Calling / Data, Messaging, Apps, Browser
If you want 4G LTE data, Verizon and either Xyboard tablet have you covered. Sick of those measly 15Mbps download speeds you are seeing on other LTE devices? I broke 20Mbps on multiple occasions using Ookla's SpeedTest.net app, and even topped 28Mbps on one particularly thrilling run. The Xyboards also support Wi-Fi but, who cares? Did I mention 28Mbps over LTE?
While Verizon's Droid Xyboard tablets don't support text messaging, they do offer good options for email consumption. Google's own multi-paned version of Gmail is available, of course, but users will also find a nice Motorola email client that supports multiple accounts, contacts sync, and a combined inbox. Google Talk can be used for instant messaging and video chat, but no other IM systems are supported out of the box.
There are literally hundreds of thousands of Android applications available in the Android Market. The issue is that little more than a handful of them have been optimized for Honeycomb tablets, and some of them won't run at all. The Xyboards attempt to deal with ill-fitting apps by offering iOS-like app zooming, but that's a weak substitute for the real thing. Motorola attempts to further address the situation by linking to tested and approved apps from its MotoPack application. Motorola includes the Citrix GotoMeeting client on both tablets, and the 10.1 also gets the Citrix Receiver application for business use.
The Android 3.2 Honeycomb browser on the Droid Xyboard 8.2 and 10.1 is largely unchanged from its stock form, but it's also more stable than the versions found on earlier Honeycomb releases. It offers fully tabbed browsing, Adobe Flash support, and an optional swipe based user interface that many will find convenient. The browser seems a bit slow in filling the screen when panning around, and zooming is not as smooth as I'd like, but overall it provides a decent user experience.
