Motorola Xoom review

Where Android 3.0 has the real advantage over the iPad is with fully-customisable home screens that can contain more than just shortcuts to other programmes. As with the smartphone edition of Android, Widgets are interactive apps that you can place on your homescreen to view information from other applications. So, the Gmail Widget, displays a list of your emails that you can scroll through, or tap one to view it in more detail. Existing widgets for smartphone apps fit well on the screen. There’s a new grid system that defines set areas that Widgets can be placed in. The grid is cleverly designed, so that switching from portrait to landscape (or vice versa) keeps widgets and icons in roughly the same positions.

While existing widgets work well, the disappointment is the lack of updated apps designed for the tablet edition. These mostly work, but some look odd on the high resolution screen, such as Twitter, where Tweets stretch across the entire display. Some, such as the official Facebook app are prone to crashing.

Hopefully more apps will come soon, as the Google apps for Android 3.0 show how it should be done. The Gmail and Email apps now have a list of email and a preview pane that makes them easier to use, making full use of the high screen resolution. We really like the new market, which can best be described as a tablet version of the new web interface.

We’re also pleased to see that Android 3.0 readdresses how storage is used. With the smartphone edition, applications are installed to internal phone memory, which is usually quite lacking, and only some apps can be move to SD card. With the Xoom, the 32GB of storage is shared equally between apps and data, giving more room and flexibility. There’s also a micro SDHC slot, although it’s currently disabled and can’t be used to add more storage. An update will fix this.

There are some disappointments, too. There’s no built-in eReader app and Google Books is completely missing, presumably because it’s not yet available as a service in the UK yet – it doesn’t even show up in the Market App – you can find it in the web version, but can’t install it.