V3 got some hands on time with the Xoom 2 and the Xoom 2 Media Edition, which were announced today as Motorola aims to get a jump on rivals as Christmas approaches.

Motorola has made a number of changes to the original Xoom tablet, but not all of them are positive and it could struggle to sell like its predecessor.

The direct successor retains the same 10.1in screen size, with Motorola boosting the display quality to HD and increasing brightness. However, when we used the device in low lighting at full brightness, the screen did not appear a major step up from the original.

The device comes with rounded off corners much like the 7in Acer Iconia Tab A100, and this is not a good look. Motorola has done this to make the device easier to grip, but it doesn't appear to make it any easier to hold than the iPad 2 or Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1.

Motorola has done well to shave off a couple of millimetres from the Xoom, which was a bulky device. The Xoom 2 is 8.8mm thick and weighs 599g, which makes it near on identical to the iPad 2 (8.8mm, 601g) in terms of specs, but not quite as thin and light as the Galaxy Tab 10.1 (8.6mm, 565g).

Confusion surrounds the ports as the pre-production device we saw had SIM-card and micro-SD card slots, but Nick Notton, product manager at Motorola, explained that these will not be included in the retail versions. This is a downgrade from the original, but could be seen on future editions.

Disappointingly, Motorola will also be shipping the Xoom 2 with Android Honeycomb 3.2 and not Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS), which is due to arrive imminently.

Notton said that Motorola will announce more about the ICS update in six weeks, but by that time other Ice Cream Sandwich devices are expected to be on the market and it could be 2012 until Xoom 2 buyers see the upgrade.

In an attempt to win over business users Motorola has preloaded a number of enterprise-specific apps in an attempt to make it an attractive purchase. These include the Citrix Receiver, GoToMeeting, QuickOffice and Fuze Meeting applications.

The Motocast app is an interesting addition that was debuted with the brand spanking new Motorola Razr. This allows users to sync the tablet with a PC or Mac and then access the hard drive wirelessly on the move. The app is the primary reason that Motorola has included just 16GB of internal storage. Notton said that the firm is going to make a big push towards the cloud, and played down security concerns as the ability to remotely lock and wipe the tablet will safeguard data.

Although in principle the inclusion of these apps is a good idea, their usefulness can be significantly impaired when there is no stable Wi-Fi connection. During our hands on we found the device frequently cut out when we were trying to stream content from the remote Mac it was connected to, for example.

We also had a play with the Xoom 2 Media Edition, which is essentially a smaller version of the Xoom 2. Specifications are almost identical aside form the 8.2in screen. Although Notton claimed that 8.2in "is the perfect size for viewing and reading media", we are surprised that Motorola didn't go for the 7in form factor, which is the perfect size for a pocket.

With unofficial pricing suggesting that the 10.1 Xoom is going to retail for £390 and the 8.2in tablet for £358, Motorola will be able to compete with Apple on price. Whether the Xoom 2 is enough to entice users from the iPad 2 is a different matter. V3 will post a full review soon.

V3 was one of the first to get its hands on the new Motorola Razr smartphone unveiled on Wednesday and we had a quick play on the device to see whether it lives up to the hype.

Naming it the 'Razr', after its hugely popular Razr range first launched in 2005, suggests Motorola has high hopes for the device.

One of the main aspects of the smartphone touted by Motorola is the size and weight of the device, with the firm claiming the super slim design makes it the thinnest smartphone on the market.

Whether it is or not, it does feel very light and comfortable to hold, yet it's far from petite, boasting a high-quality 4.3inch super AMOLED screen.

It still feels sturdy and strong too, no doubt helped by the use of threaded Kevlar on the back of the phone and Gorilla Glass for the screen, making it ideally suited for busy people who don't want a device they have to be precious with as they go about their day.

The firm has also added what it calls SplashGuard technology, which makes the phone water-repellent to low level liquid impacts such as rain.

It features a top quality, razor sharp display (excuse the pun) with images and web pages rendered clearly and crisply, making it an equal to many high-end Samsung devices and the iPhone 4S.

This will help ensure photos taken with the eight megapixel camera aren't let down , while video is also of a high-quality, with 1080 HD playback. This is complemented by a sizeable 16GB storage and an SD card to ramp storage to a whopping 48GB.

Accessing and interacting with all this data will require a speedy processor and the dual-core 1.2GHz processor is certainly powerful enough, with the phone easily and seamlessly switching between camera, applications and pages.

It's odd in some ways, though, that the device has Gingerbread as its operating system, and not Ice Cream Sandwich. Perhaps Google purposefully allowed Samsung be first to market with the latest version of Android to keep it sweet.

Motorola confirmed it would be rolling out the update to the phone in the first quarter of 2012, though, so those keen for the update won't have to wait too long if they plump for the Razr.

One notable hardware inclusion on the device is an HDMI port, a feature lacking from many high-end devices such as the iPhone 4S. This will allow users to stream photos and videos to larger screens through a single cable with no quality loss, ideal for sharing photos or business presentations.

Overall then Motorola has produced a strong piece of kit with the Razr, and one that's worthy of the Razr name. It could be just the phone the firm needs to turn heads in the UK market, where its Milestone devices have failed to excite consumers, unlike in the US.

Whether its enough to compete with Apple or Samsung will remain to be seen and its launch at the same time as a major Samsung product and as the iPhone 4S flies off the shelves could hurt the firm.

It is, however, a very strong offering and could well be the springboard to even bigger and brighter things as Google starts to provide its not inconsiderable support and assistance to the firm.

Hybrid Android Honeycomb devices are about to flood the market, but one of the most interesting is the Motorola Atrix smartphone.

V3.co.uk got some hands-on time with the Atrix at the MotoDev App Summit in central London on Friday and we were impressed with the business-oriented device.

The specifications are impressive: a 4in qHD display with resolution of 960 x 540, and a 1GHz dual-core processor.

Motorola also includes a generous 1GB of RAM, and 16GB of internal storage which can be increased using the micro-SD card slot. Other features include a 5-megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash, and a front-facing camera.

Plugging the smartphone into the optional lapdock is shaping up to be the best feature, allowing the smartphone to become an 11.6in netbook with a full-size keyboard and a generously large trackpad.

The Atrix slots comfortably into the back of the chassis, which weighs just over 1kg and powers up in under two seconds. The netbook casing contains a separate battery and two USB ports. The Atrix acts as the processor for the netbook, so it becomes unusable when the smartphone is disconnected.

Motorola's Webtop interface is activated once the phone is connected to the lapdock. Webtop has a number of icons which can be accessed from a bar running along the bottom of the screen, similar to the 'dock' found on Mac OS X.

These can be populated with shortcuts such as phone dialer, contacts, text messaging, file manager, Firefox and Facebook apps.

Phone functionality is retained when the lapdock is in use and calls can be made and received using a loudspeaker.  The phone display is also viewable as an inlay, so customers can use the Android WebKit browser or the Webtop native Firefox browser, for example.

The ability to plug and play is also admirable. We simply pulled out when we wished to stop using the lapdock, and there was no need to initiate any form of hibernation or shutdown. When we plugged the phone back into the lapdock it resumed the same application.

Motorola claims up to eight hours of battery life when the smartphone is plugged into the chassis. This is impressive as the phone battery is also charged while in the dock.

At this stage the only disappointment is that the Atrix will run Android 2.2. Motorola has said that a Gingerbread update will be rolled out at some point in the future.

V3.co.uk will post a full review of the device soon.