Confessions of a new Xoomer: First weekend
I received my shiny new Motorola Xoom on Friday, and I'm loving it! For those uncertain what it is... it's a Android 3.x Tablet... think iPad 2-ish, but with less apples and more Googleberries.
I'll try and post my experiences with this new device as it happens, so that you can get a sense of what it might be like.
I came in to London to pick it up. It was green! I thought it might just have a green gel cover, but it's green. 2/3 of the back cover is metal and green. (I like it this way, and it reminded me of my first Audi A3 - which was paradise green... a bit glow-in-the-dark green-ish the Audi was!)
The power supply is small, and the plug to the Xoom a round one, so I have to carry another (small) power supply on my travels.
Then I got on the train back home, and tethered it to my Nexus S... and that worked like a charm. Easy to set up, and all worked perfectly.
It's heavy-ish - it's really best to use if you can rest it against something. You don't really want to hold it with one hand in the air, while typing with the other... also because the touch screen covers about all of the tablet, so you only have a small ledge to hold on to.
It's really snappy and responsive... more new-mac-like than older-windows-like. The big screen work with all the apps I've installed. Some are not using the screen optimally, but all have been very usable. No complaints
Another observation: All my data is now in the cloud. Granted, I work for Google and therefore live in Google apps (think G-mail and more for business). But I really did not miss and data, and had no need to copy data or files. Just connect, authenticate and now my Xoom have my documents, my emails, my calendar, and even all the apps I installed on my Nexus S.
Small Niggles:
Next - I've ordered by screen protector and cover to protect it, and I'll have to apply all the self-discipline not to make my wife feel that I'd rather look at the device than talk to her!
I'll try and post my experiences with this new device as it happens, so that you can get a sense of what it might be like.
I came in to London to pick it up. It was green! I thought it might just have a green gel cover, but it's green. 2/3 of the back cover is metal and green. (I like it this way, and it reminded me of my first Audi A3 - which was paradise green... a bit glow-in-the-dark green-ish the Audi was!)
The power supply is small, and the plug to the Xoom a round one, so I have to carry another (small) power supply on my travels.
Then I got on the train back home, and tethered it to my Nexus S... and that worked like a charm. Easy to set up, and all worked perfectly.
It's heavy-ish - it's really best to use if you can rest it against something. You don't really want to hold it with one hand in the air, while typing with the other... also because the touch screen covers about all of the tablet, so you only have a small ledge to hold on to.
It's really snappy and responsive... more new-mac-like than older-windows-like. The big screen work with all the apps I've installed. Some are not using the screen optimally, but all have been very usable. No complaints
Another observation: All my data is now in the cloud. Granted, I work for Google and therefore live in Google apps (think G-mail and more for business). But I really did not miss and data, and had no need to copy data or files. Just connect, authenticate and now my Xoom have my documents, my emails, my calendar, and even all the apps I installed on my Nexus S.
Small Niggles:
- Some apps did not automatically install, and I don't know why. E.g. I'm using Beyond Podcast to download podcasts etc... but I had to manually install that. Wonder why. I also had to manually configure it's feeds again... I should have made an effort to export & import feeds, but used this as a chance to also clean the feed list to stuff I use frequently. Another favourite app that needed installation, was Pulse... but the rest came down perfectly. BTW - Pulse looks beautiful on the Xoom!
- The Xoom camera at one point stopped showing me the view of the "view finder". A reboot resolved it.
- I lot wi-fi twice on it at home, without any good explanation. I've tried many things to get wi-fi going again, but eventually a reboot solve it too... I hope to spot when/where/why this happens, to fix it...
Best bits:
- Battery and
- performance seems top notch... I suspect you might be able to drain it in a day... but not easily! It should last long enough for journeys planned.
- I very effectively resolved a problem on my Windows MCE machine, with the browser open on the Xoom, and the PC open on the problem area... having the two screens simultaneously was very sweet.
Next - I've ordered by screen protector and cover to protect it, and I'll have to apply all the self-discipline not to make my wife feel that I'd rather look at the device than talk to her!
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