Motoroal Xoom Tablet: not quite iPad

[amirm]

This mirrors my experience with the first Andorid phones. Too buggy and lack a bit of polish. Hopefully Google can get it together as sales are sluggish right now....

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2380797,00.asp

"Pros
The first Android tablet with Google's tablet-specific Honeycomb OS. Fast. Beautiful, highly responsive touch screen. HDMI output for televison/computer monitor viewing.

Cons
User interface seems overcomplicated at times. While promised in the future, there's no support for Flash video or SD cards at launch. Android Market on the device is buggy. Few high-quality, must-have Honeycomb apps.

Bottom Line
The Motorola Xoom for Verizon Wireless is the best Android tablet yet, but with a lack of key features (like Flash video and SD card slot support) and mediocre apps at launch, it doesn't measure up to the Apple iPad."

 

[The Smokester]

There is a more geeky review online at anandTech.com. I will post a link later but it is on their front page.

Here is the link:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4191/motorola-xoom-review-first-honeycomb-tablet-arrives

 

[Phelonious Ponk]

And with iPad 2 about to be released, and hundreds of useful apps already available in iOS, the game of catch-up these devices will need to play is huge. And HDMI for TV/monitor viewing? Doesn't tethering such a device to a cable completely miss the point? That's so...2010.

Tim

PS: Anyone taking bets that they never get around to Flash?

 

[amirm]

Guy goes to the butcher and asks how much the steaks are. The butcher answers $20/pound. The customer answers, "but the guy across the street is selling for $10/pound!" The butcher asks, "if he is half the price, why don't you go and buy it from him?" Customer answers: "because he doesn't have any!"

Let's not compare what is here with what is not especially given how tight-lipped Apple can be.

I agree there is little reason to but an Android laptop right now especially since unlike phones, there is no carrier issue to worry about. Google is fast and lose with these releases. Wish they would do more quality control. In this respect, I think they are far worse that Microsoft. I could not even use their email client on my Android phone despite thousands of people complaining about the same crashes I was experiencing. It took two releases to get there.

 

[The Smokester]

The first page of the AnandTech.com article goes into a brief history of Android and its catch-up strategy with iOS. Not sure how knowledgeable it is.

In their conclusion they say:

"This conclusion is obviously unfair to Apple given the rumored impending release of the iPad 2, but if I had to buy a tablet today it’d probably be the Xoom.

If I wasn’t insane however, I’d wait to see what was being announced [by Apple] on March 2nd firsty."

I'd say this is pretty high praise for even the iPad 1 a year after it came out.

*** Update: I have purchased a xxoom. Excellent hardware. Good cell coverage with Verizon. Web surfing mostly better than desktop. Still a work in progress with Flash 4G external storage and many apps yet to appear.

 

[amirm]

Played with one at Costco. Not bad at all. The CPU seems quite fast. Navigation is a joy. The OS is different enough from what is on my Droid that I had to hunt around a bit. But still not too hard.

It is heavy though -- like the current iPad which is my main objection. So if iPad 2 is light, it will get more of my vote.

 

[amirm]

Nice commercial showing a bit of the UI and responsiveness of the unit:

 

[rblnr]

PS: Anyone taking bets that they never get around to Flash?

I think they'll get around to Flash as planned, question will be how well and universally it works. Flash I've seen on Android phones is very hit 'n miss, site by site.

Anyone tried the browser for iOS that runs Flash? Skyfire or something like that.

 

[The Smokester]

I think they'll get around to Flash as planned, question will be how well and universally it works. Flash I've seen on Android phones is very hit 'n miss, site by site.

Anyone tried the browser for iOS that runs Flash? Skyfire or something like that.

I have a Viewsonic G Tablet which is Android based with hardware similar to the Xoom (i.e. Tegra 2). Right now it is using Android 2.2 and not taking advantage of the dual processors of Tegra 2. However, it does have Flash and works quite well. I haven't noticed problems but maybe I didn't pay close enough attention.


My impression is that Adobe is the holdup with Flash for Android 3.0 right now. Does anyone know for sure? I suspect Google will move heaven and earth to see it implemented for Android 3.0 since multi-processing is the future for tablets and smart phones and it is a highly touted feature that sets them apart from Apple.

I continue to be impressed, dare I say satisfied even, with the Xoom.

 

[The Smokester]

Here is another excellent review of the Xoom from Ars Technica.

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/revi...ola-xoom.ars?comments=1&start=80#comments-bar

 

[amirm]

Flash available shortly

Nice to see video acceleration for h.264 (MPEG-4 AVC).

http://www.pcmag.com/print_article2/0,1217,a=261715,00.asp?hidPrint=true

Adobe Flash Player 10.2 Coming to Motorola Xoom March 18
ARTICLE DATE: 03.11.11
By Chloe Albanesius
Verizon Wireless announced Friday that it has started rolling out an update for the Motorola Xoom, which will bring Adobe Flash Player 10.2 to the tablet starting March 18.

The update also makes clock adjustments for daylight savings time to correctly display calendar appointments, but the big news here is the Flash support. The Xoom launched in late February, making headlines for its initial lack of Flash support. Motorola said that update would launch at some point during the spring, and there was speculation that Motorola was waiting for the release of Flash 10.2 for for mobile.

Adobe said today that Flash Player 10.2 will be available in the Android Market starting March 18; the Web version launched in early February. The company said it is a stable release for Android 2.2 Froyo and Android 2.3 Gingerbread devices and a beta release for Android 3.0 Honeycomb tablets.

"We have been working very closely with Google to ensure tight integration between Flash Player 10.2 and new OS and browser capabilities in Android 3.0," Adobe said in a blog post.

Adobe said the Flash Player 10.2 release will be in conjunction with Google's first system update for Honeycomb, which is what Verizon is now rolling out to the Xoom. Subsequent updates will bring Flash Player 10.2 for Honeycomb out of beta.

With Flash Player 10.2, Adobe promised hardware accelerated video presentation for H.264. "Users will experience reduced CPU usage and higher frame rates for existing H.264 video content," Adobe said. The update also includes deeper integration with the Android browser rendering engine, which will improve Web page scrolling and optimal rendering of video and HTML content.

Verizon has more details about the upgrade on its Web site.

The next big update for the Xoom, meanwhile, will be the upgrade to 4G. That is expected to be available at some point in May, at which time Xoom owners will have to mail in their tablets so Motorola can upgrade the hardware and the software to support 4G LTE.

 

[amirm]

Wifi version to be sold for $599

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2382065,00.asp

"The Wi-Fi version of the Motorola Xoom will be available at various retailers starting March 27, the company announced Wednesday.

The 10.1-inch tablet will be at Amazon.com, Best Buy, Costco, RadioShack, select Sam's Club locations, Staples, and Walmart - both in-store and on their Web sites.

The Motorola Xoom Wi-Fi with 32GB of memory will cost $599."

Wish it was $100 cheaper.....

 

[The Smokester]

Flash is one of the distinguishing features of Android tablets but it was not available for the Xoom a few weeks ago when it was first released. Flash 10.2 for the Honeycomb OS came today. This opens up a lot of commonly accessible media. Works smoothly so far. Apparently not optimized for the dual processors yet but works well for me.

The thing that is still missing, and still promised, and very convenient for my purposes, is USB Hosting.