I had a Xoom for a month and returned it. There is a lot to like, but it is half baked and lots of App crashes. I think it is too soon to pass judgment on the platform without the apps. But if you actually want to use it, then the reality is it's not a smart buy at $640.00. Multi-tasking and taskbar is great, but what?s the point for just a few apps?!
I was trying to use the Xoom as a replacement for apps I like to read on my EVO daily around my house but it falls very short. The only thing I liked that I used daily was Doggcatcher for my video podcasts to watch while working out. The Wi-Fi sync and all self-contained podcasting management was perfect, but after that the Xoom's lack off apps falls off a giant cliff.
MLB - Fail
Social Applications - Fail
Pulse - Crashes like Mad on Xoom and EVO -Fail
Have you used Flipboard and MLB At Bat 11 on an iPad 2?
Flipboard alone sells the iPad 2 for me. The iPad 2 is thinner and lighter with excellent battery life.
I don't see the point in paying $640 for a device based on hoping what I can do in the future. I want to enjoy it now. It reminds me of my OLD Palm Pre constantly waiting for new apps.
Sorry I will not suffer through some product that is not complete this time. Maybe I will try again at the end of the year with another tablet.
Sent from my HTC EVO 4G on the Sprint NOW Network
This sounds more app developer related as opposed to the Xoom or honeycomb itself.
It is the first product with honeycomb released so it will take some time for apps to be developed using the new version of the SDK. Not to mention the "fragmentation" that I'm seeing of "tablet" version apps, where an app developer makes a tablet version and a phone version, the honeycomb SDK allows for almost dual modes, where one apk can run properly on a tablet or phone version depending upon it's installed platform.
What we're seeing now with honeycomb are apps that are really the same phone app just with an updated resolution and UI changes. Outside of Google and a few other apps I'm not sure what has really been developed using all the new features of the honeycomb SDK.
What I'm pretty confident in, is that some newer developers who want to make money will start on the latest SDK and properly develop phone/tablet apps. I'm thinking this will fill a void where "old school" devs just re-tool existing apps and don't re-work them.
In the meantime, I think Google is allowing not really great apps to be listed in the market for android 3.0 connected devices just so people have things to use. Which is OK, as this is really a starting point, but I don't expect this to be the norm in 6 - 12 months. The fallout from this is getting an app that was made with the SDK for eclair to run on honeycomb, which may be OK, but you get a few of them going and a memory leak here or there or a call to a newly unsupported API, etc. and all of the sudden things start to break down. Not to mention the Tegra chip with honeycomb supports a ton of new direct hardware access APIs for better performance and only a handful of games really take advantage of this.
All that being said, the jump from Froyo/Gingerbread to Honeycomb covers a lot more than any jump between an old and new version of android that was previously released.
Google had to get in to the market, and Motorola hardware wise did a great job, it's not like you can go wrong partnering with VZW either. I think devs are most likely working on native 3.0 apps as I type this and with some patience, a honeycomb virtual machine update or two and some .99 purchases we should be well on our way to a superior tablet experience.
Personally, I don't have 90% of the problems I see on the forums, but I'm always interested in to learning what's going on with these things. In one hand I think an app aware end user is a plus, and removing poorly made or not yet ready apps will only help the overall Xoom experience, on the other hand there's a person who spent between $600 - $800 on a tablet and they want it to work with whatever apps they want. I think you can see the two user segments of the Xoom users pretty easily in the forums. I'm hoping Google gets a little more strict in their market (not Apple strict, just as far as really verifying the quality of an app on a platform before it's listed).
Going through all of this, is a challenge, especially trying to explain it to a "fan boy" of which I seem to know quite a few Apple lovers, and you know what, good for them. I'm happy they're happy and I'm happy that I'm happy with my Xoom, I like being on the bleeding edge, not because I want to see FC screens, but because of the transition I get to go through as this platform matures. It's really exciting. I hope some of the people that bought the Xoom and aren't that happy with it can appreciate the growth process for what it is, but I understand also,and am not personally insulted when people give the Xoom a little grief. I think Google deserves some for not releasing the SDK earlier and not keeping the developers in line a bit more.
Saying that, the "my ipad2 can do this and it just works" statements literally drive me insane, android is and has been a customizable, user centric experience. From what I read it seems a lot of people don't see the real power and potential of the Xoom, right now, it is what it is, but it's going places and going fast, iOS will always be iOS with the same restrictions, lack of features and customizations. Honeycomb and new app versions will hit the market soon enough and by the summer I think we'll really be in good shape as far as performance and these issues go. Then you'll have a platform that "just works" but is also highly configurable in every possible way.
rant off, sorry.
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