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.