Just got the Xoom and so far I love it (typing on it right now). It’s a bit of a work in process (waiting on Flash, 4G, MicroSD), but for what it is now, it’s pretty awesome. I also have a Droid X, and all my paid apps downloaded and work perfectly. Now if we could just get Netflix on Android without using PlayOn.
The cheapest option is to pickup a $249 Nook Colour and root that puppy with FroYo. It’s a very servicable device for browsing and apps at an unbeatable price. The alternate OS is mounted to an sd card, so it’s a nearly risk free and painless procedure.
Personally, I,m holding out for an an HP Touchpad, but that’s because I love the webOS ecosystem.
Verizon Contract May Hinder Xoom Sales
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Not anytime soon at those prices.
Just released the iPad 2. Damn near cut it’s thickness in half, added forward and rear cameras, Verizon and At&T, dropped almost half a pound of weight, 1.2 GHz dual core A5 and 9x the graphics, (HDMI mirrored video out at 1080p - with an adapter) and kept the same 10 battery life for continuous use.
Same pricing as iPad 1.
Musicians are gonna love the new software available 8 track recording and editing for $4.99. As will video geeks.
Not a Xoom, but I love Android so I was eager to get on the early Android tablets. I liked the Galaxy Tab, especially the 7” screen, perfect for reading ebooks and web pages. But it was just too expensive for my taste.
I did some looking around and found the Archos 70, which admittedly isn’t that impressive out of the box, but if you’re comfy configuring it and customizing it (so that it has access to Android Market, etc), it’s excellent and priced at a very fair $300 or so.
I just use mine at home so I don’t need or want the added expense of data contracts, so it was just right for me.
The thing is, right now it is running Android 2.2, which isn’t optimized for tablets, and it probably won’t get an Android 3.0 upgrade, though the next generation of Archos machines will probably come with 3.0.
So it depends on what you want to use it for. I use mine for quick web browsing, checking emails, reading ebooks and pdfs, listening to radio stations via the internet, listening to audio books checked out at my library, and listening to podcasts. It does the trick at a fair price.
All of that stuff isn’t worth $600 or more, or a data contract.