Motorola Xoom Is Out, Reviews Are In

Now that the Motorola Xoom has been released, reviews are popping up all over the web. From what I’ve read so far, the new tablet is receiving a warm reception.

I was watching the news this morning while checking my email and they did a quick story on the Xoom. One commentator said the device could be the first big competitor of Apple’s iPad. But I think it’s too premature to make those kind of predictions.

One review from Endgadget gives the Xoom a particularly good review:

On the plus side (and it is a big plus), the Xoom feels much more like a real netbook or laptop replacement. Being able to multitask in the manner Google has devised, having properly running background tasks, and real, unobtrusive notifications feels really, really good in the tablet form factor. Additionally, the fact that Google has included active widgets that plug right into things like Gmail makes monitoring and dealing with work (or play) much more fluid than on the iPad.

And the all-important battery life (I’m a stickler for the battery life of all my various gadgets):

Battery life on the Xoom was excellent. Beyond excellent, actually — some of the best performance we’ve seen on a slate. Running a video on loop with the screen set at 65 percent brightness, we were able to get playback for nearly eight and a half hours (8:20 to be exact). Motorola claims up to ten, so we weren’t far off the mark at all. We had a few background tasks going on, and both WiFi and 3G radios were active. We could easily see maximizing this if you’re in airplane mode with a slightly lower brightness setting.

Great battery life with a great OS creates the foundation of a winner. But what about eReading apps? I found a user review from the Motorola support forum that weighs in on the Kindle app:

The Kindle for Android app works on the Xoom without any serious problems, but it isn’t as good as the iPad app (yet). I am hopefully they will put some more time into it. One thing that is better is that you can shop for the books within the app without having to go to the browser the way you do on the iPad.

I am still getting used to reading in portroit mode with the wide screen of the Xoom but other than that it works pretty well. Better for me at this point than the Google Book app that keeps giving me error messages about not being able to read a book offline.

Once Amazon tweaks their Kindle for Xoom it’ll be a definite winner.

I should add that I’m not a big fan of Motorola. I had one of their cell phones a few years back and it was the worst phone I’ve ever had. However, I’m will to give Motorola the benefit of the doubt on their new Xoom tablet.

Related Posts

• A Look At The Motorola Xoom (Video)
• NookColor Reviews Are In
• Exclusive 2011 Tablet Computer Guide
• One Month Later: 3 Reasons Why I Love My iPad
• Active vs. Passive Voice in writing

Read More: eBooks, Technology