Product Listing

Motorola Xoom 2 (3G) - A Successor That's Too Late

By Sidney Wong - 5 Feb 2012
Launch SRP: S$978

Conclusion

Conclusion

We recognize Motorola's efforts to give the Xoom 2 a complete makeover, making it thinner and lighter than its original iteration. The slight boost in processor clock speed and increasing the battery capacity to a whopping 7000mAh are notable improvements, while the improved design of the tablet will also appeal to users.

However, the Motorola Xoom 2 may not have survive the cut-throat competition in the tablet market, especially since there's already a quad-core Android tablet available and more of these are expected to arrive in the coming months. Furthermore, Motorola priced the Xoom 2 (3G) 32GB at S$978, which is probably somewhat higher than the expected price point for a 3G enabled 10.1-inch display today. Don't get us wrong. Had the Xoom 2 debuted earlier to compete with the initial local SRP pricing for Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and the Apple iPad 2, the Motorola's asking price could have been easily justified. However at this juncture, the competitors are much better priced, offer better battery performance and portability. To draw yet another comparison, the quad-core equipped ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime is an even better deal at S$899 (with its keyboard docking station), even if it doesn't have 3G editions (yet).  At the time of writing, the Transformer Prime is one of the best Android tablets in the market with its superior battery life, excellent build quality, excellent camera performance and better user experience thanks to Android 4.0. 

Motorola appears to have underestimated the market competition on one hand and overpriced the Xoom 2 (3G) on the other. It's likely that Motorola would face an uphill task in convincing consumers of its tablet proposition, even if it's made tougher and has productivity apps over more basic and essential factors like a tablet with excellent battery life and  good value. Upcoming quad-core tablets are also a threat to it when consumers usually would favor the superior specced product when all other things factors are equal. On its own, the Motoroal Xoom 2 is a good improvement over its predecessor, but it probably came to the market too late to have made the impact it could have had.

Locally, only the 3G edition with 32GB flash storage (and expandable via microSD) version is retailing and we've yet to hear from Motorola of other SKUs and price points.

Although the Motorola Xoom 2 is a decent upgrade from the first Xoom, we are afraid that it is not able to take on the quad-core tablet devices from other brands such as the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime (top), nor the current leading dual-core tablets.

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7.5
  • Design 8.5
  • Features 8.5
  • User-Friendliness 8
  • Performance 7
  • Value 6
The Good
Improved design and handling
Lightweight
Convenient note-taking shortcut bar
The Bad
Expensive
Poor battery performance
Mediocre specs
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