Motorola Xoom - Review

“Xoom is a cracking first attempt at a tablet PC by Motorola. Xoom is a little heavy and its Honeycomb OS isn’t perfect, but otherwise the tablet is a sturdy iPad 2 rival”

Google Android Honeycomb

Moto Xoom: Bright, but not that light

Despite the growing popularity of tablet PCs, many still regard them simply as super-size smartphones because most run operating systems (OS) originally designed for mobiles, such as Google Android.

But the Motorola Xoom is different because it’s the world’s first tablet to run Android Honeycomb - a version of the popular OS designed and optimised especially for use on tablets.

What’s so special about Honeycomb? It gives you up to five customisable homescreens and lays apps, icons and its various interactive widgets out in a way that’s more attuned to the dual-handed way that people hold and use tablets.

I liked how Honeycomb’s core tools, such as the web browser and Google Maps, are quickly accessible from a mini-menu that jumps out from the left-hand side of Xoom.

With just 100 apps specifically designed for Honeycomb as of March, Google is pushing for app developers to create more apps that are optimised for the tablet version of its OS - some of the normal Android apps look a little stretched or skewed when run on Honeycomb.

No deals for selection

Honeycomb aside, Xoom is a well designed tablet PC that would easily steal the limelight from the iPad 2 on any tech-centric catwalk because its bodywork and grey/black colour scheme evoke a stylish aura.

Xoom is heavy though - 700g compared to the iPad 2’s 601g. The weight difference hardly equates to Supersize vs Superskinny, but I noticed the difference after a whole day of carrying Xoom around in a rucksack.

Using tablets as replacement laptops is a thorny issue. Some people claim writing and editing documents on a tablet is almost as easy as using a laptop, while others disagree. Xoom’s virtual keypad kept pace with my fast typing speed, but I still found typing on a flat glass surface less than ideal.

Adobe Flash support

An optional base makes Xoom a super-size alarm clock

The Motorola Xoom is great for web surfing because its large screen makes text and pictures easy to see. Honeycomb even offers PC-style tabbed browsing and, unlike the iPad 2, includes Flash support for online games and videos.

Google Maps looks nice on Xoom since the screen’s proportions let me see most of central London without constantly having to pinch and zoom my way around the screen, as my iPhone 4 demands.

However, I’m still not entirely convinced about Xoom as a satnav. It may be a useful feature while sat comfortably on the sofa, but can you really image carrying a 10.1in TomTom down the street or plonking one on your dashboard?

With 32GB of internal storage and support for Micro SD cards, Xoom is perfect if you love having a wide selection of movies, music and pictures at your disposal wherever and whenever.

When I wasn’t out and about Xoom’s HDMI port meant I could watch films stored on the tablet on my HD TV instead. The connection gets around the need to hold the tablet or prop it up with a cushion when watching films - a common problem with tablets.

For the IT literate, moving such content onto Xoom isn’t difficult - the tablet simply connects to your PC over USB. But because files need to be dragged and dropped into Xoom’s various sub-folders, anyone used to the more user-friendly iTunes style of moving files between a PC and smartphone may get a little confused.

Sound misses the point

Pictures were ok

Music isn’t Xoom’s strong point. Sound quality is good, but its rear-mounted speakers blast sound away from you and the top-mounted headphone port combined with the tablet’s size mean the gadget’s hardly a portable Walkman.

Switching to pictures, I’m still unconvinced how useful a camera is on a gadget three times the size of a normal digital camera. Nonetheless Xoom’s 5Mp takes decent pictures - bright, sharp and with decent colour reproduction.

Kudos goes to the dual LED flash that helps to brighten up dark shooting locations and to the user-facing camera that’s just right for video calls.

Lastly we come to Xoom’s battery life, which Motorola claims should hold out for roughly 10 hours of video playback or general use over wi-fi. Overall the tablet lived up to this claim, though you will need to dim the screen slightly for video marathons.

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