Xyboard review from a prior Xoom owner.

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Elysian893

Senior Member
Jan 27, 2010
539
92
I'm sure plenty of you saw my Asurion thread here...

I've had the Xyboard for a week now, and while I'm still not happy with the fact they sent me a 16gb model, I've got to be honest, the Xyboard is incredible. I wrote a letter to the regional president of Verizon for my region but I'm going to leave it at that.

The Xyboard is a HUGE upgrade over the Xoom even though the specs on paper don't show it. It benchmarks in every benchmark higher than the Tegra 2, especially the graphical ones. The PowerVR SGX540 may be 'old' but it handles the 1280x800 screen like a champ. The Xyboard is all around faster than the Xoom (at least the Xoom on 3.2, on ICS is a different story but then when ICS hits the Xyboard it will easily be faster than the Xoom) in every day usage too, so its speed extends well beyond benchmarks and gaming. GTA3 runs even smoother on the Xyboard than the Xoom and I was honestly impressed with how it ran on the Xoom.

The screen on the Xyboard is gorgeous, I can't believe they didn't use this panel on the Xoom. TFT is dead to me now, officially. I didn't even realize how bad the screen on the Xoom was until I went back and forth between it and the Xyboard. Color representation on the Xyboard is glorious and it gets bright as all hell.

Battery life is vastly improved, and I found the Xoom to be quite acceptable. The thinness and lightness is nice, although I use my Xoom's portfolio case on my Xyboard so that's negated (surprisingly the portfolio case fits, although it's very very snug!). The new shape is interesting and quite honestly, better. Where the back met the sides on the Xoom was very sharp, and while it's sharp on the Xyboard it's not in a sort of way where it's metal digging into your hand, it's softtouch rubber. The center section of the back is metal (aluminum if I'd have to guess) so that feels nice under the hands.

The power button and volume rocker is a huge improvement. I hated the volume buttons on the Xoom, absolutely terrible until I got my gel case. I haven't tried either camera on the Xyboard really so I can't say much about those.

The one complaint I have is that they went back to USB charging. The Xoom had a proprietary connector that allowed it to charge VERY fast. The Xyboard is limited to 5v and 1.6A, meaning it charges VERY slowly compared to the Xoom's 12v 1.5A plug. That is extremely disappointing to me, but I'm glad I don't have to charge as often. The Xoom's battery life got worse after the 4G upgrade, it was very usable before that. The Xyboard doesn't have that problem, probably because it doesn't have to power an add-on card. Overall I'd probably give it a 9 out of 10 rating, it's pretty damned good... This is the tablet the Xoom should have been. Not to say that I would advocate others upgrading to the Xyboard, I only got one because it was cheaper this way.

Unfortunately it's going to be completely eclipsed by the coming quad core rush. I have no idea why they didn't wait for Tegra 3 or an OMAP quad core.

Oops, I have 1 other complaint. The Xyboard has a locked bootloader, meaning it's going to be incredibly challenging to root it. Honeycomb 3.2 sealed up all vulnerabilities that worked on prior versions of HC. I've already tried them all, there's just no way around it right now and I'm not experienced enough or plain intelligent enough to figure it out.
 
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jaekidd1012

Senior Member
Nov 27, 2007
155
17
New York, NY
Good review. I think I speak for quite a few Xoom owners when I say that the Xyboard was written off after reading the paper specs compared to the likes of the ASUS Transformer Prime.

I guess Motorola looked to fix what was wrong with the original Xoom hardware- and software-wise rather than build a direct competitor to the second generation HC tablets. Micro USB charging is alright for phones but not for tablets. I would have liked if the Xyboard could charge from either the Micro USB port and/or an included proprietary port. I'm glad to hear that everything else like the screen and battery life has been improved but I think it'll still be a pass for me as Tegra 3 is more future-proof than Tegra 2 which is growing kinda long in the tooth going into 2012, IMHO.

I'm personally stuck between pulling the trigger on a Transformer Prime and holding out to see what's around the corner from Samsung, Acer, LG or maybe even Motorola.

For right now, the Xyboard isn't compelling enough for me to "upgrade" to.
 

mgerbasio

Senior Member
Jun 8, 2004
284
24
I'm a happy Xoom owner but don't plan to get the xyboard.

xyboard doesn't use the Tegra 2, its a TI omap 4430 (I think). It sounds like a nice upgrade but will be outdated in three months, if not sooner. The price is obscene. The Motorola forum is empty for this product and you don't see much discussion on other forums. Its DOA until the price gets cut in half. I really think Motorola has an identity crisis where it believes its brand will demand the same loyalty as Apple and people will just rush to buy the next new Motorola tablet.

I'd rather see usb charging even if it takes a bit longer. I think 1.6A is the highest current for which a microusb connector is rated. Two connectors would be good, but if it had to have one I'm glad its microusb.

CES is a week away. With all the delays in the TP, I cancelled my pre-order last week. My Xoom is fine for my needs now anyway. I'm waiting to see higher resolutions screens, Acer A700 is rumored to be 1900x1200, Samsung's new tablet rumored to be even higher. Also, want to see better stylus support. Lenovo is getting an upgrade to the ThinkPad tablet into production and i'm looking forward to seeing that tablet. Although I don't expect to see anything soon from Motorola, maybe we'll be surprised.
 

Elysian893

Senior Member
Jan 27, 2010
539
92
I agree with both of you. I wouldn't even own the Xyboard if it weren't for Asurion. The price is outlandish. They really dropped the ball there. I disagree about the processor being "outdated," it will still be just fine with a helping of ICS, it just won't be the fastest kid on the block anymore. I will likely sell this when the first quad core IPS screened Verizon LTE 8.9 or 10.1" tablet hits. That was always my plan with my Xoom anyways though so it's not necessarily a knock against the Xyboard.

Transformer Prime does seem to be riddled with issues though.
 

mgerbasio

Senior Member
Jun 8, 2004
284
24
FWIW the OMAP is also what google picked for ICS reference design. I guess that means ICS is designed to run on the OMAP processor and other vendors such as Nvidia need to port it to their chips.
 

big ach

Senior Member
Sep 14, 2006
567
83
Florida!
Hear Hear!

I too just recently picked up a brand new 64GB xyboard and am very happy with my purchase, no regrets whatsoever... Will be posting an in depth review shortly!

I just wanted to point out, for those people saying that the processor will be outdated soon, there have already been a number of reviews that stated the xyboard Web browsing speeds are faster than that of the quad core transformer prime, thanks to its ti omap processor.

Let's not forget about the prime's wifi problems, GPS problems, and delivery problems.

I really spent a lot of time debating whether to get the xyboard or the prime..... And although on paper all conclusions seemed to lead to the prime, I just had a strong feeling I'd regret not getting the xyboard, aside from the fact that I have a soft spot for motorola, and the fact that google is buying motorola mobility, it just seemed like the more premium product to me, regardless of the differences in the processor....

Now that its all said and done, I'm sooooo happy I didn't get the prime!

Sent from my MZ617 using XDA App
 

jaekidd1012

Senior Member
Nov 27, 2007
155
17
New York, NY
@Mgerbasio: you're right: the Xoom 2/Xyboard uses a TI OMAP 4430 processor.

The TI OMAP 4430 data sheet is herehttp://pdadb.net/index.php?m=cpu&id=a4430&c=texas_instruments_omap_4430

The NVidia Tegra 2 250 AP20H sheet is herehttp://pdadb.net/index.php?m=cpu&id=a20aph&c=nvidia_tegra_2_250_ap20h

I'm not with Verizon which puts the Xyboard out of reach for me. I REFUSE to pay their asking price for the Xyboard so here's to some retailers out there carrying the wifi-only model at some point. I think it would be in Motorola's best interest to make this happen if they want to sell these things here in the US to those of us who would rather not be ball-and-chained to Verizon.

As an aside, I discovered that Motorola isn't upgrading the wifi-only Xoom 1s to LTE; only the 3G Xooms :( but are "looking into" extending that upgrade to the non-3G model sometime in the future, as per the tech support person I spoke to on the phone. I'm probably only stating what everyone else on the Xoom forums already knew but this was (extremely disappointing) news to me.
 

majikfox

Senior Member
Oct 25, 2010
240
55
I have the opposite impression of the Micro USB charging: If I need to charge the Xyboard all I need is a standard mini USB cable. If I lose the proprietary charger for the Xoom I'm f***** until I order and receive a new one. I am quite pleased with the change to micro USB charging.
 

big ach

Senior Member
Sep 14, 2006
567
83
Florida!
I have the opposite impression of the Micro USB charging: If I need to charge the Xyboard all I need is a standard mini USB cable. If I lose the proprietary charger for the Xoom I'm f***** until I order and receive a new one. I am quite pleased with the change to micro USB charging.

The micro USB charger for the xyboard is not a standard one apparently, if you use any micro USB charger other than the one provided it will still charge, just very slooooooooowly though!

What I like about my xyboard charger though is that I can also charge my phone with it, which is convenient at times!

Sent from my MZ617 using Tapatalk
 

oldblue910

Senior Member
Jan 1, 2011
4,248
3,156
Durham, NC
I have zero interest in the Xyboard because it isn't a Google Experience Device. I will be holding out until the next Google sanctioned tablet. I want Android plain and raw.

Sent from my Motorola Xoom using Tapatalk
 

wizayne

Senior Member
Dec 23, 2010
144
15
I'd rather see usb charging even if it takes a bit longer. I think 1.6A is the highest current for which a microusb connector is rated. Two connectors would be good, but if it had to have one I'm glad its microusb.

Not to nitpick but i would like to point out that the charger for the kindle fire and a Vizio tablet sold at Walmart are both microusb and are both higher. The Vizio charger I am using to charge my Galaxy S right now and it comes in at 2000mAh. It makes charging time drop to less than half the stock charger which was well under 1A.

The rest of your post was dead on the nuts. Happy New Year my friend.


Sent from my Xoom using xda premium
 

wizayne

Senior Member
Dec 23, 2010
144
15
I have zero interest in the Xyboard because it isn't a Google Experience Device. I will be holding out until the next Google sanctioned tablet. I want Android plain and raw.

Sent from my Motorola Xoom using Tapatalk

Hell yeah, I could've gotten any tablet and only grabbed two Xooms because this is THE GEXDEV. I prefer many other tablets to this for a variety of reasons but i love running wing/stingray nightlies depending on which of my Xooms it is for. The other plus? it's built like a tank which makes it great for my 3yr old daughter to play with provided with an otterbox case; I have zero worries as it's survived many falls. But if it did die that would give me an excuse to get the latest and greatest... I just can't see any other tab out there that I want more than the OG daddy.

Sent from my Xoom using xda premium
 

wattstek

New member
Jun 27, 2011
2
0
I just got a Xyboard from Asurion (Replaced stolen Xoom)
As a Long time Techie and Owner of the Xoom since April 2011, I gotta say I like the Xyboard! Yes no SD Support :( that is the worse. But Damn I like the way it looks and feels! lol.. way thinner and screen looks better :)
It also runs smoother than my original xoom (stock rom). I have only played with it for a few days, so far so good. Yes I agree that there are better android tablets out now, but I'm working with what I got and I like it
 

jnc8651

Senior Member
Feb 9, 2007
104
12
San Antonio
I'm sure plenty of you saw my Asurion thread here...

I've had the Xyboard for a week now, and while I'm still not happy with the fact they sent me a 16gb model, I've got to be honest, the Xyboard is incredible. I wrote a letter to the regional president of Verizon for my region but I'm going to leave it at that.

The Xyboard is a HUGE upgrade over the Xoom even though the specs on paper don't show it. It benchmarks in every benchmark higher than the Tegra 2, especially the graphical ones. The PowerVR SGX540 may be 'old' but it handles the 1280x800 screen like a champ. The Xyboard is all around faster than the Xoom (at least the Xoom on 3.2, on ICS is a different story but then when ICS hits the Xyboard it will easily be faster than the Xoom) in every day usage too, so its speed extends well beyond benchmarks and gaming. GTA3 runs even smoother on the Xyboard than the Xoom and I was honestly impressed with how it ran on the Xoom.

The screen on the Xyboard is gorgeous, I can't believe they didn't use this panel on the Xoom. TFT is dead to me now, officially. I didn't even realize how bad the screen on the Xoom was until I went back and forth between it and the Xyboard. Color representation on the Xyboard is glorious and it gets bright as all hell.

Battery life is vastly improved, and I found the Xoom to be quite acceptable. The thinness and lightness is nice, although I use my Xoom's portfolio case on my Xyboard so that's negated (surprisingly the portfolio case fits, although it's very very snug!). The new shape is interesting and quite honestly, better. Where the back met the sides on the Xoom was very sharp, and while it's sharp on the Xyboard it's not in a sort of way where it's metal digging into your hand, it's softtouch rubber. The center section of the back is metal (aluminum if I'd have to guess) so that feels nice under the hands.

The power button and volume rocker is a huge improvement. I hated the volume buttons on the Xoom, absolutely terrible until I got my gel case. I haven't tried either camera on the Xyboard really so I can't say much about those.

The one complaint I have is that they went back to USB charging. The Xoom had a proprietary connector that allowed it to charge VERY fast. The Xyboard is limited to 5v and 1.6A, meaning it charges VERY slowly compared to the Xoom's 12v 1.5A plug. That is extremely disappointing to me, but I'm glad I don't have to charge as often. The Xoom's battery life got worse after the 4G upgrade, it was very usable before that. The Xyboard doesn't have that problem, probably because it doesn't have to power an add-on card. Overall I'd probably give it a 9 out of 10 rating, it's pretty damned good... This is the tablet the Xoom should have been. Not to say that I would advocate others upgrading to the Xyboard, I only got one because it was cheaper this way.

Unfortunately it's going to be completely eclipsed by the coming quad core rush. I have no idea why they didn't wait for Tegra 3 or an OMAP quad core.

Oops, I have 1 other complaint. The Xyboard has a locked bootloader, meaning it's going to be incredibly challenging to root it. Honeycomb 3.2 sealed up all vulnerabilities that worked on prior versions of HC. I've already tried them all, there's just no way around it right now and I'm not experienced enough or plain intelligent enough to figure it out.

at first i totally hated having a propriety charger for my xoom but then i realized how much faster it charges because of it. Yes i think it would be better if it could charge via either usb or via the propriety moto charger
 

got556

Senior Member
Sep 6, 2011
1,321
205
Chicago
Really debating picking up one of these but I just can't bring myself to pay the 80GB fee on top of the $400+ for the 16GB based on the hardware.

If only they would have went with Tegra 3 or their own quad core I think this would sell a lot better. Motorola was first to the game with the Xoom, and now way way behind in the game. WTF Motorola. Also they're really screwing the pooch in keeping their bootloaders locked. XDA and it's devs, while a small number of us, are the ones that truly test all the devices, find the bugs, fix the issues, etc. We are the beta testers for all gadgets known to man today.

May run to the VZW store across the street and compare one to my Samsung 10.1.

I really want a 4G tab, but like I said, just not sure I can justify the 80/mo pricetag that comes with it while I enjoy 4G LTE on my phone for $30/mo grandfathered in unlimited.
 

big ach

Senior Member
Sep 14, 2006
567
83
Florida!
Really debating picking up one of these but I just can't bring myself to pay the 80GB fee on top of the $400+ for the 16GB based on the hardware.

If only they would have went with Tegra 3 or their own quad core I think this would sell a lot better. Motorola was first to the game with the Xoom, and now way way behind in the game. WTF Motorola. Also they're really screwing the pooch in keeping their bootloaders locked. XDA and it's devs, while a small number of us, are the ones that truly test all the devices, find the bugs, fix the issues, etc. We are the beta testers for all gadgets known to man today.

May run to the VZW store across the street and compare one to my Samsung 10.1.

I really want a 4G tab, but like I said, just not sure I can justify the 80/mo pricetag that comes with it while I enjoy 4G LTE on my phone for $30/mo grandfathered in unlimited.

Where are you getting the $80/month figure? I pay 30/month for 2GB for my xyboard.

If you have a 4g phone with unlimited data why don't you just tether that to your Samsung tab by using either wifi hot spot or Bluetooth? Problem solved :)


Sent from my MZ617 using Tapatalk
 

got556

Senior Member
Sep 6, 2011
1,321
205
Chicago
I do that already with the 10.1 but a wifi xyboard is not available ATM and who knows if one ever will be. I suppose paying for two gigs wouldnt be bad then just never use the data and rely on my unlimited on my phone to tether...I got the 80 from the 10 gb plan bc I know i would go over the other two options.
 

big ach

Senior Member
Sep 14, 2006
567
83
Florida!
I do that already with the 10.1 but a wifi xyboard is not available ATM and who knows if one ever will be. I suppose paying for two gigs wouldnt be bad then just never use the data and rely on my unlimited on my phone to tether...I got the 80 from the 10 gb plan bc I know i would go over the other two options.

Kinda what I do right now.... Use the 2GB from Verizon whenever I need it on the xyboard... If I feel like I will start going over I switch to tethering through my Atrix 2 and my unlimited data plan on at&t via Bluetooth!


Sent from my MZ617 using Tapatalk
 

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  • 8
    I'm sure plenty of you saw my Asurion thread here...

    I've had the Xyboard for a week now, and while I'm still not happy with the fact they sent me a 16gb model, I've got to be honest, the Xyboard is incredible. I wrote a letter to the regional president of Verizon for my region but I'm going to leave it at that.

    The Xyboard is a HUGE upgrade over the Xoom even though the specs on paper don't show it. It benchmarks in every benchmark higher than the Tegra 2, especially the graphical ones. The PowerVR SGX540 may be 'old' but it handles the 1280x800 screen like a champ. The Xyboard is all around faster than the Xoom (at least the Xoom on 3.2, on ICS is a different story but then when ICS hits the Xyboard it will easily be faster than the Xoom) in every day usage too, so its speed extends well beyond benchmarks and gaming. GTA3 runs even smoother on the Xyboard than the Xoom and I was honestly impressed with how it ran on the Xoom.

    The screen on the Xyboard is gorgeous, I can't believe they didn't use this panel on the Xoom. TFT is dead to me now, officially. I didn't even realize how bad the screen on the Xoom was until I went back and forth between it and the Xyboard. Color representation on the Xyboard is glorious and it gets bright as all hell.

    Battery life is vastly improved, and I found the Xoom to be quite acceptable. The thinness and lightness is nice, although I use my Xoom's portfolio case on my Xyboard so that's negated (surprisingly the portfolio case fits, although it's very very snug!). The new shape is interesting and quite honestly, better. Where the back met the sides on the Xoom was very sharp, and while it's sharp on the Xyboard it's not in a sort of way where it's metal digging into your hand, it's softtouch rubber. The center section of the back is metal (aluminum if I'd have to guess) so that feels nice under the hands.

    The power button and volume rocker is a huge improvement. I hated the volume buttons on the Xoom, absolutely terrible until I got my gel case. I haven't tried either camera on the Xyboard really so I can't say much about those.

    The one complaint I have is that they went back to USB charging. The Xoom had a proprietary connector that allowed it to charge VERY fast. The Xyboard is limited to 5v and 1.6A, meaning it charges VERY slowly compared to the Xoom's 12v 1.5A plug. That is extremely disappointing to me, but I'm glad I don't have to charge as often. The Xoom's battery life got worse after the 4G upgrade, it was very usable before that. The Xyboard doesn't have that problem, probably because it doesn't have to power an add-on card. Overall I'd probably give it a 9 out of 10 rating, it's pretty damned good... This is the tablet the Xoom should have been. Not to say that I would advocate others upgrading to the Xyboard, I only got one because it was cheaper this way.

    Unfortunately it's going to be completely eclipsed by the coming quad core rush. I have no idea why they didn't wait for Tegra 3 or an OMAP quad core.

    Oops, I have 1 other complaint. The Xyboard has a locked bootloader, meaning it's going to be incredibly challenging to root it. Honeycomb 3.2 sealed up all vulnerabilities that worked on prior versions of HC. I've already tried them all, there's just no way around it right now and I'm not experienced enough or plain intelligent enough to figure it out.
    1
    Yes the data does remain active while the tablet sleeps. I know that email definetly comes in, also if you don't shut off notifications it makes an alert sound when you get new mail.
    1
    I have owned the Xoom 2 since the first day it was released in the UK and I could not ask more from this tablet. Does everything I need to do in a normal day without an issue. But the constant reboots in the browser does annoy me alot when trying to do something. What would be great is to see ICS and bootstrap/safestrap on the Xoom 2.

    Try to do a factory reset through android recovery ... I had the same problem ( freeze and reboot 2-3 times per day.Tablet never rebooted in browser but tablet still reboot it self 2-3 times per week ...