XOOM - 8/13 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Apr

Sprint Motorola XOOM With WiMAX 4G Now Imminent

Posted by David Ruddock in 4G, News, Sprint, XOOM

Boy Genius Report dropped a piece of information this afternoon confirming a long-standing suspicion that the Motorola XOOM will soon be available on America's most budget-friendly carrier, Sprint - and it'll be packing a WiMAX 4G radio.

The tip came via Sprint store employees, who found XOOM case SKUs in the Sprint inventory system, along with an actual case in an accessory shipment, as shown below.

Pricing has not yet been made public, but expect some kind of subsidy to be available with a 2-year agreement.

Is the WiMAX-ified XOOM just what you've been waiting for? Or do you like your XOOMs cheaper, contract-free, with only the wi-fize and fewer gee-beez?

Apr

Canucks Rejoice: Nexus S and Motorola Xoom Now Available In Canada

Posted by Zak Stinson in News, Nexus S (Crespo/Soju), Rogers, TELUS, XOOM

If you travelled back in time to the middle of 2010 and asked your average Canadian about the selection of Android devices available to them, you would not be impressed with their answer - it seems that up until this year, the Android selection in Canada was about 6 months behind the curve.

Canadians, myself included, can now stop bemoaning their second rate options. As of today, two major new devices, the Nexus S and the Motorola Xoom, have been made available to those in the Great White North.

The Nexus S has landed on Videotron, Mobilicity, Telus and Koodo as of today, with Wind and Rogers expected to release it in the very near future.

Apr

Motorola XOOM Hack Brings Forth Desktop Browsing, Voice Calls, SMS, And More

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Development, News, Tips & Tutorials, XOOM

WARNING: This fix is for rooted 3G XOOMs only. The Wi-Fi only version is not supported (yet).

Most XOOM owners will tell you that they love their tablet, but that it does have its annoyances - like the fact that the stock browser loads pages in their "mobile" view by default. What good is a 10 inch screen if you can't load the desktop version of a website? Of course, there is the about:debug fix, but that can be tedious, since you have to reapply it every single time you restart.

Thankfully, sangreal06 over the XDA forums has created a hacked framework-res.apk that not only fixes that little annoyance, but also adds some other desired features to the XOOM.

Apr

Editorial: Motorola XOOM Sales Estimated At 100,000 So Far - Does It Really Matter?

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, Editorials, Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, News, XOOM

No doubt you've seen at least one mention of the 100,000-XOOM sales figure somewhere on the web today - and for me, it has reached the point of mild annoyance. From this number, all sorts of wild extrapolations and theories are being tossed around about Motorola's future, Android's future, and the viability of tablets in an Apple-dominated market.

Boy Genius Report took a step back, and presented a level-headed but clearly pro-XOOM take on the news:

So, according to Deutsche Bank, Motorola has sold 100,000 XOOM tablets in less than a month and a half, which is an average of over 75,000 units per month.

Mar

Motorola XOOM Wi-Fi Root Now Available (Sans Bricking Feature)

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Development, News, XOOM

In typically blisteringly-quick fashion, the hackers at XDA have managed to root a Wi-Fi XOOM in no time at all - good news, considering that the root method for the regular XOOM was bricking the Wi-Fi models. It's worth noting that unlocking the XOOM's bootloader (which is required for root) wipes the device.

The current method does require some ADB commands, but certainly nothing tricky. Still, for those who are hesitant, it's likely that an automated method won't be far behind. The instructions, as posted by Xaositek:

This is it guys... HUGE props to MADindustries and modplan!

Download the Motorola WiFi Xoom Root Zip file and unzip it.

Mar

WiFi-Only Motorola XOOM Will Be Available At Costco March 27 (Sunday) For $599

Posted by David Ruddock in Motorola, News, XOOM

Great news for those of you holding out for that WiFi-only XOOM of your dreams: Costco has moved up its availability date for the LTE-less version of the tablet from April 1 to this coming Sunday, March 27. So if you walk into your local Costco this weekend, presumably the WiFi XOOM will be there to greet you for the reasonable price of $599.99.

But, if you order online, you'll get a couple of perks (even if it does mean you won't be getting your XOOM on Sunday). Namely, $10 off ($589.99), a free gel skin case, and free shipping. If you can't wait, you can pay $10 more at your brick and mortar location this weekend and let your XOOM go case-less.

Mar

New Leak Details Specs Of HTC EVO 3D, EVO View 4G, Confirms Sprint-Bound Motorola XOOM

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in EVO 3D (Shooter), EVO View 4G, Flyer, HTC, Motorola, News, Sprint, XOOM

The rumor mill has been abuzz with gossip about Sprint's CTIA event lately, and if BGR's sources are to be believed, the speculation was spot-on: the conference will indeed be centered around the HTC EVO 3D and EVO View 4G, with a WiMAX version of the Motorola XOOM making an appearance as well.

EVO 3D

First up, we have the EVO 3D - HTC's first foray into three-dimensional territory - which will reportedly feature:

A 4.3-inch qHD (960x540) autostereoscopic 3D display
4GB of RAM (I'm thinking this is a typo - even powerhouses like the XOOM and the Atrix only have 1GB of RAM)
1GB of ROM
A 1.2GHz Qualcomm 8660 Snapdragon CPU
Dual 5MP rear cameras; dedicated camera button included
A 1.3MP front-facing camera
A 1730mAh battery
Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) with HTC's Sense UI
Blockbuster on-demand
YouTube 3D

EVO View 4G

Just as expected, the EVO View 4G is almost exactly the same tablet as the (admittedly underwhelming) Flyer that HTC demoed at MWC.

Mar

Rumors Confirmed? Image Of Sprint XOOM Pops Up Online

Posted by Will Shanklin in News, Rumors, Sprint, XOOM

Just yesterday, we first heard word that Motorola may be launching versions of the XOOM (and the Atrix) on Sprint's network next month. Today it looks even more probable, as an image of a Sprint-branded XOOM has been posted by SprintUsers forum member r0fl.

The tablet looks identical to the Verizon model, aside from a Sprint logo. While something like this could easily be Photoshopped, keep in mind that the poster of the image "has a proven track record when it comes to unreleased Sprint hardware," according to BGR.

As we had not even heard wind of this two days ago, nothing else is known at this point.

Mar

[Rumor] Sprint Set To Launch Versions Of Atrix And XOOM Next Month

Posted by Will Shanklin in Atrix 4G (Olympus), News, Rumors, XOOM

A pretty wild (but completely plausible) rumor has arisen that Motorola's Atrix 4G phone (along with its Webtop dock) and XOOM tablet will be launching on Sprint's network next month. There had not previously been any indication that either of these phones would be tied to any network other than their current carriers (respectively) AT&T and Verizon.

This could potentially be announced at CTIA next week, but the source specifically said that the devices would be announced next month - so perhaps Sprint is focusing more on the EVO 3D for the time being. If true, these would likely serve as the biggest Android releases on Sprint since the original HTC EVO last summer.

Mar

[Deal Alert] Wi-Fi XOOM For $589.99 + Gel Case + Free Shipping From Costco; Amazon Is Taking Pre-orders Too [Updated]

Posted by Will Shanklin in Deals, News, XOOM

Now that we know that the Wi-Fi-only model of the Motorola XOOM is just around the corner (launching March 27 to be exact) perhaps you are looking for the best deal on the tablet. Costco's website may be the place to look, as they are offering not only a $10 discount (from the listed $600 price tag) but they are also throwing in a free gel case and shipping it to you for free. Yes, all of that can be yours for a mere $589.99 and they are taking pre-orders now. The units won't be shipping until April 1 though, which is five days after the tablet is released everywhere else.