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Motorola Xoom Tablet and Android 3.0 - Everything You Need to Know
Jason Tsay
The idea of an Android 3.0 Honeycomb tablet that could realistically compete with the iPad has enticed us for quite some time now. At CES 2011, Motorola Mobility decided to let the public finally get a taste of the delicious Honeycomb and their blazing Xoom tablet.
Motorola Xoom
This is the video that Motorola showed on stage at CES during their press conference. While it doesn’t really give you an idea of what the Xoom is, it does let you know what the thing is capable of.
The Hardware
- 10.1 widescreen 1280 x 800 HD display
- Dual core 2 GHz Tegra 2 processor (1 GHz per core)
- Verizon 4G LTE
- 1080p video output via HDMI
- 2 megapixel front facing camera
- 5 megapixel rear camera
- 32 GB built in storage
Just glancing at the spec sheet, we’re blown away. Although we don’t know yet what the hardware will be like on Apple’s new iPad, we hope the company makes a smart move and releases something more powerful or just as powerful as the Xoom. There’s no doubt at all that the hardware well takes advantage of the new Android 3.0 OS but we’ll get into that later. If you want to take a look at more than just press shots, you might want to head on over to Engadget’s hands on post and video.
The Software
The Motorola Xoom runs Android 3.0, or Honeycomb as most of us call it. The video we’ve embedded is via the T-Mobile G-Slate but you’ll get the idea just fine. What Google calls its tablet OS sports a full web browsing experience (Chrome based), enhanced Gmail support, and Google Maps 5.0. Widgets are aplenty and video chatting makes it obligatory appearance through Gtalk. Android 3.0 definitely supports some sore of book reading app to compete with the iPad and has a widget for that too. The software keyboard is a sort of blend between an iPad virtual keyboard and the stock Gingerbread keyboard, which we’re sure will be great to type with. Overall, the whole experience looks very clean, influenced by the previous WebOS interface designer. We’re not sure what Android 3.0 will be like on phones or what this means for the future of Android as a whole but we definitely like how Google took a larger and more daring leap than Apple in their new tablet OS.
Accessories
Thought the iPad was the only one with cool cases and keyboards? Don’t worry, Motorola has you covered. The company will be selling a dock, speaker dock, Bluetooth keyboard, and portfolio case (multiple versions) for their new tablet. We don’t know pricing or availability at this point but rest assured your Xoom won’t be accessory-less for long.
When and where can I buy a Motorola Xoom?
We couldn’t put it more clearly than Motorola PR - “The Motorola XOOM device will launch as a 3G/Wi-Fi-enabled device in Q1 2011 with an upgrade to 4G LTE in Q2. Starting in Q2 2011 the Motorola XOOM will be a 4G LTE/Wi-Fi- enabled device.”
