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[Q] Xoom Advice?

Hello Xoom owners!
I am considering joining your crowd, and unfortunately, I cannot get in with the Staples deal. Would you mind answering a few questions for me ?
1) How is ICS official release shaping up for you, any nagging issues or lost functionality?
2) I've found a used Xoom (wifi, ics) at the same price (~$330) as a new Transformer TF101. There are dozens of comparisons, I know, but I can't get over the fact that the local B&M's seem to have more than a few open box asus returns due to issues. That being said should I consider getting the xoom at this point?
3) Have any of you experienced any long-term reliability issues? I've searched and searched, and it seems somewhat few and far-between. Big things I am after is stand-alone GPS performance, and screen with minimal light-bleed.
4) Forget xoom completely, and wait? But for what?
Many Thanks

notjustforshow said:
1) How is ICS official release shaping up for you, any nagging issues or lost functionality?
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Click to collapse
So, one of the big perks with the Motorola Xoom is it's easily unlocked bootloader. This gives you the obvious advantage of NOT having to run the stock software. If just running stock is more what you're into, I would look at other options in the field, personally.
Current ICS based roms, however, have fleshed out very nicely for our device. There doesn't appear to be any lost functionality or issues and I've been quite happy since I started flashing them. Speed seems as good, if not better and my fantastic battery life just keeps getting better.
2) I've found a used Xoom (wifi, ics) at the same price (~$330) as a new Transformer TF101. There are dozens of comparisons, I know, but I can't get over the fact that the local B&M's seem to have more than a few open box asus returns due to issues. That being said should I consider getting the xoom at this point?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can't say I'm crazy about the Transformer, but that's just me. The only real selling point it has over the Xoom, as far as I can see, is the ability to attach the keyboard. Personally, if that's something I really needed, I would have looked into an Apple Air (or a beefy netbook).
3) Have any of you experienced any long-term reliability issues? I've searched and searched, and it seems somewhat few and far-between. Big things I am after is stand-alone GPS performance, and screen with minimal light-bleed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Long term, no. I was a day-one 3g model adopter and some of those fresh off the assembly line models had some questionable build issues. Mine, for example, would made this odd creaking noise if you applied any pressure to the left side of the screen and the seam between the speakers/camera and the component cover was a little squishy if I were to press it the right way.
So I took mine back to Verizon and my replacement was flawless That is, until I dropped it in the fountain the atrium at work while trying to avoid hitting some kids running around, and the thing stopped working. Thankfully, Verizon sorta had my back and we hopped on a call with Motorola and the Verizon CSR more or less strong armed Motorola into giving me a free replacement.
4) Forget xoom completely, and wait? But for what?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't say what to wait for, but you are looking at picking up a device that has been discontinued. It has, in my experience, great performance and I don't personally plan to replace mine for at LEAST another year or more. If you're OK with that, you'll be getting a lot of tablet for the $300 mark, even if it's not the top of the line model.
My guess is the Xoom will still be a solid option for another 12-18 months for those who don't need to have the super-duper top of the line everything. Sure, there will be a few games that will work better on new hardware, but the core of what you would use a tablet for would likely not benefit from newer models in that time frame.

^ Thank you, that is what I wanted to hear.
I don't see much value in the latest and greatest thus far, and though it feels like I am overpaying at this point (considering other member deals), I do feel the reliability and community support is there.

And the stand-alone GPS is fantastic.

I am looking to get into this tablet as well any tips I should know before buying ???(I have a hook up at staples getting the display )
Sent from my HTC sensation 4g using Tapatalk

dislplin01 said:
I am looking to get into this tablet as well any tips I should know before buying ???
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Click to collapse
Like I said above, the biggest think to remember is that you would be buying a device that has been discontinued. So in very short order, it will be extremely hard to find chargers, docks, cases, etc as most places will have liquidated their inventory. My tip would be to make sure you buy anything you even think you may want for this thing when you buy it.

The only thing that I don't like in the Xoom is the screen which has some ghosting effect with some colors.
Compared to my Galaxy S2 screen it has a lot less quality, but at least it doesn't hurt eyes of you use it for a long time (amoled screens seem more tiring to me).
Materials are very good, it is very solid and ICS is amazing.
If you have ever seen a tablet with Honeycomb... forget about that! Ice Cream Sandwich is a lot faster, smother and stable.
Asus Transformer has a better screen (as far as I know, I have never seen it) but worse materials.
And not only it has not official ICS. It doesn't even have a decent ICS custom ROM.

If you are lucky to get Xoom for a good price it's awesome, ICS feels so smooth

One thing about the Transformer 1 is that the screen is better except for a huge amount of light bleeding. I returned mine for that reason and got the Xoom. Very happy with it.
Consider the Samsung Galaxy or the Transformer Prime. I got the Prime and its good, quad core, thin and a very good screen with no light bleed. Best buy here has them in stock.
Sent from my Xoom using xda premium

So...Would you recommend the 7" tab?

After reading a few reviews for the tab various websites complain about the apparent stuttering or lag when doing basic activities and all have different minor complaints. So my questions to the xda community are:
1)Would you recommend somebody buy this tablet for £200? If not what would you recommend?
2)Any complaints about the physical components of the tablet? - the screen matters to me the most tbh.
3) Do the custom roms fix any software related complaints you have of the device?
Thanks in advance!

I'm quite happy with the device, for the price. Sure you can better tablets for more and worse ones for less.
screen is fine, lag doesn't bother me too much though. I just wanted something to work out the box with no messing about as my partner wanted to use it a lot. If it were just for me I would be more tempted to mess about with roms and rooting.

For sure. I had 4 other 7 inchers before this one. I've had mine a month or so I guess and I'm happy with it. If I wasn't I would have surely returned it. I'm quick to take things back.
Plus, there's some kick ass development going on for this tablet.

For the price.. yeah, especially if you bought it at Costco. I just wish I could get a 4g version that works with T-Mobile.
Only reservations on recommendation is cause I would wait for the nexus tablet to do a comparison first.
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G with Beats Audio using Tapatalk 2

Probably. For the pricepoint I think it's still the best option on the market for the moment.
It'll also depend which phone you're coming from for a reference point as far as expectations. For the vast majority of phone devices out there the performance on this feels just as responsive. If you're using a Galaxy S2 device though it does feel a step down from that. Likewise the screen (while higher res) is definitely no AMOLED when it comes to wow factor. The slightly older Plus flavor of this tablet gives you that, but at an additional cost. For this price I think the screen's fine.
My biggest complaint is the memory card issue. And that really is a larger Android issue not specific to the device itself. You can put a 32GB card in. But it's essentially useless as far as most apps are concerned as most are programmed to only see the much smaller internal SD card. If you root there's ways around that, but it's frustrating that you have to do so. Most nicer Android devices now have both internal SD with an option for external SD so Android needs to start accounting for that at the system level.

Thanks for the replies, may hold out until google i/o before purchasing though.

Is the TF700 worth switching from Galaxy Tab 10.1?

Lemme put this in some perspective:
I've had the Galaxy Tab 10.1 for a while now, it is actually one of the Google I/O Limited Edition ones so that meant I had a pure Honeycomb experience. That's what I loved most about it, and was excited about the Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade expecting it to be pure ICS. Low and behold, i've been TouchWiz'd.
Now, I don't HATE it, but I don't LOVE it either, and have loved the 1920x1200 screen since I read about it, and love the dock option also. The question is, is it really worth the hassle of selling this if i'm going to get a pretty similar experience on the TF700?
Should I just hold on to this and run a custom ROM with the hopes of Jellybean in the near future (Samsung takes forever I know, not really the point) or should I just pull the trigger and sell it for a TF700?

g33zy said:
Lemme put this in some perspective:
I've had the Galaxy Tab 10.1 for a while now, it is actually one of the Google I/O Limited Edition ones so that meant I had a pure Honeycomb experience. That's what I loved most about it, and was excited about the Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade expecting it to be pure ICS. Low and behold, i've been TouchWiz'd.
Now, I don't HATE it, but I don't LOVE it either, and have loved the 1920x1200 screen since I read about it, and love the dock option also. The question is, is it really worth the hassle of selling this if i'm going to get a pretty similar experience on the TF700?
Should I just hold on to this and run a custom ROM with the hopes of Jellybean in the near future (Samsung takes forever I know, not really the point) or should I just pull the trigger and sell it for a TF700?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Was in the same place as you - had a Galaxy Tab 10.1 for a long time. Decided to take the plunge and haven't looked back since. Infinity is in a completely different league than the GTab. After 24 hours with the Infinity, I sold the Samsung. :laugh:

Finally, a comparrision thread that isnt pure troll sludge! I was beginning to think these had gone extinct. But anyways...
You're the one who will have to make that call man, but there are plenty of advantages and this tablet is getting better everyday. I'm sure the ROM scene will explode in due time as it does with every decent device for the Infinity just like JB will see it's debut on the Tab. If you have the expendable cash, why the hell not upgrade. The fact that your here looking into it means you either have nothing else to do or you are genuinly interested and wanting to try it out. So go pick one up at Best Buy and play with it in store and see what you think. If its a fit, then cash out and run home with your toy. If your still not sure, then hold off for a week and revisit. Good luck in the decision and I hope to see you as a regular.
PS GET THE TABLET!

The only tablet i'd consider, and i mean consider because if its features and not hardware is the Galaxy Note 10.1
Anything else is not even a question i should ask.

i've just upgraded from the gt 10.1, still keeping my 8.9 though:laugh:.
here's my my quick take -
the screen looks a whole lot better than the gt b/c of the resolution. and, if it's important to you, the screen gets darker and is just slightly brighter than the gt. it's got a warmer screen (though in the past there were mutiple mfg's of the tf and xoom screen so results may vary) and the screen is just a bit more reflective tha the gt.
of course the tablet is faster and smoother with tegra3. netflix runs horridly slow unless you force gpu accelleration. i have no clue why it suck so bad there. i couldn't say whether it's netflix's, nvidias, googles, or asus' fault as i don't have any ics/t3 devices to compare to.
the digitizer is easier to see in the glass of the infinity. i barely notice them in the gt, but see them all the time on the infinity. not really much of an issue though.
one thing you'll gain is manufacturer support. just a few months and asus already had an update and announced JB. samsung is just now rolling out ics with no interim patches since. if it wasn't for the xda dev's i'd give up totally on samsung devices.
downside is asus lack of qc. on day one my tf was perfect. day four and i'm getting the bleed and the clicky left side. now i can live with the bleed as the situations that make the bleed noticeable aren't very common in my normal usage. i only fear that it'll get worse like my other transformers did to where it did show even under the lowest settings.
most likely i'll sell the gt and keep the asus. it'll only be around for a year so i think if any issues show up i can deal with them for that long... as long as it doesn't die... or if the galaxy note doesn't tempt me.

Thanks for the feedback folks, this is all good stuff.
There are a few factors to consider:
1. I don't live in the US so I can't go to a B&M and even look at one. (living in Jamaica)
2. I'm gonna have to sell this here and i'll be using the cash from this to get it (tablet resale market is very good out here, have multiple offers of $500 for it)
3. My priorities are as close to pure android experience as possible and the higher resolution screen
Then i'm gonna have to find someone to bring it to Jamaica for me because customs would kill me shipping direct! I'd be looking at probably around $400 on taxes alone!
Anyhow, thanks for the feedback guys. I think i'm gonna go for it.

To Buy or Not to Buy

Hey Guys,
I'm seriously getting into dev work now for a living and therefore I need a tablet - my next app is going to be a tablet only news reader app (think Flipboard, Feedly etc combined and optimized for a tablet).
Was going to go for the Nexus 7 but I find it just too damn small and ugly. Nexus 10 is sold out and expensive and I can get a Note 10 brand new for about £250. Only things I'm worried about is the screen resolution and performance. Read a couple of reports about lag so just wanted people's opinions. Considering the price I can get it for as well would it be a good choice?
And if anyone can point me in the direction of some news apps they use on their Note would be appreciated

I do not feel any problem with resolution, It's enough even for watching movies. Reading is more than a good on this devices. Laging in multiscreen is solved upgrading from ICS to JB so it's not necessary to worry about it. You should not see any lags during reading of course.
I'm satisfied with this devices, but there is a lot of another cheaper solution of course. I can recommend SGN10.1 without doubts.

Well forget the resolution for a minute and go watch HD movie on the note and then tell me how the screen is

Honestly, screen resolution is fine unless you've read stuff / browsed on a nexus 10 or iPad 3/4. As for lag, I have come to the conclusion that certain builds released by samsung have lag while others don't. I personally don't and I'm on Build IMM76D.N8010XWALG4 which is android 4.0.4 (there are other 4.0.4 builds floating around as well).

Either that or you just can't satisfy some people...
Honestly with 2gb of ram I have never experienced lag except when I have a few things open, am downloading and installing apps and want to watch a movie.... What do you expect, even the PC slows down when you have a large amount of processing happening and ram being exhausted...

The resolution should not bother you unless you are one of the people who hovers about 5 inches from the display..
Other than that, the real concern for possible buyers would be the plastic casing. Are you fine with that, or do you really need that aluminium "premium" feel? Having played with various tablets (including the Infinity), I can say I honestly don't care because I'd put it in a case anyway, but if it bothers you, you probably won't be happy with this tablet.
Finally, while this tablet is really good, I think in terms of price and specs, you'd be better off with a Nexus 10 if you don't care about the stylus. You're guaranteed updates more quickly and for longer than if you got this tablet. Really, the biggest strength of this tablet is the stylus and its stylus-based application so if that's not even on your list.. I don't think you really want to get this.. (Although how much cheaper is the Nexus 10 for you? JW)

About the plastic case - From reading posts, most people seem to put their note into a case anyway... Whether its a folder style case, jell case, leather or silicone you'll find that the note is lighter than if you had the metal case....
As for the HD screen, I find the note screen is excellant to watch media on, as was stated previuosly, unless you sit with your face pressed up against the screen you won't really notice the difference. I like that Samsung really got the best out of what they gave and it isn't too bad..

crazyfool_1 said:
Hey Guys,
I'm seriously getting into dev work now for a living and therefore I need a tablet - my next app is going to be a tablet only news reader app (think Flipboard, Feedly etc combined and optimized for a tablet).
Was going to go for the Nexus 7 but I find it just too damn small and ugly. Nexus 10 is sold out and expensive and I can get a Note 10 brand new for about £250. Only things I'm worried about is the screen resolution and performance. Read a couple of reports about lag so just wanted people's opinions. Considering the price I can get it for as well would it be a good choice?
And if anyone can point me in the direction of some news apps they use on their Note would be appreciated
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Off topic. From which uk shop.
sent from my muffin

[Q] Thinking of getting a Shield LTE; Thoughts from users?

Hi Shielders,
I'm in the market for an 8 inch class tablet and the Shield 32 GB right now is leading the pack in my analysis. I'm curious to get feedback from owners as to whether you (as users) would recommend it for me based on my needs and use case:
Requirements: 8 inch-ish form factor (check) LTE (not just wifi) (check), at least full HD screen (check) and microUSB support (check)
The thing is, I'm not a gamer, other than the occasional angry birds type thing.
So I'm a bit concerned a game-optimized tablet might possibly be the wrong choice. Mostly I'll use it for web surfing, forum reading, and other general uses. Looking for reasonable battery life, quick response, and a generally good user experience. Prefer stock android or light skin.
I'll be using it on ATT, in places with good or at least adequate ATT signal but no wifi. I hate tethering things to my phone... it gets hot and the battery dies quickly!
So, unless I want to spend $500-600 on a top end Samsung tablet, the Shield 32GB LTE looks like my best bet.
I'm a bit worried that it is out of stock lots of places, presumably either discontinued or nearly so... But I think I can still get it at Frys.
I appreciate any feedback or insights that owners/users could give me! Thanks!
Marc

I am not a gamer either...other than the silly Android games... I love this tablet for what I use it for which like you is surfing the web and stuff. I have had no issues with it other than the latest update has caused the apps to optimise at every start up....but I rarely power it off so not a big deal to me. I do have a controller and HDMI cable and have used both without any hiccups. The controller is great to play beach buggy blitz on the TV! I have watched movies via the HDMI. I find the battery life to be good for my usage...but as stated I am not playing power consuming games. I have the WiFi only version (16GB) and found that wasn't much space even with an SD card so I rooted and remove some stuff I don't use...like Trine2. But with 32 gigs you should be OK.

Thanks!
Is there any buzz about a new version of this tablet? It being about a year old I wonder if something new is just around the corner... Or is nvidia exiting the tablet market?
Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk

Love the Shield tablet lte
I would highly recomend the lte version, for 100 extra you get double the storage and lte and its unlocked! I have great battery on it and usally really good reception. I would just recommend do all the updates before you strart really using the tablet. My only complaint was after i bought it compusa had a closing down sale and they had them at 50 percent off at the end. But even at full price, WORTH IT!

since you are asking...
DO NOT BUY THIS CRAP
I own one and suggested a friend to buy one too.
you can get all the pros from all the reviews in youtube but here comes the truth ( in my case and opinion)
Battery is a joke, with light use, the battery will last less than 8 hours, so be sure to plug it in the car, office, while biking, in the park, and carry a couple of the battery packs.
Do not open chrome. period.
make sure to shut down, wait 1 min then turn back on at least 2 times a day or it will be sluggish and laggy
the good part is that sometimes it does it by itself.... the shutdown part ( good battery)
get ready to RMA, I have done it 3 times and my friend 4 or 5
My RMA
1. Screen flickers
2. RMA had a dark screen, next to another shield tablet both with the brightness at 100 mine was noticeable darker, like if the slider was at 80
3. RMA had a less darker screen but with yellow tint.
My friend.
1. Battery expanded, it popped open the back cover.
2. rma had a dark screen
3. rma had same dark screen with yellow tint
4, same tint
5. waiting on the response of the next rma due to dark / yellow tint
It might be just bad luck, but...

Ughghg. I was just about to order one, as I had no real negatives to doing so. Now this. And since it's end-of-life RMA will probably be a pain.
Back to the search. I'd be curious to hear from others how robust their own experience with the hardware has been. Practical battery life, screen, etc...
My use will be light. Typically less than an hour of interaction time with it a day, no gaming. I'd expect any tablet to last a week or two like this (my old 10.5" Samsung Tab 2 <wifi> goes several weeks on a charge, with <30 mins use per day, often zero use).
Marc

About the issues.
To be fair, im probably one of the lucky ones that got a perfect unit. But as for lag and any software issues, just make sure you are up to date on the latest update. If your on 4.4 it will work great but 5.0 was terrible, 5.02 was better. 5.1 is so much better! Battery is pretty good, lte does affect stand by time. You can always throw it into airplane mode or turn it off. Ive seen the horror stories of bad units,but i dont know how often that is happening. We are in a forum where bad and good get written about. So grain of salt even with my praise of it. Average screen on time for me runs probably 5 to 6 hours with chrome and about 30 percent brightness and on wifi. It works for me, i upgraded from a second gen nexus 7 and then a lte ipad mini retina. I bought the unit from gamestop and with the way thaey do returns it was once i gave them the money it was mine. But really i love the shield tablet, i have the shield portable and planning on the new shield tv box with 500gb hdd, but they gave the ps4 a media player so really iffy on that. So thats my 4 cents? Since i posted twice.

I read online reviews at places like Newegg and so on... it seems that a lot of people have problems with this unit. I'm putting on hold my plan to buy one while I do more research. They cost $400 from reputable sellers like Frys right now. I found it cheaper from some individual sellers or small fly-by-night places (techatrone etc.) but particularly with the problems reported I don't want to take a gamble with ability to RMA.
I may just buy something with a less exciting screen while I await price drops on models with better screens.
I'm actually surprised there aren't a lot of choices in the ~8" WITH LTE class... at least, not that work on ATT.
The search goes on.
Thanks all for your inputs!

I have a lte version since release and never had any problems with it. 6 hrs sot not gaming though. Was always fluent and snappy and now on 5.1 it is better than ever. I wouldn't hesitate a second when I had the choice again.
Sent from my Asus Infinity TF700 with Dock

Snah001 said:
I have a lte version since release and never had any problems with it. 6 hrs sot not gaming though. Was always fluent and snappy and now on 5.1 it is better than ever. I wouldn't hesitate a second when I had the choice again.
Sent from my Asus Infinity TF700 with Dock
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the input.
I've gotten really frustrated looking for a tablet. The Samsung ones are feature-rich but locked down boot loaders and trouble rooting lollipop on the ATT version really turn me off. And the LG G Pad F has a weak screen by comparison.
The Shield is looking good, specs wise... I'm reconsidering buying one from a reputable vendor so I can RMA in case of trouble... The search continues but I'll make a decision this week most likely!

Did you look at the Dell?

Which dell? They have an LTE model that is rootable?
I looked at the Venue 7000 8" model but I don't see a variant with LTE. Am I missing an option somewhere?
I absolutely need LTE service for this tablet.
Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk

I took another look at Dell... there don't seem to be any 8" LTE Android models.
After much consideration, I've ordered a Shield 32GB from Frys. Hopefully I'll be lucky and get one without build problems. I will try it out for a week and RMA it if it doesn't work out.
It's amazing that in the 8" class, there are few devices that aren't massively bootloader locked.
Marc

Frankenscript said:
I took another look at Dell... there don't seem to be any 8" LTE Android models.
After much consideration, I've ordered a Shield 32GB from Frys. Hopefully I'll be lucky and get one without build problems. I will try it out for a week and RMA it if it doesn't work out.
It's amazing that in the 8" class, there are few devices that aren't massively bootloader locked.
Marc
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As long as you root it and make a few modifications... you should enjoy it!

Make sure you update to 5.1 and unlock the bootloader before you get going. Then you can install recovery and root any time you feel the need.
I've had a good experience with mine so far, except I did RMA because my case had crack, but the RMA process was as good as can be.
The replacement is in perfect condition, and I didn't have much trouble transferring to the new one, so I guess I got lucky.
Frankenscript said:
I took another look at Dell... there don't seem to be any 8" LTE Android models.
After much consideration, I've ordered a Shield 32GB from Frys. Hopefully I'll be lucky and get one without build problems. I will try it out for a week and RMA it if it doesn't work out.
It's amazing that in the 8" class, there are few devices that aren't massively bootloader locked.
Marc
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

FYI, 5.1 is not available via OTA anymore until they re-release it after fixes. If you want it, you'll have to do via custom recovery. I just got my RMA (at no fault of the hardware, just software issue on my part) and it came with 5.0.1 and that's the latest for me. I checked the system updates multiple times through the day with no luck on this 5.0.2 that I have read others mentioned.

I advice you LTE version for 32GB storage. Pen is quite good, but not good at all because the tablet hasn't a real digitalizer. Very good for normal users (about 6h screen with Wifi surfing Internet, writing mails and taking photos.. not tested with LTE). Accessories are expensive but I like Shield Cover for its magnetic feature. I advise you this tablet, against Samsung ones, but you should see also Nexus 7 2013 LTE and LG GPad ones. Nvidia doesn't optimize Android system, and sometimes there are moments when the tablet is too slow, but only for a little time.

So far I'm enjoying my Shield 32GB LTE. Works great on AT&T (once I got past the activation fiasco), and it's nice and smooth for me on Android 5.01. I'm not yet rooted or anything non-stock. I'm getting ready for a vacation, so even if a 5.1 update came today, I wouldn't apply it until my return. I'm keeping things nice and stable for the next couple weeks!
I also got the ProCase. It's working fine. I was a bit concerned about the metal clasp scratching the screen, but it doesn't seem to harm it. The design of the case seems to prevent that challenge.
Marc

Have also the 32Gb lte version. As a tab its great and im enjoy using it. Only downside & a really big one is the build quality and build materials. It's my second one after rma the first one because of cracks near the sim & sd slot. The one i have now got also after a whie 1 crack near the sim slot, then some weeks later the second near sd slot. And now 7 months later i have a lot of them and most are near openings of the tab(sd, sim, hdmi, stylus...). I decided to not rma again, cuz im sure it would happen again.