If you really just want to hear my overall thoughts just skip to the last paragraph. And yes, I did this all on my Xoom 
Some of you around the forum may see me post on my Xoom a lot more than my HTC Dream or Nexus S. I use my Xoom almost every day and use it for news, games, videos, and social networking. Now I was on of the early adopters of the Xoom wifi version. I was disappointed that the entire device was glitch, inconsistent and just downright slow at times. I am typing this out to say, that I never really had the need or felt the actual desire to review it or give my opinion about the Xoom at launch. It was a great device. It is a great device. I write this review to state that a month or two ago, my money was sitting in the hands of whoever gets it and was basically left beta testing the Xoom both in hardware and software. I did everything with it, my phone rang for an Email, I would read it off my Xoom instead. I wanted to check my Facebook, I would ignore my laptop and head for my Xoom. Knowing the experience would be slow and painfully glitchy.
I paid to be the first to try and basically put the software and hardware to the test, it is obvious that Google does not walk around performing normal things on their tablets and phones, which is why I believe they make these dev devices. To allow the brave to buy them and beta test their software. To see what is wrong with it.
Now after my little speech I am here to talk about the Xoom, NOW. Not a 100% FINISHED product but still overall amazing when you can now compare it to the likes of the Apple iPad 2 and the BlackBerry PlayBook. It is smooth, stable, and it finally can be used to do a lot of things I never could have been able to do on Android 3.0.1.
Let's talk about the browser. It used to be slow. Buggy, and flash was just a no, unless you wanted to crash your device.
Now it runs like a dream, I have been running 3.1 for days now and I have to say, the browser has only crashed for me twice. Compared to the 6-10 browser crashes I used to get on the 3.0.1... this was amazing and when in the real world, it felt like it actually served a purpose rather than collecting dust in a drawer most days before 3.1.
Now let's talk apps. It got bumped from a good 50 or so I don't know how many but this is not the end of the world, we still have developers just waiting to launch their apps, to add quality rather than quantity. To improve the market's reliability rather than diminish it. I still have a decent Twitter app ( free) and the majority of the apps that run on my phone run just fine on my Xoom, even with it's bigger resolution. Sure it's not a practical UI, but just saying that there are no apps for Honeycomb isn't true. A lot of apps work on Honeycomb which is fine for a lot of people. We will see this area improve, especially with this 3.1 update.
Next is stability and consistency around the Operating System, which is what I am most happy about this update. There are still some problems that I run by when using the thing, but I am proud to say that I almost never shut this device off and I have yet to have the thing completely crash on me, the YouTube app has only gotten bugged out once ( I YouTube A LOT mind you). Basically, the whole UI and OS has been vastly improved. Not as many force closes on the majority of System apps etc.
Another little feature of Honeycomb would be the improved multi tasking... which is great and makes it a little more sensible, I can play Angry Birds while Tapatalk is open, Google Reader is open, Web Browser is open, and Music is playing( from Google Music Beta or local media, regardless) it runs amazingly great. Which brings something else up, Google Music. Sure it is available on 3.0.1 and Gingerbread but it is still a feature on Honeycomb regardless, which should be something that should have came with the launch of the Xoom.
Okay, I have babbled on long enough. Conclusion? If you read the entire thing, thank you for reading it, but I will sum up my feelings on the update and the device all round. The update has brought the one thing we were all seeking when we purchased a Xoom, a tablet. And a functional one at that. This update has brought that, and then some, with some features that are amazing and really makes the tablet experience, smooth, beautiful, and so media centric. It's unreal because this is a Google thing and Google has never been too friendly on the media side. With Google Music Beta, Google movies, and the vast improvements to the browser and flash, we finally have something that can be labeled as a consumdr product for consumers and real world people to use. Something that feels complete like the iPad 2, but something that feels a whole lot more productive like the PlayBook.
Sent from my Xoom
Some of you around the forum may see me post on my Xoom a lot more than my HTC Dream or Nexus S. I use my Xoom almost every day and use it for news, games, videos, and social networking. Now I was on of the early adopters of the Xoom wifi version. I was disappointed that the entire device was glitch, inconsistent and just downright slow at times. I am typing this out to say, that I never really had the need or felt the actual desire to review it or give my opinion about the Xoom at launch. It was a great device. It is a great device. I write this review to state that a month or two ago, my money was sitting in the hands of whoever gets it and was basically left beta testing the Xoom both in hardware and software. I did everything with it, my phone rang for an Email, I would read it off my Xoom instead. I wanted to check my Facebook, I would ignore my laptop and head for my Xoom. Knowing the experience would be slow and painfully glitchy.
I paid to be the first to try and basically put the software and hardware to the test, it is obvious that Google does not walk around performing normal things on their tablets and phones, which is why I believe they make these dev devices. To allow the brave to buy them and beta test their software. To see what is wrong with it.
Now after my little speech I am here to talk about the Xoom, NOW. Not a 100% FINISHED product but still overall amazing when you can now compare it to the likes of the Apple iPad 2 and the BlackBerry PlayBook. It is smooth, stable, and it finally can be used to do a lot of things I never could have been able to do on Android 3.0.1.
Let's talk about the browser. It used to be slow. Buggy, and flash was just a no, unless you wanted to crash your device.
Now it runs like a dream, I have been running 3.1 for days now and I have to say, the browser has only crashed for me twice. Compared to the 6-10 browser crashes I used to get on the 3.0.1... this was amazing and when in the real world, it felt like it actually served a purpose rather than collecting dust in a drawer most days before 3.1.
Now let's talk apps. It got bumped from a good 50 or so I don't know how many but this is not the end of the world, we still have developers just waiting to launch their apps, to add quality rather than quantity. To improve the market's reliability rather than diminish it. I still have a decent Twitter app ( free) and the majority of the apps that run on my phone run just fine on my Xoom, even with it's bigger resolution. Sure it's not a practical UI, but just saying that there are no apps for Honeycomb isn't true. A lot of apps work on Honeycomb which is fine for a lot of people. We will see this area improve, especially with this 3.1 update.
Next is stability and consistency around the Operating System, which is what I am most happy about this update. There are still some problems that I run by when using the thing, but I am proud to say that I almost never shut this device off and I have yet to have the thing completely crash on me, the YouTube app has only gotten bugged out once ( I YouTube A LOT mind you). Basically, the whole UI and OS has been vastly improved. Not as many force closes on the majority of System apps etc.
Another little feature of Honeycomb would be the improved multi tasking... which is great and makes it a little more sensible, I can play Angry Birds while Tapatalk is open, Google Reader is open, Web Browser is open, and Music is playing( from Google Music Beta or local media, regardless) it runs amazingly great. Which brings something else up, Google Music. Sure it is available on 3.0.1 and Gingerbread but it is still a feature on Honeycomb regardless, which should be something that should have came with the launch of the Xoom.
Okay, I have babbled on long enough. Conclusion? If you read the entire thing, thank you for reading it, but I will sum up my feelings on the update and the device all round. The update has brought the one thing we were all seeking when we purchased a Xoom, a tablet. And a functional one at that. This update has brought that, and then some, with some features that are amazing and really makes the tablet experience, smooth, beautiful, and so media centric. It's unreal because this is a Google thing and Google has never been too friendly on the media side. With Google Music Beta, Google movies, and the vast improvements to the browser and flash, we finally have something that can be labeled as a consumdr product for consumers and real world people to use. Something that feels complete like the iPad 2, but something that feels a whole lot more productive like the PlayBook.
Sent from my Xoom
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