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.