I figured it's time that the Xoom got it's own thread, instead of being buried in the Samsung Tab area. Instead of being a 7 inch phone like the Tab, the Xoom represents Google's honest effort to enter the tablet arena.

The reviews are all coming out now and the units will be available for sale tomorrow (the 24th). I'll definitely say I'm far more impressed with the Xoom vs the iPad compared to the iPhone 3G vs the TMobile G1.

Engadget has a brief review and video here.

And Anandtech has a much more in depth review here.

From looking at both reviews, the Xoom definitely hits the same very high battery life marks that the iPad set. This to me is still the biggest advantage of the iPad, and I'm glad Motorola agreed. The downside is that the Xoom has a proprietary charger, instead of being able to trickle charge off USB. While the iPad has a non standard port, it's practically a standard with how long the 30 pin dock connector has been around. It's really easy to charge anywhere. The Xoom is going to require owners to keep the power brick with them if they want to charge on the go.

Speed wise, the Xoom definitely outpaces the iPad by a noticeable bit when web browsing. Being that it's a year after the iPad, this is somewhat to be expected, though I was impressed by how much faster it is. The browser is also much more feature rich, bringing tablets even closer to the desktop. Noticeably absent though? Flash support. Seems Adobe as usual wasn't ready, and will have 10.2 out for tablets "soon". I'll be curious to see how much it impacts battery life and speed, and hope Anand retests. My number two reason for not wanting Flash has always been performance issues (with #1 being due to the proprietary nature).

Hardware wise, there are even less buttons then the iPad. The Xoom has a volume up, volume down, and a power/lock button that is oddly placed on the back. It lacks a switch of any kind, so mute or orientation lock will be software only. It does offer both a rear and front camera, though it still seems very awkward to try and use it as an actual camera. It should work well for video conferencing though, allowing someone to either do a face to face chat, or use the rear camera to show an event to someone remotely. Screen wise, Anand noted the colors do distort at extreme angles, and the contrast isn't as great as it could be. Overall the screen seem decent though. One odd aspect is that the device does have a currently unusable microSD card slot, and the SIM slot for LTE. Both will be usable down the road, with LTE requiring the device to be shipped off to be upgraded.

Software, this is where the big changes are. There will definitely be a learning curve even for existing Android users, and I'm impressed Google was willing to rethink so much. iOS feels ok when scaled up to the iPad, but it definitely shows it's phone roots. Honeycomb appears to take more from the desktop to create a different approach. Unfortunately both reviews noted multiple rough edges, including application stability issues. It's clear this was probably pushed out a little too soon, and hopefully updates will come much more rapidly then they have for the typical Android phone. Google did put more effort into the media aspects of the device then they normally do, but fans of the syncing method will still have to look for third party solutions to manage what media goes onto the device. One thing I noticed, neither review showed the device in action in portrait mode. I find I use both portrait and landscape modes on the iPad quite a bit, though it seems Google went for a more landscape focused setup between the way the UI works, and the more widescreen 16:10 aspect ratio.

Price is where a lot of people still balk. It is officially $799 to buy the device. On top of that, there is a mandatory one month of 3G data at $20 (for 1GB) + a $35 activation fee just to be able to turn on the WiFi. Out the door usable cost is now $854 in the US, a cost difference of $125 when compared to the equivalent iPad. Oh, and the bad news about the 3G service? It's an additional $35 each time you want to turn it back on. With the iPad, users are free to turn on and off the 3G service on a month to month basis, and no extra fees are tacked on. Apple will likely force this same deal when Verizon sees an iPad 2 with 3G, and it's a shame Google didn't.

The other option is to buy it subsided for $599, + 24 months of $20 data service + the $35 activation fee for a TCO price of $1114. No word on what pricing will be for LTE plans at this point.

Anyone here planning on buying one?