Nook Tablet vs Droid Xyboard 8.2: Tablet Smackdown

Nook Tablet is a great seven inch tablet in the sub-$300 range, while the Droid Xyboard 8.2 is a 4G-enabled full feature tablet that requires a two-year contract and data plan if you want it for the $430 price. That means the Xyboard should be twice as good as the Nook Tablet because without the Verizon subsidy, Xyboard costs $600.

For that price, you would get Wi-Fi only (though you could still buy the data plan without the contract), an 8.2-inch screen, 1280x800p resolution, 16 gigabytes of on-board storage, a five megapixel rear-facing camera and Android 3.2 Honeycomb. Nook Tablet costs $250 and comes with Wi-Fi, good battery life, 1024x600p resolution, no cameras and no access to the Android Market and their huge supply of apps.

Droid Xyboard beats Nook Tablet on apps, cameras and screen size, and should eventually get the Android 4.0 update when Google begins rolling it out. The question is how much are each of those features worth because their screen sizes are pretty close, and the resolution is closer than it looks too. Nook Tablet has nearly the same pixel density as the Xyboard despite its lower resolution. Nook Tablet has a 169 ppi compared to Xyboard's 184 ppi. They are similar enough in that respect that the only way to see if one is better than the other is to put them side by side. Now it just comes down to cameras and apps. If those are slam dunk itemst that you need on your tablet, Nook Tablet may come up just a bit short. Xyboard's main selling point is the 4G speeds, but for some that will also count against it due to the extra data plan and Verizon contract. Nook Tablet wins this smackdown because of its price and the fact that while it can't get apps from the Android Market, there are apps available from Nook Apps. Tell us in the comments if you've been good this year and if Santa might bring you a new tablet computer.