Xoom 32 First Impressions.

mickoneill30

I got a Xoom 32 Wifi yesterday in work for testing so I thought I'd put some first impressions here and answer questions about it if I can.

We got it from http://www.bhphotovideo.com/
Seemed like it was a good price. I'm sure customs are winging a VAT bill to my company as we speak.

I've a Desire HD so I'm reasonably familiar with Android and apps.

Out of the box you get the tablet, a USB cable a US power adapter and very minimal instructions. On turning on the device you get the usual setup screens. When you type in your details it goes to the market and pulls down any apps you have already installed and installs them without asking. That was a bit surreal, going into the apps drawer and saw a whole pile of crappy apps that I'd installed on my HD.

The device. It's very nicely built. Very solid. There's a bit of weight to it. But to me that makes it feel substantial rather than heavy.
The screen is nice and bright and has good viewing angles. It's reflective but I've only noticed the reflection when it's been turned off. I had it beside an iPad 1 and the screen on the Xoom compares well. Everybody who saw it said the Xoom looked better but that might have been the backgrounds displayed. The only buttons on the device are the power (at the back, near the camera) and the two volume buttons (easy to get to on the left).

Android 3. It's different but not too different. You will be confused for about a minute and then you'll find the usual options you expect. It has pretty much the same settings as Android 2. On every phone I've had so far I've changed the launcher. On the Xoom the launcher seems nice. I've read that LauncherPro works on it but I don't care. There's no need to swap this yet. The experience of using it is very responsive.

Apps.
The Gmail app is very nice but I need a couple of features it doesn't have (like changing the reply to address) so I use K9 which works fine.
I tried the stock browser & Dolphin HD and Opera and they all work fine but the stock browser does everything fine so I'll probably remove the other two. The browser synchronises your bookmarks with Chrome if you use so that's pretty cool. Flash is enabled to run by default but that's no problem as it runs smooth.
The video player isn't great. I like to copy an AVI to my device with no faffing about. The stock video player wouldn't play the few avis I copied over. Arcmedia wouldn't play them either. It does on my phone. After a bit of a panic I put on RockPlayer and it's business as usual now. Everything is playing fine. I suppose the stock media player will play stuff if I reformat the video but I'm not going to do that.

Compatibility wise most apps work fine. A couple (speedtest.net, Bebbled display only in the same size window as a phone). One (that I know of, ZombiBooth) didn't work at all. It just showed me a static image. Any other app just fills up the screen like you'd expect.

One of my main uses is for reading PDFs. I've loads of books and magazines. they all appear fine and are readable on one page per screen.

There aren't a whole load of Android 3 specific apps available. No big deal but it'd be nice.
Edit: Ah just read that for users in America in the market there's an option for Android Apps for Tablet. As we're in Ireland we'll probably get it by Christmas

Widgets: Not a whole lot of widgets came with the device. I suppose that's because it's Google default. I was a bit disappointed. But Widgetsoid, SmoothCalendar and Weatherbug work fine.


I think that's about it, simple enough. If you have a question you'd like to know about it (not too technical, I'm not going to break it to try something out) post away.

In my opinion (and I'm biased and this is an Android forum) if you were going to spend that much money on a tablet I'd have no problem buying it over an IPad2. I've played with the IPad2 and I just don't get it. Their home screen looks like our app drawers. I know the IPad is skinnier but every one I've seen has a leather case on in. I've one coming for this Xoom too. I haven't needed to plug the Xoom into a PC at all yet. I use SwiFTP to transfer files wirelessly and all updating and app downloading happens through Wifi.

CombatCow

Getting mine tomorrow

heebusjeebus

Thanks for the write up Mick. I had planned on getting this next month but now with the Asus Eee Pad and Acer Iconia 10 inch coming very soon I'm confused.
Will try and try them all out when I'm in the states next month.

Have you tried the wireless tether with your DHD? If so any issues? Thats how I plan on getting my tablet connected when I'm not at home.

brendanL

got a DHD myself and this is deffinately my next purchase ;D cheers for the info! can't wait now

mickoneill30

heebusjeebus wrote: »

Have you tried the wireless tether with your DHD? If so any issues? Thats how I plan on getting my tablet connected when I'm not at home.

Posting this now using the HD as the Wifi hotspot. No issue at all.

CombatCow

Yeah using the wifi hotspot with my desire and it's fantastic, loving my Xoom so far

jimmycrackcorm

Nice but too expensive - I'm waiting for some of the new dual core tablets such as the Acer Iconia which will be cheaper. If I want to spend money on a tablet then I'd expect an Android one to be cheaper than an iPad. I don't want to be paying lots of more money to have flash and I have widgets etc on my phone already.

CombatCow

I got mine in the US for €420 + €30 state tax, I think it's an excellent price if your getting it abroad.

heebusjeebus

I've bitten the bullet and ordered the Asus (plus keyboard) from Amazon.
It was the IPS screen that swung it for me.

The Xoom is an impressive build, it's a shame the screen couldn't be up to the same standard.

mickoneill30

heebusjeebus wrote: »

The Xoom is an impressive build, it's a shame the screen could be up to the same standard.

I presume you mean couldn't .
I can't compare with the Asus but I've seen no shortcomings with the Xoom screen. It's visible in quite a large range of angles. I've only compared it with and IPad1 & 2 it seems as good as those (well better because of the higher resolution and larger screen) so if the Asus is better again you'll be happy.

Mine was €480 including express shipping. I'm still expecting a VAT bill to wing its way to me though.

The Asus does seem like a pretty good price for the spec though. That keyboard / battery dock is pretty nifty.
I would have considered it if I'd seen it earlier. I've no regrets about getting the Xoom though.

Woow_Aqualung

There aren't a whole load of Android 3 specific apps available. No big deal but it'd be nice.
Edit: Ah just read that for users in America in the market there's an option for Android Apps for Tablet. As we're in Ireland we'll probably get it by Christmas

Has nobody tried Market Enabler? Although, I understand having resevations about rooting a high-end device (my Lg GT540 didn't warrant a second thought )

And, should I wait until a wider range of tablets become available before buying? I mean, would the Xoom be the equivalent of the Nexus One, in terms of longevity?

yeahme

heebusjeebus damn you, damn you to hell and back,
sorry mick and thanks for your reply but there maybe a new contender in town with the Asus and especially the docking station giving a combined time of 16 hours.
Can you give any more info on the asus jeebus?

bd250110

AS a point of reference, I have iPad 1, and the screen is good. In reality is is probably excellent, but I am used to the "Retina Display" on the iPhone. With a slightly larger screen and better resolution movies, apps, books and the web should display very nicely.

The only time I really notice the superior display of the iPhone is if I am lying on my front in bed, with the iPad propped up in front of me, I have no issues when the iPad is on my lap, being that bit further away.

I would have no concerns about the screen on the Xoom.

CombatCow

Woow_Aqualung wrote: »

Has nobody tried Market Enabler? Although, I understand having resevations about rooting a high-end device (my Lg GT540 didn't warrant a second thought )

And, should I wait until a wider range of tablets become available before buying? I mean, would the Xoom be the equivalent of the Nexus One, in terms of longevity?

Id like to try Market Enabler but ther's no way im rooting my xoom, if I bricked it id be fúcked as iv basically no return policy cause of buying it in the states

goldsalmon33

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=71885860

Any thoughts anyone? I do have a HTC wildfire that i could use as a hotspot.

Also are my prices competitive? Cant find em cheaper anywhere else?

heebusjeebus

yeahme wrote: »

heebusjeebus damn you, damn you to hell and back,
sorry mick and thanks for your reply but there maybe a new contender in town with the Asus and especially the docking station giving a combined time of 16 hours.
Can you give any more info on the asus jeebus?

Sorry for the delay in my update. Amazon changed their delievery date on me a few weeks back so I cancelled my order. My plan is to check them all out in NY next month (I hope they will be available then).
The way things are going I'm wondering should I just wait for the quad core kal el tablets (due at the end of the year).

CombatCow

goldsalmon33 wrote: »

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=71885860

Any thoughts anyone? I do have a HTC wildfire that i could use as a hotspot.

Also are my prices competitive? Cant find em cheaper anywhere else?

Hay goldsalmon33, the reason i did not get the 3g version on the xoom is because i did'nt want to get a second data plan just from my tablet, im using my existing bill pay data plan from my desire to tether with the tablet. There's no additional cost and it connects through the wifi hotspot of the phone without any problem at all. Hope that helps.

goldsalmon33

cheers for that combatcow.

My 2c on the Asus for what it's worth...

Although the detachable keyboard-batt-usb was appealing at first, the more i think about it, if i wanted that setup then i would get a netbook/laptop.
Also a lot of reviews highlight a fiddly connection between keyboard/screen so I think I will prob go with the acer i reckon.

Cormic

I was looking at the Xoom yesterday in PC World in Carrickmines and I must say I was impressed.

The staff had it connected to Wifi. I downloaded Angry Birds and it was really smooth to play. I left the game on and there were a number of people playing it by the time I left the shop. Nice to see the ipad being ignored for once

I had been sure I was buying a Asus Transformer but now I am not so sure. I will just have to see how much the Asus costs compared to the 570 euro for the Xoom.

the-ging

Ha I was playing Angry Birds for like 20 min in the Airport Dixons last week on a zoom.

I am waiting to see what the eeeeeee pad is like in hand before deciding. Else might see if I can get one of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in america when they are released

heebusjeebus

They have the Acer Iconia and the Xoom in PC World now. I was hugely impressed with the Xoom. Was considering the Eee Transformer but after playing with the Xoom I may change my mind. The screen was pretty good too but I obviously wasnt able to try it outside.
The Acer was much bigger and felt much cheaper.

mickoneill30

http://m.bgr.com/2011/04/28/motorola-mobility-sells-250000-xoom-tablets-in-q1-3b-in-net-revenues/

250,000 Xooms shipped in Q1. Not bad considering it started selling in mid Feb and only just started selling in Europe.

Nothing near Ipad2 figures though.

bd250110

Those are fairly good figures, I think. Considering the table shipped 'unfinished' without the SD card, Flash, 4G, etc. There is no decent marketplace, to speak of and whither Android apps will run is hit or miss. I think it shows a promising base for Honeycomb.

No, the figures are not iPad figures. But it's early days. Apple did well to launch the iPad with the iWork suite, showing these devices could be used for productivity. While Google docs is good, it's not quite the same. The vast majority of iOS apps worked on the iPad right out of the box. There were more accessories, the inevitable 24-7 press coverage and long lines outside stores. Nothing makes people want something like a long line!

mickoneill30

I got mine at the start of April and it had Flash. Still waiting on Apple to finish that
It is great using sites and just having it work and Flash works well on these.

You're right about the SD card. That's a niggle. Doesn't really bother me as I've set up stuff to transfer using WiFi and I'm not near my 32Gb. It may be an issue in the future. You'd kind of hope that Motorola would have it patched by the time I'm getting close to 32Gb.

3G/4G - don't bother me at all. I've data on my phone and use that as a hotspot if I ever need it when wandering about. I wouldn't want to pay for two data plans (one for phone and one for tablet).

The vast majority of Android apps worked on the Xoom (on mine anyway) out of the box. 1 refused to run point blank (ZombieBooth so not a major worry) and a couple (less than 5 out of loads) run in a phone sized screen (stuff like speedtest.net so while that's annoying it doesn't affect the functionality).

There are office apps for Android that seem to work fine (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiyZhLeGNSE) but I'm not going to type documents on my Xoom ever I think so I'm not bothered.

You're kind of right and wrong about the Market. The Android Market is getting better but needs work. But I don't use the Market for browsing. All of my installs are from people posting on Boards or forums like (http://www.xoomforums.com) or from recommendations on podcasts. When you know the name of a good app finding it in the market is simple. Being able to browse the market on a PC and then hit install on the website and know it'll be installed on the Xoom by the time you get to it is kind of cool.

You're right about the 24-7 coverage. I've shown mine to several people and they've all asked me if this was the new iPad. Then the next few sentences are then spent explaining what Android is and what the Xoom is. Most people I've shown it to love it. The general complaint is that it's too pricey (it is but still cheaper than an iPad). One guy said he loved it but he was going to buy an iPad2 anyway. When I asked why he said because it was made by Apple. You can't beat that.

srsly78

The flash 10.2 they released to fix the xoom seemed to also fix flash on every other tablet. Everything works perfectly on cheap archos tablet as well, can leave it propped up with aljazeera or rte playing Kinda hard to justify spending so much money when the old tablet does everything just as well :pac:

bd250110

Admittedly the iPad does not have flash out of the box, but there are multiple browsers on the app store which will covert flash HTML5. Kind of a best of both worlds, get to see the videos you want, but avoid the ads!

I agree with you on 3/4G. It would not be a deal breaker to me and 4G/LTE is not being rolled out commercially just yet here, so it's a non-issue. It does give the impression that the Xoom is unfinished, maybel a littel rushed to market, as do a lot of the reviews. That would probaly have been fine just 12 months ago but when up against the super-polished iOS ecosystem, that is not really good enough.

The Market needs work, no doubt about it. The lifeblood of the mobile platforms is apps. Developers need to see that their products are being easily displayed and can make decent money from the ecosystem and the number of shipped devices is only part of the story. People buying apps, and using in-app purchase is very important and the user experience of apps is generally better in the fruity walled garden. I think google are moving in the right direction, but a bit more governance and quality control would be a good thing, from my point of view.

srsly78

You mean the google market. Users are free to use any android market they want, more of which are popping up. Amazon is the other big one at the moment, but available to usa only at the moment. Looks pretty good: http://www.amazon.com/mobile-apps/b/ref=sa_menu_mas2?ie=UTF8&node=2350149011

mickoneill30

srsly78 wrote: »

Kinda hard to justify spending so much money when the old tablet does everything just as well :pac:

Yeah, well that's Android. There's choice.

I did have the Archos 101 and I'd have to admit everything I use the Xoom for was possible on that too. But I use the Xoom more than I used the Archos because its "comfortable". It's kind of hard to quantify. The Xoom is smoother, more responsive and has a much better screen.
I don't have the Archos anymore so I can't compare the Flash on the two devices now.
The old tablet doesn't do everything just as well though. Honeycomb is more polished than Froyo and the tablet specific apps (what little there are) do take advantage of it.

But the Xoom also costs a hell of a lot more though

Although the Archos did have a working micro SD card slot and a proper size USB port straight out of the box . Something Motorola haven't managed to achieve.

srsly78 wrote: »

Looks pretty good: http://www.amazon.com/mobile-apps/b/ref=sa_menu_mas2?ie=UTF8&node=2350149011

Looks too bleedin good. All those free apps of the day that we're missing. Any idea when they're opening it up over here?

CombatCow

I got to play with the Acer Iconia today for about 10 mins and while it's a nice enough tablet, I felt it didn't have build quality of the xoom and it was actually painful to use/hold due to the edges of the tablet being quite square rather than rounded like the xoom. Oh also I was quite disappointed with the screen, I had the xoom next to it and the image clarity and brightness was far superior on the xoom.

jimmycrackcorm

I had a play with both the Acer and the xoom in pc world and the Acer out classed the xoom. To be fair though I think there was something wrong with the xoom as it was too unresponsive. I also prefer the look of Acer.

CombatCow

I got the honeycomb 3.1 update this morning, some great new features like resizeable widgets and general improvements around the place, plus the tab is noticeably snappier. Looking forward to trying a Bluetooth mouse and KB with it just out of interest.

mickoneill30

CombatCow wrote: »

I got the honeycomb 3.1 update this morning, some great new features like resizeable widgets and general improvements around the place, plus the tab is noticeably snappier. Looking forward to trying a Bluetooth mouse and KB with it just out of interest.

Cool. Mines just installing now. But I've to go to work in a few minutes

You say it's snappier. Did you notice it being slow before? Mine has been flying since I got it.

Edit: Just had a read of this.
http://www.tabletmonsters.com/news/android-honeycomb-3-1-update-release-notes

You can scroll through the recent apps list now. Deadly. That makes that feature usable now. It was pointless before only showing 5 recent apps. Now you can scroll it up and down.
Quite a lot of other updates to it too.

CombatCow

No i never had an issue with slowdown at all, thats why i was surprised to see this speed increase in the browser and throughout the tablet in general.

él statutorio

CombatCow wrote: »

I got to play with the Acer Iconia today for about 10 mins and while it's a nice enough tablet, I felt it didn't have build quality of the xoom and it was actually painful to use/hold due to the edges of the tablet being quite square rather than rounded like the xoom. Oh also I was quite disappointed with the screen, I had the xoom next to it and the image clarity and brightness was far superior on the xoom.

You sure it was the iconia? I'm typing on it now and the corners are rounded off on mine....

I played with the xoom and the iconia in best buy before I bought the iconia and there was really very little between them. The screen was marginally better on the xoombut the Acer was a whole $100 cheaper. The Acer was $450 so it worked out at about €330. The battery life was what made the decision for me. I was slightly swayed by the fact that 3 of the staff in that particular best buy store had been waiting for the iconia to come in so they could buy it themselves.

Craigels

hey guys where is the cheapest place for me too purchase one of these right now ?

CombatCow

Hi Craigels, these prices should be accurate for the wifi only xoom


Best Buy (USA) - €425
PcWorld UK / Amazon.co.uk - €550
PcWorld IE - €569

Craigels

best to get it in pc world i think becaus eif i have any problems i can return it easily enough do you think it one of the best tablets i can buy yes ?

CombatCow

I would suggest that you take a look at techradar's list of current tablets and their respective reviews first of all. http://www.techradar.com/news/mobile-computing/portable-computing/15-best-android-tablets-in-the-world-905504

Personally I think the Xoom is the best tablet currently available yes.

*also pcworld have all the tablets on display so you can play around with them before you decide.

Craigels

thank you for your help i will have a look at the link thanks again

Craigels

im stuck between Eee pad transformer or the xoom

Craigels

which one would you get ?

CombatCow

I have the Xoom. But sure just play around with them both in pcword and see which you prefer, actually im not sue if the Transformer is out here yet.....

mickoneill30

CombatCow wrote: »

I have the Xoom. But sure just play around with them both in pcword and see which you prefer, actually im not sue if the Transformer is out here yet.....

I have the Xoom too. I'd say if I played with it in PCWorld before I got mine I might not have bought it. Their display in Swords was really geared towards the IPad with anything else definitely getting second place.

With that said though its a great bit of kit. I use it every day. Has all but replaced my laptop at home.

goldsalmon33

Hey, posted a while back, just thought I'd update...
Went to PC world and played with the xoom, Acer and read as much as possible about the transformer which isn't out yet (1s june I think).
Anyway, ruled out the transformer cos you would need to buy the batt, keyboard, usb thing to make it meet the spec of the Acer and ruled out the xoom cost of price and SD issue.
Overall very happy with the portability of a tablet in general, to be fair the Acer didn't have the simple user functionality that was immediately obvious like an I pad would have, just took that few days. Still don't think I would change though.
Rgds...

Craigels

i finally decided too buy the xoom there are 13 in stock in pc world in limerick im getting it on Thursday can't wait

Craigels

is the sound good without the speaker dock ?

EGriff

Are there enough honeycomb apps out there to justify getting one of these tablets? I'm thinking of getting an ipad 2 instead just because of the amount of quality apps available.

I have a desire and its great but things like garageband and games are swinging me towards the ipad instead of a honeycomb tablet.

Craigels

i got mine today and i love it just trying to find all the tegra apps there are more and more everyday being made available so far im well impressed