Motorola Solutions today announced the MC2100, a lightweight, rugged handheld computer designed in the shape of a slender TV remote control device.
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It’s not every day that you have two – count ‘em – two Motorola Honeycomb tablets drop on your lap but today’s one of those days. I’ve just powered up the Xyboard 8.2 and 10.1 and am running them through their paces right now. The tablets are surprisingly thin and, in preliminary LTE tests, surprisingly fast on the wireless networks, topping out at 28.8mbps.
I’m going to withhold judgement until I mess with these guys a bit but as it stands the power and performance are impressive. As Matt notes, however, the 10.1 model costs $529 with contract and the 8.2 costs $429. You’re going to hear this again and again: Verizon’s prices are too darn high.
Contracts aside, these look to be quite capable and if the battery life isn’t too bad they may be worth looking into if you’re looking for a tablet with an LTE solution built-in.
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It's time. You no doubt already know Motorola has brought back the RAZR brand, this time as the Motorola Droid RAZR and chances are you read our complete review if you were in anyway interested in this device and if not — you really should. Now though, is the time to get your own. The Motorola Droid RAZR is now available on the Verizon Wireless website and ready to be shipped to you.
You can pick up a Droid RAZR for $300 on a new 2-year contract or $650 with no contract at all. If you're not really feeling that price, Amazon Wireless will gladly help you out with the costs assiciated by offering it for $111.11 to new Verizon Wireless customers. Getting one? Let us know in the Android Central forums.
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So apparently there’s a new Xoom in the works. Big surprise, right? The old one is nearing its eight month birthday and thanks to the rapid Android aging process, it’s about as a relevant as a Handspring Visor at this point. But in all seriousness, does anyone care any more? I ask that with void of snark or sarcasm. I’m serious: Does anyone care about Honeycomb tablets anymore?
Honeycomb was supposed to be the iOS killer. It was supposed to stand-up, challenge the mighty iOS and ultimately slay the champion through a power combo of multitasking and openness. But it didn’t happen mainly because consumers don’t care about that nonsense. They want apps, which Honeycomb has very few. So here’s Android tablets now, sitting on retailers’ end-caps and shelves, huddled together, sharing the warmth of a single power brick just hoping someone will figure out how to unlock their screens.
Back to my question that’s not influenced by any nefarious bias. It was almost a given that Motorola would release a successor to the original Xoom. The original Xoom was the first Honeycomb tablet and it was supposed to be the Android faithful’s Joshua and purge the consumer landscape of the iPad insurgents. Companies don’t release a product, see what happens, and then start developing the next model. No, they map the course and what leaked today is just details about the next stop on Motorola’s Android trip.
The specs sound nice: an 8.2-inch HD IPS screen, an unnamed 1.2GHz CPU, faster RAM, Netflix HD, 1080p cam, and an IR emitter just in case you want a massive TV remote. Per ThisIsMyNext, all this comes in a casing that’s 9mm thick. That’s 0.2mm thicker than the iPad 2′s 8.8mm thickness in case that matters to you. (Hat tip to Droid-Life for the images)
But specs do not sell tablets. Most consumers are looking for a different experience than what they can get on their desktop or notebook. Without knowing it, they’re looking for lasting novelty. Sure, some consumers want multitasking, some want a tweakable interface, perhaps some out there even want a tablet with seven homescreens and an app drawer. That’s where Android tablets come in. The iPad, however, captures consumers with a slightly new paradigm in portable computing and does so with style and class.
Android tablet makers are going to steal their own revenue by following the PC notebook’s time-honored tradition of releasing new products every quarter. This upcoming Xoom model will steal sales from the original Xoom while seemingly offering nothing but a smaller casing. It will further divide the Android fanboys and ultimately dilute the appeal.
Little is really known about this next Xoom tablet. It could perhaps follow the trailblazing spirit of its predecessor by launching as the first Ice Cream Sandwich tablet, which would restart the iPad hype machine but would likely fall short again. Some commenters will no doubt cry that it’s premature declaring a product irrelevant or unwelcomed prior to its announcement, let alone release. They’ll state that we don’t have all the facts, or that this tablet could be different, or even, consumers are looking for something more than a large iPod touch. That’s what they said when I stated the BlackBerry Playbook, then called just by its codename of BlackPad, would crash and burn. (Here’s the post, but the hundreds of comments were lost when TechCrunch swallowed CrunchGear)
Look, I’m not an Android hater. I’m a very curious onlooker. I look at new Android tablets like I look at my Droid X vs the new Android phones and conclude that the new phones, say the Galaxy S II, lack any new compelling features besides the 4G radio.
Choice is good. But often, and this is coming from years of working retail, too many options overwhelm the average consumer who is just looking to get in and out of a store with the latest gadget and minimum hassle. So on one Best Buy shelve is a baker’s dozen of Android tablets, priced within a $100 of each other, all featuring nearly identical processing speeds and RAM types. Then, five feet away, is the iPad 2 advertised with its blockbuster apps where the only choice is 3G or WiFi and white or black. Apparently rather soon a new Motorola Android tablet will join its friends, but unless it features a $100 price tag, it will fail to get any attention.
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The Motorola Atrix 4G is one of the first Android "superphones" to use the Tegra 2 chip, as well as the first dual-core device to hit AT&T here in the states. To go with the performance of that Tegra CPU, Motorola threw in a full Gigabyte of RAM, and a 4-inch qHD display. When we first looked at it back in March, we knew the phone had huge potential, and once Google and Motorola got together and sent some tasty Gingerbread out to the Atrix, it became one of the best phones available for power users. With the latest software, this thing is a beast. And you still have a chance to win one of your own in Nvidia and Android Central’s Tegra Madness giveaway!
It’s easy, just hit the forums and drop a note in the contest thread, and you’re entered. Each contest runs for 24 hours (midnight to midnight, Eastern Time), and we’ll pick the winner at random, then announce them all in one big blog post next Sunday (Sep. 18). Good luck to all, and be sure to enter all week!
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A tipster that’s "close to the matter" was able to send us this blurrycam shot of a slide shown at the end of the Verizon earnings report, and it includes a few Motorola Droid Bionic details. This basically confirms the laptop dock, full Bluetooth keyboard, and HD webtop dock with IR remote ability. There’s no word if any of these docking accessories that already are available for the Motorola Atrix 4G are compatible, but we’re not holding our breath. It also shows off the chrome banding around the edge of the device, which lends that extra bit of design to an otherwise generic black slab. Of course the news we all really want to know — the release date — is nowhere to be seen.
Thanks, Anon!
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Itching to unlock your bootloader ahead of the official unlock supposedly coming with the Gingerbread update? The2dcour over at the XDA forums has posted a method that will allow you to unlock the bootloader. This isn’t a one-click root method, and it will wipe your phone’s data, but it’s amazing that a developer figured out how to do this before Motorola officially offered the option.
As always, make sure you read and understand the directions before you try anything that voids your warranty.
Source: XDA
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According to a Motorola filing, the company soldshipped 250,000 this quarter, more than the targeted 100,000 predicted a few months ago but still far less than any other tablet. To put this into perspective, the iPad 2 sold 300,000 units in the first weekend.
Obviously the biggest issue here is the Verizon two-year contract tie-in, a situation that initially squelched a great deal of interest from the average consumer. However, expect a Wi-Fi version to begin selling in May fron Verizon and Sprint, a happenstance that should improve the tablet’s outlook, at least for folks who don’t decide to go elsewhere for their Honeycomb fix.
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A lot of folks when picking up an Android device for the first time often have a lot of questions and concerns. Luckily, we’re here to help out and address some of those questions and concerns for you all. With plenty of tips and tricks and how-to’s the forums are a great spot to get started. Check out some of the threads below to get started:
If you’re not already a member of the Android Central forums, you can register your account today.
Clockwork Mod for the Motorola Xoom, New Thunderbolt RUU [from the forums] posted originally by Android Central
Sponsored by Android Cases and Accessories
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Sure, the Motorola XOOM has a microSD card slot. But since it’s not currently enabled for end user use one has to make due with the 32GB of on board storage that Motorola has included. Although if you’re looking to expand upon that 32GB or want to use a USB keyboard, a method of enabling USB host capabilities on the Motorola XOOM is available to anyone who is either wanting to — or already has rooted their device. You’ll need to follow the instructions carefully and need an OTG cable in order for it to work but that’s all minor pieces of the puzzle at this point. The hard work has already been laid out for you. So how is it done? Jump on past the break to find out for yourself. [SlateDroid] Thanks, djunio for sending this in!
Source: SlateDroid; Thanks, djunio for sending this in!
USB host mode enabled on the Motorola XOOM posted originally by Android Central
Sponsored by Android Cases and Accessories
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