MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Do you have a tablet? Would I like it? Should I wait to buy one? Please Post.

Adoby · 07-10-2011, 06:05 PM

I have a Motorola wifi Xoom. I bought it early and am very pleased with it. Now there are other models that are cheaper, but have similar specs. So most of what I say below applies to the newer models as well.

I charge at most once a day. Depends on how much I use it. Watching movies seems to take a lot of juice.

It is great with comics. I use the app PV (Perfect Viewer) for that.Cbr/cbz is fine.

No possibility to use USB or SD-card. Not at the moment at least. In a few months I expect that to change. The Android OS Honeycomb doesn't currently support it, but some makers have their own fixes for that. Not my Motorola. It has the standard Honeycomb, without any "frills".

Instead I have a wifi network at home, with a Synology NAS. It has a media-station app that means that I can look at videos, photoalbums and listen to music, stored on the NAS, by streaming over the wifi. Since I almost only use it at home, I really don't need more storage options than that. I had to recode some of my videos, too high resolution/bitrate and it starts skipping frames. But mostly it works fine, as long as I keep to movies below 2GB in size. I suspect it is a limitation both regarding my wifi network and what the Xoom manages to play.

But it is still great to use to watch movies/tv-shows. Very nice picture. Headphones are a must. The speakers are far too small to be able to enjoy music or a movie.

In order to extend a wifi network you can get at wifi repeater. It recieves on one channel and retransmits on another. Works great. You just have to position the repeater so it is close enough to the neighbours network and your tablet. But since you free to position it at the best position, it should work fine. I use this to extend my network without having to draw cables. I can now use my wifi network in my garden as well as in a nearby building I am renovating to use as a mini-spa. Or plan to have a bathtub in, at least ...

The repeater I use is a Zylex WAP3205. It was a bit tricky to configure, but it works fine. Not cheap, but it is also possible to configure for other uses in a wifi network.

I don't play many games, but there seem to be a lot available. Not sure about free games.

The reviews for the Toshiba Thrive seems nice. It has working USB. I suspect you could also attach full USB-drives for a lot more storage. Perhaps via a powered USB-hub? I believe that would suit you fine. Not as "slim" as the Xoom, but perhaps better in other ways.

Oh, and it is very good as a ebook reader. You can use a lot of different reader apps. I use Manato. Daytime outdoors it is unusable. But then I use my Opus instead. At night the Xoom is great with the night theme with white letters on black.

07-10-2011, 06:05 PM	#2
Adoby Handy Elephant Posts: 1,737 Karma: 26785684 Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Southern Sweden, far out in the quiet woods Device: Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra	I have a Motorola wifi Xoom. I bought it early and am very pleased with it. Now there are other models that are cheaper, but have similar specs. So most of what I say below applies to the newer models as well. I charge at most once a day. Depends on how much I use it. Watching movies seems to take a lot of juice. It is great with comics. I use the app PV (Perfect Viewer) for that.Cbr/cbz is fine. No possibility to use USB or SD-card. Not at the moment at least. In a few months I expect that to change. The Android OS Honeycomb doesn't currently support it, but some makers have their own fixes for that. Not my Motorola. It has the standard Honeycomb, without any "frills". Instead I have a wifi network at home, with a Synology NAS. It has a media-station app that means that I can look at videos, photoalbums and listen to music, stored on the NAS, by streaming over the wifi. Since I almost only use it at home, I really don't need more storage options than that. I had to recode some of my videos, too high resolution/bitrate and it starts skipping frames. But mostly it works fine, as long as I keep to movies below 2GB in size. I suspect it is a limitation both regarding my wifi network and what the Xoom manages to play. But it is still great to use to watch movies/tv-shows. Very nice picture. Headphones are a must. The speakers are far too small to be able to enjoy music or a movie. In order to extend a wifi network you can get at wifi repeater. It recieves on one channel and retransmits on another. Works great. You just have to position the repeater so it is close enough to the neighbours network and your tablet. But since you free to position it at the best position, it should work fine. I use this to extend my network without having to draw cables. I can now use my wifi network in my garden as well as in a nearby building I am renovating to use as a mini-spa. Or plan to have a bathtub in, at least ... The repeater I use is a Zylex WAP3205. It was a bit tricky to configure, but it works fine. Not cheap, but it is also possible to configure for other uses in a wifi network. I don't play many games, but there seem to be a lot available. Not sure about free games. The reviews for the Toshiba Thrive seems nice. It has working USB. I suspect you could also attach full USB-drives for a lot more storage. Perhaps via a powered USB-hub? I believe that would suit you fine. Not as "slim" as the Xoom, but perhaps better in other ways. Oh, and it is very good as a ebook reader. You can use a lot of different reader apps. I use Manato. Daytime outdoors it is unusable. But then I use my Opus instead. At night the Xoom is great with the night theme with white letters on black. Last edited by Adoby; 07-10-2011 at 06:11 PM.