Motorola Xoom - Not ready for prime time
I wanted flash support. I also wanted 4G capability. The dual cameras were no big deal. The form factor..well, I'd rather have had iPad form factor since I have accessories for it. However, the Xoom called to me and I had to check it out.
The Xoom is not ready for the market. It's sad because the machine has so much potential. Its specs are respectable, price point is not insane, data plan isn't so bad, but Android 3.0 is pretty much a fail at this point. And Motorola tech support is a joke reminding me of "Peggy" from the Capital One commercial. I expected someone to say "Happy Time" and ring a tin gong for the amount of help I got from them.
Major Failure Issues:
1) No root certificate import capability without rooting the machine. This means I can't get email at my house using the built in email program. So I downloaded K-9 which I used on my droid. On that I can get my home email but not my work. "Accept all certificates" does not. iPad on the other hand "just works."
2) Google writes Android. You'd expect Google's highly touted "Google Body" that says optimized for 3.0 Honeycomb would actually work. No. It crashes 100% of the time.
3) Logistics. When I bought the pad, I also bought a "portfolio case" for it also from Verizon, where I got the tablet. In order to use the portfolio case, you click it into the plastic portion, and the fold over portion doubles as a stand. That's great, but you can't plug it IN while it's acting as a stand. And taking it out is cumbersome and wears out the attachment points on the case.
4) Charging. Some total nitwit put the charge point on the bottom of the tablet, and then provided a charger that consists of a very thin pin attached to a 3/4 inch long plastic piece, attached to a wire. Guess what winds up pressing the plastic piece against the wire when you put the machine in a stand of any kind?
5) Charging 2. The same nitwit decided that attaching the tablet to your computer with the handy USB to mini USB cable would NOT also charge your tablet. No, you MUST use the flimsy thin pin approach.
6) Apps Market. A huge number of Android 2.x apps just plain do not work with Honeycomb. The Apps Market doesn't have them separated out as "optimized for 3.0" or anything like that. If you're lucky they may mention it somewhere in the description.
7) Quitting apps. Not so easy. You almost have to go to the task manager to quit the process to get the app to quit unless you reboot the tablet. Of course, the task manager is not optimized for 3.0 so you get a teeny tiny window.
*sigh* and I so wanted to like the Xoom...
The Xoom is not ready for the market. It's sad because the machine has so much potential. Its specs are respectable, price point is not insane, data plan isn't so bad, but Android 3.0 is pretty much a fail at this point. And Motorola tech support is a joke reminding me of "Peggy" from the Capital One commercial. I expected someone to say "Happy Time" and ring a tin gong for the amount of help I got from them.
Major Failure Issues:
1) No root certificate import capability without rooting the machine. This means I can't get email at my house using the built in email program. So I downloaded K-9 which I used on my droid. On that I can get my home email but not my work. "Accept all certificates" does not. iPad on the other hand "just works."
2) Google writes Android. You'd expect Google's highly touted "Google Body" that says optimized for 3.0 Honeycomb would actually work. No. It crashes 100% of the time.
3) Logistics. When I bought the pad, I also bought a "portfolio case" for it also from Verizon, where I got the tablet. In order to use the portfolio case, you click it into the plastic portion, and the fold over portion doubles as a stand. That's great, but you can't plug it IN while it's acting as a stand. And taking it out is cumbersome and wears out the attachment points on the case.
4) Charging. Some total nitwit put the charge point on the bottom of the tablet, and then provided a charger that consists of a very thin pin attached to a 3/4 inch long plastic piece, attached to a wire. Guess what winds up pressing the plastic piece against the wire when you put the machine in a stand of any kind?
5) Charging 2. The same nitwit decided that attaching the tablet to your computer with the handy USB to mini USB cable would NOT also charge your tablet. No, you MUST use the flimsy thin pin approach.
6) Apps Market. A huge number of Android 2.x apps just plain do not work with Honeycomb. The Apps Market doesn't have them separated out as "optimized for 3.0" or anything like that. If you're lucky they may mention it somewhere in the description.
7) Quitting apps. Not so easy. You almost have to go to the task manager to quit the process to get the app to quit unless you reboot the tablet. Of course, the task manager is not optimized for 3.0 so you get a teeny tiny window.
*sigh* and I so wanted to like the Xoom...