Here we go again.It is that time of the year when technology companies release their eagerly anticipated products.After Samsung,Apple,Nokia and HTC as well as Sony Ericsson this week it was Motorola that unleashed their newer version of Motoroal Xoom which in my opinion was a flop.I therefore did not hesitate to watch the launch video of the new Xoom.According to the clip,the new Motorola XOOM 2 has a 10.1-inch screen, just like on its predecessor. It's reinforced with Corning Gorilla Glass and Motorola's own splash resistant coating for even better protection. Xoom 2 has a 1.2GHz dual-core processor brings plenty of software muscle and there's 1GB of RAM to back it up. All of that is packaged in an ultra slim 8.8mm body and spiced up with a very durable battery delivering around 10 hours of battery life. There's also a 5MP camera on the back, and a 1.3MP shooter up front and you can record images and video to the 16GB of internal memory.
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| Motorola Xoom 2-Photo:Alison Keys |
There in doubt in my evaluation that the new 'Xoom 2' models are significantly lighter and thinner than their predecessor, the original Xoom. The cut-off corners of the Xoom 2s give them a distinctive look that could prove a hit with consumers' especially the young ones. There are over 200,000 Android apps and this could help the new Xoom to flourish where its predecessor failed. Frankly,not all of these apps are tablet optimized but the essential ones are. I have a 1st generation XOOM, and I don't feel a lack of apps at all and to me i have everything that I need. My only complaint with the XOOM is its weight and balance. I can live with the weight but I do not like the new shape.
And while it continues to lack the library of extra apps that Apple offers, Android is fast establishing itself as a platform that software developers have to work on as well. The new version of Android, codenamed Ice Cream Sandwich, is crucial for developers as it is the first that unites both tablets and phones on a single operating system.I was scandalously gobsmacked to learn that Motorola has released the devices using the older version of Android's tablet software, codenamed Honeycomb. This is not going to help sales of the Xoom 2. The Xoom 1, indeed, did not sell in the volumes that the manufacturer had hoped and this could befell the Xoom 2 tab.
With regards to getting the right updates to the customers, Android follows a different model from the one used by Microsoft and I hope this would change this time round.Just for your knowledge,the Android updates filter down through the carriers, and the carriers want to have too much control over the device. For example,if Google followed the Microsoft model, this problem would go away and make their gadgets user friendly. Recent statistics shows that nearly half of Android phone users are using the most up to date software and the other half are using the most up to date software that their phone can handle.
Some of the most notable specifications include; Light sensor, Scratch-resistant glass,a touch screen which is capacitive and Multi-touch, it is using LCD technology and it weights 599gm,built in storage is 16000 MB,system memory is 1024 MB RAM and supports HTML and Flash.
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| Xoom 2 from a different angle-Photo:Alison Keys |
I cannot fail to air my complaint about the XOOM as per the video evaluation.Motorola forgot about people who want to put stuff into a computer and not just read stuff from its screen which about 90% of users.I hope that now Motorola is owned by Google, we should see them releasing up to date software. Products are thought out and developed years before they are released so what we are simply seeing is the last of Motorola's products before the Google takeover of Motorola mobility.I'm damn interested in these tablets as I found the original Xoom heavy and generally very good to use. Unfortunately,we may not get to buy them in the shops before Christmas.
