Xoom

Is the iPad a one-hit wonder or will the tablet market take off broadly in 2011? That's the question Motorola's Xoom tablet will likely answer.

And this broader market, of course, includes Hewlett-Packard's WebOS tablet and RIM's PlayBook, among others. But Motorola's Xoom stands as the biggest potential consumer rival to the iPad 2 because Motorola is a first-tier supplier that has already competed mightily against Apple in the smartphone market (think Droid) and, more importantly, packs in plenty of eagerly awaited goodies, including: Google's Android Honeycomb operating system for tablets, a powerful dual-core processor, … Read more

During a recent interview with TechCrunch, Android's head honcho Andy Rubin let slip that the name of the next release of the mobile platform will be Ice Cream Sandwich.

Once rumored as Ice Cream, Ice Cream Sandwich will follow OS 3.0, or Honeycomb, which landed on its first device, the Motorola Xoom, last week at CES. Availablity is uncertain, but one theory suggests that Ice Cream Sandwich would arrive as OS 2.4 later this summer.

The timeline makes sense, but the version number leaves me scratching my head. As to why Google would backtrack on the number … Read more

The Motorola Xoom was one of the tablets that stood out at CES 2011, even netting CNET's Best of Show award. Running on the upcoming Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) operating system, its sleek design and future compatibility with 4G standards make it one of the more desirable upcoming slates.

Turns out there's another trick up the Xoom's sleeve. According to the specifications released by the company, there's a barometer hidden under the hood. Used to measure atmospheric pressure, it not only tells you the altitude, but also predicts the weather.

The larger the change in pressure, … Read more

Wilson's taking a day off after powering through CNET's video coverage of CES 2011, so Caroline McCarthy fills in to give us the spectator's perspective of the show and the keynote speeches. Unsurprisingly, the Samsung keynote looked just as over the top online as it did in person.

We saw a lot of cool things at CES this year, least of which was this arcade cabinet for the iPad, but this year was definitely about tablet PCs. They stole the show and came in multiple sizes, but CNET's annual Best in Show Award goes to the Motorola Xoom, although we're hoping this isn't how they show their appreciation.

Poised to go head-to-head with the Apple iPad, the Xoom is a touch screen-tablet that trumps the iPad in a few ways. It has front- and rear-facing cameras (the front is HD); it has a larger screen with a higher resolution than the iPad; and it operates on the Verizon network instead of AT&T.

It's also the first device to run the latest version of Google Android OS 3.0, code-named Honeycomb, so when it comes out sometime in the first quarter of this year, expect it to support multitasking and Verizon's ultrafast 4G network.

Verizon is also rumored to be offering the iPhone 4 pending tomorrow's announcement, and Caroline and I are both excited and nervous about its release. The Wall Street Journal reported that the company will keep its $30-a-month unlimited data plan, but our own Bonnie Cha tells us it might not get LTE 4G support until later this year--as usual, it's all up to Apple.

Aside from CES wrap-up stuff, check out the second half of today's show for Jeff's review of "American Idiot," the Broadway musical based on Green Day's music and featuring lead vocalist Billy Armstrong.

And if you're into that sort of thing, we also learn that a "Fight Club" and "American Psycho" musical are both in the works!

For me, the essence of the four days I spent at CES can be boiled down to four booths with two competing personal computing dynamics: two of those booths represent the PC's future, two do not.

Here's the quickest way to make the point. Google's Android is the future and Microsoft Windows--let me put this delicately--is the present. More specifically: Motorola-Nvidia (Android) are on one side, and Microsoft-Intel (Windows) are on the other.

Motorola-Nvidia: The Motorola and Nvidia booths shouted future. Lots of Android tablets, high-end Android smartphones, and a very interesting Motorola technology called Atrix 4G. (… Read more

As expected, CES 2011 was a tablet paradise. The majority of our pre-CES tablet predictions came true, including the debut of the 7-inch Dell Streak, and new arrivals from Acer, Asus, LG, MSI, and more.

Admittedly, some of our predictions were off. HP did not unveil a tablet running the WebOS platform acquired from Palm. The company is, however, announcing something big involving WebOS next month.

We also didn't see a 10-inch version of the Galaxy Tab from Samsung. Instead, the manufacturer offered up 4G and Wi-Fi-only versions of the Tab, along with a smaller Galaxy Player and an intriguing slide-out Windows tablet.

Outside of our predictions there were a few pleasant surprises.… Read more

LAS VEGAS--As predicted, CES 2011 was a feast of tablets. They came in small, medium, and extra large. Some even came in pairs. The most promising of the bunch included the BlackBerry PlayBook, Toshiba's 10-inch Android Tablet, the Samsung Sliding PC, and the Motorola Xoom.

Within the tablet category, the Motorola Xoom rose to the top by promising what we felt was the most anticipated mobile OS (Android Honeycomb), on impressively spec'd hardware (dual-core, 4G-compatible, HDMI out, front- and back-facing cameras), in a 10-inch format that can literally and figuratively measure up against the iPad.

Like any product … Read more

It's all about the network: Verizon's new 4G LTE broadband infrastructure was the cornerstone of Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg's keynote address on Thursday morning at the 2011 CES trade show in Las Vegas, where he hailed the possibilities of the "creative revolution" stemming from the increasingly hyperconnected world we live in.

"Wireless data is now more than doubling every year," Seidenberg said. "Smartphones are growing at almost 90 percent a year, and a whole new computing platform for mobile broadband has emerged."

This power of the network was key to all … Read more

Motorola today revealed its new Android-based Xoom tablet, which the company hopes will dethrone Apple's iPad in this fast-growing market segment.

The Xoom betters the iPad in some ways--it comes standard with front- and rear-facing cameras, including one that can record in HD, compared with none in the current version of the iPad. It also boasts a larger screen with a higher resolution, supports Adobe Flash, and uses Verizon's network instead of AT&T's.

It will become the first device to run the latest version of Google's Android operating system, known as Honeycomb. The operating … Read more