No flash on Xoom, it keeps getting better

[Superbike81]

I've had quite a few crashes during my time with the iPad, but nothing that makes me so frustrated that I would get rid of it for that reason alone. I've had Safari crash on me consistently once a day or so under seemingly normal use, normally while scrolling through a long page it will just close. Games are the only other culprit of semi-frequent crashes.

 

[Thphilli]

I suggest we do not go any further with discussions like this. Back to subject please

Exactly the answer I expected from you.

Tut tut SB. A word to the wise m8, don't demoralize me or try to stab at me.

Anyhow, most reviews I've read seem to come.l to the same conclusion;

The xoom is nice, though the os feels rushed, no dedicated apps out the gate will hurt sales, buttons are oddly placed, and battery life whilst doing heavy activities falls a bit short

Exactly the product I expected from Motorola with Android.

We get it already. You hate android and motorola for wronging you with your Droid purchase.

And the xoom is garbage frankly. I am not liking it at all. It's better than the iPad, but it should have and could have been soooooo much better. Instead it disappointed me greatly.

 

[Thphilli]

One more thing, if its true that ipad2 will have dual core cpu and dual core gpu, Xoom doesnt stand a chance with just tegra 2 dual core cpu. Juss sayin..lol

The xoom runs a tetra 2 soc which is a dual core 1ghz CPU with an eight core geforce gpu.

 

[Thphilli]

Let me just give a brief background of what is going on with the xoom here to the iPad crowd. Basically motorola rushed it and pushed out a tablet with a few glitches running an os that is not fully baked yet. Everything was rushed so that motorola could be first and beat the ipad2 to market. It's pretty awful actually. It's looking like every other tablet maker had the right idea to wait until everything is mature to release their product.

Reasons the xoom is not a smart buy:
Button placement moronic
Sd card non functional yet
Flash not functional yet
Tegra 2 only capable of baseline profile h.264 hd video decoding???
Screen is slightly worse quality than the iPads


Until it is determined if the tegra 2 chipsets will support h.264 high profile decoding like my galaxy s android phone does, i am holding off on touching an android tablet. Of course the iPad isn't capable of even baseline profile, so don't go gloating gentlefury, but it's a pretty gigantic sticking point for me. I expect more from an android tablet than i do from an iPad.

 

[Superbike81]

I can understand what you're saying but i think it's still the most complete option. It seems that most of the other upcoming tablets aren't quite as complete hardware-wise. Flash will be taken care of within a few weeks and the SD slot soon after that. It's not quite complete yet, but i think it's complete enough to be released as-is.

 

[Demandarin]

Let me just give a brief background of what is going on with the xoom here to the iPad crowd. Basically motorola rushed it and pushed out a tablet with a few glitches running an os that is not fully baked yet. Everything was rushed so that motorola could be first and beat the ipad2 to market. It's pretty awful actually. It's looking like every other tablet maker had the right idea to wait until everything is mature to release their product.

Reasons the xoom is not a smart buy:
Button placement moronic
Sd card non functional yet
Flash not functional yet
Tegra 2 only capable of baseline profile h.264 hd video decoding???
Screen is slightly worse quality than the iPads


Until it is determined if the tegra 2 chipsets will support h.264 high profile decoding like my galaxy s android phone does, i am holding off on touching an android tablet. Of course the iPad isn't capable of even baseline profile, so don't go gloating gentlefury, but it's a pretty gigantic sticking point for me. I expect more from an android tablet than i do from an iPad.

Good info, plus 8-core GPU..damn..lol they shoulda just waited instead of rushing it. I guess Apple has that effect on companies. They like f$&@ it, release it now as is b4 Apple announces their next big thing March 2..lol
I wonder how well did it do or how many were "sold" to customers launch day?

 

[Superbike81]

I'm guessing due to the high price and low volume it didn't sell well. Most people online are saying their local Verizon and Best Buy stores only got a few each. I think once the price comes down (Wi-Fi version becomes available) I think sales will spike again, because by then most of the little nagging issues like the SD slot and Flash will have been sorted out.

Thphilli, I'm not familiar with the different levels of H264 encoding. Can you give me an example of something you can't do due to the lack of the high profile decoding support you are talking about? Does it limit you to certain bandwidth movie files or something?


In other (great) news, I'm glad I've been following the talk on this product so closely. There was a post on another forum about how to take advantage of a 25% off coupon through Verizon. So I managed to squeak in before they made it not apply to the Xoom and bought my Xoom for just a little over $600 after shipping! Having it sent to my dad (since I live in Japan they won't ship it to my military address) and then he's gonna mail it here, so I should have it in about 10 days or so. Here's hoping some of the minor bugs are worked out before I get it, but if not, oh well.

 

[col.bris]

I am surprised to hear issues with safari crashing for that matter the iPad crashing. My input on this is that quote power users push the envelope and maybe there lies the answer. The other problem is some apps are bad they cause issues with other apps and on it goes. Even the iPad forum app crashes. So apart from safari I believe it is just bad programming by the developers or insufficient test time before sending to to the rest of the world. What I do is turn of groups of apps in iTunes then sync and it always amazes me I then have less problems. The headache is finding the problem child.

Regarding Zoom , I have not. Seen one as it's not available in Aus yet. One problem Motorola faces along with other manufactures of tabs or pads is Google supplies the software and they supply the hardware. Not much different from windows. one would agree we have a bucket load of hardware being developed by 3rd tire companies trying to get a piece of the action in that market place. Many will fall off the planet only a few will survive and the likes of the following first tier companies Motorola, Samsung and LG. ASUS, and ACER to name a few will be the only ones that consumers will trust. Let's hope Google sorts it out soon and we have more tabs on the market then as you guys state you have a product that competes with the iPad. I am totally open minded on this as I welcome other products. Next week will show what Apple is doing. Frankly I would not be at all surprised if they really come through with an awesome ipad2 and once again the battle begins............

 

[zorah]

col.bris
You made one pivotal point to the effect that power users push the envelope. Which brings up the whole issue of not blaming a device for not meeting expectations it was never designed to meet. People do this with the iPad all the time, and I'm sure they'll do so with the Xoom. It comes down to just trying to remember these are not powerhouse notebooks or the like. They can do a lot of what we use laptops for, but the memory hog type usage apps are another story for example and so on.

 

[col.bris]

I totally agree with that. In my past business i dealt with Mac Power users that I had to provide Mac solutions for. These were professional Photographers, Archicad users and video editing professionals. When ever new hardware was released from Apple, I am talking about Mac Pro,s and High end MacBook Pro's, many of my customers would upgrade. In most cases it was in 2 or 3 year cycles depending on leases and rentals of existing equipment. What drove the upgrade in every case was more powerful software like Artlantis or Archicad and photo shop etc. These customers needed the latest and fastest technology to be productuctive. When one looks at the IPad I believe many think this device will replace their MacBook pro,s or i5 i7 laptops and we all know it will not. maybe down the line when we have SSS drives that are high capacity plus new processors it will happen. I had a guy whom bought a Asus net book last year as he wanted something portable for his work. We advised the customer the Net book was limited. Seems he tried installing Photoshop latest version and dismayed by the results. the last few years all of a sudden mobile phones have to have access to the Internet, cameras , flash well except for Apple big screens etc etc. The real funny part is most users and I mean a large percentage don't use 60% of the features. All they want is a cool phone that has great texting and you can take pictures with. Then you get the group that wants to jailbreak every thing that moves regardless of manufacture just to make it better than it was designed for. The same applies with tabs, iPads and what ever one wants to call them. No matter what device comes along this group will never be satisfied.. I tried jail breaking my Apple TV older model, and you know what I just did not like all the crazy options offered. So I reset it and use what it was designed for , Movie rental plus Movie buy, ITunes music collection and photos. I rarely go on utube but that's me. One more thing I believe in Quality of hardware. I do not and will not recommend any product that is not reliable or has issues with OS or design. I recommend the iPad to my customers providing they understand the limitations like lack of flash etc etc and most of all the quality of the product. I believe Motorola will get it right with the help of Google and at the end of the day offer a product that many consumers will want. Well that's my personal view ....

 

[iPadCharlie]

I believe Motorola will get it right with the help of Google and at the end of the day offer a product that many consumers will want.

...and many others will complain about!

 

[Superbike81]

This is why I think the Xoom (and other future Android tablets) is a great thing. After a year of being with the iPad, those of us who do want the extra customization and the more complex user interface finally have a viable option.

Ever since the first iPhone came out with it's "wall of icons" approach to a user interface I knew it would be a great success because of how simple it is, but how functional it is (thanks to app developers) at the same time. But there is certain population of us here (admittedly the minority) who want something different, something we can truly customize to reflect our personality. In my personal experience and hobbies, it's the same thing with cars, 95% of people just want the car to work and be reliable. But there is that small percentage left over where you get the people who build their cars either for looks or performance or both. We are willing to deal with the problems associated with customization, the potential for reliability issues, hiccups, and hangups. Very few iOS fans will ever fully understand why Android users are willing to put up with the drawbacks. In the same way, my wife will never understand why I spend thousands of dollars on car parts when it just ends up making it less reliable and less practical in the end.

It's two completely different mindsets that create the constant conflicts between "Fandroids" and "iOS fanboys." It sucks that some people take it overboard and get personally offended by simple comments, but that's the nature of the internet and product loyalty. Mustangs vs Camaros? Porsche vs BMW? Dogs vs Cats? Windows vs OSX? It will never stop.

Just try not to get so wound up, and maybe, just maybe try the competing product out, not saying you have to buy it, but go to the store and play with it, not for 30 seconds, spend some time with it. People don't respond well to change, to things they aren't used to, especially when it's more complex than what you are accustomed to. I didn't think I would like Android up until I actually started messing with some of the phones over the last year. But I ended up liking it so much, that it actually made me dislike my iPad. Not saying everyone will be that way, but I was, and you may be too.

 

[Superbike81]

Oh, and just like the developers for the iPad jailbreaking have done, the XDA team of "hackers" will be having a lot of fun with the Xoom.

It's already been rooted and unlocked so the devs are free to start making customizations to the interface, modifying the kernel (for things like overclocking), and so many other possibilities.

While it appears to be a less than perfect start for the Xoom, trust me, this is only the tip of the iceberg. The guys at XDA have turned otherwise crappy phones with nothing but lag and crashes into buttery smooth and stable devices with much more functionality than they had before. Give these guys a few months with the Xoom, it's going to be a whole new ball game.

 

[DaveSt]

I am surprised to hear issues with safari crashing for that matter the iPad crashing. My input on this is that quote power users push the envelope and maybe there lies the answer. The other problem is some apps are bad they cause issues with other apps and on it goes. Even the iPad forum app crashes. So apart from safari I believe it is just bad programming by the developers or insufficient test time before sending to to the rest of the world. What I do is turn of groups of apps in iTunes then sync and it always amazes me I then have less problems. The headache is finding the problem child.

I pretty much agree with your assessment, but I have found being a "power user" (i.e. jailbreaking) has given me a more stable device. I know all of the theories behind Apple's version of multitasking, but there are certain apps that just don't get enough free memory assigned to them when there are a bunch of hibernating apps available in the multitask bar. Being able to easily shut them all down with the push of one button has almost completely taken care of any crashing issues I have had. If you look at the amount of free memory your device has with a bunch of multi-tasked items it sort of makes sense. I'm sure this is something Apple will be working to improve over the next few updates.

 

[DaveSt]

Oh, and just like the developers for the iPad jailbreaking have done, the XDA team of "hackers" will be having a lot of fun with the Xoom.

It's already been rooted and unlocked so the devs are free to start making customizations to the interface, modifying the kernel (for things like overclocking), and so many other possibilities.

While it appears to be a less than perfect start for the Xoom, trust me, this is only the tip of the iceberg. The guys at XDA have turned otherwise crappy phones with nothing but lag and crashes into buttery smooth and stable devices with much more functionality than they had before. Give these guys a few months with the Xoom, it's going to be a whole new ball game.

That is a good point. I am constantly amazed at how talented the XDA guys are. I suppose Android being a much more open platform can account for much of this. I can't wait to see what XDA does with these more powerful devices.