Motorola Xoom (WiFi) Users Receiving 3.2.1 HTK55D Update Now

Motorola Xoom (WiFi) users are reporting that a mysterious update is being pushed to their device’s today. We received a Phantip from one of our readers letting us know of his Xoom prompting him of the Android 3.2.1 build HTK55D update. While we have yet to see of a changelog from Motorola, according to the boys on XDA this is some kind of bootloader maintenance update so be careful if you’re rooted. If you haven’t yet been notified jump into your Settings About Tablet System Updates and it should be waiting for you. Have any of our reader successfully updated? Notice any improvements or any kind of weirdness?

Thanks, Christopher!

Motorola XOOM Android ‘Honeycomb’ 3.2.1 Update On Its Way Now

While there are many different high-powered Android ‘Honeycomb’ powered tablets on the market some stick out far ahead of the rest. One such example is the Motorola XOOM which was, in fact, the first Android ‘Honeycomb’ powered tablet to hit the market. This device features things such as an NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor and even the ability to, once upgraded, link up with Verizon’s high-speed 4G LTE network.

However, the real beauty of the device is the fact that the Android ‘Honeycomb’ platform by which it is run will forever be upgraded, updated and improved upon. Today seems to be one of those fateful days as it was just made known that the Android ‘Honeycomb’ 3.2.1 update has begun rolling out for the Motorola XOOM.

What does this update bring, you ask? Unfortunately, not much other than some bug fixes and performance improvements. Of course, this is definitely a welcome addition as a better working device equals a happier consumer.

Rumoured Motorola Xoom 2 details: 10.1-inch screen, 9.9mm thick, syncs wirelessly

Details of the successor to Motorola’s Xoom tablet are coming in thick and fast at the moment, with multiple rumours suggesting that a Xoom 2 is a sure thing.

ThisIsMyNext's "trusted source" pegs the Xoom 2 at just 9mm thick with an HD 10.1-inch screen. The device apparently packs a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, has an 11 hour battery life, and boasts the capacity to capture 1080p video.

A built-in IR blaster is also rumoured to be part of the package, while accessories include a keyboard case attachment and a stylus pen for the device.

Furthermore, it’s suggested that the Xoom 2 will be the first tablet to ship with Adobe Flash Player 11, and that US customers will be able to stream Netflix in HD to the device.

Rumour has it that Motorola is also working on software that will enable users to wirelessly sync the Xoom 2 to their PC, which would certainly be convenient.

A leaner version of the Xoom 2, dubbed the Xoom 2 Media Edition, packing an 8.2-inch screen, has also been outed by ThisIsMyNext. The device is being billed as an e-reader replacement.

Finally, Engadget has a few more details to add to the mix, claiming that both the current Xoom 2 prototypes use the Android 3.2 operating system and have rear-mounted 5MP cameras.

Before you get too excited, the word on the street is that these prototypes are currently buggy and unfinished, meaning that release could be a way off yet. Still, if details keep emerging at the current rate we’ll know everything there is to know about Motorola’s entire product line-up by next Thursday.

Motorola Xoom 2 Two Size Tabs Get Pictured

The old Android Honeycomb Motorola Xoom slate has been around for a while now, and we know there will be a successor to the Xoom, a device that will of course be known as the Motorola Xoom 2, but apparently the Motorola Xoom 2 will come in two sizes, an 8-inch and 10-inch model and those have just posed for a couple of pictures.

The images and info on both Motorola Xoom 2 slates come our way courtesy of the guys over at Android Community by way of Engadget who got them from an unnamed tipster that confirmed both slates would be 4G LTE enabled.

Apparently both the 8-inch and 10-inch Motorola Xoom 2 will be roughly 9.3mm in thickness, which is about the same thickness as the iPhone 4, and word is both slates have the same codename “Fleming.” Word is they may come out with Android 3.2 Honeycomb OS but then again if Android Ice Cream Sandwich is available by their release they may surface with that.

It’s unclear whether Motorola will push out both sizes, but why produce them if not to get out to the public. However apparently word has it the operating systems on these are still somewhat on the buggy side with frequent crashes and reboots.

Other than that there isn’t a great deal more information on these two other than we learn from the pictures that they will both sport a 5 megapixel rear camera along with a 2 megapixel front facing camera.

Obviously at this stage of the game there’s no clue as to when these Android tablets will be ready to come out and play, but naturally as soon as we hear more we will of course pass it along, until then enjoy the images.

Any of our Android faithful readers hoping to pick up a new Motorola Xoom 2 slate once these hit the mobile space?

If you have enjoyed this Phones Review article feel free to add me your circles on Google+ and I will of course add you back.

Motorola Xoom vs Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1: Tablet showdown

Tablets are clearly one of the hottest tech categories in 2011, and the emerging slate market shows no sign of slowing down. Apple's iPad 2 is clearly the market leader, but there are plenty of credible alternatives. Two of the most popular are the Motorola Xoom, and the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. What's all the fuss about the Galaxy Tab 10.1, and how does it compare to the Motorola Xoom?

Read our comprehensive Motorola Xoom review and our Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 review, and check out our guide to the best upcoming tablets in 2011.

The Motorola Xoom was one of the first tablets to establish itself as a credible iPad alternative, while the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is thinner and lighter than the iPad 2. The Galaxy Tab has not yet launched in Australia but has already cause quite the stir: Apple has blocked it from going on sale in Australia and forced Samsung to postpone the launch event.

With this in mind, how does the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 stack up against the Motorola Xoom when it comes to specifications?

Motorola Xoom vs Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1: Specifications

Design

The Motorola Xoom Android tablet features an attractive, industrial-looking black metal finish on the back and sides, and a front that is taken up almost entirely by the 10.1in touchscreen. The Xoom is clearly designed to be used more in landscape mode than it is in portrait, though it can be rotated using a built-in accelerometer. At 730g, the Xoom is significantly heavier, thicker and larger than the Galaxy Tab 10.1, which may be a deal-breaker for those who want to lug their tablet around with them.

The Galaxy Tab 10.1 is just 8.6mm thick, making it thin enough to be described by Samsung at the time of its launch as "the world's thinnest mobile tablet". That's ever so slightly thinner than the 8.8mm thick iPad 2. Although a mere 0.2mm doesn't seem like a deal breaker if you're comparing it directly to the iPad 2, the Galaxy Tab 10.1's weight of just 565g is a big deal. The lightweight design makes it easy to use single-handedly, and very comfortable to hold for long periods, unlike the Xoom.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is just 8.6mm thick, and weighs a mere 565g, making it much thinner and lighter than the Motorola Xoom.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Android tablet is constructed largely from plastic, but still manages to feel extremely well built. The materials used are of a high quality, right from the glossy black bezel surrounding the display, to the soft-feeling, rubber-style plastic that adorns the rear, and the stylish curved edges.

Display

The Motorola Xoom has a 10.1in capacitive touchscreen display with a 1280x800 resolution. For general use indoors the display produces vibrant colour, but its glossy surface makes it very tough to see in direct sunlight, and viewing angles aren't great. We also found that text wasn't as crisp or clear as we'd like — particularly when reading books, or long articles on the Web. Importantly, the Xoom's display is responsive to touch, and doesn't feel sticky when swiping.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 has the same sized 10.1in display as the Xoom, and an identical resolution of 1280x800 pixels, but it uses PLS TFT touchscreen technology. Samsung says that the inclusion of PLS (Plane-line-switching) technology gives the Galaxy Tab 10.1 better viewing angles and increased brightness compared with regular IPS screens. For most part that's true, as the Galaxy Tab 10.1's screen is bright and crisp, and can be clearly seen from even the most obscure angles. Sadly, the screen can't escape a common issue with most tablets: it quickly becomes a grubby mess after use. It also has poor sunlight legibility, reflects fluorescent lighting in an office environment.

Motorola Drops Price Of iPad 2 Rival Tablet To £299.99

The Motorola XOOM tablet has become the cheapest of the Honeycomb tablets on the market thanks to a 24-hour sale from online retailer Play.com.

At £299.99, the device is nearly £100 cheaper than the cheapest iPad 2 available and yet it offers twice the amount of onboard storage.

With the Motorola XOOM 2 expected to be launched imminently, it seems to make sense for Motorola (and Google) to start getting rid of existing stock without going crazy and "doing a TouchPad".

Like the rest of its competitors, the XOOM comes with the Nvidia Tegra 2 SoC clocked at 1GHz, 1GB RAM, 32GB onboard storage, a 10.1-inch 1280x800 pixel capacitive touchscreen, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, HDMI and USB connectivity, a microSD card slot, GPS, two cameras plus a battery that can power the tablet for up to 10 hours.

The latest Honeycomb update means that the tablet can now run version 3.2 of Google's mobile platform. The XOOM originally carried a suggested retail price of £480.

That said, it is not the cheapest dual core tablet on the market; the Hannspree Hannspad costs around half the price of the XOOM but comes with 512MB RAM, a 1024x600 pixel screen, Gingerbread and only one camera.

More Pictures Of 10-inch Motorola XOOM 2 Tablet Surfaces

A few more pictures of the 10-inch version of the Motorola XOOM 2 have emerged online courtesy of Engadget.

The tablet is apparently just as thin as the iPhone 4 at around 9.3mm and will come with 4G LTE connectivity although Wi-Fi only models are likely to be in the pipeline as well.

It is not known whether the tablet will feature the newest quad core Kal El SoC from Nvidia or yet another design win for TI's OMAP4 family; Thisismynext says that it will run at 1.2GHz with 11 hours battery life.

Engadget's pictures show that there's a front and rear camera and that the tablet design is quite different from that of the original Motorola XOOM possibly to pre-empt any potential design-related lawsuit from Apple.

The anonymous source who provided with the picture also claims that the tablets are currently running on Android 3.2 Honeycomb and are "buggy as hell" which is not what you'd expect from a minor udate.

Still the original XOOM - which also runs Android 3.2 - is likely to fall in price as stocks are cleared, making it  a rather attractive alternative to the likes of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 or the iPad 2.

The XOOM 2 will almost certainly keep the same 10.1-inch 1280x800 pixels touchscreen, the same cameras, that microSD card slot, the same amount of onboard RAM but with less storage (16GB vs 32GB) to keep costs low.

Leaked Xoom 2 details amaze the Internet

September 26, 2011, 8:05 AM — Over the weekend tech blogs went a little nuts about some Motorola Xoom 2 leaks. I saw 13 posts on the topic in my news feed and I'm sure there were others that I missed.

Now some of this is just the natural weekend news process. There isn't a lot going on and blogs all tend to pick up the same news and cross-report items like crazy.

But I don't see what the big fuss is, and I'm an Android fan. The Motorola Xoom wasn't really anything special in the world of tablets; it was just first. The leaked specs of this Xoom 2 aren't particularly impressive (this could change as further details emerge). There are two models, a 10" and an 8.2". They both have an unspecified dual-core processor and run Android 3.2. My favorite much-repeated spec is a thickness of 9mm, "just .2 mm thicker than an iPad 2."

So we're at a point where "It's only a little bit worse than an iPad 2" is worthy of praise? No wonder Android is struggling.

Personally, I'm at the point where I'm more or less done with being excited about this generation of Android tablets. The one exception is what Amazon has cooking. I am looking forward to what the company shows us on Wednesday: if it's an Android tablet it'll be interesting because of Amazon's infrastructure behind it. Other than that, please call me when a Tegra 3 (Kal El) or other quad-core device is ready to be shown off, or when Ice Cream Sandwich arrives on shipping hardware. All these other new tablets seem (on paper at least) pretty much the same as the tablets that started shipping last spring.

In the meanwhile, if you're more excited about a Xoom 2 than I am, This is my next seems to have broke the story, and Engadget has more details and some stunning images of the back of the things.

Motorola's 8-inch, 10-inch Xoom 'Fleming' with 4G LTE Leaked [PHOTOS]

Although previously a 7-inch device was spotted, a new 8.2-inch tablet with IPS display has reared its head. It is also said that both will feature a sleek design and will be 9.3mm thick, which is as thin as an iPhone 4; the smaller device is known as “Fleming.”

The tablets, which are running Android 3.2, have had several issues with faulty OS. Reports coming in, however, suggest that the company is looking into the issue and that it won’t be long before they arrive in the market.

Motorola Xoom 2 surfaces

In July, The Mobile Indian had reported about the Motorola Xoom's successor, which was to come with 4:3 aspect ratio and the Android Ice Cream Sandwich update. Now Droid-Life managed to get exclusive images of the Xoom's successor tablet, which is likely to be branded Xoom 2.

Featuring a 10.1 inch screen the Xoom 2 comes with angled corners, similar to Motorola's Photon 4G smartphone. We can expect the tablet to be revealed by the end of this year or early next year at the Consumer Electronics Show 2012 in LA, USA.

Motorola Xoom 2 will have a 10.1 inch display and will sport 4:3 aspect ratio with 2048 x 1536 pixel resolution. The tablet is presumed to leave out a 4G LTE chip and will come in WiFi as well as WiFi+3G versions. Motorola Xoom 2 has model number MZ617.

The front facing camera exists to use the tablet in landscape mode while the camera at the back comes with HD written next to it. The tablet will most probably be capable of recording 720p HD videos. There was no information on the processor but considering the exclusive tie-up between Motorola and Nvidia to use the Tegra 2 processor in Xoom, the successor will likely come with the much rumoured Kal-El processor, also called Tegra 3.

Details on the version of operating system on this tablet are scarce. It seems safe to assume that Android Honeycomb might come pre-loaded on the device with the capability to update to Ice Cream Sandwich whenever it starts rolling out. Else, this might turn out to be one of the first Android Ice Cream Sandwich tablets.

Motorola will offer Xoom 2 in two colours — white and black.

Motorola Xoom Wi-Fi drops to £299.99 in the UK

With the Motorola Xoom 2 on the way, it isn’t a surprise that the price of the original Xoom keeps on dropping. At least that’s what’s going on in the UK, where the Wi-Fi-only variant of this Android-powered tablet went for as much as £499.99 at one time, then saw its price plunge first by more than £100, then all the way down to £329.99 a few weeks ago.

If even that seemed too expensive for you to take a dive into the Android tablet world, here’s some good news. Play.com, a well established online electronics retailer, has now gone even further. It will give you a Wi-Fi Xoom if you pay only £299.99. And shipping is free.



That’s pretty interesting for a 10.1-inch tablet with no less than 32 GB of built-in storage, and it’s certainly not a price you see every day for such products. So if you want to take advantage of this offer, head on over to Play.com now.

The Motorola Xoom has a dual-core 1 GHz Nvidia Tegra 2 processor, 1 GB of RAM, a 5 MP autofocus rear camera with dual-LED flash and 720p HD video recording, a secondary front-facing 2 MP camera, a 10.1-inch 1280×800 touchscreen, microSD card support, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS.

The Motorola Xoom 2 prototypes, front and back

The Motorola Xoom 2 prototypes, front and back  (Source: Engadget)

Devices may make it in time for the holidays, or at least a CES 2012 launch

For those

wondering about the status of Google Inc.'s (GOOG) new subsidiary Motorola, it's still doing decently in the smartphone sector with fancy Android handsets like the
Photon 4G (Sprint Nextel Corp. (S)), Droid Bionic (Verizon Communications Inc.'s (VZ)), Droid 3 (Verizon), Titanium (Sprint), and Droid X2 (Verizon) recently released or coming soon.

In the tablet market it's been much more of a struggle for Motorola.
Despite its Xoom being designated as the flagship Honeycomb tablet

 (prior to the acquisition), Motorola only managed to sell between 30k and 120k Xooms by April.  Motorola has kept quiet on recent sales figures,
but with sleek designs like ASUSTEK Computer Inc.'s (TPE:2357) Eee Pad
Transformer, Samsung Electronics Comp., Ltd.'s (SEO 005930) Galaxy Tab 10.1, and Apple, Inc.'s (AAPL) iPad 2, the situation isn't looking pretty for
the ill-received Xoom.

Despite those struggles, Google and Motorola appear to be hoping
persistence pays off, and are tinkering around, reportedly, with Xoom 2 designs.

Pictures have leaked of two prototypes, both
with a 5 MP camera and back-face buttons for power and volume.  The two
prototypes are essentially the same with 8.2-inch IPS screens, LTE modems, and
Android 3.2 onboard.  The primary difference is in the layout of the
back-face features.  The devices both weigh approximately 0.95 lb and are
approximately 9.3 mm thick.

According to a tipster on Engadget, the
devices are both code-named "Fleming" and are "buggy as all
hell, with frequent reboots and crashes."

That may be enough to scare some, but remember, these are early
prototypes and despite its poor general reception the Xoom (original) had some
loyal fans, including some DailyTech readers
who have ardently defended it against criticism in past pieces.