As someone who has been using Android devices for the past year, I was very excited about the Xoom and picked one up on day one. I also picked up an iPad 2 on day one which is by first ever iOS device.
XOOM Thoughts: The first two or three days I had the XOOM I was very unimpressed. Sure the operating system looks cool, but in real world usage, it was worthless to me. As an engineering student, tech journalist, and YouTube Partner, the Motorola XOOM wasn't of much use. It has NO applications. In the month it's been out it's only gained like 35 apps. I don't know what you guys use tablets for, but I use them to be more productive in work and school, not to just browse the web and tinker with.
Android Honeycomb has potential but it's super buggy and laggy. There have been instances where my XOOM was on standby mode and it simply wouldn't wake up! I thought the damn thing was broken, then it decided to wake up 5 minutes later. I've seen my fair share of random reboots, widgets crashing, lagginess when going from screen to screen, and the home screen appearing blank when i return from an application. It's really annoying. Web browsing is good, but as someone who browses over 20 different sites daily, flash isn't as important as die hard android fanboys make it out to be. Sure it's useful here and there, but saying the iPad cant view 95% of the web is pure ignorance and only shows you have never owned one.
Hardware wise the XOOM is not a slouch. It is a tad heavy for me to hold in one hand, especially while in bed reading books. Holding it in portrait mode is extremely awkward because of the unnatural dimensions and the branding on the side of the screen. The display is also not as good as the iPad 2's. IPS has superior viewing angles, color saturation, and sharpness. Sure, you wouldn't notice if all you had was the XOOM, but as a tech reviewer I found the screen to be disappointing in certain areas almost immediately. It's also impossible to read in direct sunlight.
iPad 2 Thoughts: It is my first iOS device so these impressions are from a long time android user. I always had the preconceived notion that iOS was so "boring and stale" when compared to android. Like many others, I said this without ever owning an iOS device, which is ignorant. If you find it truly boring, you must have ADD. iOS has SOOOO many more quality applications and games than android its not even funny. The same apps I've used on android are almost always much higher quality on iOS. Furthermore, iOS has some of the best games I've seen. Infinity blade, Real Racing 2 HD, Dead Space, Final Fantasy 1-3, World of Goo, the list just goes on. It feels like a gaming console. I didn't know this until getting an iPad, but every game android gets has been on iOS for several months in the past, it's ridiculous.
Sure iOS doesn't have widgets and its only screens filled with icons. But what do you get in return? Netflix, Hulu, TONS of amazing games, TONS of quality applications, and an overall more stable product. It's much thinner than the XOOM, and it makes a difference for someone who reads a lot of eBooks. The iPad actually has the same dimensions as a book so it's more natural to hold. Build quality on both devices is really good, but I give the iPad 2 the slight edge. It's thinner, and the back doesn't attract dirt, fingerprints, and scratches as much as the XOOM does.
Sure, you may not have flash or tabbed browsing natively, but those features really don't make a big difference. You can have different windows open on iOS and by clicking a button right by the search bar you can quickly jump between different windows. Furthermore, when I had the XOOM I was surprised to see that not many sites I visit even use flash. I expected browsing to be totally crippled, but it isn't. Additionally, many sites are optimized for viewing on iOS devices. If you go to gametrailers.com you can actually view all of the content as it has a special plugin for iOS devices, MANY sites do this now. Many people here will try to deny this, but those are the people who don't have both devices in front of them and are fanboys.
The iPad 2 is actually useful for me in class unlike the XOOM. I have a ton of applications for astronomy, calculus, chemistry etc. Whereas my XOOM has nothing. I brought it to class a few times and I felt stupid because it had no apps.
Whether you value widgets and customization over quality applications and games is up to you. But at least me personally, i wouldn't want to spend upwards of $500 on a tablet just to browse the web and tinker with. No ones going to compliment you on how cool your theme is, but I am sure as hell they will be surprised when you show them the Elements Period Table or Infinity Blade on iOS.
Just like p*rn pushed the business for VHS, DVD and created the drive for broadband (you know it did), the iPad would sell even more than it is now 
