[Reviews] Motorola Xoom First Impressions & Reviews

[voghan]

I spent some quality time with one today. I actually called stores until I found one in stock because I intended to purchase one if I was adequately impressed. The bottom line is: I wasn't.

I currently own both an iPad and a Galaxy Tab. The iPad has always felt like a big iPod Touch to me and iOS is just too simple. I hate having to launch an app for everything. There's no integration at all (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) native to the OS. The Galaxy Tab is kind of a big Android phone. The big benefit to it is that I can pretty much put it in my pocket and carry it with me.

I was hoping the Xoom could replace both. I was intrigued by Honeycomb and I wanted a Tablet experience that was more like a laptop. The iPad is good for games and entertainment, but not so spectacular at productivity.

I came away from my time with the Xoom with the following impressions:

• The screen was dull. I had read about this in some reviews, but I wanted to see for myself. The colors were bland and the brightness on max seemed to be just barely adequate. Not that I'm looking to burn out my retinas, but I was hoping for more. I'm not sure how it would even be usable outdoors on a sunny day. Colors were nowhere near as vibrant as I would have liked. Motorola genuinely builds great hardware, so I was not expecting to have any issues with the hardware. Still, the screen is the most important part of a tablet and I feel like Moto fell short on this one.
  
• I experienced several force closes while using the device. I tried to launch Gun Brothers to see how it fit the screen and it just opened a blank screen and did nothing. Other apps worked, but they didn't launch as fast as I would have expected, given the specs.
  
• The Xoom lagged several times while I was using it. There's simply no excuse for this with a dual core processor and a gig of RAM. I'm not sure if Honeycomb needs to be optimized more or what, but it was unacceptable. Screen transitions (such as portrait to landscape and vice versa) were also slow.
  
• The overall build quality (with the exception of the screen) was good. It felt good in the hand and solid. I expect no less from Motorola. I actually like the power button. It seems like it would be harder to press on accident.
  
• It felt a lot like Android. Despite the differences in the UI, Android is definitely there. This is not a bad thing. I'm merely pointing out that if you have any familiarity at all with Android, this device will be easy to get used to. That being said, I think it will prove challenging to users who are not familiar with Android. This is not a tablet for your grandmother or your child to play with.
  
• The Xoom couldn't get a GPS lock inside the store. My HTC Inspire could in the same spot, as could an iPad (or at least an approximate location). Even with Wifi on, the Xoom simply refused to locate me. This is worrisome to me.
  
• The browser would be awesome if it didn't load the mobile version of sites by default. There is also no option to change that in the settings, as you can on many Android phone. This is a huge oversight in my opinion. What's the point of loading mobile sites by default on a tablet?
  
• Verizon's $35 activation fee is ridiculous. As far as I can tell, you have to pay it every time you activate data. On an iPad, you can activate and deactivate the data any time you want with no fee. This is a poor business decision on Verizon's part. I'm also not thrilled with the idea of having to send the device away for an LTE upgrade. A lot can go wrong with that process.

At the end of the day, I didn't feel like this was a device worth purchasing at the current price point. I wish it was. iPad 2 will no doubt be a very slight upgrade over the current iPad and I don't see iOS changing much. I'm bored with iOS. It has lots of great apps and they work well, but having to launch an app for everything gets old. My Galaxy Tab is nice, but I have an Android phone now and it makes the Tab feel more like a large phone when I use it. The HP Touchpad will be somewhat intriguing, but it's still WebOS, which means it will feel like I'm using a Pre. Honeycomb had the most potential to me because it was new and different and I felt like it was powerful enough to replace a laptop. At this point, I feel like it has a ways to go, stability being the primary concern.

If my four year old and pick up my Xoom and startup angry birds, anyone can use this device. So far my wife has monopolized the device and I haven't spent as much time with it as I'd like. That said I haven't had issues with apps force closing or gps issues. The store demo model might not be the best one to look at.

Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk

 

[strudel#AC]

I purchased my Xoom on Friday so I have been using it for about a day and a half now. Here is my review/current impressions.

Pros:
Display- The screen is nice and sharp and has excellent viewing angles. The display doesn't have the deep blacks, vivid colors and unlimited viewing angles of my Samsung Epic 4g, but I haven't found an LCD that can compete with the AMOLED display on my phone. For an LCD display, I think the Xoom is very good. My 4g iPod touch (the best comparison I have to the Xoom) may have a much sharper display, but the viewing angles are extremely poor in comparison.

Hardware\Build Quality: The Xoom is very solid and well put together. There is a quality feel to the device and I love how their are no physical buttons on the front which makes it irrelevant which way you hold the tablet while using it.

Battery Life: From my limited experience I get 20+ hours with heavy usage. This blows my Epic 4g out of the water for battery life. The fact that it charges faster then my phone (which has a battery less then half the size) is icing on the cake. I would like if the Xoom could charge via usb but if a proprietary charger is needed for the short charging times, I can live with that.

Honeycomb: The latest version of Android is wonderful. It is intuitive, full of eye candy, and very customizable. It took me a little while to get accustomed to the new UI compared to Froyo on my Epic 4g, but that is a small price to pay for the drastically better user experience. iOS is VERY bland is comparison.

Cons:
Stability- To be blunt it is pretty obvious in some areas that Honeycomb is still a work in progress. Force closes on certain apps are a common occurrence. If a few growing pains in the OS are a show stopper for you I would recommend waiting a few months for some bugs to be worked out before making the jump to a honeycomb tablet.

Lack of native tablet apps- Another example of how Honeycomb is a work in progress. There is a very limited selection of tablet specific apps at this point. This will obviously change with time, but if you expect to see a large library of tablet specific apps at this point you are asking to be disappointed.

Price- For the hardware (dual core processor, 1GB ram, 32 gb internal memory, sd card slot, 3g upgradable to 4g, etc) the Xoom is a reasonable price. The problem is, there are a significant amount of people that want a wi-fi only tablet. I am one of them but didn't want to wait and paid the premium for 3g hardware that I will probably will never use. People like me are the minority and really wish Motorola would have release a wi-fi only tablet alongside the 3g version. The tablet market is in its infancy and getting tablets in many peoples hands is more important then higher profit margins.

In a nutshell, the Xoom is wonderful, but it is definately not for everyone at this point. I do not regret my decision to buy one whatsoever (even taking into account the $200 or so premium for 3g that I will never use) but I can see why the Xoom isn't a good choice for many people at this point.

For many people, the best decision at this point would be to wait a little while for the flood of Honeycomb tablets to come out before purchasing anything. If you are the early adopter type that is willing to pay for features you may not use and want to watch a new version of an OS mature, jump in and enjoy the ride.

 

[gravage]

If a four-year-old can pick up a tablet and launch one app, it's hardly indicative of user friendliness.

And blaming the store model is a cop-out. Short of someone beating on it and physically damaging the GPS chip, it's unlikely that anything anyone did to the device was causing the GPS to malfunction. I'm also an advanced user of mobile devices in general and I closed all running apps and turned on all of the appropriate services before I performed my tests.

I watched several reviews on this device and almost all of them had force closes, so I know it's not just me. I'm able to look at this objectively because I didn't already spend $800 on the device. Buyer's remorse isn't swaying me to defend the Xoom. I'm not saying it's piece of crap and I'm not saying the iPad is better. I was simply giving my observations of first time use.

In my opinion, this device was released too early and Honeycomb needs a little more polish. Screen size aside, I don't really see anywhere that it's more functional/better than a Galaxy Tab. Maybe my expectations were too high, but I was hoping for more.

 

[E_man]

I played with one extensively today. Here were my thoughts

Screen rotation is slow. Not like they had a low framerate, but just took about a second longer than I'd like.

The buttons aren't that great. The power button on the back is ok, and maybe something I'd get used to, but I'd rather it on the edge. The volume buttons felt a little janky, and too small.

The headphone jack is dead center. Why? This limits you to exactly one screen orientation (landscape with the headset jack down). For a device that is all about hold it any way you want, that was a dissapointment

Screen looked great, but is a fingerprint magnet!

Device felt good. Not too light, not too heavy. It also just looks good aesthetically.

Honeycomb. Wow. Google really did a lot right with this one. I expect 3.0.1 in the near future with a more polished experience. But I'm not sure anyone really thought we wouldn't need this. It had all the signs of a rushed release.

All in all, google put the ball in apples court. They need to really impress with iOS 5. If not, it'll be a honeycomb day for me. Not sure the XOOM is the hardware for me though. Galaxy Tab/G Slate/Toshiba tab/HTC honeycomb (maybe) should all be good contenders, and hopefully with wifi versions.

I'm able to look at this objectively because I didn't already spend $800 on the device. Buyer's remorse isn't swaying me to defend the Xoom.
...
I don't really see anywhere that it's more functional/better than a Galaxy Tab

Some might say buyers remorse was affecting the decision, if you own a tab. I would hope not.

I played with on extensively (won't buy it till there is a wifi model, XOOM or some other model. I got my money ready), and had no GPS issues. One FC too. Blaming a heavily used store model with who knows what being done to it (honestly physical damage wouldn't surprise me) is a perfectly reasonable explanation.

 

[hypocaffeinemia#AC]

I played with on extensively (won't buy it till there is a wifi model, XOOM or some other model. I got my money ready), and had no GPS issues. One FC too. Blaming a heavily used store model with who knows what being done to it (honestly physical damage wouldn't surprise me) is a perfectly reasonable explanation.

The store model at the Verizon store where I bought mine barely functioned. I dunno if it had some sort of memory leak bug, but transitions from one home screen to another were insanely laggy and took me a second to recover and think about whether or not to buy it... Needed a good reboot or something...

 

[hesgotagun]

I'm thoroughly enjoying it. I wasn't impressed with the iPad at all, but I decided I wanted a Xoom after about 15 minutes of playing with a demo unit. The web browsing experience is almost perfect and that's what I'll be using it for primarily. It was definitely rushed to beat the iPad 2 to market, but I haven't seen any stability issues on mine, and the missing features will get here sooner or later. I'd rather have an almost complete device now and use it while waiting for the updates than wait for the complete device another three months.

I also got the service plan on a contract, even though I don't expect to use it away from WiFi all that much. having 3G/4G will probably come in handy a couple of times a month, and the $20.00 plan is a barely noticeable increase on a family plan with 4 smartphones.

I hope they sell well enough that somebody decides its worth their time to develop a Netflix app.

 

[rohdawgeleven]

I hope they sell well enough that somebody decides its worth their time to develop a Netflix app.

Netflix is coming, doesn't depend on if the Xoom sells or not. It's being written for the OS, not the device.

http://www.androidcentral.com/netflix-coming-select-android-devices-early-next-year

http://www.androidcentral.com/netflix-android-shows-lg-reolution

 

[ketchup]

I've been using mine since Saturday. I've had one force close from an app that needed flash.
Other than that, everything has been running fine. V3 has a little learning curve over v2.x, but is still easy to use.

I made the change to the browser listed on this forum, and that was a nice change.

I see no lag, no orientation switching issues, the color is nice, the speakers are loud even though they are on the back.

The only thing I don't care for is the keyboard. I love Swiftkey.

 

[voghan]

I've been using mine since Saturday. I've had one force close from an app that needed flash.
Other than that, everything has been running fine. V3 has a little learning curve over v2.x, but is still easy to use.

I made the change to the browser listed on this forum, and that was a nice change.

I see no lag, no orientation switching issues, the color is nice, the speakers are loud even though they are on the back.

The only thing I don't care for is the keyboard. I love Swiftkey.

The keyboad does suck. I miss the popup that shows me what word it hinks I'm spelling that I have on my phone.

 

[Chris Kerrigan]

The Keyboard was definitely my only major gripe in the time I spent with it. I also found the layout of the alternate keys to have an unnatural layout, especially when typing out something of relative length.

 

[anon(42011)]

The store model i tested the day before it was released was buggy as all get out. My Xoom performs significantly better than the one in the store. I remember asking the rep about it and i cant remember the excuse she gave me for it, but mine like i said performs much better. I have had about 2 FCs since launch but mainly with apps not optimized for the tablet i was messing with. As for the keyboard its not my favorite, i recommend using Thumb Keyboard and it works very well.

Cheers!

 

[gravage]

I'm thoroughly enjoying it. I wasn't impressed with the iPad at all, but I decided I wanted a Xoom after about 15 minutes of playing with a demo unit. The web browsing experience is almost perfect and that's what I'll be using it for primarily. It was definitely rushed to beat the iPad 2 to market, but I haven't seen any stability issues on mine, and the missing features will get here sooner or later. I'd rather have an almost complete device now and use it while waiting for the updates than wait for the complete device another three months.

I also got the service plan on a contract, even though I don't expect to use it away from WiFi all that much. having 3G/4G will probably come in handy a couple of times a month, and the $20.00 plan is a barely noticeable increase on a family plan with 4 smartphones.

I hope they sell well enough that somebody decides its worth their time to develop a Netflix app.

How is the web browsing experience almost perfect with no flash and the browser defaulting to mobile sites? I love the tabbed interface and the browser is fast, but it still needs some work.

 

[FluxTZ]

Can't wait for Swiftkey to come out with their Honeycomb app.

 

[bestbuystinks]

Xoom - More a business device than a consumer device

I'm surprised at the complaints about stability. Since I bought it on the 24th, Youtube has crashed once and the App Market place has crashed twice. I experience at least 3 to 4 app crashes a week on my iPad. I'm actually surprised at how much I like the Xoom give the lack of apps and Adobe flash.

I bought the Xoom primarily as a business device. My company runs on Google Apps and the Xoom e-mail / calendar / contacts integration is superb. I hate the e-mail and calendar apps on the iPad. The multitasking of iOS is also pathetic.

I think most people who express disappointment with the Xoom are evaluating it for home use (music, movies, etc.). There's no way the Xoom will beat the iPad on this front. However, for business use the Xoom rocks.

 

[hesgotagun]

How is the web browsing experience almost perfect with no flash and the browser defaulting to mobile sites? I love the tabbed interface and the browser is fast, but it still needs some work.

Well obviously I miss Flash. But again I'd rather have the device today without Flash then have to wait three months to have it at all.

I can't say that the mobile version thing bothers me at all. Its a few seconds of minor inconvenience at most and bookmarking the full sites on the places you go the most solves the problem completely.

 

[voghan]

Well obviously I miss Flash. But again I'd rather have the device today without Flash then have to wait three months to have it at all.

I can't say that the mobile version thing bothers me at all. Its a few seconds of minor inconvenience at most and bookmarking the full sites on the places you go the most solves the problem completely.

Most sites give you the option of tuning off the mobile version. If they're sites you frequent they will store this preference in a cookie. I'm hoping flash will come out soon.

 

[m3lover1]

Most sites give you the option of tuning off the mobile version. If they're sites you frequent they will store this preference in a cookie. I'm hoping flash will come out soon.

You could also do the about:debug option too. Just enter that into the browser, then in browser settings there should be a new option that pops up, debug i think. In there click on UAstring and just change it to desktop. Worked flawlessly for except one time.

(Kudos to whoever found that out, I found out from browser this and xda forums)

 

[scribe4food]

I have to admit, I'm loving it. However, I do have some questions... How do you enable 3D mode? How can I get rid of mobile mode, for the browser? I'm sure the answers are within the chat strings, I just haven't looked yet. But have to admit, each day I'm lovin it more and more.

 

[hdhuntr]

Worth every penny and all the trouble. That ought to get an LOL from a couple guys on here if they see it.

 

[mfriedman79]

Loving the device so far, but a couple little things that are annoying.

1) no search in email app. Gmail has it but regular app does not.
2) stabiliy in some of the new integrated apps. Music player randomly stops at times and is a bit jittery when other apps are running. Album view in music app also has issues indexing all album art and always kicks me back to top when trying to scroll through.
3) lack of container support in gallery app
4) no folder support on one screens.

I am sure alot of these will be fixed in an early update more via another app, but I had hoped some things would have been worked out a bit more prior to release. Aside from these though I am loving the changes with honeycomb and the hardware feels amazing.