Motorola Xoom Review: The First Honeycomb Tablet Arrives
by Anand Lal Shimpi on February 23, 2011 11:57 PM ESTCamera Quality
As awkward as it may be, you can definitely hold the Xoom in two hands and use its rear facing 5MP camera as you would a point and shoot or your smartphone. I can’t help but feel absolutely ridiculous using a tablet to take pictures of something, but it does work.
The camera app’s UI is actually pretty easy to navigate. There aren’t a ton of options but they’re all available via a circular tool on the right side of the display. Switching between front and rear cameras as well as from still to video all happens quickly, at least compared to the smartphones we’re used to reviewing.
Image quality is surprisingly good. Photos don’t always come out as saturated as they should, particularly on cloudy days but sharpness and detail are both there. Increase the focus distance and the image quickly loses its sharpness/exposure:
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punjabiplaya - Thursday, February 24, 2011 - link
Looks good, I'm really tempted to pick one up (wifi model) if it truly is $600. Any word from Google on any updates to fix the crashing? I assume with updates (including driver optimizations) it can only get faster and there's no way that Google/Motorola isn't aware of the crashing apps.LeftSide - Thursday, February 24, 2011 - link
Don't hold your breath. I have an Epic 4g and just now got the 2.2 update. Google needs to standardize their update system. Until they do, I will not buy another Android device. Waiting for months just for an outdated update, so that you can download and use the latest apps (skype) is unacceptable.Impulses - Thursday, February 24, 2011 - link
Blame Samsung, not Google. Most HTC & Motorola devices were running 2.2 as of last September. My EVO got Froyo (2.2) in August, a mere two months after it's release (and only like there months after Froyo itself launched). People need to start doing some research and stop rewarding manufacturers that are lousy with updates, like Samsung and Sony Ericson.daveloft - Thursday, February 24, 2011 - link
I say blame the carriers. All six carriers in Canada carrying the Galaxy S device released 2.2 before any of the American carriers. This seemed to be the situation around the world as well.Impulses - Thursday, February 24, 2011 - link
Yeah at this point it's their fault, it still took Samsung twice as long to release the updates as it took other manufacturers tho. Sprint and T-mobile recently updated their Galaxy S variants to 2.2 btw, so Verizon and AT&T are slacking off the most... Verizon has half a dozen other Android options tho, until today (Atrix) AT&T had no alternative to the Captivate, besides an iPhone.ph00ny - Monday, March 7, 2011 - link
At the same time, their devices came out later those other devices. Also all the international iteration of galaxy s had froyo long before any north america based galaxy S phones. Look at HTC Aria. AT&T is the worst carrier in terms of device update due to the fact that they want to restrict the device as much as they can. Look at the issues with hsupa with atrix.BTW i have a captivate running 2.2.1 and i had froyo running since last year which was based on the international version of galaxy s
kkwst2 - Thursday, February 24, 2011 - link
Blame Canada.Milleman - Sunday, February 27, 2011 - link
Blame Terrance and Phillip!punjabiplaya - Thursday, February 24, 2011 - link
The reason I was asking is because there is no manufacturer skin. Honeycomb is unmolested by Motorola, so Google should be able to get updates to the device without Motorola having to customize their skin, then the carrier customizing that.Enormously Hatworthy - Thursday, February 24, 2011 - link
Yep, since this is the reference hardware for the platform, you'll get OTA updates directly from Google. No carriers or OEMs to screw things up.No word from google though... I suppose they don't want to draw attention to the bugs on the first day of release. I'd bet there'll be a quiet update issued sometime in the next week or two.