One drawback, however, is its price: in the UK the Motorola Xoom will be a not-insubstantial £499. While this is £80 cheaper than the comparable 32GB iPad 2 with 3G; it is still £100 more expensive than the entry-level model iPad 2 (16GB with Wi-Fi); and that's hardly considered a cheap device. We were rather hoping that the entry of Google Android to the tablet
market would drive prices down, not up. But it seems Motorola has other ideas.
Still, you get your money's worth. The Motorola zooms to the top of the Android tablet class in style and design. The build quality is solid, with volume and power buttons that are easy to press.
It has a soft, rubberised feel along the top, and black metal on the bottom when held in horizontal mode. Buttons and other elements are also configured for that orientation. Clearly, Motorola designed the Xoom with landscape orientation in mind. In that position, you hold it with two hands, and the front-facing 2Mp camera sits at the top middle of the display.
The microUSB and mini-HDMI ports are at bottom, perfect for mounting the Xoom in its optional dock. The power button is located on the back too, to the left of the rear-facing, flash-equipped, 5Mp camera. It lies where your forefinger naturally lands when you hold the Motorola Xoom in both hands.
POWERFUL BEAST
There's plenty of power onboard. It uses nVidia's Tegra 2 processor, with a dual-core 1GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, and 32GB of onboard user storage. The microSD card slot permits users to double their storage space as they use the Motorola Xoom device. The display measures lO.lin diagonally, with 1280x800-pixel resolution. The widescreen's 16:10 aspect ratio makes the Xoom great for viewing video.
Initially, the display looked lovely. The home screens were readable, and colours looked fine. But as we used the device, the pattern of the screen became more obvious. Over time the Xoom seemed to present us with a grid whose lines were more obvious in some situations than in others.
The images we captured were also disappointingly middle-of-the-road. Overall, the camera was a bit awkward to operate, as was the video camera.
We were impressed with its ability to zip through content. We sped through menus, large collections of images, and the Android Market. Even the file transfer speeds via USB were impressive: we transferred 700MB of digital pictures to the Xoom in just three minutes.
VERDICT
The Motorola Xoom is a solidly built effort and Android 3.0 is easily the most polished Google operating system to date. However, there are a few flaws, such as the appearance of a grid on the screen, which prevent us from giving it a rousing endorsement. And the price feels high, given that the iPad 2's prices start at £399.
Details
Price £499 inc VAT
Further information www.motorola.com/zoom
Specifications
Dual-core nVidia Tegra 2 processor; Google Android 3.0 (Honeycomb); lO.lin 1280x800-pixel display; 1GB DDR2 RAM; 5Mp HD camcorder (2Mp front-facing camera included); Adobe Flash 10.1 Player support. 802.lln Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR; 32GB internal storage; HDMI 2.0,USB 2.0, 3.5mm Audio Jack; 249x168x13mm; 730g
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