Motorola Xoom - camera project?
I am sure that a significant part of Habralyuds already heard about the Xoom - a tablet computer from Motorola. This tablet should be the first device on the market running the Android operating system version Honeycomb (3.0), which was specially deeply reworked by Google for use on tablets. Do I have to say once again that it is in Xoom that many see the first real competitor to the iPad. However, more and more information is beginning to say that the Motorola Xoom may turn out to be a purely “carrier project” and will not receive much distribution outside the US market - is this what we will try to sort out in this article.
First of all, let me remind everyone of what the Motorola Xoom is. This tablet is based on the Nvidia Tegra 2 System-on-a-Chip (System on a Chip or simply SoC), which has two cores and operates at a frequency of 1 GHz. At the same time, Xoom also boasts the presence of 1 GB of RAM type DDR2 and 32 GB of flash memory. Displaying and manipulating the Motorola Xoom will be through a 10.1 inch widescreen touchscreen display with a resolution of 1280 Ă— 800 pixels. You can find a three-axis accelerometer, an electronic compass, proximity and lighting sensors, a gyroscope and even a barometer from the whole Pleiad of various sensors in the Motorola Xoom! What can we say about the presence of two cameras (usual 5 megapixel with the ability to record video in 720p format at 30 frames per second and 2 megapixel front for video chat), the ability to play video in 1080p resolution (for which the built-in HDMI connector is suitable) and support Adobe Flash. About the availability of Wi-Fi and 3G and say nothing.
')
Although the officially announced Motorola Xoom was only recently at CES 2011, a little earlier, Andy Rubin (Andy Rubin) briefly revealed it at the D: Dive Into Mobile event, where he was interviewed by Walt Mossberg.
If you start from purely technical specifications, it is obvious that the Motorola Xoom is much better than the Apple iPad. If the convenience of the aspect ratio of the display can be argued, then a higher resolution, more RAM and a more powerful dual-core processor is a definite plus, especially if it does not adversely affect the autonomy of the device. The software part in the form of Android 3.0 Honeycomb also looks very promising, although sometimes it looks too “designer”. And, although some parts do not look very thoughtful (in my humble opinion), yet the system sees a radically new approach to the system software of tablet computers.
What acts as a "spoon of tar" in this "barrel of honey"? In my opinion, this is actually Motorola as a device manufacturer. No, it's not that I have some negative feelings for Motorola (although, if you think about it, you can find a reason for this) - the problem is rather that Motorola Mobility is a rather “weak” manufacturer who cannot boast especially strong positions in the world market or large profits (i.e., financial opportunities). After several years of losses, loss of markets and other negative phenomena, Motorola saved itself as a manufacturer mainly due to the sale of Android smartphones in the US market through the largest local mobile operator Verizon, and the success of many Motorola models was ensured rather by Verizon’s efforts (it’s enough to remember promotion of the Droid model) than the work of Motorola itself.
Of course, recently, waiting for the iPhone to appear on Verizon’s networks, Motorola began to work more actively with other US carriers, which is noticeable, for example, in the case of their new flagship Atrix 4G smartphone, which is aimed specifically at AT & T, Verizon’s main competitor, but even this does not change the fact that the fragile financial balance of Motorola is held by Verizon. You could even say that Motorola is almost completely dependent on Verizon.
And what happens when the manufacturer is dependent on the operator, not its customers? Too great a temptation on the part of the operator to influence the creation of products by the manufacturer, which in the case of smartphones is expressed in different ways. But now it's not about smartphones, but about tablets. How can an operator affect the creation of a tablet computer? Mainly push the focus on the model with 3G, because it (the operator) benefits customers who conclude additional contracts for the use of mobile Internet. Indeed, the model, whose sales start in the USA is scheduled for February 24, 2011, features nothing more than a CDMA EVDO Rev 3G standard modem. A - just for Verizon networks, whose logo can also be seen on the front of the tablet. In addition, the availability of the 3G module makes the retail price of the device significantly higher - we are talking about $ 800 starting price. But this is not all the tricks of the operator - judging by the BestBuy flyer, in order to activate Wi-Fi, the user will need to pay at least one month of mobile Internet from the cellular operator (from 20 to 80 dollars, depending on the tariff plan) ! Moreover, according to Best Buy Mobile employees, they will not sell the device at all unless the customer first activates it on the Verizon network . Although some representatives of Motorola in Latin America confirmed that the Xoom version of the tablet without the 3G module will be available , it is not known how long the Wi-Fi version of the device will appear in other markets.
Is it worth saying that the 3G version of the same iPad, according to many sources, is far less popular with its Wi-Fi companion? What, in general, is logical - why keep an extra 3G module in the device and overpay for its availability (both when buying and using additional mobile Internet) if the mobile Internet is available on a smartphone? This is without taking into account the fact that the weighty part of users rarely uses tablets outside the premises where there is Wi-Fi (home, work, cafe, etc.). It is clear that Verizon is behind this solution and that it’s interesting, and not the interests of potential customers, in this case it is served by Motorola.
It is this approach, quite possibly, that can negatively affect the start of Xoom sales - yes, they will be big, but much lower than they could be if the tablet were available without being tied to an operator, at least at the expense of a higher starting price. But the sales of any device, as well as the interest in it, are not constant and the situation is quite possible that by the time the Wi-Fi version becomes available (there is another question on which markets it will be available at all, given Motorola’s current policy of concentrating on American and Chinese markets) interest in the product will not be as high as it will be after the initial appearance of the device on sale.
And it is quite obvious that if the Wi-Fi version of the Xoom goes on sale only in April 2011, then at that time it will have enough many competitors, among which will be like other devices based on Android 3.0 Honeycomb (the same LG G-Slate ), and Apple iPad 2, PlayBook from RIM, Palm tablets from HP.
First of all, let me remind everyone of what the Motorola Xoom is. This tablet is based on the Nvidia Tegra 2 System-on-a-Chip (System on a Chip or simply SoC), which has two cores and operates at a frequency of 1 GHz. At the same time, Xoom also boasts the presence of 1 GB of RAM type DDR2 and 32 GB of flash memory. Displaying and manipulating the Motorola Xoom will be through a 10.1 inch widescreen touchscreen display with a resolution of 1280 Ă— 800 pixels. You can find a three-axis accelerometer, an electronic compass, proximity and lighting sensors, a gyroscope and even a barometer from the whole Pleiad of various sensors in the Motorola Xoom! What can we say about the presence of two cameras (usual 5 megapixel with the ability to record video in 720p format at 30 frames per second and 2 megapixel front for video chat), the ability to play video in 1080p resolution (for which the built-in HDMI connector is suitable) and support Adobe Flash. About the availability of Wi-Fi and 3G and say nothing.
')
Although the officially announced Motorola Xoom was only recently at CES 2011, a little earlier, Andy Rubin (Andy Rubin) briefly revealed it at the D: Dive Into Mobile event, where he was interviewed by Walt Mossberg.
If you start from purely technical specifications, it is obvious that the Motorola Xoom is much better than the Apple iPad. If the convenience of the aspect ratio of the display can be argued, then a higher resolution, more RAM and a more powerful dual-core processor is a definite plus, especially if it does not adversely affect the autonomy of the device. The software part in the form of Android 3.0 Honeycomb also looks very promising, although sometimes it looks too “designer”. And, although some parts do not look very thoughtful (in my humble opinion), yet the system sees a radically new approach to the system software of tablet computers.
What acts as a "spoon of tar" in this "barrel of honey"? In my opinion, this is actually Motorola as a device manufacturer. No, it's not that I have some negative feelings for Motorola (although, if you think about it, you can find a reason for this) - the problem is rather that Motorola Mobility is a rather “weak” manufacturer who cannot boast especially strong positions in the world market or large profits (i.e., financial opportunities). After several years of losses, loss of markets and other negative phenomena, Motorola saved itself as a manufacturer mainly due to the sale of Android smartphones in the US market through the largest local mobile operator Verizon, and the success of many Motorola models was ensured rather by Verizon’s efforts (it’s enough to remember promotion of the Droid model) than the work of Motorola itself.
Of course, recently, waiting for the iPhone to appear on Verizon’s networks, Motorola began to work more actively with other US carriers, which is noticeable, for example, in the case of their new flagship Atrix 4G smartphone, which is aimed specifically at AT & T, Verizon’s main competitor, but even this does not change the fact that the fragile financial balance of Motorola is held by Verizon. You could even say that Motorola is almost completely dependent on Verizon.
And what happens when the manufacturer is dependent on the operator, not its customers? Too great a temptation on the part of the operator to influence the creation of products by the manufacturer, which in the case of smartphones is expressed in different ways. But now it's not about smartphones, but about tablets. How can an operator affect the creation of a tablet computer? Mainly push the focus on the model with 3G, because it (the operator) benefits customers who conclude additional contracts for the use of mobile Internet. Indeed, the model, whose sales start in the USA is scheduled for February 24, 2011, features nothing more than a CDMA EVDO Rev 3G standard modem. A - just for Verizon networks, whose logo can also be seen on the front of the tablet. In addition, the availability of the 3G module makes the retail price of the device significantly higher - we are talking about $ 800 starting price. But this is not all the tricks of the operator - judging by the BestBuy flyer, in order to activate Wi-Fi, the user will need to pay at least one month of mobile Internet from the cellular operator (from 20 to 80 dollars, depending on the tariff plan) ! Moreover, according to Best Buy Mobile employees, they will not sell the device at all unless the customer first activates it on the Verizon network . Although some representatives of Motorola in Latin America confirmed that the Xoom version of the tablet without the 3G module will be available , it is not known how long the Wi-Fi version of the device will appear in other markets.
Is it worth saying that the 3G version of the same iPad, according to many sources, is far less popular with its Wi-Fi companion? What, in general, is logical - why keep an extra 3G module in the device and overpay for its availability (both when buying and using additional mobile Internet) if the mobile Internet is available on a smartphone? This is without taking into account the fact that the weighty part of users rarely uses tablets outside the premises where there is Wi-Fi (home, work, cafe, etc.). It is clear that Verizon is behind this solution and that it’s interesting, and not the interests of potential customers, in this case it is served by Motorola.
It is this approach, quite possibly, that can negatively affect the start of Xoom sales - yes, they will be big, but much lower than they could be if the tablet were available without being tied to an operator, at least at the expense of a higher starting price. But the sales of any device, as well as the interest in it, are not constant and the situation is quite possible that by the time the Wi-Fi version becomes available (there is another question on which markets it will be available at all, given Motorola’s current policy of concentrating on American and Chinese markets) interest in the product will not be as high as it will be after the initial appearance of the device on sale.
And it is quite obvious that if the Wi-Fi version of the Xoom goes on sale only in April 2011, then at that time it will have enough many competitors, among which will be like other devices based on Android 3.0 Honeycomb (the same LG G-Slate ), and Apple iPad 2, PlayBook from RIM, Palm tablets from HP.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/113331/
All Articles