Tablet Shootout: Motorola Xoom vs ASUS Eee Slate EP121

In the Android camp at CES 2011, it was Motorola Xoom which stole the show; however there were a few tablets in the Windows camp too, which sported super-heavy specifications that are capable of taking the might of Xoom.

One such contender is the powerful tablet from the ASUS camp, the Eee Slate EP121, which boasts specifications that many Android tablets cannot match. But with the baggage of Windows 7 behind it can it muscle its way up the tablet charts, past Motorola Xoom.

The ASUS Slate EP121 is a Humvee among tablets, sporting a 12.1-inch display screen with a screen resolution of 1280x800 while Xoom flaunts a 10.1-inch display with a 1280x800 resolution.

However, size is not all that matters as the larger screen means added weight and the Eee Slate EP121 weighs 2.5 pounds compared to Xoom's 1.6 pounds. Also EP121's battery returns a paltry 3.5 hours compared to Xoom's 10 hours.

Earlier editions of Android tablets were afflicted with battery drain issues but the newly crafted Android 3.0 or Honeycomb addresses this issue, as seen by Xoom's battery performance. Windows 7 on tablets has been plagued with battery performance issues and even though the EP121 uses the power optimized Intel Core processor the i5 470UM, battery performance hasn't improved. Microsoft is planning to now create a new Windows OS specifically crafted to optimize the ARM CPU architecture for smartphones and tablets as ARM architecture-based chips are supposed to be more power efficient. However, the ARM architecture is not well suited for multi-tasking features which Windows 7 provides.

Xoom is powered by a Nvidia Tegra 2 dual core processor which clocks 1Ghz while the Intel Core i5 processor clocked 1.3 Ghz with 4 GB RAM.

The Eee Slate EP121 comes in 32 GB and 64 GB internal memory configuration with 2 GB and 4 GB RAM. Compared to this Xoom comes in only 32 GB with 1 GB RAM. The feature rich Windows 7 requires such memory configuration to run faster as Windows 7 is considered too feature rich an OS for tablets.

The Xoom scores over EP121 in the camera segment as it flaunts a 5 MP rear-facing and 2 MP front facing camera while the EP121 has a single 2 MP front facing camera.

The ASUS Eee Slate is positioned as a tablet that breeds both enterprise and entertainment capabilities. It flaunts HDMI port and also comes with a stylus which uses Windows 7's handwriting recognition capabilities which can come handy while taking notes.

Motorola Xoom offers a built-in barometer which is used by meteorologists to gauge the atmospheric pressure. The barometer comes along side an accelerometer, magnetometer, ambient light sensor and gyroscope. These sensors are not recoreded in the EP121 specifications.

However the greatest advantage that Xoom has over the EP121 is pricing as the ASUS tablet costs $1099 while Xoom's tentative pricing places it between $700 and $800.

Here is a comparison between Motorola Xoom and ASUS Eee Slate EP121: