Motorola Xoom: First Tablet with Android Honeycomb

So, how well does it perform? In one word, Spectacular. It certainly has better hardware and software than most of the tablets available.

Hardware
Let’s begin with the hardware part. Motorola Xoom is a mighty beast. It boasts of 1GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual core processor, 1GB DDR2 RAM, 32GB hard drive, a 10.1-inch, 1280 x 800 capacitive display, a 5MP rear camera with flash and a front facing camera for video calling.

It offers 3G connectivity. It also has WiFi 802.11b/g/n (2.4GHz and 5GHz), Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, GPS, a light sensor, and an accelerometer. So connectivity and storage space is no problem for this device.

The looks are impressive and it has a solid built. The tablet is 9.8 inches wide and 6.6 inches tall. Thickness is only half an inch. It weighs only 1.5 pounds. That means you can surf internet for long time at a stretch without hurting your arm.

Software
Honeycomb is the main USP of Xoom. It simply challenges iOS as Google made a lot of improvements to suit the tablet.

Earlier people had criticized that Android is made for smartphones only, but when you use Honeycomb you won’t feel this even for a moment.

Multitasking is super smooth due to Tegra 2 processor. Usability is given top priority in Honeycomb. it’s not 100 percent perfect but at most of the places it really is.

It’s more cohesive and icons provide better understanding of all the features that you can access in one touch.

You will feel the difference when you surf internet in Chrome as its more “desktop” like now. All the common apps such as Gmail, Gtalk and Youtube play smoothly in it.

The main issues with software department are the apps are not good enough and looks like they are still in beta version.

Another major disappointment is that Chrome recognizes Xoom as a smartphone, not a tablet. So when you open a website like www.facebook.com it directs you to mobile version m.facebook.com

Display, Sound and Battery
Motorola Xoom’s screen is 0.1 inch larger than its rival iPad. That may sound irrelevant but the true difference is in resolution factor.

iPad offers 1024 x 768 resolution, while Xoom has 1280 x 800 resolution. The Xoom display is made for using it in landscape mode.

Watching a video is a pleasure to the eyes in Xoom. But Motorola should fix the auto brightness adjustment feature because sometimes the screen gets darker.

Motorola is well known for their audio quality. Xoom outputs loud and clear sound while playing a song but when you play it at full volume the sound cracks at some places. Still, it’s not a major problem.

The battery back up is exceptionally good in Xoom. Even if you play video and simultaneously switch on both 3G and WiFi for internet surfing, it will give you almost 8 hours and 30 minutes of battery life.

That’s really impressive and if you don’t do multitasking you will surely get more back up.

Camera
Xoom sports a 5 megapixel camera. You may not use it for a replacement of your digicam as it will look ridiculous, but it actually takes nice picture. You will be happy shooting video though.

It records video at 720p HD and it’s a pleasure to watch them in your tablet and PC. The front camera does a decent job for video calling.

Final Verdict
Every good thing comes with a price tag and in case of Xoom it’s $799 for the unlocked version. Verizon two year contract with the device will cost you $499.

You may say that its very costly and iPad is cheaper than it, but when you look at the specs it beats iPad in most of the departments.

Even if iPad 2 soon comes to the market, it may not be able to offer anything extra in hardware and software that will beat Xoom.

So, if you want to buy a tablet that can truly replace your netbook or laptop then go for Motorola Xoom.