If you think of Motorola in a South African context I think most people would immediately think of their “Hello Moto” ringtone. Motorola at the moment is trying hard to recreate itself outside of the United States. I will concede that their latest products (the Motorola Atrix is a multipurpose smart phone in every sense) are very innovative and geek cool.
At the moment there are 2 standouts in the tablet category. The Apple iPad and iPad 2 is the dominant device due to all the classic Apple traits (intuitive design, a solid operating system and excellent apps). I believe HP has joined the group through their TouchPad which looks to be a stunning tablet and a serious contender to the Apple supremacy.
I would like to think that there is a third tablet that will create uncertainty in the mind of the consumer when buying a tablet. The Motorola XOOM is the first tablet to feature the newest version of the Android operating software. The XOOM was used by Google’s Android engineers to test the Honeycomb operating system before unleashing it on the tablet community.
A powerhouse in both software and hardware, the Motorola XOOM is built around a 1GHz dual-core processor and 10.1-inch widescreen HD display. The sleek, stylish design features a front-facing 2-megapixel camera for video chats, as well as a rear-facing 5-megapixel camera that captures video in 720p HD.
The Motorola XOOM showcases the innovations of the Honeycomb user experience that improves on Android favorites such as widgets, multi-tasking, browsing, notifications and customization, as well as featuring the latest Google Mobile services. The Motorola XOOM also features full support for tabbed browsing and support for the Adobe Flash Player, available soon as a free download, to enjoy all the video and other rich content available on the Web.
In time I think Android will become the dominant operating system on cellphones and tablets. The Motorola XOOM is rumoured to be available in South Africa, in April. I think this maybe the first real opponent to the iPad.