One Week with a Motorola Xoom Review

Just like any new device that fits in your hands, it takes time to get acquainted with it.  There is some heft to the Xoom due to the weight of the battery I figure, but it is not enough to cause any fatigue while seated (with or without a table to rest it upon).

I do wish they would implement a handle into the body of the tablet, yes it would make it bigger but easier to move around ( I am imagining the orange Speak and Spell- for those of you old enough to remember it) .  Most popular tablet devices are really too big to fit in a pocket or carry like a book.

Since I do not yet have a case for the Xoom I have been using my padded laptop sleeve to transport the device from home to work.  Leaving my laptop at home and replacing it with the Xoom has lightened my bag considerably, which is a plus.


Can you replace a Laptop with a Tablet?

Yes and no, would be the answer I would give.  Production is a challenge with handheld devices and while I am aware of the younger crowd's ability to whip out long text messages with on-screen keyboards, you probably are not going to want to compose any long text documents or emails with any handheld device or tablet unless you are carrying a keyboard around with you.

There is a Motorola Bluetooth keyboard that retails for about $60.  I am thinking this might be a good purchase for traveling, but then again you would have to buy some sort of stand for it so you could see what you are typing.  Before you know it your Xoom or iPad bag would start feeling like you had a laptop in there, which would cause you to ponder why you bought it in the first place. Obviously, some of these basic computing issues are still being worked out and will hopefully be remedied by apps. 

What I would like to see is some sort of Google Speech to Text App a la a Dragon Speaking product, but cheaper and better.  Content consumption is really what the Xoom and other tablets are made for, popular websites and social networking sites look good on the Xoom and are easy to use. 

I prefer the Dolphin Browser (avail in the Marketplace for free) to the pre-installed Google Chrome browser.  The Chrome seemed to take longer to load and my inputted text seemed delayed since the Google search results were trying to catch up.  Dolphin also allows the user to manually select which flash videos on websites you want to play, which leads to pages loading faster and the shutting down of some flash advertisements.  Overall the Dolphin Browser is great and has that barebones simplicity that you want from a web browser.

Xoom Apps or,What's Available in the Android Marketplace

It is cool but hard to navigate.

The Android Marketplace is a great place for developers to release and showcase Android Apps and there are some real gems in there, there are some rough ones too.  That being said, the Android Marketplace is frustrating place to navigate and many of the apps are really made for small Android phones not 10" screened Xooms.  While most of the apps I have tried worked well, many of them seemed really stretched out on the Xoom.

A really awful thing about the Android Marketplace is the navigational tools afforded to the user.  Performing a search will generate thousands of results, which you will have to scroll through manually.  Let's say you select one app to see what it is all about (which takes you off the results page).  You see the app page and decide it is not for you and decide to go back one page to the results page. Well, the Android Marketplace will then default you to the top of the results page, forcing you to scroll all the way down to where you left off.  As the number of apps grows in the Android Marketplace, someone must overhaul the user interface, or create an app for navigating it.  As you would expect, Apple's iTunes is out front in the app arena with a really nice user experience with only a couple different sizes of devices for developers to focus on- plus they have been at it for a much longer time. 

What I Like About the Xoom So Far

So far, I like the Xoom for all the things the Apple iPad can't do.  I am primarily talking about the freedom to interact with other hardware or devices, and they do not have to be Android, made by Google, or performed with Apple accessories.  A work colleague called me over to his office today and showed me the Xoom hooked up to a 40" LCD via a micro hdmi cable.  We went through Youtube videos, Angry Birds, some apps, and even tried to log-in to his Netflix account via the browser (which didn't work, and we didn't spend any time trying to make it work- I am sure there is a way).  The Xoom looked great on a big HDTV and the best part was it was connected with a $7.99 cable purchased on Amazon, Radio Shack charges $29.99 for the same thing by the way (avoid Radio Shack at all costs).

The nice thing is that the Android Marketplace and the Android platform are growing, and I think that most buyers realized this before they purchased the Xoom.  The Xoom already has a lot of opportunity for owners and developers alike to tinker and see what the thing can really do. 

New work phones are being ordered around here for those that have had their phones for over 2 years and a colleague called me and asked which device they should buy.  She already had an iPad at home, so I told her to go for the Android phone.  Why not go for the best of both worlds?  Explore what both platforms have for offer.  Both Apple and Android have a lot of good things going for them and I am thankful that they are competing in this market, which ultimately will push mobile technology further and give us the best experience and tools possible.

Read the Ice Cream Sandwich for Xoom Update!

*Information contained within these pages do not necessarily reflect the opinions or views of Schreiner University

Apple iPad2 Vs. Motorola Xoom, I went with the Xoom

I am fortunate to have a job where I can get my hands on the latest tech gadgets.  Recently this has involved a few of the brand name tablets and mobile phones.  One of the issues that I have found with the recent slew of tablets is that if you own a similar product like the iTouch or an iPhone, it pretty much ruins that new and exciting feeling of having let's say an iPad placed in your hands. You immediately feel the similarity of the device, you know how to work it, it's just bigger.

I had this sensation when picking up a Samsung Galaxy a few months ago.  My current phone is a HTC Aria and the operating system seemed in all appearances identical to the Galaxy's.  Again, I was so familiar with how it worked that I immediately passed it off to someone who was not familiar with that flavor of Android to demo it, feeling a little disappointed.

Image from Ubergizmo

I figured I had played the wait and see game long enough and decided to finally come off the sideline and be a tablet owner.  It all came down to the iPad 2 and the Motorola Xoom for me.  On one hand, the apps are fairly refined for the iPad 2, they have been around for a while and it is a popular if not dominating platform.  I like the experience of the iDevices and have been a long time buyer of iPods.  However, there is something limiting about the Apple products despite the fluid and graceful user interface.  You are pretty much tied to iTunes, which has some great stuff but difficult to port over to another device.  I use my iPod as a hard drive for the X amount of Gigs of music I have, and have performed the move from old iPod to new iPod over the years, despite how hard Apple makes the process.

Being a somewhat recent and hooked Linux user on a desktop (Ubuntu) and laptop machine (Mint), I cannot deny the sense of computing freedom one can experience from this totally free operating system.  I love the pre-packaged Rythmbox (media player) that comes with Linux distros and could probably depart from iTunes altogether considering I rarely buy music and videos but rather enjoy various podcasts and live music streams all of which is possible to consume with a free application like Rythmbox.  The speed that one can get up and running on a Linux machine is perhaps the best selling point of all.  Need to check your email, but don't want to wait 5 minutes for all the Windows bloatware to get up and running?  Not a problem with Ubuntu or the other Linux flavors out there.

The Motorola Xoom is more of a computer in a tablet skin.  It has the flexibility that Apple just can't seem to provide to it's customers and I am primarily talking about connectivity to other devices and the openness that a Linux based OS affords it's users.  I have plans to stream video to my HD TV via a HDMI micro port, which is exciting for me.  I can dump files from my Linux machine at home on the Xoom via a USB and dump them off on my office Windows machine.  I may even spring for a Bluetooth keyboard, since one of my issues with mobile devices is the limitations of productivity one can achieve with one. 

Well, let's say I have lots a plans with my new Xoom.  I haven't even had a chance to get my paws on it, but my iDevice has just informed me that it has been delivered before the expected arrival date, which is something considering the snails pace that packages have been arriving via Amazon's Super Saver Shipping.  An update on my experience with Motorola's Xoom (Wifi version) is coming soon.

Read about the Ice Cream Sandwich update for Xoom!

*Information contained within these pages do not necessarily reflect the opinions or views of Schreiner University