• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Reviews/impressions about the Moto Xoom.

Good report Sabres Fan - thank you. I admire everybody who sinks a week's worth of pay into a product that does not even have some basic functions working (SD card reader). You convinced me to wait until these devices are ready for prime time. No wonder the iPad is so successful, but that is not for me.


Some are leaders, while others are followers.....

I prefer the sunshine on my face.
 
Upvote 0
Some are leaders, while others are followers.....

I prefer the sunshine on my face.
That is a fair statement. Problem is that leadership is expensive - at least most of the time.

I bought one of the first SSDs about 3 years ago and installed it in my Vista system (for a lot of money at the time). Took me 6 months to get it right (including 3 mail-ins to Newegg and OCZ). But now I am an SSD fan and have all my 6 PCs equipped with them. But 3 years ago they were not ready for prime time.

The tablet developments reminds me that time. They have been thrown together in haste (including the software) and are now being debugged by the geeks. I have spent all my life with computers and am not afraid of technology. But I set priorities when it comes to spending money. And if they want me to be an alpha or beta tester, they should supply the goods for free.

A consumer product must work out of the box. I am sure that will be the case in another year or so when the Pro's take over.
 
Upvote 0
I bought it Yesterday and returning it Today or tomorrow.

It's a nice product but not for me.

1. It's too large. I think the 7" or 8.9" tablet from samsung is the sweet spot for these devices.
2. It's too heavy. Again the smaller tab have an advantage.
3. You're going to laugh. But, I don't like honeycomb. I prefer Froyo :)

I prefer the galaxy tab I had over this. You don't mind holding it for extended periods of time, fits in my cargo pants and does what it does well.

Overall, the Xoom is great if you are an ipad adapter and like the footprint and weight.
 
Upvote 0
I bought it Yesterday and returning it Today or tomorrow.

It's a nice product but not for me.

I'm happy you discovered that soon enough to return :)

1. It's too large. I think the 7" or 8.9" tablet from samsung is the sweet spot for these devices.

If my tablet (A Viewsonic G Tablet) were not my netbook replacement, I'd be in the same boat as you. I pre-ordered a Wifi-only Xoom; but when I heard plans for the Samsung tabs at 7" and 8.9", I cancelled. I'm holding on the 8.9", which would be the sweet spot for reading.

2. It's too heavy. Again the smaller tab have an advantage.

This is one place where Apple wins hands down on the iPad 2. That thing is damned light, and I can't believe nobody until Samsung (With a future tablet) figured out a tablet MUST be light.

3. You're going to laugh. But, I don't like honeycomb. I prefer Froyo :)

Again, I share this opinion. I think it has a lot to do with "what I'm used to". I prefer not learning 3 different ways to get something done.

I prefer the galaxy tab I had over this. You don't mind holding it for extended periods of time, fits in my cargo pants and does what it does well.

I would be getting a Samsung G tab, but I heard about the 8.9", and I think it will work out the same: Big enough to read comfortably, small enough to pocket it.

Overall, the Xoom is great if you are an ipad adapter and like the footprint and weight.

:thumbs up:
 
Upvote 0
I think I may be returning mine today or tomorrow as well.

Heres why......
Ive had it for about 3 days now...and I loved it the first day......less the second day ...and even less the third day. Not alot of apps that I like are working properly on the Xoom. Getting alot of force closes......everything from the facebook app to Jetvd. Its asking me if I want to power off alot for no reason. And not alot of apps are available yet. I know..I know...soon.

I may be picking up the Ipad 2. It just seems so much easier to put music and movies on it. The software seems seamless as well.

I really...really want to LOVE the Xoom. But its making it hard to.
 
Upvote 0
Heres why......
Ive had it for about 3 days now...and I loved it the first day......less the second day ...and even less the third day. Not alot of apps that I like are working properly on the Xoom. Getting alot of force closes......everything from the facebook app to Jetvd. Its asking me if I want to power off alot for no reason. And not alot of apps are available yet. I know..I know...soon.
I've experienced pretty much the exact opposite, and I've had my XOOM (the 3G one) since launch day.

I've probably had one force close, and the XOOM has never asked to shut down randomly. The facebook app is understandable, and will never be corrected, as facebook has publicly said that tablets are computers, not mobile devices. This is why there is no facebook app for the iPad.

As for apps, if you think there's not enough now, you should have seen the list back in February. The apps are coming along nicely, and many devs are listing April 2011 as their launch timeframe. This is likely because Honeycomb will have a larger footprint on the tablet market.

Overall, I keep finding new things I like about the XOOM on a weekly basis. The only things I wish I could do at this point is use the microSD slot and securely sign pdf files. However, I know both of those are coming.
 
Upvote 0
I bought it Yesterday and returning it Today or tomorrow.

It's a nice product but not for me.

1. It's too large. I think the 7" or 8.9" tablet from samsung is the sweet spot for these devices.
2. It's too heavy. Again the smaller tab have an advantage.
3. You're going to laugh. But, I don't like honeycomb. I prefer Froyo :)

I prefer the galaxy tab I had over this. You don't mind holding it for extended periods of time, fits in my cargo pants and does what it does well.

Overall, the Xoom is great if you are an ipad adapter and like the footprint and weight.

#1: I think that 7/9" tablets are too small. Trying read some PDF's on those are a pain in the butt, let alone web surfing.

#2: I think you should go and work out more for those who thinks its heavy. I gave it a whirl at Frys (as well as others)..system was fluid. Weight wise I had no problem with it..my only gripe is battery replacement.

#3: It does take a bit to get use to new AI.. would be nice if to have Android have a selection of what OS ui to use (yet still be able to harness all the fuctionality of it).

It is nice BUT I am still waiting closer to xmas and see what will be available.
 
Upvote 0
I have the ipad 1 and have had it since launch. I do love the way it ties into apple tv and how easy it is to get media on the device. Also there are a lot of cool apps. But for business use it is so behind the times.

On the xoom I am reading docs, surfing the web, reading rss feeds, IMing and all the time I am getting notified of emails, or IMs that are coming in. I can then decide if I want to stop what I am doing and read them. With the ipad I have to click out of what I am doing and then see if I received an email and then click back into what I was doing. Very unproductive.

I am loving the xoom for business and everything that I need right now. I lvoe the size and the weight is not bad at all.

I will say this, if you have an ipad then no brainer to get a xoom. If you have an ipad and then get an ipad2 I would see it as a waste of money. But my wife and kids use the ipad and I use the xoom. Best of both worlds.
 
Upvote 0
I'm having mixed feelings about mine. I've already chosen to keep it by rooting it just last night. I did it out of frustration because too many appsI depend on were'nt even visible to it on the market. I don't depend on it for productivity, but I do want it to do more than surf the web. I have grown to depend on my rooted Droid for productivity, and right now my Droid does more than this Xoom. I knew that this would be an evolving product when I bought it, but I guess I'm jaded by how blown away I was when the Droid was evolving, constantly making my new already great product even better beyond my imagination nearly every other week.
I bought my wife the iPad for Christmas, and so far the Xoom only slightly rivals it.
Personally, I like the hefty, solid feel of the Xoom. I expect easy instructions on battery replacememt will make that less of problem in the future.
I still have great expe tations for the Xoom because I know the Android community canmt be complacent like the Apple community.

...Besides, the friggin' thing's gotta barometer inside it!
 
Upvote 0
While I respect your decision, I think you should have given the Xoom a bit more time. I understand your complaints but I think evaluating a product for 3 days doesn't really give you a full appreciation of it. I remember when I got my Nexus One and after about 2 weeks or whatever the return policy was I was ready to send it back to Google. The Wifi performance was sub-par, I wasn't thrilled with the stock 2.1 interface, and it didn't seem worth the $529. After getting an RMA # I played around a little more with it and basically I haven't looked back. I'm thrilled that I kept my N1, and even though there are more powerful phones out on the market now, I like that I have a very solid phone that is easily customizable with different roms and such, and that I can wait until these newer phones work out their 4G quirks before I jump to one of them.

This is why I got my Xoom from Costco, so that I had 90 days to really evaluate it and see if it is for me. Right now I'm still on the fence. While I do really enjoy the versatility and ease of use, I'm not thrilled with the bugginess of the OS and some of the programs. Still, I don't think that less than a week is a fair evaluation time on an evolving technology.
 
Upvote 0
I think this is the keyword. Question is whether you want to sink $800 for the pleasure to participate in a worlwide alpha test. Even other beta test products (e.g. Windows7) ran much more smoothly.

It could be argued Windows 7, when released, was not a Beta Test - but it's 2 predecessors, Millenium (last 9x series) and Longhorn/Vista, definitely were Beta's that never really made it to prime time!

I've been very happy with my Xoom, and after 2 weeks of learning I haven't had a lockup or reboot in at least 4 days ......
 
Upvote 0
I really wanted to love it but just to heavy for me. Honeycomb is nice and will get better and better but just could not deal with weight for how I use a tablet which is primarily reading.

I also had problem with back casing getting loose so had to go back to Moto anyway.

At first I was in denial because I liked Honeycomb so much. I will either go after smaller form factor in 7 inch range or may wait for the new 8.9 Samsung tablet coming this summer.
 
Upvote 0
I really am trying to love this thing... as i love android but several major issues im facing and I faced.

1. I set this up yesterday and in the setup process it asked for my wifi details. I gave it my router password and had no issues and I was far off from my router. Then last night I wanted to see how easy it would be to disconnect from the wifi and reconnect ( usually a 2 second process on my windows laptop )

Result = since disconnecting I couldnt get it to reconnect. In fact it just kept cycling through scannning, scanning, authenticating and I am right beside my router...????? Also its showing 4 LINKSYS in the window ( which one is mine??? ) I hope those 4 are not all mine

Finally.... I removed all of the linksys and it found mine ( fixed )

But the connection is crap compared to my laptop, the further I am away from the route, naturally there will be not as great connection But with my laptop I can go RIGHT up stairs ( 2 levels ) and stream movies and tv no issues..

With this i am only 1 level up and its stuttering through streaming stuff

2. After installing FLASH from the market place last night, i went to regular sites that I use on my laptop with no issues ( anywhere in the house and i have 3 levels in the house and my router is on the bottom ) and I discovered that the tv/movies that I usually stream on my laptop flawlessly... are juttery and freezing ( i can hear audio ) then the video will kick back in again..

3. Some sites i used to watch streaming tv from ( don't even appear the same ) I thought the site had changed, so i loaded up my pc and went to the same site, same link and sure enough the site was fine!... Its serving up something entirely different to me ( oh and its not the mobile version as I made sure to changed that using about:debut )

4. I have not got the android 3.1 update ( like what the hell is up with that? )

If I don't find a solution to the above... this will have to go back to the store today and be replaced by a regular laptop as there are some thing I just can't settle for!
 
Upvote 0
I really am trying to love this thing... as i love android but several major issues im facing and I faced.

1. I set this up yesterday and in the setup process it asked for my wifi details. I gave it my router password and had no issues and I was far off from my router. Then last night I wanted to see how easy it would be to disconnect from the wifi and reconnect ( usually a 2 second process on my windows laptop )

Result = since disconnecting I couldnt get it to reconnect. In fact it just kept cycling through scannning, scanning, authenticating and I am right beside my router...????? Also its showing 4 LINKSYS in the window ( which one is mine??? ) I hope those 4 are not all mine

Finally.... I removed all of the linksys and it found mine ( fixed )

But the connection is crap compared to my laptop, the further I am away from the route, naturally there will be not as great connection But with my laptop I can go RIGHT up stairs ( 2 levels ) and stream movies and tv no issues..

With this i am only 1 level up and its stuttering through streaming stuff

2. After installing FLASH from the market place last night, i went to regular sites that I use on my laptop with no issues ( anywhere in the house and i have 3 levels in the house and my router is on the bottom ) and I discovered that the tv/movies that I usually stream on my laptop flawlessly... are juttery and freezing ( i can hear audio ) then the video will kick back in again..

3. Some sites i used to watch streaming tv from ( don't even appear the same ) I thought the site had changed, so i loaded up my pc and went to the same site, same link and sure enough the site was fine!... Its serving up something entirely different to me ( oh and its not the mobile version as I made sure to changed that using about:debut )

4. I have not got the android 3.1 update ( like what the hell is up with that? )

If I don't find a solution to the above... this will have to go back to the store today and be replaced by a regular laptop as there are some thing I just can't settle for!
Your wifi issues are related to the channel your Wifi network is broadcasting.

Set it to auto. If you have it set to a specific channel, you will have issues.
 
Upvote 0

BEST TECH IN 2023

We've been tracking upcoming products and ranking the best tech since 2007. Thanks for trusting our opinion: we get rewarded through affiliate links that earn us a commission and we invite you to learn more about us.

Smartphones