Ostriig on 7/4/2011 at 22:34
I've heard good things about the Xoom, if I were in the market and had to pick out of those four listed in the OP I'd almost certainly go for it, but if your order hasn't been processed yet and you can go back on it here's something worth having a peek at - the (
http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=gHh4q7I8dvWJzhdV) Asus EEE Pad Transformer just "launched" a week ago, and at first glance it looks pretty damn cool. When I first heard about it I thought it would be some sort of half-measure gimmick, but now that I've skimmed through its tech and features sheet it appears a solid concept turned into a solid product.
The slate itself looks to be a first-rate contender on its own, top-notch specs, IPS display, stellar battery life, etc. - but when you factor in the versatility of that dock design, i.e. the extra battery and ports, the keyboard, all of which amount to turning it into a veritable Android netbook at will, it really stands out. Available for (
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Asus-Transformer-Android-docking-station/dp/B004TB0EXY/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1302214560&sr=8-2) pre-order on Amazon UK, £430 for the whole package and it starts shipping April 18th.
Edit: Eh, I did find something to whinge over, it looks like the TF101 launch version doesn't have 3G connectivity, those models are supposed to come (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASUS_Eee_Pad_Transformer#cite_note-slashgear-1) a couple of months further down the line. Though I imagine that's of no concern to you seeing as you ordered the wifi-only Xoom.
SubJeff on 15/4/2011 at 12:54
My Xoom (Wifi version) review
First impressions.Shiny! Smooth, impressive, lovely screen. None of this is a surprise as all the tablets I’ve seen (iPads, Streaks, Xoom) look nice.
Set-up was the same as on an Android phone with one pleasing exception. All the apps I have on my Nexus One were automatically downloaded over wifi, and so fast I didn’t even know it has happened until I decided to look in the apps folder.
And to top that off the versions that had Honeycomb equivalents were upgraded thus, automatically. Nice.
I won’t bore you with all the things you can read in any review/tech sheet, I’m just going to talk about what I’ve found easy/likable and what I’ve found hard/annoying.
Good pointsIt’s fast and smooth and although it was easy to get to grips with coming from an Android phone it’s not a totally smooth transition because it has no buttons at all (I know the Nexus One only has touch buttons but at least it has them). You have to get used to doing everything on-screen, but once you do it’s very easy to use, and ever so slightly hypnotic.
Apps – all the Google apps are great (Gmail, Maps, YouTube, Calendar, Browser, Market) and much upgraded. I use Calendar Pad on my phone and although you can use it on the Xoom I’ve set up the schedule widget instead because you can use it to open the Calendar app, which I prefer.
There are bound to be apps that look odd on a tablet but I only have one which is an Anaesthetic rrs/news reader thing. It must be down to the way the layout is programmed, but that’s the dev’s fault really. Everything else works just fine. And bigger!
Widgets – Most phone widgets work (more on this later) and there are a bunch of new widgets which are active widgets. This means they aren’t just buttons/updaters that sit on the screen and which link to apps but can be interacted with on their own. This has serious potential.
I’m not sure if this next bit is true/correct but the Xoom seems to have automatically imported all my wifi settings. I set it up at home on the wifi and had to type in the password but after that initial set-up I’ve taken it to another location and it jumped on the wifi there even though I’ve never given it that info, though those settings did exist on my phone. Oh, and tethering is a. a breeze and b. Somehow gives me faster dls than on the phone alone!
Interface customisation – this aspect is... incredible. If you’re familiar with the different launchers for Android phones imagine that enhanced about 10 times. Here is a link to a simple example:
(
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQTdKfFPmEg)
Apart from entire new homescreen launchers we can expect to see some pretty radical customisation apps coming out for Honeycomb soon. The ones that exist allow you to do so much already that this is an entire post all by itself. Google it and you’ll see what I mean. The explosion hasn’t happened yet but it will do.
Bad Things
USB connection to the PC – this took me a while to figure out. You have to mess about with Motorola drivers and it certainly wasn’t the cakewalk that the Nexus USB connection was. It works now but I’m pretty disappointed at how hard it was. If anyone gets one and needs help email me.
Widgets – the bad bits. There seem to be a bunch of widgets that you can get off the Marketplace (so no 3rd party shadiness here) that just don’t run. Or if they do they put an icon on the screen that only opens the widget settings. I’m talking about widgets for turning the GPS on an off, or the enhanced power widgets and so on. Its odd behaviour and more than a little frustrating.
Keyboard - No Swype! Gaaaah! Swype doesn’t support this screen size. Yet. A grovelling email has been sent! Otherwise the keyboard is fine actually :) and there is a neat app called Thumbkeys which splits the keyboard down the middle so you can type with your thumbs if you’re holding the tablet.
For your everyday user those are the only major issues so far.
Dev talk (ignore if you’re not interested in development) - I’m able to see the device in Eclipse, the version number is correctly identified, but attempts to run my own apps fail. I haven’t used DDMS to locate the error though so it might be me (unlikely! snort). My apps are all created for use on 2.2 (Froyo) and up and run fine on my Nexus One which has 2.3 (Gingerbread) and a 2.2 AVD. Additionally DDMS is unable to obtain a screen capture, which is probably lucky for you guys as I’d be posting pics of my customised screens! :p
Of course I’m going to look into this because I’d quite like all my apps on Honeycomb too!
Things I don’t care about but which you mayCamera – pretty good. I’ve used Gmail Chat to video call and it works great.
Flash – blah blah it isn’t going to ready on release oh how terrible moaned the Guardian and other such Applitic cretins. Well it is now so that’s sorted then.
SD Card – slot isn’t enabled yet but will be. Meh. There is plenty of space. Even with all my apps I have over 25Gb left, probably more.
Mini HMDI out – yeah it has one. I’ve not used it, nor will I in all likelihood.
Charging – it needs the charger and won’t take mini-USB charging. Battery life is better than my phone’s though so who cares?
SummaryI like it, it’s not perfect, it’ll get better. If this sort of thing (a tablet) suits you you could do worse. If you’re a heavy Android phone/Gmail/Calendar et al user you’ll find the Google integration great.
I wanted a replacement for my netbook, something that is portable, bigger than my phone and which allows me to access the web, documents and emails whilst away from the Quad Core mothership. I never intended to develop for tablet but now I've seen what can be done on them I have to explore more. An unexpected use will, hopefully, be access journals and books on this. It wasn't until I got reading some news sites that I realised how well suited this will be as a reader (I'd never considered a Kindle) so now I'm off to see how easy/hard it will be to access some journals.
Oh, and I got it for £430 in the end. :D
