Motorola Xoom 2 Media Edition review

This article first appeared at V3.co.uk

Android tablets have not really taken off in the business sector, with many employees and IT admins prefering the iPad. However, this has not stopped the influx of tablets running the Google-owned operating system to the market.

The Xoom 2 Media Edition is Motorola's latest effort and is essentially a cut-down version of the Xoom 2 as it sports a more compact 8.2in display.

Furthermore, at 216x140x8.9mm and a weight of 388g, it is easier to carry around than its 10in sibling and the market-leading iPad 2.

However, it is still not quite as portable as the BlackBerry Playbook or the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7in tablet, and you will struggle to squeze it into a jacket pocket.

Unsurprisingly, Motorola has chosen to stick with the same design for the Xoom 2 Media Edition that it introduced with the 10in Xoom 2. This means the tablet comes with cut-off corners, with the unlock button and volume controls at the back down the right-hand edge.

We are not big fans of this arrangement as more often than not you have to fumble around before you hit them.

The positioning of the logos and the camera suggests the device has been created for use primarily in portrait mode, unlike the 10in version. However, we still found ourselves using the device in landscape mode to view web pages and videos.

Considering the tablet is being promoted as a media device, it seems strange that Motorola is pushing portrait orientation as the default.

We also found it is all too easy to cover up the speakers and muffle the sound when holding the device in landscape mode, which is not ideal when watching a video without headphones.

Identical specs
Aside from the smaller screen size, all specifications of the Xoom 2 Media Edition are identical to its bigger brother. Both ship with a 1.2GHz dual-core processor and Android 3.2 Honeycomb and have 16GB of internal storage.

The 8.2in device also retains the 1280x800 resolution, despite the screen being smaller. This makes the quality of the display impressive, although we found that you have to keep the brightness on full all the time.

The device is easy to hold in two hands and typing on the stock Android keyboard is reasonably easy, although you might have to stretch to reach the letters in the middle.