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Xoom already EOL'd?

poloponies said:
"Smart" is not selling customers a bill of goods only to bail on them a few months later. Using the marketplace as a focus group is a pretty crappy way to run a business.
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If they bailed on their customers then so has Apple, by EOLing the iPad 1. They have not publicly stated that they have gotten rid of software updates (Moto has a good history of updating the Droids) or the 4G update. Once you can proove that they will not do those priomised things then you can say they have bailed on their customers.

PatriotInvasion said:
Real smart....release an updated product 4 months after your big "iPad killer." I'm sure that will just breed a huge number of Moto brand loyalists.

These companies just don't get it. They are constantly chasing Apple but are always tripping over their own two feet...two steps behind :apple:
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You only have to look at the release rate of various Droids to know that Moto doesn't wait one year between hardware releases. Its technology, just assume whatever you buy is obsolete after you open the box.
 
bossxii said:
To have a battery that lasts longer than 2 or 3 hours as my company provided laptop does yes. I am many times out of the office on a jobsite or in a meeting and not having to carry a laptop bag with a power supply and deal with plugging in is very nice. The cost of the device is not a focal point, the functionality is. I had a 32gig 3G ipad. With approx 10% tax rates that is a $800 device vs the Xoom was $880, $80 or $100 is far outweighed by usability.

The iPad is a great media consumption device that is polished and easy to use. My wife would shoot me if I ever took it away. I however have needs the iPad cannot meet and the Android platform can. I use the tools that work for the job. The iPad is not all things to all people, no matter what SJ wants everyone to believe. It has limitations.
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If that's really the case a Macbook has much more functionality and nearly a work-day's amount of battery life.
 
Ava's Meeshee said:
If that's really the case a Macbook has much more functionality and nearly a work-day's amount of battery life.
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I don't want "nearly" I want to not even bother bring a charger with me. Wake up, unplug use over the course of the next 12 to 16 hours. Plug in goto bed. That is what a tablet offers. I don't need an "Apple" product to do what the Xoom already does.

Why does anyone buy an iPad if the macbook will do a better job? Portability, battery life. Same thing for any tablet, it just so happens I have needs the iPad cannot do. Love it or hate it, Android does things iOS can't. No need to make excuses and offer Apple solution when I already have one, but thanks for the concern.
 
Mad Mac Maniac said:
edit: It's funny to realize just how "copycat" everyone else is.
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Yeah, they all have a single physical home button, no built-in uSD slot or USB, and have a 4:3 ratio screen. Oh wait. That's just Apple. The others are quite different in those major areas.

Sometimes I try to give them the benefit of the doubt, but when the continuously follow the pattern of attempting to replicate exactly what Apple throws down (with maybe a couple of better specs) it just gets really sad
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That's like saying Apple copycat'd everyone before them by adding cameras.

Sometimes a "new" feature is just obvious evolution.

It's enough to say that Apple jump-started the non-major-OS tablet market. No need to try to claim everything is their idea.

rdowns said:
Apple's other real advantage is in distribution. The Android makers have relationships primarily with carriers. iPads are not only in Apple stores but Walmart, Target, Best Buy and virtually all major online retailers do phone orders.
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The Xoom is in Best Buy, but (at least at the one I went to) Motorola didn't seem to invest in a fancy aisle-end display like Apple does.
 
bossxii said:
I don't want "nearly" I want to not even bother bring a charger with me. Wake up, unplug use over the course of the next 12 to 16 hours. Plug in goto bed. That is what a tablet offers. I don't need an "Apple" product to do what the Xoom already does.

Why does anyone buy an iPad if the macbook will do a better job? Portability, battery life. Same thing for any tablet, it just so happens I have needs the iPad cannot do. Love it or hate it, Android does things iOS can't. No need to make excuses and offer Apple solution when I already have one, but thanks for the concern.
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The Macbook does a better job for the work stuff you're talking about. The iPad does a better job for things people reasonably expect that form factor to be good for (viewing. It's literally nothing but a screen). I mentioned the Macbook because it happens to be the best laptop line on the market, not because I thought you needed another Apple ("Apple"?) alternative. It's just serendipitous that the best alternative is another Apple product.

As for your "need" for battery exceeding current technical limitations, well, I guess the problem with that is self-evident.
 
kdarling said:
The Xoom is in Best Buy, but (at least at the one I went to) Motorola didn't seem to invest in a fancy aisle-end display like Apple does.
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Maybe they couldn't afford to pay for the end cap. :D
 
Ava's Meeshee said:
The Macbook does a better job for the work stuff you're talking about. The iPad does a better job for things people reasonably expect that form factor to be good for (viewing. It's literally nothing but a screen). I mentioned the Macbook because it happens to be the best laptop line on the market, not because I thought you needed another Apple ("Apple"?) alternative. It's just serendipitous that the best alternative is another Apple product.

As for your "need" for battery exceeding current technical limitations, well, I guess the problem with that is self-evident.
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Both the iPad and the Xoom work just fine battery wise to meet my needs. I don't constantly use the devices for that period of time (12 to 16 hours) but I do enjoy not having to both carrying a charger. The tablets work well being carrying in portfolio, reducing weight and hassle.

I have no issues with a Macbook if I wanted a laptop, but the Xoom does everything I need in a portable device with less weight, better battery life. It's really just that simple. I use the best tools available to fit the needs I have.
 
How bout this for all the arguments so far.... Apple has products that will make everyone satisfied. But if you are anti-apple then go somewhere else.. For the need for great battery life, MacBook pro. Better than just about everything out there and it runs winbdows directly and/or through vmware or a vnc connection (both of which I use). Do NOT select the air though if you want battery life. It's a great computer but sorry battery life. For ease of remote access, iPad (1 or 2). It does vnc just fine but not quite the ease of using a MacBook pro. That said, I use both the pro and the iPad for vnc access. If you end up needing to leave the MacBook behind for recharge, heck, just log in to that via vnc access and problems solved. Again. I'm forced to use wintel access (mainly to get VPN access to unix servers) but all my connectivity problems are taken care of in a fine melding of the ability to still access via either MacBook and/or iPad via dual booting, vnc, and vmware. It's expensive, but works quite well. And in my 12 years of being a tech professional, I have seen no absolute need for flash access other than entertainment. Ymmv but it's no deal breaker for me either way.
 
OP, thats quite a read. I'd base more relevance on it if it were a tech blog site rather than an apple site, makes it seem unbiased. Can you link another post with similar or same reports? In all honesty, i read it, it makes a little sense, but seems more like a smear to get more people interested in other tablets, which is fine, I don't care.

Unless motorola has come out and made a statement that it will discontinue or even hint at a upgraded xoom, then i'll hold merit to this claim.
 
What relevance does "bias" have in tech journalism; no one's trying to influence social policy and interest rates.
 
I guess i was looking for some kind of fact or hard set "This is what they had to say:" rather than it coming from an apple blog site saying "they have sources" lol. Not only that, but i wouldn't call it tech journalism if they only specialize in apple products and every so often mention competition. Again...thats where bias comes in. The relevance of bias is that if you're going to make a definitive statement or claim against competition, there should be multiple sources other than an apple blog site to back it up, let alone a random source. This has nothing to do with social policy and interest rates like you mentioned...i actually have no idea why you'd even bring that up unless that was meant to be witty. then...well...wit away.

bias was meant to imply that it wouldn't implicate its site name with its own article.
 
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I think the reason Xoom is stopping with that model is because the 4G chip will be available. They will probably start shipping a Xoom with 4G, so just a different model number.
 
anyone who suggests that Apple didn't create the tablet market (iPad and its "competitors"), or what we now know the smartphone market to be, is living with blinders on.

Same thing with the iPod. Apple is a creatively driven company led by a creative team. They think outside the box and push us all to think the same way. Just go back to the "old" computer days - when Apple stopped putting in floppy drives - ohhhhh the pc people laughed, saying that they would never do that. How many pc's have floppy drives now?

This idea of needing a file system on your phone or tablet is going to be addressed, but not by simply making the iPad act more like a laptop. Apple is going to create their own "file system" for lack of better term and make the old way seem archaic - just like using floppy discs is archaic.

Moto and the rest of these manufacturers just don't have the creative power and it isn't something that can just be changed by adding creative people - it's the way these companies have been built and operate and undoing "the way things are done" becomes an incredibly difficult and costly process.

Let them copy and tweak Apple's ideas - there is nothing wrong with that. And for those people who just can't give credit where it's due - enjoy your non-creative, copycat, poorly executed product.
 
It isn't the hardware that's bad though. The biggest flaw of the Xoom and other honeycomb tablets is the lack of software and the unpredictable performance of the software that's available. One of the bad things of the Android platform is also one of the best things about it and that is that the OS is supported on all different kinds of hardware. Phones and tablets with different CPUs, GPUs, screen sizes and resolutions, etc. and while this brings a lot of consumer choice, it also makes it hard for developers to optimize their apps to run well on all the hardware that's available.

The android OS and the Android market are going to have to evolve and grow before it really becomes a more attractive alternative to the iOS platform. Honeycomb is a good OS, it's got a great UI, and the android hardware that's out and coming out has a lot of great features and most have pretty nice form factors. Like i said, Android is playing catch up on the software side.
 
bossxii said:
After using the Xoom for 2 weeks, knowing it's basically a beta release, it has a ways to go to find the polish iOS has. Then again I can send email attachments and download files from the web and manage them with a file system. I find both OS's have their strengths and weakness'. Even in it's current "state" it gives me more utility than the iPad for work purposes. Email is a big part of my day, dealing with files and attachments on the Xoom is simply better than iOS, even it it's beta form
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Did you try Goodreader for managing files and sending attachments while you were using your iPad? It's a bit kludgy but it seems like it it should solve most of your problems of downloading files and then sending multiple attachments.
 
I don't know...correct me if I am wrong but the Xoom has better specs in all areas than the iPad except for the thickness and mild difference in weight, right?

A lot of this is about cost....

Motorola should have released the Xoom at $100 or more LESS than the iPad and they would have done a lot better.

It is crazy that these pads (ipad included!) are so damned expensive.

Also, iPad is THE pad device, and people who wanted to migrate to this platform are more comfortable that they couldn't go wrong with the ipad 2, but the Xoom / Android tablet platform was generally untested..

R
 
OSMac said:
"The sources believe the unclear market status of iPad-like tablet PCs is the reason for Motorola to reduce its orders"

Unclear market status ?
Apple's sold 20 million tablets and 40-50 million projected by next year.

The problem for Motorola is everyone wants a iPad.
A half baked Xoom disappointed even Android fans.

Does that clear it up :)
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This pretty much sums it up. The iPad is the clear leader here. No question about it.

What can Motorola do to make it stand out? Does more ram really help if the os isn't any good?
 
There are a good many reasons to buy an Apple iPod/iPhone/iPad -

- Excellent Design and great build quality
- Excellent support in a brick and mortar store
- iTunes and App Store and hopefully soon free mobile-me
- Generally Apple has been supporting these devices for at least 2 years with upgrades and bug fixes
- Apps Apps Apps!
- Hey they are cool!!!

With Android devices most of these are hit or miss. You are never sure if your manufacturer will upgrade your device with a new version of Android. Sure there are a couple of apps that are better on Android - notably maps, but that is just not enough to overcome the current lead that the iProducts have. No wonder there are still long lines for the iPad 2 and none for Xoom.
 
ssampath said:
With Android devices most of these are hit or miss. You are never sure if your manufacturer will upgrade your device with a new version of Android.
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It hasn't even been a year since Apple stopped selling iPhone 3G, yet they have long since stopped providing software updates for it.
 
Rhyalus said:
I don't know...correct me if I am wrong but the Xoom has better specs in all areas than the iPad except for the thickness and mild difference in weight, right?
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The GPU in the iPad 2 is better than the Xoom and the CPU performs roughly the same. I think the only advantage for the Xoom hardware wise is the camera and micro SD slot. Also, future upgradability to 4G, but the process is quite silly (though it's an option!). I might be forgetting something but I think that's it.

EDIT: The screen has a higher resolution than the iPad 2's screen, but the iPad 2 screen is actually better in every other aspect as I understand it.
 
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