Information Madness

Can the new Xoom keep up with the pace of other Android tablets? The original Motorola Xoom came out as the first big tablet and was pushed by Google. It did not turn out to be quite a smash in the Android market.

It was surpassed by the likes of Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. Even Asus Eee Pad Transformer showed that Android tablets could really excel.

Motorola has now released the Xoom 2. There have been some internal changes but the exterior is where the difference is most notable. Xoom 2 has the same thin profile as iPad 2 and is lighter by about two grams than the Apple tablet.

The dual core processor is now 1.2 GHz with the Android operating system being 3.2. There is no 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich here. The screen has a resolution of 1280x800 pixels with a 10.1 inch display. It is an IPS panel and therefore gives excellent viewing angles. Multi tasking can run smoothly as the RAM is 1GB. There is 16GB of on board storage.

There is no 3G in Xoom 2 but there is a GPS chip. There is a rear facing camera that can take five mega pixel snaps and record video at 720 pixels while the front facing camera has a 1.3 mega pixel sensor. It has 16:10 widescreen display. Xoom 2 feels slightly more comfortable to hold in one hand as it stretches further. It has edges that curve and taper back from the screen. They hide the buttons when viewed straight on. The screen unfortunately can be a dirt and grease magnet. You will have to polish it regularly.