http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/reviews/2011/03/ars-reviews-the-motorola-xoom.ars
Just read through the whole thing. Exhaustive review. 10 pages in all. Lots of information, esp. for someone like me who is on the fence about the device.
Just don't read the braindead comments...
Sent from my Xoom using XDA Premium App
Thanks for this. I have been awaiting their review on the Xoom since they announced they were going to be doing an exhaustive one.
Only about halfway through, but I noticed something interesting. When discussing the browser and how most sites are still displaying the mobile version, he seemed to not have done any further searching as if he had, they probably would have found the "about:debug" fix. While I've heard that it isn't a persistent change, it still works out when in a pinch. Just thought it was odd they weren't aware/didn't do further searching on the issue.
Hm. So far this seems to be one of the better reviews out there (outside of the 10 pages of clicking...). Thanks for this.
Very good review. Ars Technica is one of the best Tech Blogs out there, and very rarely do their writers come across as fanboys of one OS or another. This review really confirmed to me that although the Xoom is a great start, it will likely be summer before I purchase an Android tablet to keep (mainly I'm waiting on flash, lower prices, microSD fixed, and more Honeycomb apps). I am very much in support of Honeycomb, but it's not time for me to buy yet.
Just bought a Xoom on Friday. Love it.
I started reading this review and I can't help to notice they say 7 hours of mixed use. I have had email notifications pushing, wifi on the whole time, and got 20 hours @ 50% battery left. This is leaving it on over night and playing games and messing with it for at least 3-4 hours straight, as well as syncing/transferring files, playing games like Words with Friends, etc. So I am very skeptical about this 14 hours of standby time. I got the device to 25 hours and it was still well over 30-35%.
pekosROB said:
Just bought a Xoom on Friday. Love it.
I started reading this review and I can't help to notice they say 7 hours of mixed use. I have had email notifications pushing, wifi on the whole time, and got 20 hours @ 50% battery left. This is leaving it on over night and playing games and messing with it for at least 3-4 hours straight, as well as syncing/transferring files, playing games like Words with Friends, etc. So I am very skeptical about this 14 hours of standby time. I got the device to 25 hours and it was still well over 30-35%.
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That's the issue with discussion on battery life. Unless it's explicitly mentioned what was done, when and for how long, it's hard to gauge exactly could be considered "intensive use" and look at battery life that way.
Ars rocks. Hopefully google will speed things up a bit in regards to the current disadvantages of the Xoom. Thus far, most of them can be cleaned up with a couple of patches. Hopefully it happens soon.
streetmapp said:
That's the issue with discussion on battery life. Unless it's explicitly mentioned what was done, when and for how long, it's hard to gauge exactly could be considered "intensive use" and look at battery life that way.
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Before charging mine for the second time yesterday when it was around 18%, I had reached 26-27 hours of use. This is after I played, oh I don't know, an hour of Gun Bros, an hour (if not more) of Hex Defense (I think that's what it's called), push notifications on from, gmail, Twitter, fb, browsing, etc. I literally didn't put it down for at least 4 hours straight at one point. The screen was on auto/a third brightness. I even listened to an entire album, so around an hour of music playing.
I really don't see how anyone can have the audacity to say it's standby doesn't last for at least 24 hours.
Did someone get an LTE equipped version that we don't know about? Otherwise I just don't see how that's possible.
pekosROB said:
Before charging mine for the second time yesterday when it was around 18%, I had reached 26-27 hours of use. This is after I played, oh I don't know, an hour of Gun Bros, an hour (if not more) of Hex Defense (I think that's what it's called), push notifications on from, gmail, Twitter, fb, browsing, etc. I literally didn't put it down for at least 4 hours straight at one point. The screen was on auto/a third brightness. I even listened to an entire album, so around an hour of music playing.
I really don't see how anyone can have the audacity to say it's standby doesn't last for at least 24 hours.
Did someone get an LTE equipped version that we don't know about? Otherwise I just don't see how that's possible.
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Click to collapse
Same here, at 32% battery I was at 29 hrs of use. And this was after nonstop usuage. It was a new toy and I just played around on it for hours. Battery is definitely solid.
mazz0310 said:
Same here, at 32% battery I was at 29 hrs of use. And this was after nonstop usuage. It was a new toy and I just played around on it for hours. Battery is definitely solid.
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So apparently Moto has stumbled across something here - an Android device that can be used AND last longer than 24 hours without a problem!
Now if only every device could follow in its footsteps... Sure, the battery is bigger than a phone, but so is the screen, not to mention all of the stuff crammed in it (like a barometer I have no idea how to use yet).
The Bad:
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The software is not particularly stable or robust
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It's the first device running Honeycomb. Even with that said, I haven't had any crashes or freezes. It's running great for me.
Requires a proprietary power adapter and can't charge through microUSB
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While frustrating it's understandable. The iPad has a proprietary power adapter and doesn't charge through USB. Plus the Xoom charges pretty quick
Users have to rely on the MTP protocol to manage media on the device
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Agreed, Google needs to build their own "iTunes"
The built-in e-mail client has extremely poor protocol support
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I disagree, I love the built in e-mail client. Regardless their are plenty of other options for Android, and will hopefully be built new for Xoom/Honeycomb.
There are very few third-party Android applications designed for the form factor
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When the iPad came out, there were very few applications those first few weeks as well. It's a brand new OS.
The Google Books e-book application doesn't support side-loading content
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There are other options that do allow this.
Very few websites handle the Honeycomb browser's User-Agent string correctly
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You can change the UA string, or download a new browser. Hopefully it will be fixed in the future though.
The browser's support for advanced CSS3 features lags behind Safari's
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Haven't had any problems yet.
The browser issue is quite dissapoiting to me (as a web developer). I hoped for a full webkit browser with extensions. Maybe Firefox4 for Android will be better?
Magnesus said:
The browser issue is quite dissapoiting to me (as a web developer). I hoped for a full webkit browser with extensions. Maybe Firefox4 for Android will be better?
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Click to collapse
Extensions would be nice, and I can't believe Google still hasnt fixed typing lag in the browser yet (on some sites)
While the charger on the Ipad is "proprietary", its the same charger that is used on other devices of theirs. Also the Ipad will charge from USB, but very slowly.
I'm disappointed in their review. It's not very good, and seems in some spots like they're looking for something critical to talk about, like the default email client: yeah, it's not great, but it's been not-great for a while now, and isn't a Xoom-specific issue; they talk about future-proofing issues with browser rendering, correctly stress that it's not a big deal right now, but then make a big deal of it in the conclusion.
The review's written like the author doesn't really care about the device. Engadget's review seems a lot more balanced compared to this one.
(PS. Lots of reviews keep talking about the lack of tablet apps. Wasn't this _exactly_ the same issue when the iPad 1 came out?)
Most of the sites are apple bias they just don't admit it
ydaraishy said:
I'm disappointed in their review. It's not very good, and seems in some spots like they're looking for something critical to talk about, like the default email client: yeah, it's not great, but it's been not-great for a while now, and isn't a Xoom-specific issue; they talk about future-proofing issues with browser rendering, correctly stress that it's not a big deal right now, but then make a big deal of it in the conclusion.
The review's written like the author doesn't really care about the device. Engadget's review seems a lot more balanced compared to this one.
(PS. Lots of reviews keep talking about the lack of tablet apps. Wasn't this _exactly_ the same issue when the iPad 1 came out?)
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ydaraishy said:
(PS. Lots of reviews keep talking about the lack of tablet apps. Wasn't this _exactly_ the same issue when the iPad 1 came out?)
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Click to collapse
The iPad launched with ~2000 tablet apps. The Xoom launched with ~20
So what? The "non-tablet" apps still work great a la tapatalk
sangreal06 said:
The iPad launched with ~2000 tablet apps. The Xoom launched with ~20
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sangreal06 said:
The iPad launched with ~2000 tablet apps. The Xoom launched with ~20
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Click to collapse
I think you mean 2000 apps that were compatible with the iPad in full-screen. Google made the mistake of labeling the Tablet section in the Market as Tablet Apps. They have since corrected it to be Featured Tablet Apps. Most Android apps work fine on the Xoom, even if they don't support the new Honeycomb UI guidelines. Since Apple just threw their existing UI onto a larger device, there isn't really a comparison here.
Related
I just finished my 24 hour testing of the Nexus One for my employer and figured I would give my 2 cents worth:
1. On screen keyboard: Great, especially when used in landscape. Portrait has a bit more room side to side than the G1, and it makes it easier, but I wouldn't go so far to say in protrait it is a night and day difference. Landscape truly is, and I had no problem typing long messages in landscape mode, and using portrait for quick stuff. A physical keyboard is still a better option, IMO as a keyboard lover, but the onscreen is executed very, very well.
2. Speed/Android 2.1: I have tested some of the 2.1 ports on my G1, and as nice as they are, they do not give justice at all too what 2.1 is on a Nexus One. Blanket statement, the phone is faster and 2.1 is a great advancement. A more astute observation that I wasn't expecting, websites load much, much, much faster on the Nexus One. I didn't do an actual stop watch test, but a realistic guess says sites load about twice as fast. I am on an EDGE network where I do most of my surfing when not using WiFi... when on WiFi it was more dramatic (I actually loaded 1 site faster on the Nexus One than on my computer)
3. Stability: I tried my absolute best to slow it down and make it unstable. Couldn't do it. At one point in time, I had 23 apps open, the browser had 3 windows, I had youtube running, music, and so forth. Of course, several of the apps had to "reload" the last point I was at, but with this phone "reloading" is pretty much instant. The longest it ever took was one of the web pages had to re-download the content. I found that the phone's cache held my normal use just fine without ever having to reload.
4. Fit/Finish/Style: The phone has a very solid feel too, despite being very light in weight. Fits well in the hand, comfortable being used as a phone, and I got a lot of comments on it when I was out and about testing the "wow" factor (I was asked to go to a busy restaurant/bar and see how many people asked me about it). And, as odd as this might sound, being right handed the back button being on the far left was not a big deal, and I actually liked it's placement a lot since when I used it in landscape mode it was much more comfortable hitting it, and I think this is what they had in mind when they designed in like that.
5. Battery Life: Damn! That is all you need to know, Damn! I tried, really, really hard to push this to the max and see how fast I could run it down. I had WiFi and GPS both going, music playing, and was surfing the web as quick as possible, messing around with google maps taking a look at new and interesting places, and gave up. I used 80% of the battery in those 24 hours, but I was trying my best, for a little above typical usage it only went down 20% from 9AM-5PM. My G1 is usually about 60% gone over that period.
6. Conclusion: I am someone that pretty much demands a physical keyboard for me to even think about buying a phone. I am getting a Nexus One as soon as they become available through the company I work for. My manager is a BB addict, and she said as soon as we get it she is switching as well. That is a huge statement, her daily phone is a BB 9700, she texts and writes most of her emails from her phone, and the Nexus One out performed her BB 9700. She was using the google voice service to write, but she said out of all the texts and emails she wrote using it she didn't have a single typo!
Thank you for making my poverty that much more depressing.
cloverdale said:
Thank you for making my poverty that much more depressing.
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lmao i second that!
But seriously, great review!!
cloverdale said:
Thank you for making my poverty that much more depressing.
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I third that
But excellent review by the way (especially on the battery usage!)
cloverdale said:
Thank you for making my poverty that much more depressing.
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Too right, mate!
erlern said:
I third that
But excellent review by the way (especially on the battery usage!)
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Your welcome! I will say, if you check out the Nexus One forum opinions differ on battery life, but those saying it isn't good enough or are having issues with it not lasting long enough seem to have something off IMO.
I would say, with my normal usage, I could get 2 days of use on a full battery. Doing power use to the max I would get a full day. The only way I see this phone not lasting an entire day is if you are surfing the web, playing music, and using GPS non-stop type thing.
i seriously want a nexus so #$#[email protected]#$ bad its insane. but i cant afford it. being 18 sucks
no, being 14 and wanting a new android device sucks
hiddengopher said:
no, being 14 and wanting a new android device sucks
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That it does...........
hiddengopher said:
no, being 14 and wanting a new android device sucks
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I know, its so hard to get enough when your parents wont buy it for you.
And being to young for a job doesnt exactly help either.
Picked one up from Costco today - there is a long list of things wrong with it, I hope there are fixes out there cause they are really critical flaws and I'm close to returning it back to store. Oh, I own a EVO4G so I'm by no means a noob to Android. Its also important to note that I don't own any apple products
1. Browser:
Wow force closes like none other. It also fails to load any website after you've crashed once. No way around it except rebooting the device. Poor adobe flash performance - should be much faster than my Evo but it ain't so. Defaults to mobile browser as stated on here. Screen, text fonts and pics started to blur when I was on a website, serious bug wow. Tried alternatives such a as firefox and dolphin, meh. Did I mention it was laggy, irresponsive browsing experience?
2. Apps:
Faceook, Pandora, VPlayer, etc. fail to work. Force close heaven...come on! They're basic frggin apps. Market is portrait only. Most apps aren't formatted properly - fonts are way too small. Widgets are non customizable in size and are just too small to be useful. Look at the calendar and mail widgets....
3. Display:
10.1'' is way too wide to hold comfortably. I now spend 100% of the time in portrait mode. Videos look proper but pictures look blurry? Fonts look horrendous. Screen has this blurring effect, it is far far from crisp and decent. I expected 1280x800 to be better, sharper.
4. Build.
Heavy. So heavy you cant even rest it on just anything to get it to prop up properly. Very Dense. Not comfortable, strain to the palms.
5. Battery
4 hours of use and its already down to 60%. Expected better from two large batteries weighing this much.
I know I forgot to list some other issues...and sadly there are more.
Honeycomb is unfinished but I didn't expect them to be this far off?
OK.... we need solutions, or when is the next update(s)! Desperately needed.
Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk
Ehm ... Didn't you research before you bought the Xoom?
It's been in this very forum for weeks ... all those were mentioned.
Nothing new ... so cope with it and wait for an update ... or return it.
Case closed.
1) Only had one browser FC in nearly a month.
2) Not 3.0 optimized apps. Contact the app devs.
3) Get bigger hands.
4) Lift weights. Apparently the Xoom is a good one to start with.
5) I get at least two days of heavy use.
(Bonus comment) The Xoom has been out a month and there are 3415453215 threads of people whining about it. No need to make another. Return it, do some research and buy something that satisfies your expectations and anatomy.
You made me laugh ... LOL to "anatomy"
El Daddy said:
1) Only had one browser FC in nearly a month.
2) Not 3.0 optimized apps. Contact the app devs.
3) Get bigger hands.
4) Lift weights. Apparently the Xoom is a good one to start with.
5) I get at least two days of heavy use.
(Bonus comment) The Xoom has been out a month and there are 3415453215 threads of people whining about it. No need to make another. Return it, do some research and buy something that satisfies your expectations and anatomy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just to counterbalance, I bought the Xoom wifi yesterday and love it. I had a great time rooting and playing with my Android phone, and I can't wait to dig into the Xoom. I did a lot of research before buying the Xoom and actually found the problems to be non-existant or not as bad as stated.
Mr Bland said:
Just to counterbalance, I bought the Xoom wifi yesterday and love it. I had a great time rooting and playing with my Android phone, and I can't wait to dig into the Xoom. I did a lot of research before buying the Xoom and actually found the problems to be non-existant or not as bad as stated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here. Im getting great battery life. I took it off the charger about 6pm last night. Took it took work with me and browsed and streamed with it all night. With bluetooth on and a lil under max brightness im at 32% at 745am. i have had no force closes in the browser and the only problem i have is flash not working in the browser (works with Dolphin though).
Also thumb keyboard is great in landscape, but im comfy with the stock keyboard to.
Pretty sure, could be wrong here...but pretty sure an update won't help the weight of the device...(which I enjoy, feels good in my hand)...but then again if they optimize code enough between now and then, removing enough 1s and 0s could help....
vTeCz said:
Picked one up from Costco today - there is a long list of things wrong with it, I hope there are fixes out there cause they are really critical flaws and I'm close to returning it back to store. Oh, I own a EVO4G so I'm by no means a noob to Android. Its also important to note that I don't own any apple products
1. Browser:
Wow force closes like none other. It also fails to load any website after you've crashed once. No way around it except rebooting the device. Poor adobe flash performance - should be much faster than my Evo but it ain't so. Defaults to mobile browser as stated on here. Screen, text fonts and pics started to blur when I was on a website, serious bug wow. Tried alternatives such a as firefox and dolphin, meh. Did I mention it was laggy, irresponsive browsing experience?
2. Apps:
Faceook, Pandora, VPlayer, etc. fail to work. Force close heaven...come on! They're basic frggin apps. Market is portrait only. Most apps aren't formatted properly - fonts are way too small. Widgets are non customizable in size and are just too small to be useful. Look at the calendar and mail widgets....
3. Display:
10.1'' is way too wide to hold comfortably. I now spend 100% of the time in portrait mode. Videos look proper but pictures look blurry? Fonts look horrendous. Screen has this blurring effect, it is far far from crisp and decent. I expected 1280x800 to be better, sharper.
4. Build.
Heavy. So heavy you cant even rest it on just anything to get it to prop up properly. Very Dense. Not comfortable, strain to the palms.
5. Battery
4 hours of use and its already down to 60%. Expected better from two large batteries weighing this much.
I know I forgot to list some other issues...and sadly there are more.
Honeycomb is unfinished but I didn't expect them to be this far off?
OK.... we need solutions, or when is the next update(s)! Desperately needed.
Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
That's why I returned my 3G Xoom I had on release date and was bashed here. Minus the battery and app fc(which is supposedly a WiFi only problem.) I mean I got the iPad2 because it's just so much more Stable and likewise have my Evo4G for Android goodness. I wanted to buy the wifi xoom but so many more problems......?
Really interested in Samsungs new 10.1 skinny design. And it's light(important)!
vTeCz said:
Picked one up from Costco today - there is a long list of things wrong with it, I hope there are fixes out there cause they are really critical flaws and I'm close to returning it back to store. Oh, I own a EVO4G so I'm by no means a noob to Android. Its also important to note that I don't own any apple products
1. Browser:
Wow force closes like none other. It also fails to load any website after you've crashed once. No way around it except rebooting the device. Poor adobe flash performance - should be much faster than my Evo but it ain't so. Defaults to mobile browser as stated on here. Screen, text fonts and pics started to blur when I was on a website, serious bug wow. Tried alternatives such a as firefox and dolphin, meh. Did I mention it was laggy, irresponsive browsing experience?
2. Apps:
Faceook, Pandora, VPlayer, etc. fail to work. Force close heaven...come on! They're basic frggin apps. Market is portrait only. Most apps aren't formatted properly - fonts are way too small. Widgets are non customizable in size and are just too small to be useful. Look at the calendar and mail widgets....
3. Display:
10.1'' is way too wide to hold comfortably. I now spend 100% of the time in portrait mode. Videos look proper but pictures look blurry? Fonts look horrendous. Screen has this blurring effect, it is far far from crisp and decent. I expected 1280x800 to be better, sharper.
4. Build.
Heavy. So heavy you cant even rest it on just anything to get it to prop up properly. Very Dense. Not comfortable, strain to the palms.
5. Battery
4 hours of use and its already down to 60%. Expected better from two large batteries weighing this much.
I know I forgot to list some other issues...and sadly there are more.
Honeycomb is unfinished but I didn't expect them to be this far off?
OK.... we need solutions, or when is the next update(s)! Desperately needed.
Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) Mine doesnt FC all that much. When there is a fail however, closing all tabs with the x on the tabs, reopening the browser and hitting the home button works for me to reset it.
2)Yeah, lots of apps fail... but it was expected. Once they get optimized for HC, itll be nicer. Till then facebook and some others are done through the browser. Also... my market works in landscape. Dont know why yours is only in portrait.
3&4) You seriously are complaining about the design of the device when you could have found this out in 2 seconds by holding one at a store that had a demo??? I find that the screen is very crisp with high res pics and I have no complaints on it.
5) My battery life is great... no complaints here. Wife and I played with it non stop with angry birds, web surfing and whatnot for hours and it only went down maybe 20%.
I really dont see this as a fail device, just a device that needs a few tweaks here and there. I bought it knowing the charging plug was crappy and a terrible design, no USB charging and a chance that my normal android apps wont work on it due to optimization. Knowing what it is going to be used for, the size and weight... I am more than happy with the device.
vTeCz said:
5. Battery
4 hours of use and its already down to 60%. Expected better from two large batteries weighing this much.
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Click to collapse
You are experiencing advertised battery life. The XOOM is rated for 10 hours of battery life so 4 hours would be 40% of the battery if you've been using it for that long. Plus you haven't run through any charge cycles on your battery. It will get better.
One and Two are valid, but will be fixed in time.
The others are rediculous.
Sent from my Xoom
vTeCz said:
Picked one up from Costco today - there is a long list of things wrong with it, I hope there are fixes out there cause they are really critical flaws and I'm close to returning it back to store. Oh, I own a EVO4G so I'm by no means a noob to Android. Its also important to note that I don't own any apple products
1. Browser:
Wow force closes like none other. It also fails to load any website after you've crashed once. No way around it except rebooting the device. Poor adobe flash performance - should be much faster than my Evo but it ain't so. Defaults to mobile browser as stated on here. Screen, text fonts and pics started to blur when I was on a website, serious bug wow. Tried alternatives such a as firefox and dolphin, meh. Did I mention it was laggy, irresponsive browsing experience?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Odd. I've been using my device pretty much constantly since I picked mine up. No force closes. No laggy browsing. Your Evo does better? You may have a defective unit.
2. Apps:
Faceook, Pandora, VPlayer, etc. fail to work. Force close heaven...come on! They're basic frggin apps. Market is portrait only. Most apps aren't formatted properly - fonts are way too small. Widgets are non customizable in size and are just too small to be useful. Look at the calendar and mail widgets....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Facebook works for me. The rest I haven't tried. And the widgets are personal preference. Too small? How old are you?
3. Display:
10.1'' is way too wide to hold comfortably. I now spend 100% of the time in portrait mode. Videos look proper but pictures look blurry? Fonts look horrendous. Screen has this blurring effect, it is far far from crisp and decent. I expected 1280x800 to be better, sharper.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
10.1 too wide? Last I checked, you could have pulled out a ruler to figure that one out. But hey, whatever. Blurry screen? Again, you must have a defective unit. Either that, or maybe your fingers are really, really greasy.
4. Build.
Heavy. So heavy you cant even rest it on just anything to get it to prop up properly. Very Dense. Not comfortable, strain to the palms.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm getting a very interesting image of what you look like. 1.5lb is too heavy? Orly?
5. Battery
4 hours of use and its already down to 60%. Expected better from two large batteries weighing this much.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've had mine running since I got to work at 1am (i work 3rd shift), and after a full shift, I still have 45% battery. I've watched youtube videos (HD), listening to music, downloaded apps, posted on forums, read news, downloaded podcasts, added numerous widgets. You know, typical stuff. And it hasn't touched the charger all morning (since you have to use their approved usb charger).
I know I forgot to list some other issues...and sadly there are more.
Honeycomb is unfinished but I didn't expect them to be this far off?
OK.... we need solutions, or when is the next update(s)! Desperately needed.
Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not saying the Xoom with Honeycomb is flawless. It's clearly not as optimized as it should be. Opening up the Apps menu, for example, should obviously not be laggy like it is. That said though, most of the "issues" you have above are NOT mirrored on my identical device.
reuthermonkey said:
Odd. I've been using my device pretty much constantly since I picked mine up. No force closes. No laggy browsing. Your Evo does better? You may have a defective unit.
Facebook works for me. The rest I haven't tried. And the widgets are personal preference. Too small? How old are you?
10.1 too wide? Last I checked, you could have pulled out a ruler to figure that one out. But hey, whatever. Blurry screen? Again, you must have a defective unit. Either that, or maybe your fingers are really, really greasy.
I'm getting a very interesting image of what you look like. 1.5lb is too heavy? Orly?
I've had mine running since I got to work at 1am (i work 3rd shift), and after a full shift, I still have 45% battery. I've watched youtube videos (HD), listening to music, downloaded apps, posted on forums, read news, downloaded podcasts, added numerous widgets. You know, typical stuff. And it hasn't touched the charger all morning (since you have to use their approved usb charger).
I'm not saying the Xoom with Honeycomb is flawless. It's clearly not as optimized as it should be. Opening up the Apps menu, for example, should obviously not be laggy like it is. That said though, most of the "issues" you have above are NOT mirrored on my identical device.
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Click to collapse
Have to say facebook acts like the old roms for the tablet use to. Sometimes it would crash, and you can't add facebook in accounts / sync. Twitter adds just fine
I spent about 7 hours playing on my xoom yesterday and really didn't experience any of the problems you did. Yes some of my phone formatted apps weren't working but I expected that.
I think I had one force close with my browser. That's not so bad.
Screen looks fine to me. Yes initially loading a webpage is blurry, but that's just how its rendering stuff. For me at least that lasts maybe a second before the browser fully loads the page.
And if its too big for you, maybe you should get a child sized tablet for your child sized hands? (Or stick with your phone?)
Sent from my Droid using XDA App
Aldiko, ezpdf, xda premium and many others I use on a daily basis are completely useless as the fc's are so frequent is not worth my time
I did read about all the issues beforehand, so right now I have 89 days before either there is an update that fixes the issues or is going back to cotsco
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA Premium App
At first I was upset that the XDA app doesn't work properly yet. Then I thought, "Hey dummy, you have a 10.1" screen... Use the real site".
After that I uninstalled Facebook, Engadget, etc. and just added the bookmark widget to the home screen.
Sent from my Xoom.
i only get about 6.5 hours max of real usage on the xoom
I'm talking about 'DISPLAY' time usage, or, HOW LONG the screen has been on, as a case to determine the battery life.
MikeyMike01 said:
At first I was upset that the XDA app doesn't work properly yet. Then I thought, "Hey dummy, you have a 10.1" screen... Use the real site".
After that I uninstalled Facebook, Engadget, etc. and just added the bookmark widget to the home screen.
Sent from my Xoom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The problem with XDA site specifically is that it is very slow typing responses and some other things. It does work, just lags.
aohus said:
i only get about 6.5 hours max of real usage on the xoom
I'm talking about 'DISPLAY' time usage, or, HOW LONG the screen has been on, as a case to determine the battery life.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And what goes into said usage? I'm overclocked to 1.5ghz and I get much longer than that.
keitht said:
The problem with XDA site specifically is that it is very slow typing responses and some other things. It does work, just lags.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've found all typing in the browser lags, and always has, since my OG Droid. It's quite annoying, I expected Google to resolve it with 3.0...
Not as detailed as a lot of reviews out there. But still decent (and helps pass the time.)
I really like the ASUS case for the transformer they show also.
http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/laptops/1284412/asus-eee-pad-transformer
Yeah, the case is hot! I like it and if I get the transformer I'd get this case if its reasonably priced, i dont think i'll be getting the keyboard yet so this would be perfect.
Strange review.... Perfect score, but they noted several flaws on the device - he even said the rear camera was unusable, the browser crashed on them several times and Polaris office doesn't support copy and paste (???!!!!).
Strange indeed.
EP2008 said:
Strange review.... Perfect score, but they noted several flaws on the device - he even said the rear camera was unusable, the browser crashed on them several times and Polaris office doesn't support copy and paste (???!!!!).
Strange indeed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah...strange. They may deduct points when doing honecomb 3.0 review.
Since they gave xoom 4 starts, and this review declares transformer better than xoom, it must get 5 stars? All the negatives might just be fault of the OS and not the hardware.
Polaris office does support copy and paste, double tap a word to enter selection mode and the clipboard icon is on the toolbar, which pops up a cut, copy, paste menu.
very strange review. in particular i wonder how they got the ipad 2 to last 17 hours playing video. i've not seen anything like that on any other site.
fastfood8891 said:
very strange review. in particular i wonder how they got the ipad 2 to last 17 hours playing video. i've not seen anything like that on any other site.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They decided to unplug it at the 7th hour.
fastfood8891 said:
very strange review. in particular i wonder how they got the ipad 2 to last 17 hours playing video. i've not seen anything like that on any other site.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think the Anandtech review also showed the iPad 2 going for something like 16 hours, also longer than the Transformer/keyboard dock combo. If true, that's really pretty impressive, but I do find it hard to believe. I think some other reviews have the iPad 2 going for something like 10 hours vs., say, the Xoom at about 9 hours.
Who knows. All I know is that if I can get at least 15 hours of heavy use out of the combo, then it will meet my needs perfectly.
anandtech got 13 hours with 720p H.264
anandtech.com/show/4225/the-ipad-2-review/6
maybe this other review measured it with non-hd or low bitrate or something.
Hi guys. I just bought the Acer Iconia and wanted to give a few of my initial thoughts.
First thing I noticed after performing all the updates was the lag. After exiting applications, it takes a little while for the icons to re-appear on the homescreen. I haven't added any besides the default. Also, when scrolling with the browser, it tends to render in square blocks.
Battery life..I've read reviews that it goes up to 8 hours while others say it lasts between 4-5 hours, and others say 6 hours. I understand that what we do varies, and the battery needs to be calibrated. After having it on for 3 hours and playing FieldRunners for 45 min (the rest of the time it was idle with all wireless connections off), I'm at 75% remaining. That's pretty crummy. Not even a calibration will improve it THAT much.
Also, when viewing a white background, you can see every "box" or pixel. Goodness, that's pretty frickin' bad. I'm not expecting any ridiculous "retina display" here but this is just a cheap panel.
I went into Staples to compare it to the Galaxy Tab and Xoom, and I see why Iconia is priced $100 less.
So, serious question. Why all the love for this thing?
Thanks!
Obvious troll is obvious
Sent from my A500 using Tapatalk
With 14 posts, maybe you shouldn't comment. And I can't imagine a troll would actually take the time to write up a full post. What a waste of time that'd be.
I genuinely want to know. Perhaps there's something I'm missing. I want to love it because for $299 (after the Staples $100 off tablets coupon) it might not be a bad deal even with my complaints. But for those who actually spent the full $400, what do you actually like about it?
If you wanna go to staples n pay $300 (not $100!) For extra bulk and a non functioning micro SD, or for a device that doesnt even have a micro sd, USB, or HDMI, go for it. If you feel like a thin piece of plastic is a better investment than stainless steel, that's your money. But don't polute our forums with a "grass is greener" thread. You dont like the Iconia cuz it has the same battery as every other device (the only difference is some companies lie more in their specs- I've tested them all, they are all about the same) or cuz you can see pixels on a white screen, go somewhere else.
It's $100 OFF, making it $299 as I posted above. Read the post and learn to write full words in english. Good lord, tough to get a real answer out of babies.
Don't be too hurt if people knock the device. I'm allowed to call it like I see it, and the reason I posted is so someone can point out the actual good parts of the device (besides USB port).
Does anyone else see the issues I was referring to in my original post?
allen099 said:
It's $100 OFF, making it $299 as I posted above. Read the post and learn to write full words in english. Good lord, tough to get a real answer out of babies.
Don't be too hurt people knock the device. I'm allowed to call it like I see it, and the reason I posted is so someone can point out the actual good parts of the device (besides USB port).
Does anyone else see the issues I was referring to in my original post?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I cant find your first post. You posted 224 messages. I klap my hands.
Don't diss the Odom, you can't make any friends that way.
For me it was the ports it offered. If the galaxy offered a micro SD I probabally would have bought it. The Acer on the other hand offers a lot of ports, which I found very fun. On the Xoom issue the Acer actually out performs it on display as thy have the same one but Acer codes it better. That has been proven in tests.
To break it down it was the price and the ports. The graphics are fine, watched The Green Hornet on this last night and I was satisfied with the performance. But to tell the truth I'm not a graphics whore.
I looked and played with all of these devices and I stick with my decision to buy the Acer.
Sent from my A500 using XDA Premium App
I obviously misinterpreted a conversation stater by the looks of it!
I beg pardon and stand aside.
Sent from my A500 using Tapatalk
Torisen said:
Don't diss the Odom, you can't make any friends that way.
For me it was the ports it offered. If the galaxy offered a micro SD I probabally would have bought it. The Acer on the other hand offers a lot of ports, which I found very fun. On the Xoom issue the Acer actually out performs it on display as thy have the same one but Acer codes it better. That has been proven in tests.
To break it down it was the price and the ports. The graphics are fine, watched The Green Hornet on this last night and I was satisfied with the performance. But to tell the truth I'm not a graphics whore.
I looked and played with all of these devices and I stick with my decision to buy the Acer.
Sent from my A500 using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My slight trolling aside, I agree with Torisen. The screen is better than most devices, albeit topped by the Galaxy. I find the extra ports and functionality a major deal breaker for me, as well as the price difference vs what you get with the galaxy (to me the xoom was never even a question, there is a reason google views it as a flop.) Also, I'm personally a fan of.the stainless chassis, both in appearance and functionality. As for the lag, a real world test of the galaxy provided similar results due to the bloated Samsung ui. Another key advantage is the near stock system, free of bloatware. After weighing all of my options, I am very happy with my iconia true, their whole update process was screwy, but they seemed to have cleared it up a little (for instance at least most everyone got the 4.010.13 update at the same time!) In yhe end, if youre not happy with it, it is a ffree market, get a different one.
strider_mt2k said:
Obvious troll is obvious
Sent from my A500 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, but I tend to agree at least a little with Strider_mt2k because I don't understand posts like this. If I did not like a $300 device that I purchased, I wouldn't criticized it on the dedicated forum for that device, and then expect strangers to convince me to keep it.
My "love" for this tablet is definitely not going to do anything towards negating your disdain for it. Technology life is too short to keep a device that so obviously disappoints you. Return it and get a tablet that you want.
internetpilot said:
Sorry, but I tend to agree at least a little with Strider_mt2k because I don't understand posts like this. If I did not like a $300 device that I purchased, I wouldn't criticized it on the dedicated forum for that device, and then expect strangers to convince me to keep it.
My "love" for this tablet is definitely not going to do anything towards negating your disdain for it. Technology life is too short to keep a device that so obviously disappoints you. Return it and get a tablet that you want.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I agree. It did come across as an insult to the device, not any form of question. Don't like it? Complain to staples or wherever you bought it and get a different device
The battery stand 8 hours if
- you do not use 3D Games constantly
- Brigthness arround 50%
I use about 12 hours straight my tablet, wifi constantly open, reading ebook, playing games (a little), going internet....
but I charge my tablet every 1.5 day or 2 days sometimes... no I do not use my tablet every 2 minutes
so far with GPS, full brightness, Sygic navigator... about 5hrs++ wich is nice... since I do not drive that long, and I don't need the navigator 5 hours in a row.
playing games 3D . 6hrs ++
playing normal games (angry bird) 8hrs...
Charge the tablet until 100% do not overnight, let the battery drain until 5% oftenly. that's how I use my tablet.
I do not use OVERCLOCK or else. when I make those feedback
Go get an iPad 2 then and stop whining. Oh wait... the display still sucks on an iPad. At least you get a great range of connectivity with the Iconia.
i work at staples, i have had the time to play with all the tablets, i personally recommend the Acer over all of them, even to my customers
the 100 dollar coupons kill our stores sale figures, but i used one and bought the Acer.
i do not regret it one bit, i love my acer. you shouldnt have your face that close to the screen to see the pixels, if you do need to, you need to get glasses
allen099 said:
First thing I noticed after performing all the updates was the lag. After exiting applications, it takes a little while for the icons to re-appear on the homescreen. I haven't added any besides the default. Also, when scrolling with the browser, it tends to render in square blocks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't have such issues, maybe you've got a defect one?
Battery life..I've read reviews that it goes up to 8 hours while others say it lasts between 4-5 hours, and others say 6 hours. I understand that what we do varies, and the battery needs to be calibrated. After having it on for 3 hours and playing FieldRunners for 45 min (the rest of the time it was idle with all wireless connections off), I'm at 75% remaining. That's pretty crummy. Not even a calibration will improve it THAT much.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, how much do you really expect it to last when playing games? If you're claiming it's "crummy" then obviously you think some other tablet does a lot better, but.. well, so far I ain't seeing one. They all last more-or-less the same.
Besides... I don't play games on my tablet, but it's on for 3rd day in the row at the moment. I have WIFI on 24/7, I do some web browsing, reading comics etc. and it still has over 50% battery left. That ain't something I personally would call "crummy."
Also, when viewing a white background, you can see every "box" or pixel. Goodness, that's pretty frickin' bad. I'm not expecting any ridiculous "retina display" here but this is just a cheap panel.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Those aren't pixels! You're seeing the grid used for touch-input. You're mixing the two concepts!
As for the grid: yes, it is sometimes visible. I personally don't get bothered by it since it isn't as clearly visible as you make it out to be. But I can understand if some others are bothered by it. It is even mentioned in all the better reviews that the grid can be seen easier than on other tablets. If the grid bothers you that much then go and get another tablet. But bear in mind that even iPads have the grid and atleast I can see it on those, too.
So, serious question. Why all the love for this thing?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because it is great hardware for a great price.
I've had mine for 48 hours, and I have to say I'm loving it. I did take into consideration the $100 off, and getting this device for $299. You can argue positives and negatives on devices of equal price, but for $299, the A500 is a bargain.
The two issues mentioned- display: yes, the transformer's display is brighter. BUT...I've read many, many posts over at the ASUS threads about light bleading. Further, about how the Transformer can "bend" a little due to plastic construction, and this in turn causes further problems. Still, I liked the TF...I was torn over between the two, so don't think I'm hating on ASUS here. But the display is about a 7.5-8/10 for me compared to the BEST displays I've seen. But its a 10/10 for $299.
Battery: I have only good things to say about battery life so far on mine. No, I don't play 3D games constantly, but compared to the many android phones I have had, I realize I'm not always thinking about having this plugged in just in case I'll need the battery power later.
The other points that were in the A500's favor were the aluminum as stated, full USB port (not a feature you should discount), mini usb port, etc. I can't imagine ONLY being able to transfer files via miniSD. That would be a pain.
Most of the other gripes I have are about Honeycomb...it's not up to competing directly yet with iPad, just a few bugs that keep it from going head to head right now. But that has nothing to do with the unit.
I got two A500's now by the way, and both seem to be working as advertised, they were better than I expected when I made the decision to buy them.
+ 1 for all the love here for our devices on such a hateful thread
The Odom Project said:
+ 1 for all the love here for our devices on such a hateful thread
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I love your haircut
Is that enough love? ^^
WereCatf said:
I love your haircut
Is that enough love? ^^
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hehe yeah lol.now I just need to re pierce my lips lol. . . Damn here we go again with the OT lol
I love this baby... and I'm not new to my portable devices... with auto brightness and auto use i get all day battery... and that includes using it's USB port to charge my Moto Atrix when it needs it! I must admit tho mine was a bit laggy with te stock kernel, but that was an easy fix!
I had my transformer for about 2 weeks and today I decided to sell it because Im completely dissapointed. the browser was choppy, so were the home screen swiping and the battery life was least of all unimpressive.
I did try the stock rom, Revolver 3.6 and Prime 2.0.6 roms, along with different browsers and launchers and it just didn't do it for me me unfortunately
I know I'm gonna get quite a bit of heat for this but my 1gen iPad gave me a better browsing and much better battery life than my TF. the only good thing about TF was that I got to do all the crazy fun things (rooting,flashing, tweaking) I do on my Android phone for this two weeks,but its just not good enough.
so there you have it, just wanted to rant a bit, hopefully the new releases of Asus will be better.
I guess they aren't for everyone.
Some fools prefer to be separated from their freedoms.
Shame to hear u giving it up so soon. I've had mine for about just over a week and so far its been nothing short of excellent all around. Exact opposite of all your negatives.
Good luck with your ipad.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
ipad1 browsing was always awful for me. checkerboard all over the place, and having to reload sections of a page as you scroll is obnoxious. browsing on these devices is never going to be great till typical web development changes focus.
I had an iPad 1 before I bought MT transformer. Great product. But the transformer blows away the ipad 1 and 2 in my eyes. So much more your allowed to do. My wife uses the ipad still and ios 5 made the product alot better. But its still no transformer. I am sad to say I am going to sell my transformer and rely on the ipad for a while, or until the new transformer comes out I should say.
Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk
good story
different strokes for different folks
Oh Noes! But I agree, coming to a developer forum dedicated to that specific device to cry about how you hate it is by far the best course of action.
Are you expecting that we care?
When a user changes from Android to iOS, the average IQ of both platforms goes up.
Think about it.
H3llb0und said:
When a user changes from Android to iOS, the average IQ of both platforms goes up.
Think about it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haha... I have a buddy of mine who is an iPhone guy and in his case this is very true.
siscopiso said:
I had my transformer for about 2 weeks and today I decided to sell it because Im completely dissapointed. the browser was choppy, so were the home screen swiping and the battery life was least of all unimpressive.
I did try the stock rom, Revolver 3.6 and Prime 2.0.6 roms, along with different browsers and launchers and it just didn't do it for me me unfortunately
I know I'm gonna get quite a bit of heat for this but my 1gen iPad gave me a better browsing and much better battery life than my TF. the only good thing about TF was that I got to do all the crazy fun things (rooting,flashing, tweaking) I do on my Android phone for this two weeks,but its just not good enough.
so there you have it, just wanted to rant a bit, hopefully the new releases of Asus will be better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know what you mean, I got fed up with the battery issue and a few other things like no spell checker and really bad lag while typing on some websites/forums, I could go on about printing docs and a few other things but I won't*
*I've put my tf up for sale and bought a lovely netbook which in most ways kicks the tf ass, but do you know what I've started to look at the tf in a different way
*I've managed to solve the battery life problem, it's a bit of a slaver but I sorted it on my tf, now getting really good battery life, I also sometimes use a different browser for different sites, an example would be techradar, the stock browser just can't handle it so I use opera, I know you shouldn't have to use different browsers for different sites but that's just how it is
The tf is not a pc and I've stopped looking at it as such, I now look at it as a multi media device that can browse the internet and send and receive emails and play games, for that it's good
voyager_s said:
Shame to hear u giving it up so soon. I've had mine for about just over a week and so far its been nothing short of excellent all around. Exact opposite of all your negatives.
Good luck with your ipad.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess I was unlucky to end up with a dodgy unit. have fun with yours pal
ExploreMN said:
Oh Noes! But I agree, coming to a developer forum dedicated to that specific device to cry about how you hate it is by far the best course of action.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I concur, but hey its not supposed to be all jolly success stories eh
wimpanzee said:
I guess they aren't for everyone.
Some fools prefer to be separated from their freedoms.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
freedom?! you mean like expressing ones opinions without being called a fool?
siscopiso said:
freedom?! you mean like expressing ones opinions without being called a fool?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
calling someone a fool IS the expression of freedom. you can call me a fool now. don't be shy
that's what "freedom of speech" means.
on the topic - good luck with whatever tablet you would buy next think you're already on the tablet side, not preferring laptop or smartphone over tablet device.
moehagene said:
I had an iPad 1 before I bought MT transformer. Great product. But the transformer blows away the ipad 1 and 2 in my eyes. So much more your allowed to do. My wife uses the ipad still and ios 5 made the product alot better. But its still no transformer. I am sad to say I am going to sell my transformer and rely on the ipad for a while, or until the new transformer comes out I should say.
Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
almost the same here man, my girlfriend likes the iPad much more than the TF. the iPad works for our purposes, watch movies during long flights or train trips which we do quite often. and more importantly it lies around in the house for casual emailing and recipes n stuff and it needs charging every other week or so!something I couldnt get with the TF. however, coming from an android background Im constantly bored with it (the iPad) coz there s not much you can do with it. (try telling that to some filks who find it obligatory to start barking mad at the first person who says the "i" word )
tixed said:
calling someone a fool IS the expression of freedom. you can call me a fool now. don't be shy
that's what "freedom of speech" means.
on the topic - good luck with whatever tablet you would buy next think you're already on the tablet side, not preferring laptop or smartphone over tablet device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok you're a fool nahhhh
yeah I suppose I'm leaning towards Samsung this time. hopefully I wont be starting one o these threads in Samsung dedicated forum anytime soon
Can you not even jail break them anymore???
I remember when i got my first gen ipod touch before android even existed and put ubuntu on it among other things that was the device that got me interested in hacking programming etc
Sent from my tf101 using xda premium 1.54Ghz
The battery issues some have is as simple as installing the auto airplane app from the market. With moderate use of my TF, I can get just over a week of battery life. As far as browsing, in my case, opera has worked so well on every website that I've totally stopped using the stock browser. My sister has a Ipad2 and it totally blows compared to the TF for general use, which that is all apple products are good for in my eyes. I can't even imagine what the TF2 will be like.
Danzano said:
Can you not even jail break them anymore???
I remember when i got my first gen ipod touch before android even existed and put ubuntu on it among other things that was the device that got me interested in hacking programming etc
Sent from my tf101 using xda premium 1.54Ghz
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you still can, but there is so much extra, unofficial tweaks you can put on to make it more interesting.
Riley1524 said:
The battery issues some have is as simple as installing the auto airplane app from the market. With moderate use of my TF, I can get just over a week of battery life. As far as browsing, in my case, opera has worked so well on every website that I've totally stopped using the stock browser. My sister has a Ipad2 and it totally blows compared to the TF for general use, which that is all apple products are good for in my eyes. I can't even imagine what the TF2 will be like.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats the thing, I didnt want to have to turn things off to get a good battery life. I wanted to get email notifications the minute the email comes not the next time I turn it on.