With the new Android tablets hitting the market right now as well as the iPad 2 being out, a lot of people keep asking me whether they should get an Android Tablet or an iPad. This is an argument that is every bit as heated as Mac vs Windows, Canon vs Nikon, or RAW vs JPEG. My approach here is going to show the differences in, hopefully, as unbiased means as possible.

How are we doing this?

For discussion’s sake the Android tablet we will be looking at is the Motorola XOOM. This one was chosen as our Android platform because it is considered to be the top-of-the-line of the current Android tablets.  Now I want to start off by saying that I do not consider myself an Android fanboy. I love Apple products and have always felt their industrial design is generally second to none. My wife and daughter have MacBooks, most everyone in the family owns an iPod, and my wife has an iPad. One the other hand, we all own Android-powered phones. Hopefully this gives me enough credibility and experience to be able to give a solid rundown of the differences. So let’s get started.

Size Differences

In physical size the XOOM and the iPad are very similar although the XOOM has a slightly larger LCD display. Even though the iPad’s screen is 1/2” smaller than the XOOM, the iPad is physically larger due to having more bezel around the edges. A half-inch increase in screen size isn’t a complete win for the XOOM since the smaller bezel actually makes it more difficult to hold without touching the actual screen. If size is really a consideration here there is no clear winner based on size.

Horsepower

When it comes to raw processing power, both the iPad 2 and the XOOM are outfitted with quite powerful processors. The high-end Android tablets such as the XOOM are also outfitted with the nVidia Tegra2 video chips providing amazing 3D graphics ability. Not that the iPad is a slouch when it comes to graphics, but the Tegra2 is certainly the top of the line at this point. If you are looking at a tablet as a gaming platform, the games developed for the iPad 2 are sure to please, but the games that are possible on the XOOM can have slightly better and faster graphics. As a gaming platform, I am going to give a slight edge to the XOOM.

Ease of Use

Let’s face it, Apple can take a powerful device and make it so dead-simple to use that many older people who would never carry a laptop around are seen carrying iPads. Apple spends a tremendous amount of effort on documentation and guidelines to ensure that iPad applications have a very consistent look and feel and all conform to very strict user interface guidelines. Since Apple tightly controls the apps in the Apple Store, if your app doesn’t conform to the strict guidelines, it simply won’t be approved. This is actually a double-edged sword. One one hand you get solid consistent apps but on the flip side this makes it more difficult to develop applications and may prevent some applications, as good as they might be, from ever getting published.  I am really torn on how to call this one. The iPad clearly wins on ease of use but there is a hidden cost to keeping things as simple as Apple requires. Still, this is the one huge benefit of the iPad, it only takes a few minutes to master the interface and understand how to do most tasks.

Customization Ability

Where the iPad is exceptionally simple to use, one of the main reasons is because you cannot customize your user experience outside of moving icons around and having folders with current iOS versions. While this lack of customization is what ensures the iPad user experience is always simple and consistent, it is also the biggest differentiator to the Android experience. If you are a power user and want to customize your experience, than the Android platform may be a better choice. Shown here are the home screens of my wife’s iPad and my XOOM. Her iPad looks basically the same as every other iPad, 20 icons per screen and 5 permanent icons on the bottom, nothing special, but certainly easy to navigate.

iPad Home Screen

Customized XOOM Screen

On the opposite end of the spectrum is the home screen from my XOOM. I have replaced the stock Honeycomb interface with a different “launcher” that provides additional functionality. The Android’s ability to use screen widgets, I have quick glance access to recent emails, upcoming calendar events, and weather. I also have placed my most commonly used shortcuts on the home page so I don’t need to scroll through a list of icons to find them. There is also a hand Pandora widget that allows play, pause, thumb-up, and thumb-down without having to switch to the full application. For this category, and admittedly this is purely a subjective opinion, I am giving the win to the XOOM. I want to be able to personalize my user experience the same way I do on my computer systems. If this feature is not important to you, then that is a completely personal preference and it is not for me to try to convince you otherwise.

Notifications

Android Notifications

While many iPhone/iPad users are quite content with the notification system within iOS, I think it actually fails on a number of levels. The only notification system within the i-Devices is a simple pop-up dialog box, the Android notification system is quite robust. Being able to see a list of recent notifications, selectively act on or clear specific notifications is a clear win….if you use the tablet as a productivity device. If you only use a tablet as a media consumption device (web browsing, music, video, etc) then you have no real need for notifications at all. On the other hand, if you are using your tablet as more of a desktop replacement with email, instant messages, scheduling, and social interaction (Facebook and twitter) than a much more robust notification system can indeed be very valuable. Here at Dojo Central, my wife uses her iPad mostly for reading books with the Kindle reader (her iPad replaced her original Kindle), checking email and facebook. She doesn’t care about notifications as she uses her phone or laptop for that. On the flip side, I use the XOOM much more as a productivity device and notifications are extremely useful for the way I work and use my tablet.

Design Goals

I actually feel like the design goals between the iPads and the Android tablets are quite different. I like to consider the iPad to be a media consumption device. For web browsing (the lack of Adobe Flash not withstanding), checking email, listening to music, watching videos, reading books, the iPad simply excels.  using iTunes to manage your media is fairly simple and works well. With its simple interface the iPad can be picked up and used by kids to senior citizens and everything in between.

On the other hand, the Android tablets seem to be geared towards productivity and more general computing tasks. Granted, many applications are available on both platforms so one device doesn’t necessarily have a huge advantage over the other. There are also apps on each platform that people with the other platform wish they had so it goes both ways.

Summary

Is there a clear “winner” here, the answer is “it depends”. I realize that this may be a cop-out to some people but as I have tried to outline here, both platforms have strengths and weaknesses. There are also other features that may be important to you such as the XOOM’s expandability with an SD Card slot and USB port for easy access to manage files, connect external devices or the iPad’s assortment of accessories. The iPad also has a more mature software base especially with Apple software such as iMovie and GarageBand being great examples.

If you have an iPhone and absolutely love it, than you will probably love the iPad. If you have an Android phone and you love it, then you will probably love an Android tablet. But, as even witnessed here at home, my wife has an Android phone but wanted an iPad and has absolutely no regrets about her choice.

If you are considering a tablet, I highly encourage you to fully investigate both platforms and try to make as informed of a decision as possible. It’s really hard to go wrong either way, its really a matter of features and abilities are important to you. Also keep in mind that an iPad is an iPad, there are no cheap crappy versions of iPads. There is only Apple made iPads.On the other hand, since the Android operating system is open source, virtually anyone can create an Android tablet and there are cheap, crappy Android tablets on the market, many under $150, there is even a cheap Android tablet available Big Lots (formerly Pic-N-Save). So if you are shopping for an Android tablet, be careful of those inexpensive devices as they are underpowered and usually do not even have access to the Android Market for you to install new apps.

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