The Motorola Xoom was thought to be one of the likely contenders to compete with the iPad. While a lot of Android fans have adopted the Xoom, the price and other things have conspired to keep the Xoom from posing a serious challenge to the tablet market leading iPad 2. Motorola is rumored to be at work on a new tablet that has a big 10-inch screen in a 4:3 format.
The coolest thing about the screen is that the rumor claims the resolution is a whopping 2048 x 1536. The rumor about the tablet also claims that it is already in the hands of the final testers before it launches. The tablet is said to use the same thin and light design of the current Xoom tablet and rather than using Gingerbread like current tablets, the new tablet will have Ice Cream Sandwich onboard.
Whether or not the new tablet will be a Xoom braded device we don’t know. The tablet is expected by the end of 2011 or early 2012. Hardware is a mystery but with the tie up between Motorola and NVIDIA, the assumption is Tegra 3 will be inside the device.
[via Notebookitalia]
I have gotta call a fail on this. I don’t think this is true. Why would the aspect ratio be 4:3? also the line that states the new tablet won’t be running gingerbread?? What tablet is? The flyer is the only one. I also find it hard to believe that ice cream sandwich is in aany testers hands right now.
I have gotta call a fail on this. I don’t think this is true. Why would the aspect ratio be 4:3? also the line that states the new tablet won’t be running gingerbread?? What tablet is? The flyer is the only one. I also find it hard to believe that ice cream sandwich is in aany testers hands right now.
I seriously doubt this is true. A) Resolution, B) Ice Cream Sandwich and C) in testers hands. Also, I wouldn’t exactly call the Xoom “thin and light” relative to many other tablets…
I seriously doubt this is true. A) Resolution, B) Ice Cream Sandwich and C) in testers hands. Also, I wouldn’t exactly call the Xoom “thin and light” relative to many other tablets…
Lol the resolution is wrong, for sure, ICSandwich, i dont think is anywhere near done (has it even began development?), and for that reason it couldnt be in the hands of testers. of course, Motorolla is working on a tablet, if they werent working on new tablets/phones all thetime, they’d be out of buisness. So yes, there is a new tablet, and no, you dont know anything about it.
Once again this website is posting obviously fake news. 4:3 aspect ratio, are you fucking kidding me?
tl;dr: You guys are idiots.
I don’t understand what is so hard to believe that someone may release a 4:3 ratio tablet at 2048×1536 with Android Ice Cream Sandwich on it around the end of the year or early next year?
16:10 tablets are great. Everyone is doing 16:10 already on Android. Kinda surprised nobody has tried to release a quality (there are some crappy ones already) 4:3 ratio tablet.
And with Android Ice Cream Sandwich expected to launch this fall, of course any tablet launching after it should have the latest Androd on it.
Though the author of this post needs to revise this line, “use the same thin and light design of the current Xoom tablet and rather than using Gingerbread like current tablets”. Haha. The current Xoom is anti-thin and light. I pray Motorola does a better job with the weight with it’s next tablet. And I assume he meant to say “Honeycomb” instead of “Gingerbread”.
Well, the Xoom definitely is NOT thin, but compared to an iPad 2 is IS light. However its case design, while looks good, has other issues. The corners are hard edged and dig into your hands making it pretty uncomfortable after extended use and the power button on back is just plain stupid. Its still lighter and easier to handle than the iPad 2 though which has very sharp edges and is top heavy. The Tab 10.1 on the other hand is very thin, light and simple to handle for long periods. Being a Google Experience Device, I am sure the Xoom will be the first to get upgraded to ICS when it comes out this Fall/Winter.
The real problem here is 4:3 and how most applications, even those written for Honeycomb using fragments will not scale their layouts properly. This will present many more issues (fragmentation if you will) than it solves. Besides the scaling, the preferred method for holding an iPad is portrait, landscape for Android tablets. I love my Xoom, but it wasn’t the best received product. If this is true, Motorola is setting themselves up for another flop. The once unstoppable Motorola/Verzion duo is looking worse daily.
“Kinda surprised nobody has tried to release a quality 4:3 ratio tablet.”
That part of the market is taken up by that “Other” tablet.
I think the OP/Author meant Honeycomb not Gingerbread when he was referring to what operating system the tablet would run.
Also, is this a new “reference” design for Android tablets? I think the resolution is exactly the same as what has leaked for the rumored Apple iPad HD.
The problem with Honeycomb and any of it’s Android Tablet OS successors is not the aspect ratio or pixel density, but rather the dearth of apps, and poor app development guidelines which do not properly scale.
Can’t tell you how jarring it is to see a fixed 320×480 or 480×800 app on the qHD display of my EVO 3D. Apps designed and developed properly should be screen-size and resolution agnostic, or at least offer a tablet specific version. Perhaps Android Fragments will take care of this, but I haven’t seen a lot of apps supporting this yet.
“the same thin and light design of the current Xoom tablet” – I can only assume the author has never had to heft one of the current Xoom tablets up off the shop display unit. The new Galaxy tab is thin and light. The Xoom may as well be a stone tablet…