Android 3.1 on the Motorola Xoom

 That Android 3.1 update that Google announced during I/O is slowly rolling out to 3G Xoom owners as we speak. How'd we know such a thing? Why, it just landed on our in-house Xoom, of course! Most of the changes to Honeycomb are happening under the hood -- better HTML5 support, faster performance, and USB host functionality for connecting peripherals like game controllers and mice -- but there are some improvements that will be a lot more obvious to the user. Perhaps our favorite is the addition of resizable widgets. For the moment only the email and Gmail inbox, calendar and bookmarks widgets can be stretched or shrunk, but we're sure others will follow. We're particularly appreciative of the expandable calendar widget, which always felt a tad cramped. The task switcher also received a much requested upgrade and now lets you scroll through your last 18 launched apps, instead of just the five most recent. Lastly, the Android Market now offers movie rentals, alongside books and apps, which range in price from $1.99 to $4.99 for 24 hours of playback. There isn't a ton of revolutionary stuff going on here, but it's certainly a welcome and worthwhile update.

Motorola Xoom LTE update delayed until summer, same time as Bionic launch

Motorola's just finished giving the news and the numbers on its quarterly financial report, and there was one bit of badness that we just had to share: the Xoom LTE upgrade has been delayed. We won't be seeing it until summer according to Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha, which is also when we'll be seeing the Bionic, a delay that we were already sulking about. Jha was a little vague about what the "issue" was that is causing the delay, only that whatever quality concern there is applies to both devices, and it could simply be that the company is waiting for its LTE rollout to get a little further along. Net result: one less G for Xoom owners until the summer, and no Bionic at all until then. Bummer.More after the break...

APPLE iPAD 2 VS MOTOROLA XOOM VS ACER ICONIA TAB - CAM WARS

The folks at Netbooknews reviews and compares the rearcams of the Apple iPad 2, Motorola Xoom and the new Acer Iconia Tab A500.Video after the break...

ANDROID TABLET : MOTOROLA XOOM GAMES AND APPS DEMO

Heres a video demo of new games and apps for the Motorola Xoom (Android Tablet) showing at CTIA 2011 in Orlando. The video includes games such as Great Battles Medieval, Vendetta Online, Galaxy on Fire 2 and apps including Qello, a streaming live concert app announced this morning as well as Accuweather.Video after the break...

Motorola Xoom with Sprint insignia, Nexus S 4G logo leak out

 If you've been following these here pages closely, you'll know that a little device named the Nexus S 4G is coming to Sprint's network, with the expectation being that it'll be announced at CTIA early next week. Fueling our previous info on the matter, we've now gotten ahold of an image purporting to be the logo that Sprint and Google will be using to represent their new WiMAX-equipped collaboration. That can be found after the break, but what you're really eager to learn more about is that image of a Motorola Xoom with a Now Network logo on it, right? Well, it comes from the same source, whose record of revealing Sprint pre-release hardware (and not getting fired) is quite exemplary, so we're willing to credit it as the real deal. We've no launch dates or pricing details to share as yet, but it's not unreasonable to expect Sprint will be disclosing all that juicy info during its extra-long CTIA presser. And if not, we'll keep tracking down these leaks and get it to you anyway!

Motorola Xoom WiFi now available for pre-order

Motorola didn't say when pre-orders for the WiFi-only Xoom would be available when it finally announced the device yesterday, but some retailers have now stepped in and answered that question. You can currently pre-order the device from Amazon, Staples and Costco, with other participating retailers presumably set to follow shortly. In case you missed the news, the Xoom WiFi will run you $599 for the one and only 32GB version, and it will be available on March 27th. Staples will apparently be shipping them out on March 25th to ensure you get it on launch day (if you pre-order before March 23rd), while Costco says it will only begin shipping on April 1st -- it's throwing in a free gel case to make up for it, though.

Motorola makes WiFi-only Xoom official: $599 on March 27th

The WiFi-only Motorola Xoom is launching on March 27th for $599. Retail availability will be truly widespread, with Amazon, Best Buy, Costco, RadioShack, Sam's Club, Staples and Walmart all offering up the Honeycomb tablet. Other than the omission of the 3G and 4G radios of the original Xoom, you're basically looking at an identical hardware package. That includes a 1GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor, 1GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, a 5 megapixel autofocus camera, and a 10.1-inch display with 1280 x 800 resolution.

WiFi-only Xoom headed to Staples for March 27th release?

If you're still holding out for a Motorola Xoom, here's some good news. The folks at Droid Life snagged a picture of a Staples ad depicting March 27th as the targeted release date for the slate. In addition, the tablet appears to be retailing for 600 bucks -- one the cheapest models money can buy. A Xoom, TI-Nspire and a new pack of pens, all from one place? Man, that really was easy.

Adobe Flash Player leaks for Motorola Xoom, we go hands-on

March 18th may seem like an eternity if you expected your Motorola Xoom to come with Adobe Flash on day one. But you know what? If you put your trust in a mysterious file floating about the internet, there's no need to wait that long. MyDroidWorld obtained possession of a leaked build of Adobe Flash Player for the Xoom, which doesn't need root or even a preliminary update to install -- you just need to check the "Unknown sources" box under Settings > Applications, sideload the file or download it from the Xoom's browser and you're good to go. The best part? Based on our preliminary testing, Flash performs exceedingly well on the Xoom's dual-core Tegra 2 processor.Another Video after the break...

UBUNTU RUNNING ON THE MOTOROLA ANDROID TABLET

This is a Chroot’ed Ubuntu installation on the Motorola Xoom Tablet. You can find the video demo after the break...

Motorola will upgrade your Xoom to 4G LTE -- even if you've rooted it

Happy news for Android tinkerers everywhere -- Motorola has officially confirmed it will attempt to perform its 4G upgrade on all Verizon Wireless-riding Xoom tablets it receives from users, whether they've been rooted, repainted, or accessorized with fluffy dice. Naturally, the company can't guarantee successful software updates on devices that have had their OS tweaked, so it asks users to be kind and rewind to the original firmware state. For those unwilling to stretch that far back, Moto will still give it a shot and says that it'll install the 4G LTE modem at a minimum. What a refreshingly open-minded attitude. Now if Moto could give us an open-minded bootloader on its phones as well, we'd be all set.

REVIEW : MOTOROLA XOOM STANDARD DOCK AND BLUETOOTH KEYBOARD

PhoneArena reviews the Standard Dock and Bluetooth Keyboard accessories for Motorola XOOM.Video after the break...

iPad 2 vs. Motorola Xoom vs. HP TouchPad vs. BlackBerry PlayBook: the tale of the tape

Apple iPad 2

Motorola Xoom

HP TouchPad

BlackBerry PlayBook

Platform	iOS 4.3	Android 3.0	webOS 3.0	BB Tablet OS (QNX)
Display	9.7-inch LED-backlit IPS LCD	10.1-inch	9.7-inch	7-inch LCD
Resolution	1024 x 768	1280 x 800	1024 x 768	1024 x 600
Processor	1GHz dual-core Apple A5	1GHz dual-core NVIDIA Tegra 2	1.2GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon	1GHz dual-core TI OMAP4430
Memory	?	1GB RAM	1GB RAM	1GB RAM
Storage	16GB / 32GB / 64GB	32GB	16GB / 32GB	16GB / 32GB / 64GB
Front camera	VGA	2 megapixel	1.3 megapixel	3 megapixel
Rear camera	720 / 30p video	5 megapixel AF with dual-LED flash, 720 / 30p video	none	5 megapixel, 1080p video
Cellular radio	Quadband HSPA or CDMA / EV-DO Rev. A	3G with free upgrade to 4G LTE	3G and 4G	3G and 4G
WiFi	802.11a/b/g/n	802.11a/b/g/n	802.11b/g/n	802.11a/b/g/n
Bluetooth	2.1 + EDR	2.1 + EDR	2.1 + EDR	2.1 + EDR
Accelerometer	3-axis	3-axis	Yes	Yes
Gyroscope	Yes	Yes	Yes	--
Battery	25Wh	6,500mAh	6,300 mAh	5,300 mAh
Thickness	8.8mm	12.7mm	13.7mm	10mm
Weight	601g (WiFi), 607g (Verizon), 613g (AT&T)	725g	740g	425g

MOTOROLA XOOM VS iPAD

The folks at Technobuffalo compares the Apple iPad with the Motorola Xoom tablet.



Another video after the break...

Motorola Xoom overclocked to 1.5GHz, eats Quadrant and Linpack for breakfast !!!

Hold on to your hats, gents, because things just got real -- that's a Motorola Xoom in the picture above, clocked at a blazing 1.504GHz. While we highly doubt that's a new world record of any sort, the dual-core Tegra 2 inside seriously screams at that clockspeed, scorching Quadrant to the tune of 3105 and delivering 47 MFLOPS in Linpack. Oh, and in case you're curious, this achievement wasn't some random hack. It was perpetrated for our collective benefit by the master of SetCPU himself, and you'll find full video proof of his accomplishment below and instructions at our source link. Got root? Then you're on your way.Video after the break...

REVIEW : MOTOROLA XOOM ANDROID TABLET

This is an in-depth video review of the Motorola Xoom Android Tablet. The Xoom is the first Android tablet to the market that’s running Android 3.0 Honeycomb and is powered by NVIDIA Tegrat 2 1GHz dual-core processor with graphics acceleration. The Xoom tablet has a 10.1″ 1280 x 800 display, a 5 megapixel rare camera and a 2 megapixel front camera, 32GB internal storage and 720p capturing and 1080p playback and streaming capability.Video after the break...

Motorola Atrix 4G and Xoom tablet launching at the end of February, Droid Bionic and LTE Xoom in Q2

Motorola had one of the best CES showings of any company in recent memory, and now we've got some rough ship dates for all that new gear: CEO Sanjay Jha just announced on the company's earnings call that the Atrix 4G for AT&T and 3G Xoom for Verizon will arrive at "the end of February," while the LTE-enabled Droid Bionic and LTE Xoom will arrive at "the end of the second quarter" as previously promised. That sounds good to us -- and with that earlier Best Buy leak suggesting the Xoom will hit on February 17, we're hoping that Moto's taking a long view of when the end of February actually begins. Even better, a late February Xoom release supports those rumors that Honeycomb will be generally released in March, which is when the real Android tablet invasion will begin. It's all happening, folks.

Motorola Xoom launching February 17th at Best Buy

When we stumbled upon an $800 price for the Motorola Xoom yesterday, our instinctive reaction was to leap forward to the next obvious question: when? Well, that call has now been answered by an internal Best Buy document that's just dropped into our inbox, which explicitly pinpoints February 17th as the launch date for Moto's highly touted, Honeycomb-equipped tablet. Stock is expected to land at the big box retailer on February 16th, with the big party going down the day after. There's a note confirming that the Xoom will come with its promised 32GB of onboard storage, but anyone looking for confirmation or denial of the earlier pricing leak will be left disappointed. Guess we'll all have to set our calendar alerts for about a month from now and exercise patience in the mean time.

Motorola Xoom priced at $800 at a minimum, according to Verizon leak

Wow, insider tipsters are getting efficient! Verizon appears to have only just added Minimum Advertised Pricing for the Motorola Xoom to its internal systems, but already it's been leaked out by more than one source. Android Central has the damning evidence, which lists an $800 levy for any prospective owners of the flagship Android Honeycomb device. It's accompanied by a listing of the HTC Thunderbolt at $250, with the logical conclusion being that the Moto tablet will come unsullied by subsidies while the HTC LTE handset will probably cost that much on a two-year deal. That makes plenty of sense to us -- the typical smartphone price is $200 and Verizon can point to the 4G goodness the Thunderbolt brings as justifying its $50 premium, whereas the Xoom's cost seems to be in line with the Galaxy Tab's pricing. Now, how about some launch dates, leaksters?

MOTOROLA XOOM - ANDROID 3 (OS)

The guys at intomobile goes hands-on with Motorola Xoom (with NVIDIA Tegra 2 CPU) and Android 3 OS (Honeycomb). Check it out after the break....