Motorola XOOM review: The Big Bang

Phones far and wide wanted to be the iPhone killer and you know what ? tablets are no different. The iPad needs to get used to living with a bounty on its head. And always be ready for the likes of the Motorola XOOM.

But the XOOM is no ordinary competitor. We?re talking the first Honeycomb tablet, a cornerstone for Android. It?s Motorola?s first tablet too. If they play their cards right, it could be a big money earner for a company in trouble, so we know Moto gave it their best.

Motorola XOOM official photos

The XOOM has a 10.1? screen of 1280 x 800 pixels resolution, Google?s latest Android OS (after the update rolls out in full), purpose made for tablet use, and a powerful Tegra 2 1GHz dual-core chipset with 1GB RAM. Barely a few lines into the spec sheet and we already like the sound of it.

The Motorola XOOM has more to offer than that. The Verizon US version will be getting a (delayed) LTE update, while dual-band Wi-Fi (2.4GHz and 5GHz) sounds sweet too.

But we won?t go on and on about the specs of the XOOM. Here go the highlights followed ? as usual ? by what we didn?t like.

10.1? capacitive touchscreen of 1280 x 800 pixel resolution; multi-touch730g of weightDual-band (2.4GHz and 5GHz) Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n connectivity; Wi-Fi hotspotOptional 3G connectivity (data only) ? HSPA or 1xEV-DO (LTE via upgrade)GPS with A-GPS support on all models1GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 AP20H Dual Core processor1GB RAMAndroid 3.0 Honeycomb, upgradable to 3.116/32/64GB of onboard storagemicroSD card slot (up to 32GB)Bluetooth 2.1 + EDRAccelerometer, compass and three-axis gyro-sensor; barometer sensor5MP auto-focus camera with dual-LED flash720p video recording at 30fps2MP secondary video call cameraHD TV-Out via microHDMI portmicroUSB with host functionalityFlash-enabled web browser10 hours video playback, 3.3 days of music playbackSeems quite laggy despite the 1GHz dual-core CPUScreen is very reflective, hard to use outdoorsQuite a porker at 730 gramsNo kickstand ? it cannot be stood up on a table without a dock Non-replaceable batteryCan?t charge off USBLTE-enabling update not out yet for the Verizon versionStill waiting for an update to enable microSD slot as wellNo document editor pre-installed, not even a viewer

We?re really curious to try out the tablet minded version of Android ? the one we?ve tested before was clunky to use and clearly not intended for big screens. And we?ve had a positive experience with the Tegra 2 platform. It?ll be interesting to see how it performs inside a tablet.

And let?s just say that seeing a standard microHDMI port was a pleasant surprise ? no need of an adapter to get the TV-Out working. The competition doesn?t even have a standard microUSB port so thumbs up for Motorola and keeping to standards.

Motorola XOOM in our office

The XOOM we?re about to get started with is the 3G-enabled variety with 32GB of inbuilt storage. And yes, it?s got Honeycomb inside ? the version of Android meant for tablets. We can hardly wait. Jump to the next page and try to keep up.