phones.

So, I blame...hmmmm, oh, Apple just because they are an easy target. Really though I don't understand the "new math" used in the market for these devices which really do not use any new tech, designs or features. it all already exists in netbooks/laptops/tablet computers. Plus they have access to numerous slate friendly OS's now and don't even need a full Windows install which was long blamed as the evil empire artifically inflating system prices. I once was an authorized MS OEM and trust me, the cost per license was well under $20 back in the 90s and dropped under $10/system by the late '90s and that was just for around 1000 units/yr. Android has to cost far, far less. WebOS and the new QNX based Blackberry OS might actually cost out to more but in both cases these are OS's which will be stable and around at least as long as iOS, probably longer. Blackberry is leveraging a huge business customer pool on top of it.

Sooo, long way to say, if B&N can sell the NC for $250 and show a profit then any of the other device makers can do the same selling a slate with all the options for $350-$399 and not sweat it.

Other than maybe looking at a NC or used iPad unless I see a 11"-12" device for around that $350-$400 price with both SD card and SIM slots, wacom.N-trig or similar and the ability to run full Win7/Win8 I am not going into the market for any more than $250. I refuse to buy into the marketing hype and know the true value to me. These only give me a slightly new way to work and relax but my current workflow is just fine as-is and spending an extra near to $1-megabuck just because has never made me smile.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by snipenekkid

ohoh, kenny is wearing his ruby slippers again...theres no place like home, theres no place like home, theres no place like home.

I looked at a Xoom the other day but like many I just don't see the value for the price. ..

Sooo, long way to say, if B&N can sell the NC for $250 and show a profit then any of the other device makers can do the same selling a slate with all the options for $350-$399 and not sweat it. ...

Not exactly. The nook color does not have the same technical capabilities as the Xoom and neither does the iPad2. The early adopters pay a dear price for that. Xoom is no different....price has already dropped a bit ($200) with the wi-fi only release this past weekend. Am I bitter. No not really. Do I enjoy paying $35/mo for a 3GB data plan? No. But I also think of it as insurance for those few times I'm no where near a wi-fi provider but have cell coverage.

Oh and btw I'm considering getting a nook as an additional device since it is definitely a great device for the price, particularly when it can be rooted and possibly "upgraded" to Honeycomb/Android 3.

[kennyc]

Nice comparison of iPad2 to Xoom here: http://karmamule.wordpress.com/2011/...om-and-ipad-2/

[snipenekkid]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Not exactly. The nook color does not have the same technical capabilities as the Xoom and neither does the iPad2. The early adopters pay a dear price for that. Xoom is no different....price has already dropped a bit ($200) with the wi-fi only release this past weekend. Am I bitter. No not really. Do I enjoy paying $35/mo for a 3GB data plan? No. But I also think of it as insurance for those few times I'm no where near a wi-fi provider but have cell coverage.

Oh and btw I'm considering getting a nook as an additional device since it is definitely a great device for the price, particularly when it can be rooted and possibly "upgraded" to Honeycomb/Android 3.

First I want to say I worded my observation on the Xoom a bit too dismissive in tone. I did not mean to imply it wasn't something that could be useful or, heck, just fun. Any of these device can be fun. But there is the rub, what overhead to the user does that fun cost.

As for the technical abilities of the NC vs. the other devices, no doubt it's not equipped with the same under-the-hood horsepower of the others but the cost for the components needed to get on par is near to trivial on a per device basis. You know the cost of these CPU's, RAM and other components are near to nothing and not even close to what their retail, if you could even buy them, brethren. I see the primary difference is the NC does not use an SSD drive but doesn't it have two SD card slots, one internal and one external...or is that one of the other slates? Anyway, the reason I threw out the $350-$400 price point was that is approximately in line with top of the line netbooks. Also while the various marketing wonks like to baffle the masses with the buzzwords and 3g this, 4g that, those parts of the system are among the least costly and don't do anything more than those in the $10 throw away phones. Plus while some lucky few will get the promised speeds, the data caps are so ludicrously low that people blow though them in 20mins in many cases and a couple hours for the "heavy user" plans for all of 5GB. Meaning I would be better off using that cash to hit a movie a couple times a month along with a fun dinner as well.

Of course a lot of R&D is in the firmware and batteries just are not inexpensive but these things can also be part of the price differential.

I guess I am simply disappointed that every time I look at these so-called revolutionary devices I am let down. I keep looking back at them figuring I had to miss something because everyone is gushing over them. but I look and cripes we are being asked to pay 2x-4x MORE than the lowest end smart phone and as much as 2x the price of a netbooks which has pretty much the same components save a touch screen. Couple this with the demand I pay for yet another subscription to something I begin to again tune out my interest in the devices. I find them under performing, over-hyped, and feature lacking leaving what amounts to nothing but a device companies can use to try and sell me more of the stuff I already have for free.

I think it's time I simply give up on everything and be done with it all for good because it is no longer any fun. Even the much hyped Android is nothing more than a constantly revised OS that is going to lead to dozens of previous generation models which will either be unable to run the newest version of Android or the device re-brander will never spend the money to actually port over all the components needed to run under the new versions. I find this especially true with hardware changes in the devices.

And tonight where I was nearly pondering the idea of rooting a NC, I started to remember the fiasco of the Nokia N800 with each iteration of their OS eventually leading to the last OS actually breaking, permanently the camera feature of the device. And we got NO acceptance of responsibility from Nokia. I just began reading to see the apps for a rooted NC are going to be the same twitchy things as for the N800. OS changes will mean everyone must wait until the phreak out there who ported the app has the time to fix whatever the OS update borked. And to the developers credit most try and hang in there but even they get burnt out. I even am suspect of playing streaming video without having to transcode it on the fly or transcode any ripped video I already have.

But really don't take my comments to be negatives, I am just old and burnt out on this stuff and the black-hole the whole thing has become. If the HP or Eee 121 fail to deliver a real slate PC the whole idea is dead to me and even ebook readers will be of little interest. It's been far too long and far too many failed promises for me to keep interested.

I guess I just give up on them as they seem to be evolving into nothing but money pits. Even more costly than gaming consoles which might be the true target consumer segment anyway.

so have fun, I think you have a neat device grouping but I have talked myself out of any of them after reading enough over the night. It's just none of them actually do anything useful, for me.