No flash on Xoom, it keeps getting better

[freebirdforever]

-shakes head-

 

[Thphilli]

Anandtech did the best review of the motorola xoom that i have read. Overall, i am disappointed in the xoom for several reasons, but more convinced now than ever that android will overtake the iPad within 2 years on tablets.

First of all, why i am disappointed:
Screen isnt as bright as the iPad
Screen has a worse contrast ratio than the iPad
Buttons are placed wrongly and are apparently annoying to use/find
Only a 3250mah battery (more on this in a minute)
no flash at launch
No sd card support at launch
Hdmi out apparently doesn't work without a $130 dock
No microusb charging

Why i sm encouraged:
Beats iPad with regards to battery life with HALF of the battery capacity
Samsung galaxy tab 10.1 coming with 6860mah battery (24 hours video playback???)
Xoom was obviously rushed to beat the iPad 2 to market accounting for lots of its shortcomings
Once the ipad2 is launched, prices will fall
Honeycomb is amazing and the browser DESTROYS the iPads in speed
There are dozens of tablets coming running android and they will learn from the xoom

 

[Superbike81]

-shakes head-

Exactly the answer I expected from you.

 

[Superbike81]

What do most people do on their tablet the majority of the time? Browse the internet? I'd say that's a safe assumption, maybe mixed in with e-mail and video/music playback.

If you want to see how the Xoom browser absolutely demolishes the iPad browser (really, I'm not exaggerating, it's a landslide victory in these tests) check the Anandtech tests in their review here:

Motorola Xoom Review: The First Honeycomb Tablet Arrives - AnandTech :: Your Source for Hardware Analysis and News

This is the kind of stuff I find valuable in a review, actual real world tests, not just opinions saying "It feels like it's going to crash soon" or whatever other ignorance.

 

[Superbike81]

Oh, and from later in that same review:

For a battery that is physically half the size of the iPad's, it looks like Google has managed to have a much more functional operating system with much better hardware specifications, and ended up with much better battery life.

 

[gentlefury]

Oh, and from later in that same review:

For a battery that is physically half the size of the iPad's, it looks like Google has managed to have a much more functional operating system with much better hardware specifications, and ended up with much better battery life.

That graph is a lie....I have gotten 14 hours out of my iPad. Screen on all day. If I'm using splashtop with the screen on all day long I get about 11.

 

[gentlefury]

So where is there a review of this miracle device in use?

 

[freebirdforever]

So where is there a review of this miracle device in use?

There's one on engadget.

 

[freebirdforever]

Exactly the answer I expected from you.

Tut tut SB. A word to the wise m8, don't demoralize me or try to stab at me.

Anyhow, most reviews I've read seem to come.l to the same conclusion;

The xoom is nice, though the os feels rushed, no dedicated apps out the gate will hurt sales, buttons are oddly placed, and battery life whilst doing heavy activities falls a bit short

 

[gentlefury]

Exactly the answer I expected from you.

Tut tut SB. A word to the wise m8, don't demoralize me or try to stab at me.

Anyhow, most reviews I've read seem to come.l to the same conclusion;

The xoom is nice, though the os feels rushed, no dedicated apps out the gate will hurt sales, buttons are oddly placed, and battery life whilst doing heavy activities falls a bit short

Exactly the product I expected from Motorola with Android.

 

[Superbike81]

Oh, and from later in that same review:

For a battery that is physically half the size of the iPad's, it looks like Google has managed to have a much more functional operating system with much better hardware specifications, and ended up with much better battery life.

That graph is a lie....I have gotten 14 hours out of my iPad. Screen on all day. If I'm using splashtop with the screen on all day long I get about 11.

The graph is a lie? LOL are you kidding?

They use the EXACT same test on all of the devices, they browse exactly the same way on each one. Just because you got more battery life in a certain situation doesn't make their test a "lie." It just means you utilized it differently than they did. Do you really think all web browsing is equally taxing on the battery?

LOL

 

[Superbike81]

So where is there a review of this miracle device in use?

Motorola Xoom Review: The First Honeycomb Tablet Arrives - AnandTech :: Your Source for Hardware Analysis and News

This is the most comprehensive review I've seen of the 5 or 6 sites that have reviews up right now (sure to be 10x that by the end of the day). They give their opinions on things, but then they also run the Xoom through the same battery of tests they run all their devices through. So you get to see where it shines and where it lacks.


Was it rushed? Sure, a little. Is it perfect? No. Has any brand new computer device running a brand new operating system ever been perfect from the start? No. I'd still rather have a Xoom right now with the temporary (and permanent) problems that it has in place of my iPad. The reviews all say it functions very well just with a few annoyances, I'll take a product that functions at 95% with promised 100% functionality right now than have to wait another 3 months just so it can get a feature I'm not even going to use (4G) or continue using a product that's locked down and not going to get any decent updates any time soon. At least we know that it will get a 4G upgrade within 90 days, Flash within three weeks, and the functioning SD slot on the next minor OS update. When will the iPad get Flash? When will it get 4G? When will it get good multitasking? Etc, etc, etc.

 

[gentlefury]

Watched video, interface looks really slick....it actually looks very smooth with little lag (my biggest ui killer).....but of course they rushed it to market so all you can do is the base apps....and being motorola this one will be completely obsolete before anyone develops for it.

Looks like a really nice try. Like a ferrari that can only drive on a closed course.

 

[Superbike81]

They aren't developing for Motorola. This is a pure Google OS. The complete SDK was just released yesterday, now all the "small fry" developers have it in their hands so they can start developing apps for it. Google made a mistake (in my opinion) by not releasing the SDK earlier. The iOS for iPad SDK was released a while before the release, so yeah, they had quite a few apps ready to go immediately.

So, no one has to specifically develop for Motorola, they are developing for Honeycomb.


BUT, one *BIG* difference, and *BIG* advantage, is the way that Honeycomb handles the standard apps (meant for Android phones). It can run all of the other apps, and it doesn't do it the useless way the iPad does it and put them in a little window, it actually scales the app to match the resolution, and it looks excellent! No, it won't have extra tablet specific functions, but it will still work for now until they get more Honeycomb specific apps on the market.

here is a non-Honeycomb specific Angry Birds scaled to full screen:

http://images.anandtech.com/reviews/gadgets/Motorola/Xoom/angrybirds.jpg

Much better than that stupid iPad "2X" button.

 

[Superbike81]

Oh, and the reports that HDMI doesn't work without a dock are false. Those reviewers must just not have known what they were doing. Seen three different owners say it works perfectly, exactly mirroring what is on the screen except the navigation buttons.