# Motorola Xoom



## Matt. (Aug 26, 2007)

Anyone got one? Any good?

I originally wanted an Asus Transformer, but I can't find one around £250<.

The Xoom 32gb is £199 at CPW tomorrow.


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## John P (Mar 3, 2010)

Ive got one, had it 4 months or so and its been really good.
If you can get it for that price its an extremely good buy.

John


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## Matt. (Aug 26, 2007)

It's the Xoom not the 2.

How much did you pay?

Does it have a micro SD slot? 

Tell me all the info please.  What's the screen like? Is it easy to transfer things from the computer?

Is it Honeycomb?


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## John P (Mar 3, 2010)

Yes I have the original xoom, not the xoom 2.
I paid £300 about 4 months ago for a new one.
Yes it has a micro SD card slot.
Yes it is Honeycombe 3.2, and motorola have promised that it will be upgradable to ice cream sandwich soon after its release apparently.
Screen is good, clear and bright and battery life is good in my opinion.
Yes its easy to transfer things from a pc via the micro usb port, simply connect drag and drop.

I have found it to be a very good tablet, easy to use, fairly quick. I have use of an Acer iconia A500 and an iPad 2 so have a good base to compare it with, the Xoom is equally as good as those two.

The only main downside to the xoom in my opinion is that it doesn't have a full size USB port for connecting a mouse or keyboard, but motorola do their own mouse and keyboard anyway if wanted. It also means you cant connect a USB flash drive.

For the price you can get it I would say that's an excellent buy. 

Hope that helps. just let me know if you want to know anything else, ill do my best to help as I know what its like when buying a new gadget, I always have loads of questions lol.

John


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## Matt. (Aug 26, 2007)

Thanks for that info. Much appreciated!

It will mainly be used for browsing and so my daughter can watch films. 

What's the screen like compared to the other two you have? 

Did you manage to compare it to the Asus?

Are you sure it's micro SD and not SD?


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## John P (Mar 3, 2010)

No problem at all.

Ive never used an Asus so cant comment im afraid sorry. The iPad has the superior screen of the three in my opinion as it generally appears brighter and sharper, but unless you held the them side by side you wouldn't notice the difference as the Acer and Xoom both have nice screens to look at and are both clear and bright and responsive to the touch.

Yes defo micro SD, i have a 4gb micro sd card in mine but im not sure what the maximum storage size is.

John


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## Matt. (Aug 26, 2007)

Thanks again.

Overall do you have 36gb of storage then?

What's a USB flash drive?

Does it support Adobe Flash? If it does, am I right in thinking it didn't use to?

Do you have a case or a dock for yours?


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## bigmc (Mar 22, 2010)

Where's CPW?


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## John P (Mar 3, 2010)

Yes I have 36GB storage total.
Yes it does support Adobe flash, it always has since I have had it so im not sure if it didn't previously, you may be right though as when I was doing my research before buying it myself, I looked through old threads on other forums and people were saying that the micro SD card slot was not supported on older software so there must have been teething problems when it was released.

Just to confirm though... Both the micro SD card and adobe flash work perfectly on mine on the newest android os honeycombe 3.2.

I have a zagg screen cover and a duragadget case which is really good and it also acts as a stand.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/DURAGADGET-Degree-Rotating-Motorola-Tablet/dp/B0057O42JY

I don't have a dock, although I would like one, there seems to be two types, one that charges and one that charges and has a built in speaker. I would be interested to know if anyone has bought the dock, what they think of it and is it worth the money.

A USB flash drive is one of those small portable storage things that you can store files on - Handy to transfer files from home to work etc. Link to wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_flash_drive

John


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## Alzak (Aug 31, 2010)

no one confirmed that deal in CPW and I can't see any info on Carphone web site


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## John P (Mar 3, 2010)

> Where's CPW?


Its Carphone Warehouse

John


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## Matt. (Aug 26, 2007)

Thanks.

I might just well get this if it is £200

Although, looking at another review, the Transformer screen looks better, but this is a little more responsive. 

It would be nice if others followed suit.


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## Matt. (Aug 26, 2007)

It's £250

Do you think it's work that?


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## JJ_ (Oct 26, 2005)

it's worth iPad money as the iPad fails at flash


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## Ric (Feb 4, 2007)

JJ_ said:


> it's worth iPad money as the iPad fails at flash


If you really cannot live with out flash get the sky fire app and get flash on your websites, Yawn.


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## Posambique (Oct 20, 2010)

Yes, I surely think it's worth £250.

I just bought the 3G 32gb Xoom for 399e from SimplyElectronics.
I am very happy with it so far! 

Yep, it is heavy, but not too heavy IMO.
If you can live with the weight, Xoom is actually way better than Xoom 2.
I also thought about Galaxy Tab, but I went for Xoom because I thought it was better.
I mean, how can you not want HDMI, USB and SD -card slot?

Love it! 
If you can't lift 700g then forget it, but if you can this is a stunning machine!

P.S. The screen looks very good, no matter what they say, and I have been using Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 as well. It is not as good as Samsungs but still a very good screen.


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## SiliconS (Jun 23, 2010)

I'm typing this on my Xoom. I really like it, even after paying £480 months ago. £250 is a bargain for this functionality and quality.


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## Matt. (Aug 26, 2007)

But the big question is, will it come down more?

Or do I just get an iPad or hold out and hope the Asus comes down in price?


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## John P (Mar 3, 2010)

Its a good price without doubt, considering I paid £300 four months ago which I considered cheap at the time. Ive essentially lost £50 in those four months but that doesn't worry me because I knew at some point it would go down in price, the point being I was happy with the price I paid at the time and im still very happy with it.

The trouble is that electrical items like these will keep coming down in price because they get outdated by technology advances, newer models etc etc.

Its just a case really of deciding whether your happy with the current price does it do everything you want it to do now. If your not absolutely sure, its best to keep the cash in your pocket until you are as electrical items get updated so quickly.

The Asus transformer price is bound to drop, especially as we near the release of the new model asus transformer prime... now that looks like it will be a nice tablet.

John


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## Matt. (Aug 26, 2007)

Hmm, I think I might wait until January. Hopefully the Kindle Fire will be out and might push this down a but more.

If it was £200 as CPW led everyone to believe, then I would of had one in a flash.

I reserved one at Currys but they don't price match to CPW apparently. But there have been a few people that have said they have.


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## John P (Mar 3, 2010)

Yes just reading a few posts online on other forums and it does seem like carphone warehouse have made some huge errors in their pricing and advertising of this deal.

Its still good value at £250 but if your not sure, your defo doing the best thing by waiting.

When you do decide Ill be interested to know what you go for and if you like it.

John


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## Matt. (Aug 26, 2007)

CPW have made a massive mistake. 

I was outside my one at 9:00 and went in and it had the sticker saying £199.99 Yet on their system it was still scanning at £319.99 

But the guy I spoke to thought the 4 he had in stock were reserved, obviously by staff. He took my number and rang me around 11 to say one is reserved for me, and to wait and see if it comes down to £199.99 on their system. 

3:30pm and I phone him, he say's it's now £249.99 So he's saving it for me until tomorrow to see if it comes down more or if I want to pay the £50 extra.


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## Matt. (Aug 26, 2007)

What case do you have John?

http://www.dabs.com/products/motoro...le&utm_medium=product+search&utm_content=Q200


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## Posambique (Oct 20, 2010)

I've ordered Instand Shield (Ful Body) + Motorola's own case for mine BTW.

I would go for it for £249. You might get some tablet (like Asus) for £199 at some point, but you might not. £249 for a Xoom is a bargain. 
Now that I have a few days more of experiment with it, I still love it. A very nice thing and it's hard to stop playing with it.

I recommend :thumb:


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## Matt. (Aug 26, 2007)

Which case did you go for then? The one I posted above?

I don't like full body shield's, so i'll be going for a screen protecter.


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## Matt. (Aug 26, 2007)

John how do you find your case? The one I posted looks very similar to the Duragadget one. 

Only I don't like the circle bit on the Duragadget one.

Where did you get your Zagg protector from? 

When I had a Zagg on my Satio, it had alot of orange peel.


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## John P (Mar 3, 2010)

I cant see the one you posted Matt as dabs site seems to be offline at the moment, ill check again later and have a look.

The dura gadget case is pretty good, its a nice fit. I know what you mean about the round bit on the back but I went for it because its enables the tablet to be rotated and stood in portrait as well as landscape which I find useful. Its almost identical in design to the Targus versavu case that I have on the iPad 2, except Targus don't make that case for the xoom so I found the closest alternative. The duragadget isnt quite as good quality as the Targus, but for the price its very good.

I got my zagg screen cover direct from zagg, look here for discount codes

http://www.zagg.com/community/discount-code.php

Yes your right they do have orange peel which is a shame, im sure cheaper screen covers would do the same job but I always get zagg for all my devices as im a bit over the top about protection and keeping my things in nice condition. I also find they do a good job at reducing finger print marks.

Ill try your link again later.

John


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## John P (Mar 3, 2010)

Its working now - It looks like a nice solid case Matt, look well made with good protection from what I can see in the pics. It looks like a genuine Motorola one so should be a perfect fit.

I actually think it looks better than the dura gadget one that I have.

John


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## Matt. (Aug 26, 2007)

It is the Genuine Motorola one.

Can you plug the power lead in with the Duragadget?


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## Matt. (Aug 26, 2007)

What apps do you have on yours John?


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## John P (Mar 3, 2010)

You can plug the power in yes, although its slightly strange design as when folded flat (closed) the power hole is in the crease/fold of the case so cant be plugged in, therefore I find it easiest to leave it rotated it 180 degrees so when closed the power socket is easily accessible. The only downside to that is when the xoom is stood up in the case the little motorola writing on the front of the xoom is therefore upside down on the bottom, but the actual screen automatically rotates anyway so its no problem. I'm not sure how the genuine motorola one overcomes this as looking at the pic there is no hole for the power socket so doesnt look like with that one you could charge with the case closed. Maybe somebody who has that case could confirm.

I have loads of apps, Ill have a look later and list my most used ones fer for you.

John


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## Matt. (Aug 26, 2007)

Thanks John.

Sent from my XOOM using my fingers.


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## John P (Mar 3, 2010)

Seems you sent it from your xoom using your fingers lol, I'm guessing you bought it then Matt?


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## Matt. (Aug 26, 2007)

Yes. 

Not overly impressed if im honest.

Maybe because i'm used to Apple?

Just put a film onto it and it wont play sound?


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## John P (Mar 3, 2010)

Possibly, I was used to Apple having got the ipad and an iphone, but Ive actually really got used to the android setup now I have it all set up how I want it and I like it a lot.

Both systems seem to have their advantages and disadvantages but I like them both equally for different reasons.

Did you manage to sort the sound issue out?

I find my most used apps are - Dolphin Browser HD, with xmarks and lastpass which I pay a subscription for, Evernote, Pocket Informant, Files (this should be pre-installed), quickoffice, Journey pro, app locker pattern, xe currency - its used a lot for work so all those are useful to me.

Less used ones - sky news, saynoto0870, facebook, skype, shazam, movies, livescore, tunein radio, parcels, postboxes, wallpaper wizardrii, slideit keyboard, accweather, beautiful widgets.

Have you found any good apps?

John


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## Matt. (Aug 26, 2007)

I haven't sorted the sound out John.

Seems a lot of people have had this issue with the Xoom.

How do you convert yours?


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## Matt. (Aug 26, 2007)

I've been trying all day.

Starting to get bored now! Takes one hour to convert them and it's just not working.


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## John P (Mar 3, 2010)

Ive never put a film on it, only music, photos and work files, but ive searched around and I see your problem, looks like many other have the same issue. Lots of people seem to use something called DVD Catalyst 4 which has a specific convert to xoom option apparently, maybe worth trying out the free trial to see if it works.

Its so annoying that the things that should be simple don't work! I'm sure all these companies have a conspiracy to make money from extra software lol. grrr
Really shouldn't have to pay out more though for a pretty basic function but hey ho, what can we do.

Keep me informed, interested to know how you get on.

John


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## Matt. (Aug 26, 2007)

Hmm, Just been looking at DVD Catalyst John. 

Tried to find a the demo on Cnet but can't find it.

Did you come across a link?


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## John P (Mar 3, 2010)

Yes I read it here:
http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/dvd+catalyst+xoom

On the section titled 'What you need', at the bottom of that section theres a link to click to the trial version download, it says it converts 25% of the file which is enough to try it out.

John


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## Matt. (Aug 26, 2007)

Thanks John.

I'm trying Bambi now. By god does it make the laptop slow.

Seems like you can only buy it in $? Not sold as software in the UK?


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## Matt. (Aug 26, 2007)

That's what is going on.

Any idea's why it's doing it twice?


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## John P (Mar 3, 2010)

No, but one of the pics on the how to link I posted seems to be doing two files like yours is so could be just how it works? hmm


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## Matt. (Aug 26, 2007)

Once again John, thanks for finding that :thumb:

Looks like I'll have to purchase it now. Shame they don't sell it in the UK.

Still got black border around the edges though.

Although looking at this 'How To' - http://www.tools4movies.com/2011/03/how-to-convert-dvds-and-video-files-for-the-motorola-xoom/ It says it should remove them automatically.


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## John P (Mar 3, 2010)

Glad you have it working Matt 

http://www.tools4movies.com/2011/08/chapter-10-black-bar-removal/

Yes your right it should be automatic.

John


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## Matt. (Aug 26, 2007)

Any advice how I can get rid of it John? I don't fancy doing it manually. 

Also, have you found any trusted site to download the full software from?


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## John P (Mar 3, 2010)

I would presume that tools4movies are the actual makers of DVD Catalyst. The picture of the box says tools4movies on it. I would say its a legitimate site, albeit American so in dollars. You can pay with PayPal which offers some safety and saved giving them your card details directly.

http://www.tools4movies.com/

Apart from that black bar removal guide link I posted earlier im not sure, ill try and suss it out some more tomorrow, bit tired now.

John


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## Matt. (Aug 26, 2007)

Another thing - Email. 

I can't seem to link my Sky email up. I enter my email and password then it goes to IMAP or POP3. 

Either won't work. I have activated them both in the Sky Email settings, but it still won't work. 

I managed to set my partners Sky Email up on her Samsung Galaxy SII


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## SiliconS (Jun 23, 2010)

Matt, have you tried using a different player for your movies? I use Moboplayer on my Xoom and it plays all my existing movies without any problems at all.


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## Matt. (Aug 26, 2007)

No I haven't.

But I don't really want to use a app to play things. 

As John said, it should be so simple!


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## SiliconS (Jun 23, 2010)

Fair enough. But it seems like loading a different (free) app would be much easier than converting all your movies.

This might just work 'out of the box' on an iPad but the Android way is to give you the flexibility to use whichever app suits you. I'm not saying either is better - just different.


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## Matt. (Aug 26, 2007)

But you still convert them to save on memory and to play on the Xoom?


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## SiliconS (Jun 23, 2010)

I don't, personally. I've got a great big memory card that holds enough for any situation. I don't need to carry all 300 films with me wherever I go.


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## Matt. (Aug 26, 2007)

Just ordered a case and screen protector.

Case - http://www.myincipio.com/Motorola-X...otorola-Xoom-3G-4G-Premium-Kickstand-Case.asp Works out at £8 but I chose express delivery for £10 :doublesho

Screen Protector - Case-Mate AF/AG Screen Protector for Motorola Xoom: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics


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## John P (Mar 3, 2010)

Looks a nice case Matt. 
Ill be interested to know what you think of the Case-mate screen protector once you've fitted it, its definitely much cheaper to buy than a Zagg.

How are you getting on with the films Matt? Did you try Moboplayer as SiliconS suggested?

John


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## Matt. (Aug 26, 2007)

Hmm, films are a bit iffy still. 

Just tried to do a Tinkerbell one and when I click 'GO' to convert it, it opens 'My Videos'

Grrrr.


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## Matt. (Aug 26, 2007)

Managed to do a Bambi one, but still having problems with Tinkerbell :wall:


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