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No one tablet does it all--yet. Here's a look at how
today's three leading tablet contenders handle
common tasks.
Which Tablet Is Easiest to Hold?
Hands-down, the 7-inch Galaxy
Tab gets the nod here. Yes, it's
chunky (0.5 inch thick, with boxy
sides); but at a weight of 0.8
pound, it's significantly lighter
than the iPad 2 (1.3 pounds). That said, the 9.7-inch iPad 2 (at left) is the way to go if you want a tablet with a
bigger screen. It's much easier to hold than its
predecessor, thanks to its tapered sides, thinner
design, and lighter weight (the original iPad
tipped the scales at 1.5 pounds). The Motorola
Xoom, at 1.6 pounds and with a thickness of 0.5 inch, is leaden by comparison. Weight and thickness matter more than you
might think--and not just because most people
like to hold a book or magazine in one hand to
read it. It's important to realize that when you
use the tablet without a surface, you are
essentially holding it one-handed, because you have to use your other hand to operate the
tablet.
Which Tablet Has the Best Screen? Here, the iPad 2 (at left) gets the
win. Images on its display looked
evenly and accurately saturated
and balanced. I wish that text
looked significantly sharper--I
prefer precise text with no jaggies, the way it appears on an iPhone 4--but the iPad 2 still beats the
competitors in its category. The rival tablets have different shortcomings. I
liked the sharpness of the Galaxy Tab's 1024-
by-600-pixel display, but not the tendency of its
7-inch LCD to produce oversaturated colors (the
Tab is shown on top of the Xoom in the picture
below). The Tab is a pleasure to look at otherwise, and it finishes a close second to the
iPad overall, but don't expect a high level of color
accuracy from it. The Xoom has a 1024-by-800-
pixel display, but its text rendering
was inconsistent, with several
fonts showing unexpected
choppiness (I especially got this
impression in the Web browser, and in the Google Books app).
More worrisomely, colors appeared to be off (the image at left shows the
Xoom's duller colors, as compared with the Tab's
oversaturated colors). Since the Xoom is the only
Android 3.0 tablet to appear so far, I can't say
whether these failings are due to the way
Honeycomb handles rendering or whether they reflect problems with the Xoom's display.
Which Tablet Has the Best Keyboard? I suspect that the best keyboard for a tablet has
yet to be produced. I liked some of what I saw
with the HP TouchPad, which includes multiple keyboard sizes and a number row built in to the
main keyboard. In the tussle between the iPad 2's keyboard and
the Xoom's, however, I give the nod to iOS and
the iPad 2. Its keyboard did a better job of
keeping up with my touch-typist fingers,
whereas the Xoom lagged whenever I input data
at full speed. I liked the Xoom's larger button sizes and its inclusion of a Tab key, but the input
lag drove me bonkers. The Galaxy Tab's
keyboard is unremarkable by comparison: Like
an Android keyboard on a giant phone, it's small
and cramped in comparison to the bigger tablets'
keyboards, and it lacks the speed to keep up with touch-typing.
Which Tablet Is Best for Data Transfers? The Galaxy Tab (now) and the Xoom (soon) have
the edge here. Because they are Android-based
tablets, your PC will recognizes them as mass
storage devices when they are connected via
USB. As a result, you can drag and drop files onto
your tablet without converting them to a different format and without using special
software. True, the tablet will take a moment to
recognize the new images in the library, for
example; but this approach is preferable to
Apple's locked-down universe, which requires
you to use iTunes, the least satisfying, least capable, least flexible file management tool out
there today. Both the Galaxy Tab and the Xoom
have MicroSD card slots, though you must enable
the Xoom's through a software upgrade. The
resulting expansion potential is lacking in the
iPad 1 and the iPad 2.
Which Tablet Provides the Best Notifications? Of the models I looked at,
notifications were best on Android 3.0 Honeycomb devices. The Honeycomb interface puts its
notifications bar at the bottom
right, where it unobtrusively
informs you of new e-mail
messages, new OS or software updates (for example, Pulse reader notifies you
when new content is available), and completed
downloads. New messages pop up there and
then disappear. Tapping on the bar expands the
notifications so that you can view them all. The
same notifications bar shows time, connection status, and battery life; and you get more details
plus one-tap access to settings when you tap to
expand the bar. Apple's iPad feels archaic by comparison. It
provides notifications via a pop-up window that
interrupts and disrupts your other activities. If
you don't touch your device and you receive
multiple notifications at once, iOS will collect them
into a single window for you to view when you return. But if you get one for AIM (for example),
dismiss it, and then get another one for AIM, it
will pop up over whatever your current activity
is each time, requiring you to take action in order
to return to your activity. On the other hand, you
get no notifications of new e-mail messages: To get those you must go to your e-mail app. The Galaxy Tab runs Android 2.2, which delivers
notifications in the "classic" Android style--a pull-
down bar at the top of the screen--but they're
far less elegant and usable than the notifications
in Android 3.0.
Which Tablet Is Best for Multimedia? The answer depends, in part, on your shopping
habits and on how you use your tablet. Android
3.0 on the Xoom is a terrific multimedia
combination: HD movies look great in the
widescreen aspect ratio, you get Flash support
for online video, and Google's redesigned music player is very appealing. On the other hand,
Android 3.0 lacks a dedicated video player, so
your videos get meshed into the Image Gallery. Apple's iPad requires iTunes
syncing--a drawback considering
the albatross that iTunes has
become on the whole. But it's
fairly good for organizing and
keeping track of your media, and if the files are in a supported
format, you can add your own videos to the iTunes library. If you have an iPod
or iPhone, and you shop at iTunes, the iPad is a
no-brainer for its seamless integration with the
iTunes Store (shown here). At the moment,
Google lacks anything comparable, though I can
imagine Google deciding to sell music (Google Music is already a reoccurring rumor) and videos
through its Market. The Galaxy Tab uses Samsung's Media Hub to
make music and video purchases, and to play
them back. But Media Hub purchases are usable
only with Samsung Media Hub devices, including
Samsung mobile phones and televisions. Media
Hub's selection is growing, but it's nowhere close to iTunes in depth.
Which Tablet Is Best for Organizing Your Stuff? No currently available tablet makes
managing your files easy. But the
Xoom is the best bet right now.
You don't get direct access to files
and folders on the device, as you
do in Microsoft Windows, but plenty of third-party apps will let
you access files that are aboard the tablet (and when enabled, aboard the
MicroSD card) in a standard folder view. You can
download content from the Web browser, like
a .zip file. And in the Google image gallery, you
can view image info, crop it, and share it via
Bluetooth. Meanwhile, organizing apps into home screens is simple, thanks to a split-screen
approach that lets you select an app and drag it
to your home screen of choice--all on the device. Organizing apps on the iPad is tiresome, and you
can forget accessing files stored on the device in
order to reorganize, rename them, or do
something with them. Apple has locked down
the file system. The Galaxy Tab lacks Android 3.0's niceties for
organizing apps, but it does offer various options
for sharing files. The Galaxy Tab also shows you
image information, and it lets you crop an image.
An accompanying app called My Files lets you
view a file/folder directory of your content; but this simple app is incapable of renaming or
moving file
Which Tablet Is Best for Web Browsing? The clear advantage in Web browsing goes to
the Xoom. The Xoom's tabbed interface makes
navigating through a multitude of Web pages
remarkably easy. I also liked the visual
bookmarks and appreciated the support for Adobe Flash Player 10.2 . The iPad 2 and the Galaxy Tab are both stuck in
the dark ages of Web browsing. Both tablets
permit you to access only one page at a time, so
you must exit one page before you browse to
another. In addition, both models limit the
number of windows you can have open at a time.
Which Tablet Is Best for Gaming? Apple's iPad 2 enjoys the clear
advantage here. Today, Apple's
iOS has a bigger selection and a
bigger commitment from content
makers than Android does,
though more Android 3.0 games should become available as the
year progresses. Millions of people use iPads already, and third-party benchmarks
indicate that the new A5 chip has more graphics
muscle than Nvidia's Tegra 2, which is found in
the Xoom and in all announced Honeycomb
tablets to date. The Xoom has considerable potential for games,
but first more Honeycomb-optimized apps must
be developed first. Only then will it be possible to
gauge how synthetic benchmark readings of the
iPad's graphics capabilities stack up in the real
world to its rivals'. As for the Galaxy Tab's prospects for gaming, let's just say that the
future of Android gaming won't happen in
Android 2.2 on a 7-inch tablet.
Which Tablet Is Best for Reading? All of the major booksellers have apps available
across mobile operating systems--except for
Apple's iBooks, which (as you'd expect) is
available only on iOS. All three offer flexibility in
your choice of reading platform and shopping
site; but in my opinion, none of these tablets is especially good for reading. I recommend instead
the only tablet that isn't technically a tablet: Barnes & Noble's NookColor . Though NookColor runs Android 2.1, it lacks Google services and
can't freely download or sideload apps. B&N
remains the only company that has managed to
combine very smooth text with an LCD screen
that has very little glare. Of the three true tablets, the Galaxy Tab has the
edge because of its smaller size and sharper text
quality. Apple's iPad 2 comes in second. Its larger
screen makes it a good choice for viewing digital
magazines or magazine apps, and it's good for
viewing larger-print text. In addition, you have plenty of choice with regard to reading apps and
bookstores, including Apple's iBooks and
competitors such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble
(that could change, however, once Apple begins
enforcing its crackdown on in-app purchase
options). Whichever model you choose, I recommend playing with the font choices in
your chosen e-reader app, as some fonts render
more smoothly than other
|
|
|
|
No one tablet does it all--yet. Here's a look at how
today's three leading tablet contenders handle
common tasks.
Which Tablet Is Easiest to Hold?
Hands-down, the 7-inch Galaxy
Tab gets the nod here. Yes, it's
chunky (0.5 inch thick, with boxy
sides); but at a weight of 0.8
pound, it's significantly lighter
than the iPad 2 (1.3 pounds). That said, the 9.7-inch iPad 2 (at left) is the way to go if you want a tablet with a
bigger screen. It's much easier to hold than its
predecessor, thanks to its tapered sides, thinner
design, and lighter weight (the original iPad
tipped the scales at 1.5 pounds). The Motorola
Xoom, at 1.6 pounds and with a thickness of 0.5 inch, is leaden by comparison. Weight and thickness matter more than you
might think--and not just because most people
like to hold a book or magazine in one hand to
read it. It's important to realize that when you
use the tablet without a surface, you are
essentially holding it one-handed, because you have to use your other hand to operate the
tablet.
Which Tablet Has the Best Screen? Here, the iPad 2 (at left) gets the
win. Images on its display looked
evenly and accurately saturated
and balanced. I wish that text
looked significantly sharper--I
prefer precise text with no jaggies, the way it appears on an iPhone 4--but the iPad 2 still beats the
competitors in its category. The rival tablets have different shortcomings. I
liked the sharpness of the Galaxy Tab's 1024-
by-600-pixel display, but not the tendency of its
7-inch LCD to produce oversaturated colors (the
Tab is shown on top of the Xoom in the picture
below). The Tab is a pleasure to look at otherwise, and it finishes a close second to the
iPad overall, but don't expect a high level of color
accuracy from it. The Xoom has a 1024-by-800-
pixel display, but its text rendering
was inconsistent, with several
fonts showing unexpected
choppiness (I especially got this
impression in the Web browser, and in the Google Books app).
More worrisomely, colors appeared to be off (the image at left shows the
Xoom's duller colors, as compared with the Tab's
oversaturated colors). Since the Xoom is the only
Android 3.0 tablet to appear so far, I can't say
whether these failings are due to the way
Honeycomb handles rendering or whether they reflect problems with the Xoom's display.
Which Tablet Has the Best Keyboard? I suspect that the best keyboard for a tablet has
yet to be produced. I liked some of what I saw
with the HP TouchPad, which includes multiple keyboard sizes and a number row built in to the
main keyboard. In the tussle between the iPad 2's keyboard and
the Xoom's, however, I give the nod to iOS and
the iPad 2. Its keyboard did a better job of
keeping up with my touch-typist fingers,
whereas the Xoom lagged whenever I input data
at full speed. I liked the Xoom's larger button sizes and its inclusion of a Tab key, but the input
lag drove me bonkers. The Galaxy Tab's
keyboard is unremarkable by comparison: Like
an Android keyboard on a giant phone, it's small
and cramped in comparison to the bigger tablets'
keyboards, and it lacks the speed to keep up with touch-typing.
Which Tablet Is Best for Data Transfers? The Galaxy Tab (now) and the Xoom (soon) have
the edge here. Because they are Android-based
tablets, your PC will recognizes them as mass
storage devices when they are connected via
USB. As a result, you can drag and drop files onto
your tablet without converting them to a different format and without using special
software. True, the tablet will take a moment to
recognize the new images in the library, for
example; but this approach is preferable to
Apple's locked-down universe, which requires
you to use iTunes, the least satisfying, least capable, least flexible file management tool out
there today. Both the Galaxy Tab and the Xoom
have MicroSD card slots, though you must enable
the Xoom's through a software upgrade. The
resulting expansion potential is lacking in the
iPad 1 and the iPad 2.
Which Tablet Provides the Best Notifications? Of the models I looked at,
notifications were best on Android 3.0 Honeycomb devices. The Honeycomb interface puts its
notifications bar at the bottom
right, where it unobtrusively
informs you of new e-mail
messages, new OS or software updates (for example, Pulse reader notifies you
when new content is available), and completed
downloads. New messages pop up there and
then disappear. Tapping on the bar expands the
notifications so that you can view them all. The
same notifications bar shows time, connection status, and battery life; and you get more details
plus one-tap access to settings when you tap to
expand the bar. Apple's iPad feels archaic by comparison. It
provides notifications via a pop-up window that
interrupts and disrupts your other activities. If
you don't touch your device and you receive
multiple notifications at once, iOS will collect them
into a single window for you to view when you return. But if you get one for AIM (for example),
dismiss it, and then get another one for AIM, it
will pop up over whatever your current activity
is each time, requiring you to take action in order
to return to your activity. On the other hand, you
get no notifications of new e-mail messages: To get those you must go to your e-mail app. The Galaxy Tab runs Android 2.2, which delivers
notifications in the "classic" Android style--a pull-
down bar at the top of the screen--but they're
far less elegant and usable than the notifications
in Android 3.0.
Which Tablet Is Best for Multimedia? The answer depends, in part, on your shopping
habits and on how you use your tablet. Android
3.0 on the Xoom is a terrific multimedia
combination: HD movies look great in the
widescreen aspect ratio, you get Flash support
for online video, and Google's redesigned music player is very appealing. On the other hand,
Android 3.0 lacks a dedicated video player, so
your videos get meshed into the Image Gallery. Apple's iPad requires iTunes
syncing--a drawback considering
the albatross that iTunes has
become on the whole. But it's
fairly good for organizing and
keeping track of your media, and if the files are in a supported
format, you can add your own videos to the iTunes library. If you have an iPod
or iPhone, and you shop at iTunes, the iPad is a
no-brainer for its seamless integration with the
iTunes Store (shown here). At the moment,
Google lacks anything comparable, though I can
imagine Google deciding to sell music (Google Music is already a reoccurring rumor) and videos
through its Market. The Galaxy Tab uses Samsung's Media Hub to
make music and video purchases, and to play
them back. But Media Hub purchases are usable
only with Samsung Media Hub devices, including
Samsung mobile phones and televisions. Media
Hub's selection is growing, but it's nowhere close to iTunes in depth.
Which Tablet Is Best for Organizing Your Stuff? No currently available tablet makes
managing your files easy. But the
Xoom is the best bet right now.
You don't get direct access to files
and folders on the device, as you
do in Microsoft Windows, but plenty of third-party apps will let
you access files that are aboard the tablet (and when enabled, aboard the
MicroSD card) in a standard folder view. You can
download content from the Web browser, like
a .zip file. And in the Google image gallery, you
can view image info, crop it, and share it via
Bluetooth. Meanwhile, organizing apps into home screens is simple, thanks to a split-screen
approach that lets you select an app and drag it
to your home screen of choice--all on the device. Organizing apps on the iPad is tiresome, and you
can forget accessing files stored on the device in
order to reorganize, rename them, or do
something with them. Apple has locked down
the file system. The Galaxy Tab lacks Android 3.0's niceties for
organizing apps, but it does offer various options
for sharing files. The Galaxy Tab also shows you
image information, and it lets you crop an image.
An accompanying app called My Files lets you
view a file/folder directory of your content; but this simple app is incapable of renaming or
moving file
Which Tablet Is Best for Web Browsing? The clear advantage in Web browsing goes to
the Xoom. The Xoom's tabbed interface makes
navigating through a multitude of Web pages
remarkably easy. I also liked the visual
bookmarks and appreciated the support for Adobe Flash Player 10.2 . The iPad 2 and the Galaxy Tab are both stuck in
the dark ages of Web browsing. Both tablets
permit you to access only one page at a time, so
you must exit one page before you browse to
another. In addition, both models limit the
number of windows you can have open at a time.
Which Tablet Is Best for Gaming? Apple's iPad 2 enjoys the clear
advantage here. Today, Apple's
iOS has a bigger selection and a
bigger commitment from content
makers than Android does,
though more Android 3.0 games should become available as the
year progresses. Millions of people use iPads already, and third-party benchmarks
indicate that the new A5 chip has more graphics
muscle than Nvidia's Tegra 2, which is found in
the Xoom and in all announced Honeycomb
tablets to date. The Xoom has considerable potential for games,
but first more Honeycomb-optimized apps must
be developed first. Only then will it be possible to
gauge how synthetic benchmark readings of the
iPad's graphics capabilities stack up in the real
world to its rivals'. As for the Galaxy Tab's prospects for gaming, let's just say that the
future of Android gaming won't happen in
Android 2.2 on a 7-inch tablet.
Which Tablet Is Best for Reading? All of the major booksellers have apps available
across mobile operating systems--except for
Apple's iBooks, which (as you'd expect) is
available only on iOS. All three offer flexibility in
your choice of reading platform and shopping
site; but in my opinion, none of these tablets is especially good for reading. I recommend instead
the only tablet that isn't technically a tablet: Barnes & Noble's NookColor . Though NookColor runs Android 2.1, it lacks Google services and
can't freely download or sideload apps. B&N
remains the only company that has managed to
combine very smooth text with an LCD screen
that has very little glare. Of the three true tablets, the Galaxy Tab has the
edge because of its smaller size and sharper text
quality. Apple's iPad 2 comes in second. Its larger
screen makes it a good choice for viewing digital
magazines or magazine apps, and it's good for
viewing larger-print text. In addition, you have plenty of choice with regard to reading apps and
bookstores, including Apple's iBooks and
competitors such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble
(that could change, however, once Apple begins
enforcing its crackdown on in-app purchase
options). Whichever model you choose, I recommend playing with the font choices in
your chosen e-reader app, as some fonts render
more smoothly than other
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