iPad 2 Again Leads The Marathon Tablet War

[Michael Knutson]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/why_the_ipad_2_wins_the_tablet_war/' target='_blank'>http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/arti...the_tablet_war/</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"The iPad 2 is off to a great start. It hasn't even shipped yet and it's getting rave reviews - applauded as "phenomenal" and clearly outpacing the competition. Yours truly just declared the iPad 2 a "winner.""</em></p><p><span><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/at/auto/1299479476.usr17748.jpg" style="border: 0;" /></span></p><p><span>Interesting perspective offering some guesses as to why Apple didn't add more features to the iPad 2. The main reason? Price. The competition is scrambling to see how (and if) they can match Apple on tablet price. This is a unique position for Apple, as their competitors have historically been seen as less-expensive, almost across the entire product line. Since Apple seems to be treating this competition as a marathon rather than a quick 100 meter dash, it'll be interesting to see how the other vendors react. Real competition is making -all- the vendors raise their game - to everyone's benefit.&nbsp;</span></p>

[Sven Johannsen]

Found particularly amusing the line, "The easy glib answer is: “For some people, it’s never enough. If Apple added 10 more features to the iPad 2, some blogger would still complain that you can’t use it to toast frozen waffles."

Occurs to me that has been a feature in Windows laptops for years. In fact some have actually been taken to task for 'roasting the chestnuts' if used in the lap as the name suggests. ;)

[Macguy59]

It's still about the end to end experience. High end hardware is useless in a tablet without a UI and apps that let you take advantage of it. Google has done some interesting things with Honeycomb but in it's current state, needs gobs of processing power. I've played with 2 Xooms and both were sluggish (even after reboots). The UI is clearly written for landscape mode and I'm not sure I like that. Although the weight is almost identical to iPad 1 , the Xoom felt heavier. Frankly I had a better experience with the Galaxy Tab.

P.S. Don't get me started on the difference in Google maps between the 2 platforms.