Droid Xyboard: Motorola tables another tablet

by Steven Mostyn - Dec 8 2011, 00:21

Despite receiving more than favorable reviews from media outlets, the Xoom tablet failed to draw enough consumer attention to impact the market dominance of Apple’s iPad and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab.

Well, it looks as though Xoom manufacturer Motorola is back for another bite at the tablet pie after it this week announced the imminent arrival of its Droid Xyboard.

Beyond the device’s somewhat unusual—and not in the least bit catchy—brand name, the Xyboard will be available in screen sizes of either 8.2 inches or 10.1 inches and will be carried by Verizon’s 4G LTE network.

In terms of fixtures and fittings, Motorola’s latest offerings comes with a dual-core 1.2GHz processor, version 3.2 of Google Android (Honeycomb), 1GB of RAM, a rear-facing 5.0 mega-pixel camera, and a front-facing 1.3 mega-pixel camera for video chats. An update to version 4.0 of Google Android (Ice Cream Sandwich) is also promised.

“The Droid Xyboard 10.1 is optimized for productivity with stylus support for easy note-taking and markup using a precision tip stylus, included in the box,” outlined Motorola in an official release.

“The Xyboard 8.2 is perfect for portable entertainment with 2.1 adaptive virtual surround sound and a high-definition display for enjoying Netflix movies in up to HD quality, concert-like music and serious gaming,” it added.

Other bits and pieces crammed into the two tablets include Corning Gorilla Glass high-definition screens (1280x800), 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, mobile hotspot support, and data storage sizes of 16GBs, 32GBs and 64GBs (the latter being only available on the 10.1-inch model).

According to the performance of Verizon’s 4G LTE service, Xyboard users can look forward to Net speeds of between 5 and 12 megabits-per-second (Mbps) and upload speeds of between 2 and 5 Mbps.

If you’re a Motorola fan hoping to see more tablet market success this time around…  you’d best get used to disappointment because prices for the Droid Xyboard start at $429.99 USD (8.2 and 16GBs) and top out at a whopping $729.99 USD (10.1 and 64GBs).

Oh, and don’t forget there’s a mandatory service agreement that tethers users to Verizon Wireless for two years.

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