GADGET WATCH: Motorola Xoom 2

Motorola made headlines earlier this year with the Xoom tablet, being one of the first majorly powerful Android tablets to hit the market and become a real contender next to the iPad.

It was moderately successful, but now the company is already releasing the Xoom 2, which may have a better chance of storming the market. With such a thin market of viable Android tablets right now, is the Xoom worth buying?

Hardware and features

There isn’t too much different from the original Xoom, but a number of key features have changed. The gadget now features a HD 10.1 inch screen, is about 10% lighter and also about a third thinner, at 8.8mm.

The device runs the Honeycomb software, is powered by a dual-core, 1.2Ghz processor, with 1GB of RAM and 16GB of storage.

It features a multi-touch display, ambient light sensors, a microphone, barometer, compass, an accelerometer, gyroscope, and two cameras – a 1.3 megapixel for the front, and a five megapixel lens for the back, which is capable of 720p video capture.

It also features a micro-HDMI port, a micro-USB port, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and weighs 599 grams.

What’s the consensus?

One of the first elements reviewers have picked out is the gadget’s weight – it’s significantly lighter than the last version. Over at Engadget, the review notes that the device is easier to hold, and structured much differently as well.

“The tablet does, however, feel reassuringly rigid. Although it may lack the shiny concentric stylings of the Transformer Prime, there’s no wobble in its aluminium-framed build.”

At V3, the splash-guard coating was praised, along with the Gorilla Glass, with the publication saying it felt like “one of the most rugged” tablets on the market.

In terms of specs, V3 noted a smooth performance, despite a small lag, although noted a few disappointments – text becomes pixelated when pinching to zoom before enlarging.

Both Engadget and V3 noted poor video performance, although said the stills from each camera were decent enough for a tablet.

Battery life has been praised, although it still trails behind the iPad and the Galaxy Tab. “It’s strong performance, but the competition is stronger,” Engadget noted, with the Xoom 2 only displaying 8:57 under video playback with WiFi enabled.

However, it did thank Motorola for not installing many apps before use, and giving away useful ones that were – Quickoffice and Citrix, to name a few.

V3 also noted one key change – folders can be remotely accessed without having to log in once synced with a computer.

“This poses a security risk and IT admins are not going to be happy about employees installing the program on work machines, so this may be restricted to your personal computer,” it noted.

However, both publications have said the device itself has impressive battery life, and software-wise, is still very easy to use.

Who’s it for?

This is a solid tablet. The redesign makes it a lot easier to use, these reviewers say, and the high-powered processor makes the simple software a treat to use.

But the Xoom 2 is not quite at the top. It has a poor camera, and some flaws like pixelated text when zooming make regular usage annoying.

If you’re looking for a solid, useful Android tablet, then this can’t be overlooked. But one can’t help wonder whether more impressive content will hit the market next year.