Engadget Review is UP!

[wg#AC]

I just noticed that thus far, PCMag is the only major site/reviewer to constantly remind everyone "it's not as good as the iPad".

Someone stick a fork in my eyeball.

I could not agree more...

One of the spots in there revies really made me question they reviewer as an Iphone fan boy. When he started talking about the programs and that there are not very many programs out for the Zoom just yet. All I was thinking was look who is calling the kettle black. I remember when the ipad first came out a friend of mine is a real big iphone/apple fan and remember him talking about how there were no tablet applications in the apple market and that because everything was designed around the low res of the ipone 3g and 3gs that they look honorable on the ipad and that he was pissed because he was going to have to buy new programs when they finally released the news ones for the ipad...

Throughout the entire review he kept wanting to say how great the Xoom is then he would go off on how bad something was.

Now dont get me wrong I never expected the Xoom to be perfect and I expected some hiccups when I first pick it up. I knew there were going to be upgrades and I think everyone here knew it to. It is a whole new OS after all.

Now I am not excusing Motorola for all of the short comings of the Xoom and the software. Why in the world do you know have the memory card slot working? why no Flash these little things I buy it knowing they will be fixed but they are things that should not need to be fixed. It would be like someone releasing a mother board with idea of needing to release drivers for the HDD at a later date. what good does that do the consumer to buy it then. So was this rushed, It sure feels like it. But in comparison to other tablets and even the Ipad it has a lot to offer for the price point that no one on the apple side seemed to have a problems paying for theirs. So for him to say it is to much to pay for device that as he puts it outclasses the ipad in every way how??

 

[Menno]

Remember original ipad only got an 8 from them.

 

[daiden]

I could not agree more...

One of the spots in there revies really made me question they reviewer as an Iphone fan boy. When he started talking about the programs and that there are not very many programs out for the Zoom just yet. All I was thinking was look who is calling the kettle black. I remember when the ipad first came out a friend of mine is a real big iphone/apple fan and remember him talking about how there were no tablet applications in the apple market and that because everything was designed around the low res of the ipone 3g and 3gs that they look honorable on the ipad and that he was pissed because he was going to have to buy new programs when they finally released the news ones for the ipad...

The iPad had a bunch of applications available when it launched. Apple released the SDK specifically for this purpose.

Granted, some of the other points made in the review may have been unfair, but don't fall into the same traps. Don't be a fanboy. Give credit where credit is due instead of making up nonsense to try to make yourself feel better about some piece of software that has no relevance to your life. People can exist in the world and like whatever they want, you shouldn't try to dictate what that is. Just enjoy technology for what it is. If you like the Xoom, that's great (I certainly do). But don't feel like you have to belette other people based on their opinions. That's just childish. iPads and Xooms can co-exist peacefully, no one tablet will fit the needs of every person in the world.

 

[Droid800]

I could not agree more...

One of the spots in there revies really made me question they reviewer as an Iphone fan boy. When he started talking about the programs and that there are not very many programs out for the Zoom just yet. All I was thinking was look who is calling the kettle black. I remember when the ipad first came out a friend of mine is a real big iphone/apple fan and remember him talking about how there were no tablet applications in the apple market and that because everything was designed around the low res of the ipone 3g and 3gs that they look honorable on the ipad and that he was pissed because he was going to have to buy new programs when they finally released the news ones for the ipad...

Except the iPad did have apps because Apple gave the devs lead time to build apps before it was released.

Throughout the entire review he kept wanting to say how great the Xoom is then he would go off on how bad something was.

Well, most people don't want to know how great something is. They want to know where the pain points are so they can figure out whether they can live with them.

Now dont get me wrong I never expected the Xoom to be perfect and I expected some hiccups when I first pick it up. I knew there were going to be upgrades and I think everyone here knew it to. It is a whole new OS after all.

Now I am not excusing Motorola for all of the short comings of the Xoom and the software. Why in the world do you know have the memory card slot working? why no Flash these little things I buy it knowing they will be fixed but they are things that should not need to be fixed. It would be like someone releasing a mother board with idea of needing to release drivers for the HDD at a later date. what good does that do the consumer to buy it then. So was this rushed, It sure feels like it. But in comparison to other tablets and even the Ipad it has a lot to offer for the price point that no one on the apple side seemed to have a problems paying for theirs. So for him to say it is to much to pay for device that as he puts it outclasses the ipad in every way how??

The memory slot thing is on Google. Honeycomb can't handle microSD yet, apparently, but a patch is coming.

The Flash thing isn't a big deal; 10.1 is not compatible with Honeycomb and 10.2 won't be out yet for a little bit.

He said it was too much because you're a guinea pig for Google, and you have to pay dearly for it. He also didn't say it outclasses the iPad in every way, he said it does in some ways but doesn't in others.

Had the OS actually been finished the review would have been different. Almost all of the niggles have to do with incomplete software.

 

[Stang68]

I already just got two market updates with "Added Honeycomb tablet support" in the Recent Changes section. This makes me very happy as developers are working with the Honeycomb SDK! I looked at the process and it looks pretty darn easy actually, if you're just looking to update it for Honeycomb. To actually write it for Honeycomb looks like a different language since I don't know the first thing about developing!

I think we can all agree that Google should have released the SDK earlier but they didn't. Either way, we'll see updates sooner rather than later.

 

[superbike81]

Anandtech did a great comprehensive review on the Xoom. In their tests, loading web pages from a local server, the Xoom COMPLETELY ANNIHILATED the iPad, it loaded pages on average about 5 times faster. They also showed battery tests browsing the web on both 3G and Wi-Fi, the Xoom matched or beat the iPad in both battery life tests.

Also, I see lots of these reviewers doing battery life tests and saying it's less than the iPad, but what they aren't mentioning for some reason, is that the Xoom battery is HALF the size of the iPad battery. This means even though you may get 8 hours instead of 11, you can recharge it in half the time. This also means (for all the people who said Honeycomb and the Tegra 2 will eat up the battery life) that if the Xoom had a similar sized battery to the iPad, it would get about 16 hours of video playback compared to the iPad's 11. So not only is the new hardware and OS technically better, it's also much easier on the battery.

I'm sold. Calling my sister back in the US to see if she'll go pick one up for me and mail it to me (I live in Japan).



edit:

As far as Flash goes, I read somewhere that until 10.2 is available, we could install a beta version that they have been running on the demo units. Is that false?

 

[cparker5]

The iPad had a bunch of applications available when it launched. Apple released the SDK specifically for this purpose.

Granted, some of the other points made in the review may have been unfair, but don't fall into the same traps. Don't be a fanboy. Give credit where credit is due instead of making up nonsense to try to make yourself feel better about some piece of software that has no relevance to your life. People can exist in the world and like whatever they want, you shouldn't try to dictate what that is. Just enjoy technology for what it is. If you like the Xoom, that's great (I certainly do). But don't feel like you have to belette other people based on their opinions. That's just childish. iPads and Xooms can co-exist peacefully, no one tablet will fit the needs of every person in the world.

Spot on man!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[ThrasherJP1984]

Didn't expect any other kind of review from Engadget. Nothing except Apple gets higher than 8 on it.

you are absolutely right i have looked through hundreds of reviews on engadget and if apple doesnt make it they give it a crappy score.

 

[Wenjaman]

you are absolutely right i have looked through hundreds of reviews on engadget and if apple doesnt make it they give it a crappy score.

Atrix 4G and Evo 4G both got a 9/10. They give credit where credit is due.

 

[Outrigger#WN]

you are absolutely right i have looked through hundreds of reviews on engadget and if apple doesnt make it they give it a crappy score.

Just because they didn't give a score that you would have liked? When it comes down to it, its all personal opinion, you can pretty much say all sites are biased. Engadget is basing its opinion on something that they played with. What are you basing your opinions on? Have you ever used, touched a Xoom? I highly doubt it.

 

[ChuckG73]

If the Xoom was an Apple product or better yet was released to Engadget with an apple logo and not any other information they would have smacked it with a 10/10. You have to be kidding me...

 

[dwboston]

If the Xoom was an Apple product or better yet was released to Engadget with an apple logo and not any other information they would have smacked it with a 10/10. You have to be kidding me...

I've been a huge Engadget critic the past few years, but I didn't find this review to be that negative, especially coming from Topolsky. The key is ignoring the "7/10" and focusing on the write-up, which was really pretty good.

The BGR review was much more objectionable. Geller apparently hates tablets and finds Honeycomb "not innovative". Of course he'll be thrilled with whatever Apple serves up next week.

I thought the Slashgear review was the best so far. Very fair and objective.