If you’re anything like the writers and editors here at Android Community, you’re in no hurry to be saddled with yet another monthly contract – even for the luxury of an LTE-enabled tablet. That was one of the the things that made the quite solid Motorola DROID XYBOARD tablets on Verizon much less desirable than they might otherwise have been. After a few weeks of pre-orders, Motorola has made both the XYBOARD 10.1 and XYBOARD 8.2 available for purchase on their website in WiFi-only forms. They’re absent the DROID branding, which is an exclusive marketing tool for Verizon’s partner hardware.

The XYBOARD 8.2 starts at $399.99 and the 10.1 at $499,99, both for the 16GB versions. That’s a little more than we’d like to see them go for, but they compete directly with the Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 and 10.1, respectively, while offering more expansion and hardware choices. Both use the same 1280×800 screen resolution, dual-core 1.2Ghz processors, 1GB of RAM each, 5MP cameras and (currently) Honeycomb 3.2. Moto is already promising an ICS update at an indeterminate time. The tablet software is customized by Motorola, but not to an excessive degree.

There are a couple of interesting extras that come on the XYBOARDs which you won’t find standard on competing models: both have an integrated infrared port and universal remote software, plus an HDMI port. Those who intend to stay mobile should probably opt for the 10.1, as its 7000mAh battery soundly beats the 3800mAh one in the 8.2. In our reviews, we concluded that both tablets were solid entrants from Motorola that were unfortunately saddled by wireless pricing. While the WiFi-only prices aren’t incredible (especially in the light of the $500 Transformer Prime) they’re a lot easier to swallow.

3 COMMENTS

  1. Hmmmm. Xyboard or the Asus Transformer Prime with Tegra 3, better screen
    …….same price……..better keyboard battery backup
    accessory…Motorola fans will have ahard time with this one..

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