My tablet desire is increasing again and I am generally liking the reviews of this Android 3.0 tablet, it seems the new OS is way better on tablets than previous versions. The only thing I am not liking is the price. Give more for less money now!
http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/laptops-portable-pcs/tablets/motorola-xoom-933048/review
Very nice!
1080p video playback would be awesome on a device like that =)
A bit steep though for the Spec. You can get yourself a mid range lappy for that cost with a proper processor and way more RAM etc. When they come down below £300 with the same spec might be worth a look.
DZ
I like tablets, but the prices are insane.
Paying more money for less fuctionality is not cool.
I like the idea of having a tablet but not paying for one, so if someone would be so kind as to give me a Android one I be v greatful
My price point is probably a little higher than £300, but then I guess a lot of it is about what you intend to use it to do. Personally I'd value the (almost)instant on, note taking, recording abilities that I can use in business meetings which a £300 laptop would not even come close to handling. I can just imagine:
11:00hrs meeting starts
11:05hrs my £300 laptop finishes booting up
13:45hrs laptop battery runs out
What I'm looking for is instant on and 6-8 hours solid battery life which will cover me for almost any meeting scenario.
Yeah, but if you compare with a £500 laptop it's a different story (and that's the price that you're comparing since that's what tablets cost).
A tablet can't really do proper note taking. Am I the only one that finds a fullscreen, on-screen qwerty keyboard hard to use. Well, not so much hard as slow. And the weight, you can use that for an hour, let alone 3.
You rest a laptop on your lap or a desk, then you rest your arms on the keyboard. You adjust the screen via the adjustable hinge to stay at the perfect angle. You don't have to hold it there, it just stays.
Compare to a tablet, you hold it just above a desk or your lap so you can see and interact with it. You hold your hand(s) just about the screen ready to interact. You then tilt the whole device forwards or backwards for the best viewing angle. Your arms get tired so you shift position, repeat process.
What you actually want is a modest performance laptop with an SSD and a light OS. Ubuntu could boot in a couple of seconds on the right hardware. With nothing running in the background and power savings options tweaked the battery could last 6-8 hours of note taking.
As for the Xoom specifically. Avoid it for now. It was rushed to release in an unfit state. Many features are missing and to be updated over the air or via a mail in process. Is it worth £500 to have an unfinished product. I'm not 100% sure what note taking you do, I still use pen and paper. But I'm just wondering if a tablet is much advantage over pen and paper in most meeting situations. (Don't get me wrong, I want one but more for media, email and web browsing when I go away so I don't need my netbook)
What I do know is I definetely do not want a laptop - I have one, it does not do what I described I want. Personally I would use the tablet flat on a desk, not held, I might scribe not type, but I find a full screen keyboard on my much smaller hero pretty easy to use, so a 10" tablet one should be far easier. I might record sound to synch with the scribed notes, I might type, I might want to take a picture or video or three to go with my notes, I want full interraction with my current suite of email/calendar/notes/contacts and I want it to turn on when I press the button, not in minutes time when My Gates has finished setting it up. God forbid I need to snatch a telephone number or email address to give to someone and my laptop has already been shut down, a tablet is up and running again in 5 seconds. I already have a two grand laptop that does not meet my needs, so a £500 laptop will just fail harder at the same task.
As for the budget, I already said I would not spend £500, but I probably might spend more than £300, so a £500 laptop is not an option either. Plus I can slot a tablet into my meeting folio which I cannot do with a laptop!
As for the Xoom, Flash etc sure, everyone knows about that temporary problem, but it is the finctionaility & potential of an Android 3.0 tablet that interests me, my post was simply to say I am liking the look of what it can/should do, but I am not liking the price. As prices drop and the mass of other Honeycomb devices come out of the next 2-3 months I suspect I will find one at my price point and doing what I want it to do. I quite like the look of the Xoom and if it were £300 I would probably be tempted to go buy one and try it as it would exceed the performance of a £500 laptop my some considerable way, given how I envisage using it.
I've recently moved from an HTC Hero to an HTC Incredible S. I've been using on-screen keyboards on phones for nearly 4 years, but on an iPad (which is the only tablet I've spent any time on) typing is very different. You can't reach across the whole keyboard with your thumbs to type so I tend to use one had to type while the other holds to tablet at the right angle for use, so despite the larger buttons the size doesn't make it easier to use and is in fact slower even when rested on an angled surface. Using the iPad keyboard dock is just as fast as using a laptop again and surprisingly nice to use, but isn't portable, so you have a slim tablet that's easy to move, but a bulky stand that's needed to use it to its fullest.
Instant on, Interaction with email/calendar/notes/contacts etc battery life over 8 hours. They all seem do-able with a smart-phone.
As for the argument that because a £2000 laptop can't do something a £500 won't either, I don't see that as valid. Many of the things that expensive laptops do are a disadvantage for the use you intend. Fast CPUs sap battery life, large hard drives are slow to start compared to SSDs (http://arstechnica.com/open-source/reviews/2009/09/ubuntu-910-alpha-6-released-boot-optimizations-arrive.ars), Windows 7 is very slow compared to some versions of Linux. etc I'm not saying that they're useful for what you're doing but a Netbook (http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/dell-inspiron-mini-im1012/4505-3121_7-33970177.html?tag=mncol;txt#reviewPage1) can have over 7 and a half hours (459mins) of real world video playback.
Tablets are great for watching video/browsing the web/checking emails on the go (most importantly of all, playing Angry Birds and Sudoku). I just don't think they've matured into a form where they can be used legitimately in business over a laptop, phone or even pen and paper.
I think you're missing the point. I'm not after a laptop as I already have one and I am not after a smartphone as I already have one. I'm looking for something different to fill the gap between the two when I do not want to move my laptop and I want more than my pen & paper or my smartphone. A tablet seems to project into that gap nicely.
A tablet gives me light, instant access to web-based data and financial modelling software I use with & in front of clients. It allows me to access the stuff I would otherwise have to get via my relatively small smartphone screen. Better recording of video or sound allows me to use the facility more often, particularly to record a meeting and then shove it into Dragon to get it auto-transcribed. A touch sensitive screen allows me to run apps which most laptops cannot, certainly not at the budget of a tablet.
That's the gap I am looking to fill and as far as I can see a smartphone or a laptop do not do this adequately and that's why I think the market is there for them in the future. The Xoom seems not a bad start, but I am hoping that cheaper & better will appear in the next 2-3 months as other manufacturers deliver their products to market.
Quote from: TeaLeaf;322448I think you're missing the point. I'm not after a laptop as I already have one and I am not after a smartphone as I already have one. I'm looking for something different to fill the gap between the two when I do not want to move my laptop and I want more than my pen & paper or my smartphone. A tablet seems to project into that gap nicely.
A tablet gives me light, instant access to web-based data and financial modelling software I use with & in front of clients. It allows me to access the stuff I would otherwise have to get via my relatively small smartphone screen. Better recording of video or sound allows me to use the facility more often, particularly to record a meeting and then shove it into Dragon to get it auto-transcribed. A touch sensitive screen allows me to run apps which most laptops cannot, certainly not at the budget of a tablet.
That's the gap I am looking to fill and as far as I can see a smartphone or a laptop do not do this adequately and that's why I think the market is there for them in the future. The Xoom seems not a bad start, but I am hoping that cheaper & better will appear in the next 2-3 months as other manufacturers deliver their products to market.
Sounds like you know what you want and a tablet fulfils your needs :thumbsup:.
I can see T-Bags point though about a laptop being a more multi purpose tool for a better price and its true that there are OS'es like Gentoo and other linux variants with an SSD can beet very quickly indeed!
However you need the right tool to fit your purpose and there is no point carrying around an entire socket set when all you need is a size 14 spanner!
The same can be said for the smartphone argument, as there is no way I would get my phone out in a business meeting to do a presentation on it or to record things. The screen is too small and more importantly its my own personal phone and anyone could send me anything on it at any time .... I am sure clients don't want to know that you need to pick up some more toilet rolls on your way back =P. Even with my work blackberry I would be weary of using! Its designed for personal use only not as a collaborative device like tablets and it look unprofessional.
Now if my smartphone was the size of DOM JOLLY's then it would be different =P.
I would just recommend you do your research into the device before you buy as some of the last gen tablets were very disappointing.
I personally completely understand your use case and I wish work would buy me one for meetings rather than having a 17 inch Lenovo think-pad out on the desk at the time.
DZ
Yup, I'm onto this bandwagen as well am all ears. TL's specs and needs pretty much mirror mine tbh.
My little EEEPC is fine but it'd be nicer to be able to access and view stuff quicker.
USB would be a must thought so I can show photos to clients and it'd be nice to be able to view and edit word documents etc as well as writing notes on the fly.
TL, what about something like this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0PQWe_FWmo
I like the look of Samsung 10.1 tech radar had some nice things to say about it.
I still think http://www.deadmen.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?32660-Asus-EEE-Pad-Transformer is worth a look before the Xoom.
I can't say I rate the gigabyte form factor, the spec wise and the fact it uses Windows gives it a load of functionality.
As far as the Samsung goes, it's more iPad than Xoom but has many of the problem of both, however on top of this it drops the extra connectivity that should give android tablets an edge. I'm not sure this is smart. Proprietary connectors are one of my major grips with apple products. Hardware wise though it looks like a really nice bit of kit, and in general Samsung pack in software features, so it might make up for it in other areas.
I agree with T-Bag, avoid the Xoom, it's a stability nightmare and the SD slot isn't even setup to work yet. I rebooted one in PC World as I thought it would help get it stable, I was wrong.
Your're reasons for buying TeaLeaf, 100% my reasons too. But I want 3G in there as well for convenience and a USB port to take a mouse would satisfy my requirement to play wgt as click sync on the touch screen is way off the mark right now. (That's if they get Flash workign right for games). Plus mounting HDDs over USB is obviously easier. The HTC Flyer is the smartest for meeting use I think by far, check that out. Only down side, Droid 2.3 and not 3, only found the Google Nexus to use 2.3.
Aye I'd want 3, nothing lower. The ASUS and the Lenovo look the most interesting to me at the moment.
The Toshiba Tablet is the one I want to see.
http://www.thetoshibatablet.com/pdf/Toshiba%20PDF_V2.pdf (http://www.thetoshibatablet.com/pdf/Toshiba%20PDF_V2.pdf)
32GB on board with Micro SD additional 32GB.
Full USB 2 port.
LP-DDR2 RAM less power consumption
Not sure it will have 3G and it's a weighty 700g+, video rec/ play is only 720p but if it will work at 64GB and take an external HDD or USB Mouse then I'll be happy.
Scary how similar that is to the ASUS, the spec is line by line listed the same so I suspect they may be the same base system. £429 for the ASUS with the keyboard, out 1st June.
I tried this one out in PC World, and although I'd not think of buying an Acer desktop, this tablet was the nicest to use and most responsive so far for me:
http://www.misco.co.uk/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=536874
(Acer site is crap for spec.)
Has 3G, 32GB onboard plus up to 32GB Micor SD, USB 2.0 and USB Micro ports with support coming for keyboard or mouse. 1GB RAM rumoured that DDR3 is a possibility, usual Tegra dual core and nVidia chipset.
Coming in at over £500 for the top shelf model but sure to come down a few months after launch at the end of this month.
Pen asked me last night 'why not Xoom'. Here's a quote from a review on Amazon:
QuoteUPDATE 29/04: Motorola released a firmware update but it doesn't address any of the serious issues. You still cannot use the SD card slot, the browser is still slow and crashes and (while not necessary Xoom fault) sites still often show you a mobile phone sized version on the otherwise large and gorgeous screen. Hopefully another update will address those issues soon.
My job was put at risk a few weeks ago and as per the required proceedure, retail therapy was necessary.
So I took out a 24 month 3 data contract and got a Xoom for 124.80 after Carphone Warehouse price matched PC Worlds deal.
There's a free Motorola Keyboard and mouse offer on this month so made it even better value.
I must say, despite the software release issue Motorola have had, the device is amazing. Very well made, fast, and the customisation possibilities are superb.
I have a working rooted Android 3.2 ROM on there and the 1GHz ARM dula core CPU is overclocked to 1.5GHz and totally stable.
I'm in love with the Xoom.
Just don't get their silicone cover. The charging dock, doesn't come with an actual PSU, just the dock which is crazy.
I still used my other OEM tab as it's a great sandbox for experimenting but the Xoom is very good indeed.
Have they updated to get their SD card slot working yet?
From 3.1 stock ROM the SD slot has been working.
The only problem is 3.1 has not reached anywhere but the US and Australia yet and 3.2 is only out on wifi in the US only.
But there is so much interest in the Xoom there is a 100% working 3.2 3G Custom ROM and it has full SD, Host USB, Overclocking, Bluetooth peripheral,s the whole 9 yrds. I use that and it`s working great with CWM and you keep your system state after upgrading the ROM.
I probably won't even upgade to stock 3.1 when it comes out next month in the UK as the custom ROM options are superb.
Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk
Quote from: albert;329578So I took out a 24 month 3 data contract and got a Xoom for 124.80 after Carphone Warehouse price matched PC Worlds deal.
There's a free Motorola Keyboard and mouse offer on this month so made it even better value.
This bit I missed - Which data contract? Was trying to run some numbers on this and I can't see one that looks red hot. I see the Carphone Warehouse deal, but the cheapest data contract with the tablet at that price was not with 3 - or am I not finding the PC World deal to price match? Could you link both do you think please? I'm with 3, so I'm interested.
I went into PC World and they had the tab for £124.99 on a 5GB a month 3 contract for 24 months at £26.20 per month.
Car Phone Warehouse only had a £300+ for the tab with £26.20 for 5GB on TalkMobile (Vodafone) and that network sucks on my train journey and in my house I barely get a voice signal.
So I asked CPW to match the tab price but showing them a photo of the price tab from PCW and because 3 do not sell the Xoom CPW were happy to price match.
You can't do this online, it involved a bit if negotiation.
Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk
Quote from: albert;329875I went into PC World and they had the tab for £124.99 on a 5GB a month 3 contract for 24 months at £26.20 per month.
Car Phone Warehouse only had a £300+ for the tab with £26.20 for 5GB on TalkMobile (Vodafone) and that network sucks on my train journey and in my house I barely get a voice signal.
So I asked CPW to match the tab price but showing them a photo of the price tab from PCW and because 3 do not sell the Xoom CPW were happy to price match.
These prices aren't exactly mind blowing, £754 over the 2 years. Or to put it another way, if you bought the tablet then the monthly subscription would be £15.99 for 5GB from Three, which means you're getting the tablet for around £370, only saving about £100 on the full price. When I got my HTC Incredble S on a £25/month contract they knocked of £370 from their sim free price so it cost me £10, but that £25 was also getting me 300mins of calls and unlimited texts and internet* (* Throttled back if I exceed 3GB a month). They just don't seem to be anything like competitive on tablets yet, I'm still waiting.
I won't use 5GB a month of data on a cellular network this month I've used less than 200mb on my phone, most has been on wifi. They do a PAYG deal, 12GB lasts 12 months for £51 that I'd be more tempted by, or setting my phone up as an ad hoc wifi portal and using my unlimited data on there. Data prices are only going to fall over the next 2 years so there are advantages to not being locked into a contract.
My thoughts are probably to buy the tablet outright, then tether it to a mobile. 3's One plan should do which is £35pm if I also upgrade the phone at the same time, less if I keep my Hero.
Sent using Tapatalk & thumbs.
This is the ROM I use on my Xoom TL:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1146153
Quote from: albert;329887This is the ROM I use on my Xoom TL:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1146153
It's not entirely clear, but is that ROM for a WiFi or a 3G version? I got confused when reading about it.
QuoteThis is a completely deodexed rom, based on the 3.2 wifi system image. However just because Google and Motorola haven't released 3.2 for the verizon xoom that doesn't mean we don't support it! Thats right. We support 3g devices on 3.2 before Google have even released it.
....so is this ok to flash to a WiFi Xoom?
@Albert
[ROM] Team Tiamat Xoom Rom 2.1 Hammerhead is out.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1203635
Yep, installed it today after taking a TitaniumBackup and nandroid backup on CWM and it installed perfectly. Backup recovered I'd say 90%+ Lovin' it!
Quote from: TeaLeaf;330339It's not entirely clear, but is that ROM for a WiFi or a 3G version? I got confused when reading about it.
....so is this ok to flash to a WiFi Xoom?
Ok the deal is this 3.2 release is for WiFi but Team Tiamat took that and added the Locale files, Build.Prop and 3G files for the US. Then you copy onto that ROM once installed your 5 3G files if you had 3.0.1 installed. (Or you find a forum that has them).
With 2.1 that you spotted justu came out, 3G EURO worked right off the bat, no problems at all.
Plus 3.2 is now out for the US 3G devices so there may be a 2.1.1 with optimisations.
It's very well supported.
So this ROM is actually the WiFi US ROM enhanced, rooted etc.
Today I installed 2.1 after taking a TitaniumBackup (from inside Android) and nandroid backup whilst booted into recovery Clockworkmod v3.4.0.0 r4 which is optimised for Xoom and it installed perfectly. Backup recovered I'd say 90%+ Lovin' it!
To get your Xoom ready to use Tiamat:
1) Unlock the file system
2) Root Android
3) Install CWM and boot into it an take a full back (must have ext SD in place)
4) Wipe cache/ factory reset in CWM
5) Install Tiamat 2.1 from CWM
Take 30 mins max.
Ok it took days of forum trawling and nail biting but once CWM is installed you can always recover. :D
Quote from: essy;330875bit off the xoom topic but still on the tablet topic:)
What do you guys reckon to the new archos tablet .
http://www.archos.com/products/gen9/index.html?country=gb&lang=en
This looks rather nice I have to say. It's got a nifty wee leg for making it stand up :)
Spec is good as well as are the variety of ports. Interested to know what price it come sin at and what this 3G Stick thingy is they refer to.
£329 for the 32GB Wi-Fi version made the decision for me. One Motorola Xoom is now on my desk and I think at that price it is excellent value. Got it set up and updated to 3.1 in a matter of minutes and it seems to run real smooth.
Now looking for the best MS Office-compatible office suite - anyone got experience with some so I can go download/pay for the best one?
...and yeah, Angry Birds is downloaded and on it already, my son loves it!
Going to upgrade the mobile contract to Three's 'The One' plan, which gives unlimited data and this includes unlimited data for any devices you tether to with your mobile.
Quote from: TeaLeaf;332683£329 for the 32GB Wi-Fi version made the decision for me. One Motorola Xoom is now on my desk and I think at that price it is excellent value. Got it set up and updated to 3.1 in a matter of minutes and it seems to run real smooth.
Now looking for the best MS Office-compatible office suite - anyone got experience with some so I can go download/pay for the best one?
...and yeah, Angry Birds is downloaded and on it already, my son loves it!
Going to upgrade the mobile contract to Three's 'The One' plan, which gives unlimited data and this includes unlimited data for any devices you tether to with your mobile.
Welcome to the party :). Don't get anyone started on Alchemy, it'll eat away your free hours. New ROM out this week, 'Moray' upgraded a dream from 'Hammerhead'. I recommend 'Extended Controls' and 'Circle Launcher' for desktop management. Also ADWEX Launcher is great on Xoom.
Big thanks to Albert who helped me unravel some of the messy instructions available in the web for unlocking, rooting and then flashing a custom rom on my Xoom. Anyway, it's all done now and went real smooth, so my Xoom is still a Xoom and not a brick :thumbsup:
So Xoom owners, it's here and I can say Android ICS x4.0.3 works a treat on the Xoom.
Team EOS of Tiamat ROM fame have released versions of the new OS AOSP version for all Xoom models so far except Xoom 2 (which is ugly an illogical being still dual core when the new Asus is quad).
Check this out:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1459641 - Full 3G UMTS
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1400958 . WiFi
Caveats, needs factory wipe, Titanium Backup needs to be the latest version and even then some apps may not recover due to the major version upgrade.
Make. nanddroid backup before attempting this.
Requires a manual install of Google Apps one every upgrade but you do that the same way you install the ROM at the same time.
Worked perfect as a new ROM install with CWM. Boots 50% faster now and ICS is fantastic compared to Honeycomb.
Any questions I can help so just ask...
Cheers,
Bert
Sent from my Xoom on ICS using Tapatalk
Sweet, might try that this weekend! Thankee kindly Sir!
Also the price dropped to £250 at Dixons recently. Clearing it for new stock. Back at £329 again now, but there will plenty of reasonably powerful tablets dropping into the more sensible netbook price range soon as newer ones begin to hit the market.
I'd bought one at £249 from Currys but was worried about ending up with an expensive bookend if I messed with it....but ICS was too tempting and this afternoon I installed the US Image (HWI69) to my device which basically gave me a 3.0.1 US Xoom, it then updated automatically to 3.1, then 3.2, then 3.2.1 and finally 4.0.3. I've just finished rooting it and it's looking and working well :D I'm just off yo change the locale/keyboard settings to UK.