By Keri Algar
SYDNEY, NSW: Today Telstra has announced its partnership with Motorola for the launch of the highly anticipated Xoom tablet in May, possibly early May. However an RRP or Telstra plans have yet to be revealed.
Australian tech experts have anxiously awaited the Xoom’s arrival after it received an impressive reception at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas earlier this year. CNET, who tagged CES 2011 as a ‘tablet feast’, gave the Xoom the ‘best of show’ award.
To start with, the 10.1-inch Xoom packs robust hardware including a 1GHz dual-core processor, 32 GB of on-board memory and 1GB of RAM. It also runs on Android’s 3.0 Honeycomb platform, which has been built from top to bottom specifically for tablet functionality and multi-tasking (think a customisable home-screen with moveable widgets, notifications and tabbed browsing). According to Motorola, the software will also jumpstart the global development of apps for the Android ecosystem, already sitting at over 150,000 apps.
The Xoom also features an HD widescreen 1280×800 display, front-facing (2-megapixel) and rear-facing (5-megapixel) cameras, Adobe Flash Player 10.2 (downloadable from Android App Market), a built-in gyroscope, barometer, e-compass, accelerometer and adaptive lighting. It supports up to 10 hours of video playback and charges in 3.5 hours.
Meanwhile, Motorola has announced a ‘save the date’ for an event in Sydney for 5 May 2011. It is understood that this is when the Xoom will be officially launched.
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Warwick Bray, executive director, Telstra Mobility Products, said: “Motorola Xoom arrives at a time when Australians are embracing both mobile tablets and devices powered by Android in record numbers. Motorola Xoom’s high-definition touch screen and powerful operating software will make it possible for more Australians to enjoy video, mobile web browsing, gaming and magazines on the go.”
“It brings together beautifully integrated services like Gmail and YouTube, a world of Android apps and an interface that’s easy for our customers to personalise with apps, shortcuts and widgets. Our customers are going to love consuming, creating and sharing content in more places on Australia’s largest and fastest national mobile broadband network.”