If Google hopes to unseat iOS as the leading tablet operating system – as it apparently has in the smartphone arena – there are three things it and its hardware partners must do. First, adapt and refine the Android OS for tablets and encourage tablet-friendly software development and innovation. Second, build powerful, attractive and useful hardware to bring software to life in users’ hands. Last – and by no means least – go beyond simple point-by-point comparisons to make a compelling case to the consumer for choosing an Android tablet over the iPad, be it one of form, function, affordability – or even better, all three.
An Android surge in the tablet market seemed a distant dream in 2010, but with last month’s release of Android 3.0 and the Motorola XOOM – the flagship Android-powered iPad competitor – there was hope for 2011.
But two weeks with the latest, greatest Android tablet dashed that hope fairly decisively, at least for this reviewer. The XOOM, while capable, lacks any of the aforementioned must-dos – with the exception of the Android 3.0 OS, ‘Honeycomb,’ which is designed for larger-screened devices and is, in many ways, a success. But, as it stands there’s just no reason to choose the XOOM over an iPad, unless you are a die-hard Android fan or need LTE at all costs.
Design
The XOOM is a beautiful piece of hardware, black and gray and glassy sleek. The 10.1-inch display dominates the tablet’s face with a relatively thin black bezel surrounding; the remaining shell is soft, slate-like metal and plastic.
Hardware controls are minimal, with only volume and power buttons (the power button is placed on the tablet’s rear, which is an odd design choice as you have to pick up the tablet and hold it with one hand while feeling around for the power toggle with the other). There’s a microSDHC / LTE SIM card slot on the top edge, along with a 3.5mm audio jack. On the bottom is a microUSB sync port, a mini HDMI-out, a two-pin charging connector for docks, and a round charging port (the XOOM must be charged by wall power; USB charging is not an option).
Everything about the XOOM’s look is top-notch, but there’s much less to enjoy about its design when actually using it. The edges are rounded (on the shorter sides) or squared, with neither feeling very good in the hand. There’s also a sharp seam between the shell and the screen glass along the edges of the tablet’s face that can catch on your skin. And the widescreen form factor, while more desirable on paper, gives the XOOM a somewhat wobbly feel in the hand, particularly in portrait mode.
The weight of the XOOM, roughly the same as the original iPad and 0.3 pounds heavier than iPad 2, is acceptable, but the oblong design makes it seem heaver than it otherwise would.
Android 3.0
XOOM gives us our first look at Google’s Android 3.0 operating system – aka Honeycomb – which was adapted specifically for tablets. And a lot of interesting changes have been made in order to make it a better fit for larger devices. The OS is a mixture of simple Chrome-inspired 2D menus and windows, and select 3D presentations.
Aesthetically, Android 3 is a success, and is also fairly user friendly.
The UI has been changed pretty dramatically from Android 2.x. The Home screens are still there, which can be populated with shortcuts and widgets, but the pull-down notifications screen has been replaced with alert icons across a status bar at the bottom of the display. Also on this status bar are three onscreen shortcuts: back, home and tabs. These on-screen controls replace the standard hardware buttons found on Android phones. I like that these have been moved to the UI, but the buttons could be a bit larger.
The ABCs of Android remain the same, but with added visual flair. There’s an Apps menu that contains all installed applications, the Android Market for downloading new apps, and system settings for refining how Android works.
In some ways, Android 3 feels more modern than iOS, but at this point it’s nowhere near as friendly for the typical user. Android fans and power users will appreciate the level of freedom offered over iOS, but for the average user Android just isn’t there in terms of instinctive tap and use simplicity. I have no doubt, however, that this will improve over the coming months and years.
At this point, the main problem with Honeycomb is that so many of the thousands of available apps haven’t yet been optimized for it. Some existing applications work reasonably well with Android 3, though with noticeable errors, while others like DropBox (which I cannot do without) don’t work at all. This isn’t Google or Motorola’s fault, but it affects users all the same, and it’s something to be aware of when considering the XOOM, at least in the near future.
There are a few apps that are tablet optimized, and to the extent they exist, are generally excellent.
Web & Email
Android’s web browser is nice, fast and mostly a pleasure to use. It’s been updated with traditional tabbed browsing, which is excellent, and has received the same 2D makeover as the rest of the OS.
Browsing the web on XOOM is a lot like using Chrome on a PC, though performance is not as fast as on a full computer, of course. Features include log-in management, Incognito Mode which allows you to browse the web without storing cookies or history, and bookmark syncing with Chrome on your Mac or PC. Javascript performance was actually quite speedy and even standard browser challenges like loading a huge Netflix queue was impressively fast.
Android 3.0 supports Flash, but support for this hasn’t yet been added (Update: Flash 10.2 for Android is now available in beta).
Email on the XOOM is nice, too. Honeycomb has both built-in Gmail and a standard email client for POP and IMAP, and both are presented in a way very similar to Gmail on the web. Familiar features like labels, starring, and archiving are supported in Gmail.
The Screen
The 10.1-inch widescreen display will either be a winner for a loser for you depending on your personal preference. While a wider screen sounds better in theory, in use it’s less desireable than the iPad’s squarer dimensions. In landscape mode, the device feels solid and is more usable, but in portrait mode the XOOM becomes somewhat of an oddity. Fortunately, Android 3 seems designed primarily for landscape use, but many Android apps which have been written for smartphones want to display in portrait mode.
The screen itself is bright and crisp, though you can see individual pixels – but no more than on the iPad. The multi-touch interface works well and the screen is responsive to touch. Brightness is a little less than I prefer, but it’s by no means a problem.
Performance
The XOOM is snappy, to be sure, but offers nowhere near the performance I was expecting with its dual-core Tegra SoC and 1GB of RAM. The general UI speed is beyond acceptable, but not mind-blowing and offers no more performance (at least in real-world tap-by-tap utility) than the original iPad.
The XOOM is at its best as a mobile web browser, but even then there’s no real advantage over iPad – though this will change once Flash is available.
Media
32GB of flash memory storage has been built onto the XOOM’s mainboard, which is great, and another 32GB can be added once the onboard microSDHC card slot is activated. All that space is great for apps, but really the only reason you’d need it is for media.
And Android 3 does a much better job handing media than its phone-centric predecessors. There’s an attractive presentation, lots of options for customizing playback in playlists, and lots of general improvements in how you view and playback media. The Music player is now not only attractive but functional, though video presentation and playback remains lackluster; that said, video files played back very well on the XOOM.
Google still needs a better way of getting media files onto Android-powered devices – an iTunes-like PC-and-Mac utility seems the best choice. But no such utility has been forthcoming. As it stands, it’s still either drag-and-drop or a third-party solution like doubleTwist.
Incomplete
There are several banner features that are either not yet available on the XOOM or are currently non-functional.
First, there’s the microSD memory card slot, which is DOA. This will be addressed with an over-the-air Android OS update, which as of this review has not been made available. Also missing is the aforementioned Flash support, which is supposed to be coming at some point in the near future. Lastly, LTE “4G” support, which will be made available by mid-year. This will require new hardware, so you’ll have to ship the XOOM to Motorola for the upgrade, a process which should take about a week and will be offered free of charge.
Battery Life
The XOOM has an internal 24.5 Whr Li-Ion battery that’s supposed to hold up for up to 9 hours of use. In my tests, the XOOM never surpassed 7.3 hours on a single charge, which isn’t bad by any stretch, but compared to the iPad and iPad 2, falls 2-3 hours short.
Conclusion
The XOOM is filled with promise and I have no doubt that in the coming years Android will make great strides competing with Apple in the market it redefined last year with the iPad. But while XOOM in particular and Android 3 more generally are impressive in many ways, they fail on almost every level to bring true competition to Apple’s 1st Gen iPad, much less the iPad 2.
Android tablets, to be fair, are in their infancy and must be viewed through the prism of a product (or family of products) in early development. But for the user who’s looking for a tablet to call his or her own, I can’t recommend shelling out $600 or $800 for a work-in-progress when a superior product exists. If you want a tablet in early 2011, get an iPad. If you don’t like Apple, need an Android tablet, or must have LTE, XOOM will do, but it’s not the best buy for the money and feels, in too many ways, incomplete.
At the end of two two weeks with the Motorola XOOM, my overall impression is similar to the way I feel after testing beta software: you can see where it’s trying to go and would certainly consider driving one when it gets there, but it’s just not something you want to use ‘til it’s finished. After relying on the XOOM as my only tablet for 13 days, I was very happy to go back to my iPad.
And even happier when the iPad 2 arrived the next day.
Matthew Nichols, Products Editor
The Motorola XOOM was provided by Verizon Wireless for this review.
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