Walt Mossbergs Motorola Xoom Review

post from Daring Fireball on 24 February 2011 06:03:32 PM. © Daring Fireball

Headline: “Motorola’s Xoom Starts Tablet Wars With iPad”. Funny, given how many reviewers used the same phrase in their reviews of the now-forgotten Samsung Galaxy Tab back in November. On battery life:

I performed the same battery test on the Xoom as I have on othertablets. I played video constantly with the connectivity turned onand the screen at almost full brightness until the battery died.Alas, while the Xoom claims up to 10 hours of video playback, Igot just 7 hours and 32 minutes. By contrast, on the same test,the iPad, which also claims 10 hours, logged 11.5 hours, or fourhours more.

That’s still better than I expected from the Xoom, given the battery life I’ve seen on Android phones. I haven’t yet seen or used a Xoom, but what strikes me about it is that the 16:9 display means the device is clearly intended to be used horizontally. (The location of the “Motorola” and “Verizon” logos stamped on the front face reiterates this.) The iPad’s 4:3 aspect ratio works well in both orientations. The one thing a 16:9 display ought to be better for is video playback, right? But: