Telecom bags Motorola's Android tablet
The first serious competitor to Apple's iPad lands in NZ.
As first revealed by NBR on July 5, Motorola is releasing its Xoom tablet in New Zealand - one of the first serious competitors to Apple's iPad.
The 10-1-inch Xoom, which runs on Google's Android software, will be released Thursday, for $1149.
Annoyingly for consumers, it's yet another hot gadget that's available for a single network - in this case Telecom XT (Motorola – not for lack of trying, NBR understands – remains locked out of Vodafone NZ, where the brand was once so firmly entrenched).
The Xoom is widely-regarded as one of the best of a new generation of tablets that run Android 3, aka “Honeycomb" - the first version of Google’s mobile software designed for a tablet rather than a phone (read David Pogue's New York Times' review here. Yes, it has taken a while for the Xoom to make its way done under).
Like all Androids, the Xoom suffers from a relative paucity of apps - so far - in the Android Market compared to Apple's iTunes AppStore.
But it also enjoys all the Android advantages, including the ability to display Flash graphics and video (so famously hostile to iPad). If you want to lie in bed watching TVNZ OnDemand on your tablet - or just see any web page in its full glory - this is your gadget (see Motorola's official tech specs page here).
Where's the competition?
So far, Apple’s iPad has had the New Zealand market more or less to itself.
LG, Acer, Toshiba and Samsung have Android Honeycomb tablets in the NZ market, but with a subterranean profile (Samsung says it will pick up the pace in a couple of months when its Tab series gets refresh; Vodafone took only a small order of the first generation Tab, putting a crimp on things.)
RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook tablet has get to make it across the Tasman. We’re over here guys. Remember NZ?. [UYPDATE: the PlayBook is here! Kinda.]
And while HP's first Palm WebOS tablet is now being reviewed in the US, HP NZ couldn't tell NBR if, or when, the tablet would appear locally.
Love or hate Apple, at least you know that as night follows day, it's latest tablet will appear in Godzone.
Motorola is sending NBR a Xoom for review. Watch this space.
Chris Keall
Wed, 13 Jul 2011
Wed, 13 Jul 2011
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Telecom bags Motorola's Android tablet
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