Do you think the Android-camp now has an iPad killer?

I guess if you are a real Android junkie like myself, you probably have read a lot this week about the Motorola Xoom, the first Android tablet which will be sporting Android 3.0 Honeycomb. If you haven’t, here is a small list of its specs:

• Android 3.0
• 10.1 inch display
• Dual Core 1 Ghz CPU NVIDIA Tegra 2
• 1GB RAM
• 32 GB inbuilt memory with microSD Card slot
• 10 hr video playback battery life
• 5 MP Rear camera with Flash and  720p HD video capture and 1080p playback
• 2MP video calling camera
• Wifi(n) Bluetooth 2.1, 3G , 4G

If you compare this to the specs of the iPad, well I have to say the iPad is looking a little sad. But the best thing about the Xoom, I think, is the interface. Google has done a great job of adapting Android for the tablet world. The first big thing that Honeycomb has over iOS for the iPad is the ability to use the extended screen real estate to place widgets. Widgets can be very useful, displaying chunks of information on the homescreen without having to go into an app. And every techjunkies out there can back me up, the less clicks, the better. Plus widgets are far more useful content for such large screens then just using app shortcuts like on the iPad. I am really wondering when Apple decides to jump into the widget business after all. If they ever do so, they will probably say that they have waited 5 years because they wanted to do it ‘right’. Which was the same lame argument why they waited 3 years to implement multitasking on iOS, and even then, their version of multitasking is not really multitasking at all.

Also, because of the hugely increased processing- and GPU power of the current handsets and upcoming tablets, playing Flash content is a breeze and content runs really smooth in the mobile browsers of Android products. The Xoom supports Flash in its full glory and opens up the whole web for your viewing pleasure on its gorgeous 10.1 inch screen. The Blackberry Playbook will also support Flash and does so very nicely as can be seen in various preview clips. So for me, the arguments of Apple not to use Flash are getting a little old and since all their competition are going to support this large platform, I think it is just a matter of time that Apple has to give in and support Flash as well. Besides, their effort to promote HTML5 have not really amounted to a noticeable change or decrease of the use of Flash content on the web.

The Honeycomb interface promises lots of cool things, and the Google developers have really given a lot of attention to aesthetics, making Honeycomb a very pretty thing to look at. Plus, on an Android tablet you get to enjoy the full benefits of Google apps, like the awesome Google Body app which lets you manipulate a 3D view of the human body, offering different layers of viewing it (muscles, veins, bones…). So the revolution is at hand people, this year will prove which tablet platform will grow into the the King of Tablet Platforms. I am confident Android has got what it takes, what do you think? Do you think the iPad still has a leg on for instance the Xoom. Or do you think that upcoming iOS features will put Honeycomb to shame? Please fight it out in the comments!