I want an iPad-like tablet but not an iPad

[mrstickball]

rocketpig said:

mrstickball said:

rocketpig said:

The iPad doesn't require a contract of any kind, Stickball and the 32GB iPad 3G is $729. That's a far cry from a $799 Xoom.

I'll give you that the Xoom has an additional storage slot. That's handy but the iPad outputs both USB and HDMI via the bottom adapter. That's hardly a selling point for the Xoom.

My apologies. When I saw that they listed prices for the AT&T/Verizon 3G pads, I assumed they required the 2yr contract.

Alternatively, you could always get the 2 year contract and save ~$129. My only thing about the bottom USB/HDMI addapter is that (and correct me if I'm wrong) you'd be only able to use one at a time vs. the Xoom having dedicated ports, which I would personally prefer.

I don't know about battery life on the iPad, but I do know that user reports of the Xoom are incredibly favorable.

Oh, the Xoom looks like a great tablet and if I wanted a tablet, I might buy one before an iPad but I'm wary of 16:10 screens on tablets as initial reports are saying that they're hard to hold in portrait mode because they're so top-heavy. Upon hearing that, it makes more sense why Apple went with a 4:3 screen. Anyway, right now, the iPad has price superiority over its competition. Kind of strange to say that about an Apple product but it's true.

The iPad 2 has some crazy adapter for the bottom shown in one pic on the Apple store so it's possible that both USB and HDMI could be output at the same time. Not really sure at this point because Apple is being typically vague about their technical specs for the device.

Apple is claiming ten hours of battery life on the iPad 2. The Xoom might be slightly better (I'd have to look it up) but I doubt it's much more than that. Ten hours is a pretty good number for that device and its size.

Reports put Xoom at 14-16hrs with very heavy use.