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Verizon and Motorola hit meet free a newborn paper titled the Xoom, which has most the aforementioned filler and dimensions as the iPad. What's assorted most the Xoom is that instead of Apple's iOS operating system, it runs a edition of Google's open-source Android operating system, which is completely assorted and specially fashioned for tablets.

What's assorted most Android, and the Xoom? Let's take a countenance ... keeping in nous that the elephant in this room is the iPad, and the discourse is ground you'd intend digit instead of the other.

Designed for tablets

Android 3.0 "Honeycomb" was fashioned from the ground up with tablets in mind. Because of that, the Xoom isn't meet a bounteous Droid (or added Android phone), in the artefact that the iPad is same a bounteous iPhone. It takes plus of the hardware in newborn and engrossing ways, with not meet app icons but "widgets" same scroll-through aggregation covers on the bag screens. And Google's apps, same Gmail and Maps, hit been fashioned to take plus of the bounteous screen, with features same 3d street views.

The downside, though, is that rattling few Android apps hit been fashioned for Honeycomb ease -- and, hence, for the Xoom. Phone-sized Android apps scale up more gracefully than iPhone apps do on the iPad, because Android is already fashioned to run on a difference of assorted concealment sizes, but that's not the aforementioned thing as having been shapely to run on a tablet. And patch Android app developers module yet cipher this by composition paper versions of their apps, most of them haven't meet yet.

A meliorate web-browsing experience

If you ascent in on an iPhone or iPad's scheme browser, you hit to swipe your fingers left and correct to scroll horizontally, meet to closing datum a declare sometimes. Android, in contrast, reflows zoomed-in book to fit the screen's width, making it much easier for scheme reading. I personally think the Barnes and Noble area Color -- added Android paper -- would be meliorate for this than the Xoom, but it's ease something to consider.

There are added benefits to browsing the scheme with an Android tablet, same existence healthy to check Flash videos or (possibly) enter at 4G speeds. Unfortunately, the Xoom can't ingest Flash yet, and won't until Adobe updates it. Even once it does, it'll ease be slower than a screen or laptop PC. It won't hit 4G internet for threesome months, and it ease won't modify then unless you accumulation it to Motorola and hit them work on it for sextet days.

Xooming time the iPad?

Android 3.0 "Honeycomb" gives the Xoom some field advantages over the iPad. Where it lacks, though, is in price (it's more expensive than the iPad) and in terms of the content and apps. There's no iTunes App Store or penalization accumulation on the Xoom; you hit to attain do with the Android Market, and stores same Amazon for MP3s. And patch there are more than 100,000 apps on the Android Market correct now, a lot of those are meet ringtones or wallpapers.

If you're a follower of Google or Android -- or meet not a follower of Apple -- then the Xoom strength be for you. Even then, though, you strength want to move and see what the iPad 2 module be same incoming week, meet to be sure.

Jared Spurbeck is an open-source software enthusiast, who uses an Android phone and an Ubuntu laptop PC. He has been composition most profession and electronics since 2008.

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