Motorola Xoom 2 review

Motorola has released a successor to the Xoom tablet in an effort to capitalise on the Christmas season, but the latest device is hit-and-miss and is likely to struggle against offerings from Apple and Samsung.

We got off to a poor start with the Xoom 2 as the charger in the box did not work. Thankfully, the battery was at 40 per cent and did work with other micro-USB chargers in the office. Motorola sent another charger, confirming that the cable was faulty and not the device.

We were disappointed to find no USB cables in the box. This is not a major problem for those with lots of cables lying around, but could be an issue for first time tablet buyers who may find that they cannot connect the device to their computer when they take it out of the box. Motorola usually supplies this peripheral, so we were surprised by its omission.

Design: Thinner and lighter, but not brighter, than the original
Motorola has shaved just over 4mm off the chassis and reduced the weight by over 100g compared to the original Xoom. This is very welcome as the first tablet was rather too bulky at 12.9mm and 730g.

The Xoom 2 is 8.8mm thick and weighs 599g, which makes it near on identical to the iPad 2 at 8.8mm and 601g. However, the Xoom 2 still looks bulkier than Apple's tablet and is not as thin and light as the Galaxy Tab 10.1 at 8.6mm and 565g.

The Xoom 2 retains the same 10.1in screen, 1,280x800 resolution and 149ppi pixel density, but Motorola claims to have increased the quality to HD and increased the brightness. During tests we didn't find the screen any brighter than the original, but it was adequate nonetheless.