Moto Xoom, Acer Iconia or Asus eee?

breeno

Hi Guys,

I've decided to take the plunge and buy a tablet. Going to go with Android as I love the look of Honeycomb and flash videos for youtube etc.

Question is - I have choice of Motorola, Acer or Asus. Any ideas? Asus is obviously cheapest which helps but are the others any better for the price difference? are any more likely to have more longevity in terms of updates etc?

Any comments/opinions welcome. Thanks guys.

Breeno

Royale with Cheese

Just been up in PC World comparing the Asus and the Motorola, imo the Motorola is a lot nicer. The asus just seems oversized, whereas the Motorola feels a lot nicer in the hand and takes up less space outside of its screen.

Originally I wanted to pick up the Asus because of the price and the keyboard add on, but I'm not so sure now. Either way I've decided to hold off on Android tablets for now because none of them have a usb host port (Asus can do this but the port is on the keyboard add on). Also the Asus may be cheaper but it has 16gb less onboard storage. When a 32gb Transformer is released it will be priced nearer what the Motorola sells for.

Pyro Boy

I'd wait for the samsung galaxy 10.1 http://www.samsung.com/global/microsite/galaxytab/

rumour has it that it will be out June 8, 2011...

bd250110

I've had a play with the Xoom, not sure what it was, just didn't like it. It was a bit heavy and bulky. It was a bit unwieldily.

TBH I would go for the iPad, yes you loose flash, but you gain thousands of apps. Apps make or break a tab, IMHO. Phones are about quickly checking info, tabs about getting something done, I dont think Android offers that ATM. Very few Android Tab apps, phone apps don't work very well either. I will revisit the Android tabs in 12-18 months, but right now the iPad is really the only game in town for tablets IMHO.Mainly because of the price - Moto, Sammyy, Asus charge about the same as an iPad, but dont offer the functionality, battery life or polish. The value proposition does not work.

TheDoc

A very top notch IT friend of mine got handed an Ipad free with work, and the upgrade along with all the iphones and his view on tablets was simple.

"Its a new technology with nothing that exciting, the true spectacular stuff wont happen for atleast another 18 months"

His first take is that his Ipad does nothing more then what his current laptop can do, but his laptop can do a million things more and better then his Ipad. A point no one can argue. I'm sorry I dont buy into the " But its great for casual browsing" If your spending €500 for casual browsing you need your head examined.

But hes most noted point

"The iphone is fine because I need my phone just there, know where things are and just have things work, but with a tablet, ipads are dirt, locked down uneditable garbage that requires a ton of money on top to just make it write a word file"

And thats so true, with the IiPad your stuck with IOS which I' mnot a fan off, and your just hopnig and praying for Apple to make things happen.

Atleast with Android, you can wait on other people to just do it for you in terms of opening up devices.

The ipad for me is probably a winner in terms of hardware and feel, but I originally had a hard on for tablets, I've gone completely off them entirely, cause realisticly, they cost more then a high spec laptop and dont do a 1/3 of the work.

mickoneill30

TheDoc wrote: »

I'm sorry I dont buy into the " But its great for casual browsing" If your spending €500 for casual browsing you need your head examined.

A lot of people buy laptops for casual browsing. My folks have a laptop and there is nothing they would use it for that can't be done on a tablet. If your friend was buying an Apple laptop he's paying €1000 at least.

I've a Xoom and it's not going to replace my laptop any time soon but I use my laptop for work and leisure while at home. For the leisure stuff (and that'd be a lot of users main use of a laptop) the tablet has replaced the laptop. It's just easier. For video / books / study notes the tablet turns on in a couple of seconds, has a great battery life and is much more handy to carry around than a laptop.
They'll never replace laptops but I think people are getting confused about their purpose.

TheDoc wrote: »

I've gone completely off them entirely, cause realisticly, they cost more then a high spec laptop and dont do a 1/3 of the work.

A high spec laptop would cost over a grand wouldn't it (even if it's not an Apple). A mediocre spec laptop will cost the same price as a tablet.

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

Either way I've decided to hold off on Android tablets for now because none of them have a usb host port (Asus can do this but the port is on the keyboard add on).

That is a valid point and I thought the lack of a USB host would be annoying but I do everything wirelessly with mine now, haven't needed to plug it in, in ages. Android 3.1 has USB host updates and I know there's a min -> standard USB adapter you can get but I haven't researched it too much as I don't need it. Might be worth looking up if that is a major stumbling block for you.

Royale with Cheese

I could do things wirelessly but I'd intend on the tablet almost replacing my laptop at home and I don't see how it could ever do that without a usb port. Since they recently added host mode in a Honeycomb update I'd expect to see tablets with proper USB ports on them before long.

And I'd agree with the comments about IOS. If Apple are going to go down the closed route with the iPad like they have with the iPhone then I'd steer well clear. I think Android tablets have the potential to eventually replace laptops for people who use them at home on the couch. With the kind of restrictions Apple like to put on their devices I can't see an iPad doing that.

él statutorio

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

Just been up in PC World comparing the Asus and the Motorola, imo the Motorola is a lot nicer. The asus just seems oversized, whereas the Motorola feels a lot nicer in the hand and takes up less space outside of its screen.

Originally I wanted to pick up the Asus because of the price and the keyboard add on, but I'm not so sure now. Either way I've decided to hold off on Android tablets for now because none of them have a usb host port (Asus can do this but the port is on the keyboard add on). Also the Asus may be cheaper but it has 16gb less onboard storage. When a 32gb Transformer is released it will be priced nearer what the Motorola sells for.

The Acer has a USB host port. I have one and it takes keys and external drives without a problem. The 3.1 update will include support for a load more USB devices. Personally I hope to use a USB >serial cable for connecting to Unix server console ports.

bd250110

I think things do get slightly skewed on forums like these. Reality is most consumers will be driven by price. They just don care about Flash, being "open" or "locked down". They might be a bit miffed about USB for a bit, but many people use cloud based services these days. Most customers care that the device is cheap and works as advertised or as well as/better than Mr Jones next door. Mr average consumer sees a line of tablets on the shelf in PC World. The iPad is €479 and all the other comparable Android tabs are a similar price, if not more expensive. Mr. Average is likely to already have an iPod, or his kids will. He probably has iTunes on his computer already. The media go into a frenzy at the combination of "apple, "new" and "iDevice", yet hardly a peep about other tabs. Can hardly blame him for thinking the iPad might be a good option.
I know it's early days for the Android tabs, but it is kinda like Nokia's smartphone problem. Not enough customers will buy into it on the hope of tomorrow being better, but no developers will develop unless there is decent financial reward, so there are few compelling apps, in turn putting customers off.
Android on phones gained traction because Apple and Networks priced the iPhone at a high end level, so there was room to undercut. Over time the iPhone came down in price and the droids gained functionality, improved user interfaces and handset quality/specs. But iPad is very aggressively priced and has the massive iTunes/iOS/iPod user base behind it too. I just don't see how Android (and WP7 and Meego) based tabs can differentiate themselves in the market? I think the market share in the Tablet market might be more like the iPod share of the MP3 market, rather than the iPhone share of the phone market.

Im not trolling here, I honestly dont believe there is all that much between the 10" tabs. It's more a comment on the industry than anything else.

ct5amr2ig1nfhp

I'm in the same boat. Was looking at these three. Had a chance to play with the Xoom and the Acer in BestBuy last week. The Xoom for whatever reason feels a lot heavier in the hands. Both are lovely machines.
They didn't have the Asus in the store. You can only buy it online from BestBuy at the minute.

I've pretty much ruled out the Xoom though - it's just too pricey.

breeno

I think I'm leaning towards the asus after looking ar a few reviews on YouTube. Carphone warehouse are selling them and will allow trade ins of an old phone against the tablet. I have an old iPhone 3GS lying around that they'll give me 150 for. Which would mean I'd get the asus for 280 which is pretty good I think!

the-ging

Pyro Boy wrote: »

I'd wait for the samsung galaxy 10.1 http://www.samsung.com/global/microsite/galaxytab/

rumour has it that it will be out June 8, 2011...

Its the 8th of June in the States, who knows if or when it'll be released over here.

breeno

Doesn't the galaxy 10.1 have touchwiz on top of honeycomb? Wouldn't be for me if that was the case.

robz18

you'd be able to get rid of touchwiz easily enough surely?
anyway, heres a nice review of the 10.1 tab
http://www.androidcentral.com/samsung-galaxy-tab-101-review-google-io-special-edition

breeno

So I got the asus transformer in the end and I must say that I absolutely love it so far! Very happy with my choice and look forward to playing around further with it! Movies look great on the screen and the browser is just like Google chrome which is great. Some of the apps dont look quite right on the bigger screen but its no big deal. Does anybody know of a shop that sells cases for the Asus? Ideally one that would double as a stand.