By Sandy Fitzgerald | Thu Nov 03, 2011 2:41 pm |
Motorola announced the Xoom 2 and Xoom 2 Media Edition, two tablets to launch in England and Ireland this month, to compete with Apple's top-selling iPad 2.
Both tablets run on Android 3.2 Honeycomb, have a 5-megapixel back camera and 1.3 megapixel front facing camera, and operate with dual-core 1.2 gigahertz processors. The Xoom 2 has a 10.1 inch screen, while the Media Edition is smaller, with an eight-inch display. The Media Edition is also thinner and lighter.Both models feature special "splashguards" for additional screen protection for the Gorilla Glass screens, which Motorola says are brighter and more vibrant than the screen on the original Xoom. The Xoom 2 is optimized more for businesses than the Media Edition, and features business-grade security and Active Sync for work email, contacts and more. It also has pre-loaded Citrix GoToMeeting and Receiver, as well as MotoCast, allowing users to stream files. The Illinois-based tech company hasn't yet announced prices or a U.S. release date for the new tablets. While all of the features point to high-end devices that might compete well with the Apple iPad 2, the decision to purchase a Xoom might hinge more on price than function. Motorola may face difficulties if it doesn't price its new devices to compete with the $500 iPad. The company encountered trouble after listing its original Xoom at $600 for a Wi-Fi version and $800 for a 32-gigabyte 3G version, far higher than iPad's pricing. Motorola then had to drop the Xoom's pricing to compete with Apple but still lost sales, a scenerio it does not likely want to repeat with its newest models. According to a survey by research firm iGR's, consumers are willing to buy non-Apple devices for $400, or $100 less than a $500 iPad 2. The news bodes well for new tablet devices like Amazon's Kindle Fire, which is hitting the market at the far lower entry point of $200. But high-end devices like the new XOOM tablets may still have trouble competing if they're not competitively priced to attract buyers who want a machine with far more functionality than the Fire.
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