Who’d a thunk? Consumer Reports says that the iPad 2 is the best tablet out there right now, compared to models from Archos, Dell, Motorola, Samsung, and ViewSonic.
Of course, since Consumer Reports still stupidly clings to its insistence that they can’t recommend the iPhone 4, which is still the best and most in-demand smartphone on the market, you know their recommendation of the iPad 2 is going to come with some backhanded compliments.
“So far, Apple is leading the tablet market in both quality and price, which is unusual for a company whose products are usually premium priced,” said Paul Reynolds, Electronics Editor at Consumer Reports. “However, it’s likely we’ll see more competitive pricing in tablets as other models begin to hit the market.”
If CR is implying that other companies are going to undercut iPad on price, that’s not necessarily likely at all, at least soon. Apple controls a huge chunk of the tablet supply chain right now, and while that hold will loosen with time, right now it seems like Apple’s the only company out there who can really make a $500 tablet without selling it at a loss.
Either way, though, the iPad 2 did well in Consumer Reports’ estimation, and at the end of the day, they recommended the 32GB iPad 2 with 3G as the best value for the price. Hey, that’s the one I have!
John Brownlee is a writer for Fast Company, and a contributing writer here at CoM. He has also written for Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, VentureBeat, and Gizmodo. He lives in Boston with his wife and two parakeets. You can follow him here on Twitter.
17 responses to “Consumer Reports: iPad 2 Is Best Tablet Around”
How The Hell can the Ipad2 be the best Tablet out there when it has the worst camera built into it not to mention it has been the known by many to have screen bleeding problems which has been a hot topic on the appleinsider forum with many people complaining about this problem.
its blogs like these , that hype a pathethic product …. ipad2 is really disappointing!!
who cares what “consumer reports” has to say! They don’t have any credibility left!
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iPad2 32 GB vs Xoom 32 GB
RAM 512 MB iPad vs 1 Ghz Xoom
No USB port iPad (need external sd/usb adapters *) vs USB port Xoom
No SD Card slot iPad (need external sd/usb adapters *$29) vs SD Card slot Xoom
No HDMI output port iPad (need external adapter $39) vs HDMI output port Xoom
Screen 9.7 iPad vs 10.1 Xoom
Screen 1024 x 768 iPad vs 1280 x 800 Xoom
Screen ppi 132 iPad vs 150 Xoom
No Camera flash “bulb” iPad vs Camera flash “bulb” Xoom
Camera Rear less than 1 MP (0.92) iPad vs 5 MP Xoom
Camera Front less than 1 MP (0.7) iPad vs 2 MP Xoom
Speaker 1 iPad vs 2 Speakers Xoom
3G iPad vs 3G Xoom
No 4G iPad vs 4G LTE Xoom
No Barometer sensor iPad vs Barometer sensor Xoom
No Browser Tabs iPad vs Browser Tabs Xoom
No Adobe Flash Player iPad vs Adobe Flash Player Xoom
Requires iTunes even for file transfers iPad vs Normal file transfers – USB, SD card, etc. Xoom
Wifi Price 599+29+39=$667 iPad vs $599 Xoom
3G Price 729+29+39+$797 iPad vs $799 Xoom(3/4G LTE)
Carry On: Tablet + 3 adapters (USB,SD,HDMI) iPad vs Tablet only Xoom
How does Apple control the tablet supply chain?
iPad 2 is surely in top 3 now but the best tablet claim is questionable due to new tablets coming from Android side. But, I think iPad 2 is still worth of buying for the price tag.
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