Editors' note: Motorola's Xoom tablet was originally released in February 2011 as the first tablet to run Google's tablet-optimized Android 3.0 software. Since that time, it has undergone numerous software updates, as well as a 4G hardware update. Nonetheless, we have lowered the Xoom's rating to reflect the changes in the increasingly competitive tablet market. The body of this review, however, has not been changed since its original publish date and should not be relied on as an accurate representation of today's Motorola Xoom experience. The Xoom can now be upgraded to Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich). Check the Ice Cream Sandwich section of the Asus Transformer Prime review for details on the changes ICS brings. For our most up-to-date ranking of top tablets, visit CNET's Best 5 tablets page.
The Motorola Xoom tablet is easily the best competition Apple's iPad has ever seen. Sporting a 10.1-inch screen, front and rear cameras, HDMI output, a dual-core processor, and Google's tablet-optimized version of Android, the Xoom is entering the tablet wars with guns blazing.
Priced at $800 off-contract or $600 with a two-year commitment from Verizon, the Xoom isn't out to win frugal customers. Instead, Motorola is taking the approach used with its successful line of Droid smartphones: emphasizing the device's horsepower and the many capabilities not found on its Apple counterpart.
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To this end, the Xoom's spec sheet is an all-star cast of dual-core processors, multimegapixel cameras, expansion slots, and maxed-out RAM. Combine the hardware with Motorola's exclusive access to Google's long-awaited Android Honeycomb operating system, and you have one of the most talked-about tablets of 2011.
Does the reality of the Xoom match up with the hype? Let's dive in and see what's working and what could be better.
Design and hardware features
With a 10.1-inch screen, you'd think Xoom would feel larger than the 9.8-inch screen-wielding iPad, but it actually comes off as slightly smaller. As tablets go, the Xoom carries its weight in its hips, stretching its screen area out to a more wide-screen-worthy 1,280x800-pixel WXGA aspect ratio.
This wider screen, coupled with the landscape-oriented positioning of the Motorola and Verizon logos, makes the Xoom a natural fit for use in a landscape view. This is fundamentally different from the original iPad, which prescribes a portrait orientation with its placement of the Home button. Of course, either device will reorient its apps and home screens for however you prefer to hold it, but nonetheless, the Xoom is ostensibly made for landscape view, whereas the iPad's design is naturally geared for portrait.
Motorola also slims the total device size down by running a 0.5-inch bezel around the screen, instead of the 0.75-inch bezel on the iPad. It's a small yet meaningful difference in a number of ways. The bad news is that the slimmer bezel offers less area for your thumbs to grip the screen, making it less comfortable to hold with one hand. And although the Xoom is only a tenth of a pound heavier than the original iPad, the smaller bezel and wider form of the Xoom make it noticeably heavier to hold in one hand. On the upside, when holding the Xoom in portrait, the thin bezel makes it easy to get your thumbs over the screen, making thumb-typing much less awkward than on the iPad.
The Xoom's keyboard, in general, deserves a round of applause. With its ample size and well-spaced virtual keys, typing performance is excellent in both landscape and portrait orientations. The keyboard supports multitouch for speedy typing, dedicated tab and emoticon keys, and a dedicated button to quickly jump you into keyboard settings. The keys are slightly smaller and more rectangular than the iPad's, but the overall performance is both swift and accurate.
On the bottom of the Xoom you'll find connections for Micro-USB, Micro-HDMI, a socket for the included power adapter, and a pinhole microphone. Don't let the HDMI port fool you, though. In order for us to get video out from the Xoom, we first had to dock it in Motorola's $129 HD speaker dock. Once we did, though, the entire Honeycomb experience was mirrored on our TV, allowing apps like YouTube and Maps some room to show off.
Up on the top edge you'll find a standard headphone jack packed conspicuously in the middle and a removable door to its left that conceals the microSD expansion port and a place for a 4G SIM card, both of which were disabled at launch. Motorola is promising microSD card support (up to 32GB) shortly after the product launch, enabled by an over-the-air update. Support for Verizon's 4G network is also forthcoming, though later in 2011, and not without submitting your Xoom to an authorized dealer for a hardware update.
Finally, there's the back of the Xoom, which includes a 5-megapixel camera and dual-LED flash, a stereo pair of speakers, and a sleep/wake button. Again, the layout of all these features somewhat dictates that you hold the device in landscape view, less you risk obscuring the camera with your hand. Camera quality is about what we'd expect from any high-end smartphone: good, but not point-and-shoot quality, and easily ruined by fingerprints on the lens. Video quality is also good, recording up to 720p. In spite of its capabilities, the Xoom makes for a comically large camera or camcorder by today's standards. We felt a bit silly snapping photos in public, holding the Xoom up in the air like Moses on the mountain. Still, it's a great capability to have, and one which Apple has received considerable flack for leaving off the original iPad.
A front-facing 2-megapixel camera is also included on the Xoom, geared for video chat. We tested the camera using the included Google Talk app, and it worked without a hitch over both Wi-Fi and Verizon's 3G data connection.
The Xoom has plenty of features under the hood, as well. For horsepower, you have a 1GHz dual-core processor with 1GB of RAM at its disposal. You really notice it, too. System performance purrs along, even with multiple browser tabs open, Pandora playing in the background, and e-mail notifications popping up.
Other features of the Xoom are par for the course these days. There's Bluetooth 2.1 support for audio and peripheral support (including Bluetooth keyboards). The Wi-Fi antenna supports bands up to 802.11n. Embedded sensors for screen brightness, accelerometer, and gyroscope are all onboard. There's even a barometer sensor inside, though no apps yet to support it.
How Update / Change / Repair Firmware in MOTOROLA MZ601 Xoom 3G phones?
Necessary Drivers and Tools
Install Necessary Drivers and Tools
- Unpack Drivers and install it
- Unpack mfasboot_adb by any packer to c:mfastboot
Downloading Necessary Firmware
- First, get the model ID and CID to get the correct firmware. In order to do it, turn on the MOTOROLA MZ601 Xoom 3G in the bootloader mode and read all information according to the instructions.
You may also check the model ID by entering the IMEI number on IMEI.info - Once you have model ID and CID, go to Motorola Firmware and select the appropriate model. Then, choose the latest software version(must have the same CID, downgrade not allowed until you not have bootloader unlocked).
- After downloading the software, unpack it using any file archiver and copy all the content of the folder into c:mfastboot where all necessary tools have already been unpacked.
WARNING!
Changing firmware in the phone will erase all of your data.
All described operations you are doing at your own risk.
If want saves your data do a backup before start.
Firmware Update / Change / Repair in MOTOROLA MZ601 Xoom 3G
- Launch thecommand line with admin rights.
- Go to c:mfastboot directory
- Type cd and press enter key.
- Type cd mfastboot and press enter key.
- Check how many system.img_sparsechunk.* files our firmware has. Usually, it is 3 or 4 files.
- Enter the command:
- mfastboot devices and press the enter key
- Type commands one by one and approve each of them by pressing Enter.
- mfastboot.exe oem lock begin
- mfastboot.exe flash partition gpt.bin
- mfastboot.exe flash motoboot motoboot.img
- mfastboot.exe flash logo logo.bin
- mfastboot.exe flash boot boot.img
- mfastboot.exe flash recovery recovery.img
- Depending on the number of system.img_sparsechunk files present in the firmware folder, do the appropriate number of commands, namely 0-3 or 0-4.
- mfastboot.exe flash system system.img_sparsechunk.0
- mfastboot.exe flash system system.img_sparsechunk.1
- mfastboot.exe flash system system.img_sparsechunk.2
- mfastboot.exe flash system system.img_sparsechunk.3
- mfastboot.exe flash system system.img_sparsechunk.4
- Next, type in the following commands:
- mfastboot.exe flash modem NON-HLOS.bin
- mfastboot.exe erase modemst1
- mfastboot.exe erase modemst2
- mfastboot.exe flash fsg fsg.mbn
- mfastboot.exe erase cache
- mfastboot.exe erase userdata
- That's all. Now your MOTOROLA MZ601 Xoom 3G has a new firmware. To reboot it from the bootloader mode to the normal mode, use this command:
- mfastboot reboot and press enter key
- Next the MOTOROLA MZ601 Xoom 3G phone will restart and switch on in a normal mode. It will take between 10-20 minutes.
Congratulations!