Apple’s much anticipated iPad 2 was announced Wednesday, and we were interested in comparing the specs to both the original iPad and Motorola’s recently announced Xoom Android tablet.
As you can see below, both the iPad 2 and the Xoom each have a few specs in their favor, but the iPad 2 is clearly the best when it comes to size, weight, price, and battery life. Apple’s iPad 2 also has the benefit of LED backlighting, which for many will be enough to overcome the Xoom’s higher resolution (see below) in terms of picture quality). iPad also has both higher and lower storage options, making the device more flexible in terms of both usage and pricing.
The Xoom is the clear favorite in four categories, starting with its display resolution (1280 x 800 compared to 1024 x 768 for iPad and iPad 2). Some users who fancy holding a tablet up as a camera may fancy the Xoom’s back-camera flash, as well. The Xoom also features stereo speakers, a feature Apple doesn’t offer, and the device includes a full GB of RAM. The iPad featured 256MB, and it appears as if iPad 2 has double that, at 512MB.
We’ll have to wait to see what the nerds and wonks have to say about Apple’s A5 dual-core processor to see how it compares to the NVIDIA Tegra dual-core processor, but we expect them to be fairly comparable. Apple’s benefit here, however, is that the company was able to tailor-design its A5 to meet the precise needs of iPad 2 (and probably iPhone 5). NVIDIA has to meet the needs of multiple manufacturers and products, but it’s a very highly-rated processor.
Not included in the chart is the number of apps available for the Xoom and iPad family, largely because that might appear like we were cheating. Apple claims 60,000 apps are available for the iPad (and most of the other 290,000 iPhone apps will work in emulation mode), whereas the Xoom has a few score apps available to it.
Please note that the images below aren’t to scale.
 |  |  | |
| Product | Apple iPad 1 | Motorola Xoom | Apple iPad 2 |
| OS (current) | 4.2.1 | Android 3.0 | 4.3 |
| Dimensions (in.) | 9.56 x 7.47 x 0.52 | 9.8 x 6.6 x 0.5 | 9.5 x 7.31 x 0.34 |
| Weight (lbs) | 1.5 (Wi-Fi) 1.6 (3G) | 1.6 | 1.33 (Wi-Fi) 1.35 (GSM) |
| Display size (Diagonal) | 9.7” | 10.1” | 9.7” |
| Display Resolution | 1024 x 768 (w/LED Backlighting) | 1280 x 800 | 1024 x 768 (w/LED Backlighting) |
| Processor | A4 (single core) | NVIDIA Tegra dual core | A5 (dual core) |
| RAM (MB) | 256 | 1024 | 512? |
| User Storage (GB) | 16/32/64 | 32 | 16/32/64 |
| Front Camera | x | 2 MP | VGA |
| Rear Camera | x | 5 MP (720p) | HD (720p) |
| Camera Flash | x | √ | x |
| Microphone | √ | √ | √ |
| Audio/speaker | mono spkr, stereo headphone | stereo | mono spkr, stereo headphone |
| Wi-Fi | 802.11 a/b/g/n | 802.11 a/b/g/n | 802.11 a/b/g/n |
| 3G Radio (GSM) | UMTS/HSDPA/GSMEDGE | x | UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA/ GSM/EDGE |
| 3G Radio (CDMA) | x | CDMA, EV-DO | CDMA, EV-DO |
| Bluetooth | 2.1 + EDR | 2.1 + EDR | 2.1 + EDR |
| GPS | w/3G | √ | w/3G |
| Battery Life | 10 hr (25-watt-hr) | ~24.5 watt-hr | 10 hr (25 watt-hr) |
| Accelerometer | √ | √ | √ |
| Magnetometer (Compass) | √ | √ | √ |
| Gyroscope | x | √ | √ |
| Video out | x | HDMI 1.4 | HDMI (w/ accessory) |
| Sensors | Ambient Light | Ambient Light | Ambient Light |
| Colors | Black | Black | Black or White |
| Price (Wi-Fi) | $399/$499/$599 | Unannounced, but “around $600” | $499/$599/$699 |
| Price (3G) | $529/$629/$729 | $799 | $629/$729/$829 |
John Martellaro assisted with this article.
[Update: The article was updated with Apple’s new pricing on the original iPad. - Editor]