[Xoom General] theoner1:
Nice writeup, ty mate. I was on the fence of either keeping the xoom (bought Dec 21 open box for $348) or pay $499 for Asus prime. I was lucky to pick up the prime locally on the Dec 26, was super excited couldn't wait to go home and compare it to the xoom. Boy I was super disappointed, screen bleed like crazy (worst than my Evo 4g, and Evo got it bad) , 7 dead pixel and absolutely non working gps. Returned it next day and again lucky enough they had one more left for me to swap. Store clerk suggested I'd open it right there and then to inspect it, which I did. 2nd one was better no major screen bleed and only a couple tiny dead pixel, which I can live with. Tested GPS and was able to lock outside the store eventually. Told the clerk this might be a keeper, again really really excited.

Got in the car, tether the prime to my phone. Open up Google nav and finally got lock after like 10-12 mins, long time compare to my phone or the xoom. Drove away and shortly after notice the Google nav was way off and inaccurate, OK keep driving maybe it fixes itself. Drove for about a mile this thing telling me GPS lost signal and just stuck at searching. Damn the whole trip home the prime GPS was useless.

finally get to compare the xoom to the prime. I came from the evo 4g which have one of the worst camera on a phone as far as low light goes, so my expectation is high for the prime which advertise to have sensor that allow awesome capture and recording in low light environment. Side by side I quickly test the xoom and prime out in low light. In low light the prime picture is over expose by the flash where as the xoom picture came out nice and well balance as far as light exposure goes. I even lower the exposure and set ISO manually and the picture doesn't come out any better than the xoom. I'm no expert by any means but my eyes can tell which picture looks better and the xoom does an excellent job in low light compare to those of the prime. Video recording the prime can do up to 1080p and xoom only in 720p and below. Again in low light the xoom killed the prime in video recording. The prime recording came out with a lot more noise and color are a little too orange. The xoom seem a bit wash out but a lot more natural looking then those of the prime. High light or day light doesn't really matter they both look good, heck my evo 4g looks good in day light.

I played with almost all the available tablets camera including the big name ipad2, Samsung, Acer and Toshiba and IMO the xoom is the best and ipad2 is the worst camera in a tablet. People gonna laugh as why I care so much about the camera is not like it can replace any point and shoot camera anyways, but I just do, sorry. Lol, not that im hauling this thing around with me to take photo and video but nice to have it when you need it.

On the other hand the prime display is stunning, rocking IPS+ and is super gorgeous, something i wish the xoom would have. Battery on the prime is also better. Prime is lighter which is more comfortable to hold, but I like the xoom design better. I'm sure prime have a lot more horse power due to the new teg3 and gpu.

But between the non working gps, dead pixel, not so stellar camera and higher price, those right there is enough for me to return the prime and keep the the xoom. Now that I've read your review of the Xyboard comes with ips display I'm over here drooling over it. I'll be super happy if the xoom comes with IPS display, but can't justify paying the high price of the Xyboard. So Congrats! on your new purchase my friend I'm sure you'll have a great time with your new toy. now for me this $348 xoom is good to hold me of until Motorola or the rest drop something new in my price range and with IPS display (will not settle for less).