Motorola has uploaded a new video to their YouTube channel with the title of “MOTOROLA XOOM Promo“, and that’s exactly what it is. There’s no new details, and there are no Android 3.0 UI demos, but it’s pretty none the less and we wouldn’t be surprised to see it show up during a commercial break while you’re watching one of your favorite television shows. Quick recap of the Xoom in case you’ve been living under a rock this month: it’s the first tablet to run Google’s new Android 3.0 operating system. Google says that it’s the first version of Android that they’ve specifically tailored for tablet like devices. Inside the Xoom is an NVIDIA Tegra 2 chip that packs two ARM Cortex A9 processors and an NVIDIA GPU that we’ve yet to benchmark ourselves, but others who have been lucky enough to get their hands on it say it’s amazingly quick.
The Xoom features a 10.1 inch 1280 x 800 pixel display, 5 megapixel rear facing camera that can also take 720p video, which is odd since the Tegra 2 should have no problem handling 1080p video capture, a forward facing 2 megapixel video camera for video chats, and while it’s going to launch with 3G support, it should be upgradable somehow to 4G at a later point in time. Speaking about launching, it’s rumored to appear at Best Buy next month, the 17th of February, for either $700 or $800. Quite a price bump compared to the Apple iPad, then again the Xoom is more advanced from a technical specification level.
Should you buy one is the question you’re asking yourself right now. That’s tricky. The Apple iPad 2 is likely to be announced in March or April and ship shortly after. You’ve also got to ask yourself if you even need a device that fits between your smartphone and your laptop. In most cases you don’t, but I know I’m one of the few people on the internet who dislike tablets, regardless of who makes them.