As Android tablets have grown in popularity, I've had my chance to toy around with some of them, and now even own one! Having been an IOS user beforehand, getting the chance to use one was something I had looked forward to for a long time. From what I understood, Android Operating Systems were pretty much like the Linux of touch screen devices; they encouraged open source, and were much easier to modify/work with. Since using an Android tablet, that has proven to be very much the case from what I've seen.
I originally began typing this article from an Acer Iconia Tab a500.The first thing about this tablet that struck me as great about it was the fact that the keyboard typed so smoothly (which I've found differs among different devices. Some work beautifully with the keyboard, and some do not; which is mostly determined by the hardware in the tablet). The Iconia Tab comes with 16GB of internal storage, which is pretty good considering apps, and the files you'd most likely store on it; but for that point when you run out of space on it (which will likely happen eventually), it has a slot where you can add a Micro SD card, which can get you up to an additional 32GB. As far as space goes for this, it's great. If for some reason that is not enough however, there is a USB port on the right and side of the tablet that allows you to connect flash drives, and some external HDD's. Memory is clearly not an issue with this tablet.
Another nifty feature it has that most others don't is an HDMI out port, which allows you to connect your display to the television. You can simply plug it in, switch your TV to the proper input, and watch movies from Netflix straight to the television, or even play a touch screen game using the tablet as the controller, and the TV as the screen! On the very bottom of the tablet is a plug where you can connect it to a separate dock that is sold by Acer. Outside of these main features, there is a USB micro port you can use to connect it to your computer, a standard headphone jack, and a switch that allows you to toggle screen rotation. It also comes with two built-in cameras, one front facing webcam style, and one on the back for shooting videos.
As forememtioned, the tablet is snappy and rarely will you notice any lag, thanks to it's 1GHz Dual Core Processor and NVidia Graphics. One of the few things I've found the tablet somewhat present a very slight lag with was with Live Wallpapers. Outside of that, this tablet handles pretty much everything quite well. It's great all around for both media, and creativity/schoolwork, as well as gaming and social networking.
The main downside so far to the Iconia a500 is that it (so far) is not upgradable to Android 4.0 (aka "Ice Cream Sandwich") which was released in January of 2012, but it definitely holds it's own without it.
Now, moving along to the Motorola Xoom.
The Motorola Xoom is basically the gaming rig of tablets. The UI is extremely responsive; even with a Live Wallpaper going. The Xoom WiFi edition comes with up to 32GB of internal memory (and room for expansion with a microSD card). Unlike the Iconia Tab, the Xoom does not feature a USB port, but it does have an HDMI Output as well.
The Motorola Xoom comes with Android 3.1, but is upgradable to 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich). The nice thing about the Xoom, aside from it's massive amounting of storage, is the hardware inside it that allows you to game on it flawlessly. It runs so smoothly with virtually any app, and almost no delay when opening/running/switching between them.
The Iconia Tab a500 is due to recieve the Android 4.0 Update in April of 2012, so for those who are worried about getting one due to not having the new OS running on it; fear not!
For those of you wondering what is the difference between Android 3.2 and 4.0, or what the Android OS even is, I will be making another article at a later date of the two android Operating Systems and their features, so stay tuned! (More on the Xoom in that article as well, as a good number of the features I want to discuss deal directly with Ice Cream Sandwich.)
-Preston
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