With some delay, the Motorola Xoom (pronounced "zoom") has finally arrived in the Brazilian market last month. And we're not exactly competing many tablets in Brazil: the iPad has appeared here in two versions and Galaxy Tab 7-inch is also being sold for some time. Also manufacturers such as ZTE, have shown interest in selling this type of device in the country, but still waiting to see how your competitors are before venturing out.
Motorola Xoom is the first to be sold in the country that comes with the Honeycomb, Android entirely created and designed specifically for tablets, and their large screens. Does this difference is enough to compensate for lost time? And as important as the previous item, how he gets over its competitors? I spent two weeks testing the Xoom and try to answer these two points and a few others in the review.
Design
As the whole tablet, you think there is much to innovate in design. Still, someone within the Motorola managed to make a slight change that, at least for me it was quite strange at first. The Xoom comes with the button on / off the screen on the back of the device. It's a different choice, but you get used to it after a while. I'll avoid commenting here the nickname I gave to the button, but if someone asks me on Twitter, good answer.
Another touch that Motorola has been in the Xoom by color. The version with WiFi is sold with black back, while the version with 3G and WiFi is sold in white. Another thing I found different was the company's choice to put the headphone output in the middle of the top of the tablet, while the majority of Androids choose any of the two sides.
Unlike normal Androids, he lacks the physical buttons to go back, menu and home. The buttons are on the screen and only appear when the device is connected. This is a particular feature of Honeycomb. Only the button on and off and volume on left side are actually physical.
Technical Specifications
Compounding the Xoom have an NVidia Tegra processor 2, two cores running at 1GHz clock and 1 GB of RAM that can be more than enough for some games and web browsing. But I discovered later that the video is a few hiccups that occur. Its 10.1-inch screen is LCD and has a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels, and 48 of vertical pixels are used exclusively for the notifications bar and buttons that is always open.
He also has all sorts of sensors and a gyroscope, accelerometer, ambient light detector and even a barometer. His rear camera is 5 megapixels, the front is 2 and like any Android tablet that values the Xoom also comes with Bluetooth and assisted GPS.
Connectivity and accessories
Xoom tested the WiFi only, then the network speed was fast enough. Your GPS sensor was amazingly precise and quick to locate me, probably because I left enabled all options to help you. I just had a problem trying to connect to a WiFi network in ad-hoc, but this should be resolved in version 3.1 of the system.
Connect the player to the PC is quiet. It is detected as a media device, but if you try to transfer video files unsupported by the device, will have to deal with an annoying confirmation window every time a new transfer is made. At least on Windows. As for transferring music files, no problems. Just remember to put the files in certain folders.
The Xoom also comes with a mini HDMI port, which fits well as a special cable sold separately in the dock for the tablet and allows connection to external monitors or even on TV. Your processor is powerful enough to transmit a high definition video to the big screen, but it's good to pay attention to battery life in these cases: in the dock, but it carries only the HDMI cable, no. The dock is sold separately, but is not yet available in Brazil.
Another detail of the connectivity of Xoom is the fact that it is compatible with Bluetooth keyboards. So you do not depend on the screen to type. I managed to successfully connect it to a Nokia Bluetooth keyboard and it worked without too many problems. Just do not try to support him in support for wireless keyboard that comes in, I discovered the hard way that Xoom is a bit too heavy.
Two manufacturers united with one common goal: to enter. | Click to enlarge
Still on the keyboard, let me complain about a particular point: he does not come with dictionary in Portuguese. The virtual keyboard of Xoom will only accept input in English and other languages, but not Portuguese. This causes sometimes spelling corrections that over use become very irritating. This is particularly ironic because the tablet accept voice input into Portuguese but not having a keyboard in the same language.
I hope to correct this flaw in Android 3.1.
Multimedia
One thing that disappointed me was the Xoom that he did not come with an integrated media player that supports a variety of codecs, something that in previous Androids was no problem. Your gallery application only supports files like mp4, but it is not the only format available on the web. Okay, I downloaded an application from the Android Market, and the problem was solved.
Watch videos on Xoom is an interesting experience. The video player I downloaded, Mobo Player, managed to play very small files. The video quality was good and flowed well, behavior that was repeated with high-definition videos in mp4 format. You will not have problems unless they are encoded in mkv. In this case, try to play the file, it gave me the option to convert via hardware or software, but both options leave the video catching.
As a music player, however, it is quite acceptable. I do not know who is buying a tablet with the specific aim of using it to play music, but will they exist right? Although not yet available in Brazil, the Xoom service application uses the Google Music Beta to play sound files. And just as iTunes, view your album art appears on a carousel. The interface is simple and intuitive.
The stereo speakers built into Xoom are reasonable, but no matter which file I played, he always found the sound somewhat muffled. For a tablet, however, is not exactly the best format that promotes sound quality, is a good size.
Navigation and chat
Surfing the web was as smooth as I expected. The sensor transmits the touch screen with accuracy, except in some sites with Flash. Android's default browser allows a maximum of 16 tabs, but never got to that limit. One option that he says is specific to those who like the way in Chrome Anonymous: he with a private browsing feature that does not save session data.
Despite having a screen resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels, while navigating in the Xoom I constantly found myself opening the mobile versions of sites. For some reason the browser Honeycomb not send a user agent that is detected as a full browser, but as mobile.
Adobe Flash is not installed by default, but once the browser is first opened, the installation option appears. Surfing websites with Flash is not exactly the best experience, the screen hangs sometimes and often occur in areas larger accidental touching of the page, depending on the size of flash file it contains. But anything less is worse than seeing a blue lego block in the place where the image would be.
Chat on the tablet: it works! | Click to enlarge
Xoom is also integrated into Google Talk, then who preferentially use this software for instant messaging, so you can chat log in with your Google account. Moreover, it also comes with support for videoconferencing, which can make installing the Skype application for Android unnecessary.
Cameras
Its 5-megapixel rear camera takes decent pictures and Honeycomb provides several customization options and filters before capturing the photo. The dual LED flash helps illuminate the object in front in low light, in which the camera quite disappointing and shows all his grit.
One detail that I think should be highlighted: who will take a picture with a tablet that has shut down the shame of others before clicking. After all, holding such a device for taking a picture is a pose, by itself, worthy of being captured.
Here are some examples of photos taken with Xoom below. The maximum issue that they received was a crop here and there a size reduction to make them not very large.
The camera also serves to record videos in high definition, which can even be edited at the Xoom itself through an integrated editing application. It is an interesting feature that Motorola has included and adds value to the device, but can be a bit too complicated for end users bother to use.
Since the camera front, I must say, surprised me in terms of quality. Its 2-megapixel sensor is not only good enough for video conferencing but also for taking self-portrait style pictures. The veins can also use it as a kind of mirror, seeing his own face reflected on the screen. Who has not sense of the ridiculous but have fine motor coordination also can try to hit the capture button to take pictures with her camera instead of rear. Why not?
Applications
Android Market to tablets, just a shade above the shop | Click to enlarge
Tablet-specific applications on Android Market are scarce for now. And the few that are already available are pretty expensive, even by the nature of the device that it should work. Still, some programs already have dual versions that fit whatever screen resolution.
I downloaded and played Spiderman Gameloft and HD as well as high-definition videos in mp4, it ran smooth. The game does not use the accelerometer, but on-screen controls, so I already knew more or less what to do, while the first option would have to go through a learning curve first. Because of their weight (730 grams) some users may experience muscle pain after playing for awhile. It was my case. Fortunately, I play with him Angry Birds resting on a surface.
In terms of multi-tasking, Honeycomb still needs improvement. There is a limit to which applications can be running in the background, but access to them is still complicated. In the bottom bar there is a specific button but it only gives access to the last 5 programs open and not all programs already loaded. And if you flip the screen orientation, this number increases to 7. Sometimes the screen locks this option, which indicates that there are still some rough edges to cut.
The fact is that there is not a satisfactory number of specific applications for tablets, then who use the Xoom will have to get used to seeing programs that are designed to screen four times smaller than the device.
Battery
Android installed on Xoom is 3.0, so you kind of expect that after so many versions of the Google system has learned to do a good battery management. And they succeeded. Thanks to better management of applications and multi-task, the battery lasts more than respectable. Certainly been helped by Motorola, which decided to include the tablet a lithium polymer battery of 3250 mAh, which is not bad.
With sporadic use (around 2-3 hours of use per day), at 50% brightness and WiFi turned on, the tablet was able to stay connected for more than two days before full beep warning of low charge. By using direct with all the multimedia features it can offer, including WiFi browsing and playback of videos, he lasted just over nine hours, which can still be a good time for a tablet.
Strengths
Battery with high duration;
Front camera of good quality;
Good connectivity options and accessories.
Bad points
Integrated video player is incomplete;
Rear camera is less than ideal for photos;
Few options for specific applications for tablets.
Conclusion
Motorola Xoom delivers enough, but to me it still seems a little unfinished. Motorola has taken great pains to create accessories that extend the functionality of the tablet, but these accessories are sold for some and even costly. The Honeycomb can have an interesting interface and optimized transitions, but it seems with some pieces missing. Google to deliver these parts in 3.1, but they do not yet know when this update will arrive here in Brazil.
Your screen resolution is fine for those who want to read e-books, watch videos or surf the web without the need for a computer nearby. But their failures keyboard language and lack of codec support in the largest integrated video player can irritate those who wait too bulky for a system like Android.
Tecnoblog bunitim works in Xoom | Click to enlarge
The current price of it goes head to head with Apple's tablet, then it gets to be a disadvantage. His version with WiFi and 32 GB of storage sells for R $ 1,899.00, which is the same price as the equivalent model of the iPad. We may see a change in the two tablets of relief when it is actually made, but for now this is not a reality.
Buy a Xoom, so if you want to replace a netbook quick tasks such as editing of texts and documents, web browsing that includes opening Flash sites and watch videos. For more complicated tasks that go beyond that, the tablet Motorola is still far from completely replace a laptop with a physical keyboard.
