By 
Still without an official release date, the Motorola XOOM has gone up for pre-order at the B&H website for the price of $599.99. A note states that B&H is expecting limited quantities, so not all pre-order will be honored if they exceed stock. No information is given on when the tablet will ship, but rest-assured shipping is free.
Pricing matches up with the statements of Moto CEO Sanjay Jha and a recent Staples flyer giving the wi-fi only version of the XOOM a March 27th release date. While that date is not confirmed, all signs point to a late March/early April release.
[via B&H | Thanks, Guiseppe!]
After using the Xoom and the iPad2 side-by-side the Xoom is clearly the better product, now if only wifi-only could be had for $499.
After using the Xoom and the iPad2 side-by-side, the Xoom is miles ahead of the iPad2. Now if only I can pick up a wifi-only Xoom for $499.
Fix the ‘staples’ link
http://phandroid.com/2011/03/15/motorola-xoom-wi-fi-up-for-pre-order-at-bh-website-for-599/
I have owned Motorola stock since before they spun off the mobile division, and since then, both companies have performed very poorly! I love Android, and will be buying a Thunderbolt on Thursday. I just wish HTC had equity trading in the US markets. The only thing Apple I own is the stock, and while their devices may be inferior, the company performs!
I’m waiting for you XOOM
I love android, but until apps catch up to ipad, the ipad is a better buy. For me, Netflix alone makes the ipad a better buy.
Too much $, too late. iPad 2 for me.
If this is the pre-order price then I expect this to be the “first adopter price” also and price will probably drop a good chunk right after release. I’m betting ~$500 by the middle of April.
J&R is also offering it for preorder.
http://www.jr.com/motorola/pe/MOT_XOOM10/
I’m not willing to pay over $500 for a WiFi tablet of any size. Even if it has only 16GB of RAM.
I agree with @acupunc
Wait a few weeks to a month for a much better price. Wait a bit longer when other tablets come out and I bet the price drops even more.
Not TOO bad of a price but if it was $499 then it would be a fair fight. For a hundred dollars more and no apps, the public will stick with whats known to be good.
I’m concerned about the disaster in Japan affecting the supply of the Xoom–as well as the well being of their citizens. It’s already happening with the iPad2.
I love how everyone’s concerned about Netflix. The Trega Two processor is secure enough to run Netflix. Netflix plans on porting their app over to specific Android handsets. Yet everyone wines about Netflix. The best part is… Netflix sucks. There streaming selection has absolutely nothing. Have fun with your limited selection of movies and boring OS iPad2 lovers.
Overpriced and Overhyped … Read on if you are willing to look the forest from the thicket of trees…
Video performance is one of the reasons to buy a tablet. If the tablet is unable to handle simple video functions what is the reason for getting one? To read books on it? That’s what a kindle is for. To play Angry Birds? That’s what my 2 year old Droid is for.
I’m not saying that a tablet should be able to play Crysis, but for crying out loud NVidia is a maker of graphic cards and for them to get their mobile chip clocked by a Japanese company that the last time put out anything good was when the Dreamcast came out is beyond me.
The fact that the Xoom even has problems processing HD video in standard profile is embarrassing.
I want nothing else than to have a multitude of Android tabletsbeat the daylights out of the iMaxiPads as some of you would suggest, but bringing out a product that is just mediocre is not the way to do it and it sets a bad precedent for all other tablets that have Honeycomb on them.
Please read the other few articles and look at the next few videos and tell me if that doesn’t seem like mediocre to you:
Tomshardware on what to love and hate about the Xoom: http://www.tomsguide.com/us/Motorola-Xoom-Tablet-Android-Honeycomb-OS-Google,review-1632-6.html Nvidia’s website on
Tegra2′s capability: http://www.nvidia.com/object/tegra-2.html
Here is XBMC developer shooting down the Tegra2 capability of decoding H.264 video: http://forum.xbmc.org/showpost.php?p=735285&postcount=41
Here is the conversation in XDA Developers forum about the sametopic: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=977174
Here is a video link of and Adam vs Xoom playing video and how poorly the Xoom decodes video on hardware: http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=lXWu6m33EP0&feature=player_detailpage#t=231s
If you want to learn more about video H.264 profiles then read this pdf from Polycom: http://www.polycom.com/global/documents/whitepapers/ h264_high_profile_wp.pdf
On software mode the last video played looks horrible and even the sections in Ironman II where there seemed to be a lot of stuff going on the video was choppy.
So yeah do I want to play my Naruto HD videos on a tablet? Hell yeah when I have to travel, but will I be able to play it as smooth as I do on some other device, of course not, cause is not supported on this stupid Nvidia chip.
You may think I’m a disgruntled consumer or fixated on seen Honeycomb tablets fail, but that is hardly the case. What I wanted to do is inform my fellow Android community not to support this product until we get compensated for by lowering the price of this overpriced and overhyped product and until Nvidia, Google and Manufacturers address the short comings of this device against a product like the iPad2 that literally came a month later.
That’s a hundred bucks too much. I don’t care if it’s better than iPad, which it is, I care how much it costs.
Does the WiFi version have GPS?
Love of fandroids to Google and Co. seems to be truly blind and eternal.
Now eat this:
http://arstechnica.com/apple/reviews/2011/03/ipad-2-the-ars-review.ars/5
@jmax netflix may suck to you, and may not have movies YOU like, but to others, its a pretty important app. so keep your trolling down. plus all tablets are boring and pointless.
i think motorola is being pretty stupid with this damn prices. when you know for damn sure alot of people are going to buy and ipad. wouldnt that make you want to lower the price?
@jmax don’t be mad. besides, tegra2 can’t hold a candle to the PowerVR SGX 543MP2 in the ipad2…
$599 is a good one at 32gb. Don’t forget u need to buy a HDMI adopter $40 for the Ipad 2, no USB no SD card slot. Ipad 2 becomes more expensive
I will be in line at Sams if they stick to $539. $599 is way to much. They forget a tablet is not a need to have. Sanjay. Do the needful and drop the price already. I am not a stock holder but at the rate its dropping it seems to be pretty much a no brainer. Heck offer a discount coupon to save face.
I think it’s perfectly priced. It has 32 GB of storage and should be compared with the 32 GB ipad. It also has a significantly better camera. On the iPad 2 launch date I was first in line and was very excited to play with my iPad 2. I already own the first iPad and was very excited to play with the camera and iMovie. After I got it all set up I was so disappointed on how grainy both cameras were in normal light. I promptly returned the iPad2. Over the weekend I saw the Xoom at Best Buy and was sold. I’m hoping the Sam’s Club price reported is true as I will get it from them when it is out.
@dork
I have a Netflix subscription and choose to receive my DVDs through the mail because of the poor streaming selection and because I burn my DVDs. The app is important. In fact, I think I discussed how NetFlix wants to port it over to Android a.s.a.p., but because the security of certain chipsets they have not. So suck a dick.
I really want a tablet now, but part of me is still saying to wait for other tablets. My co-worker got the iPad 2, and while it is incredible, i mean really nice, I can’t stand the walled in-ness. But the crappy graphics card and the poor screen quality is makin me sway.
i will definitely be waiting for the sams club one since i am a member there for years and they always do have a lower price when they actually do get the product but the regular price is still not bad when you think that you can still put external memory of 32 G for another 30-40 $ sd card and then it will be a 64G device for 640 and the ipad will be 700$ for the 64 with no flash or external memory …. and for a device that is an overgrown ipod/iphone and does not have to much content that is actually tablet optimized…better off getting a mac laptop
Remember the video that introduced the Xoom? Remember how you were absolutely positive that if you were gonna get a tablet, the Xoom was looking like a must have? Motorola ruined it, completely ruined it. The Xoom had the potential to make honeycomb tablets as a whole something that everybody wanted.
Now, not only has the Ipad 2 completely sh*tted on the tablet game(which I know isn’t to crowded in the first place) but it even made Honeycomb come off to people as “not ready for primetime”. Now of course we all know that the Xoom is the best android tablet out right now, but somebody yesterday in the Mall called the Xoom a piece of crap. A PIECE OF CRAP? Of course he didn’t know what the f*ck he was talking about but that’s just it. That’s exactly what people think about android tablets and probably android altogether. Motorola or should I say Verizon, has to learn that first impressions are everything in a market like this. That past $1100 price alone probably made people steer clear.
Reading these comments you’d think you LOSERS were actually buying something.
XOOM – will have 4G, what will yours have?
XOOM – beats iPuD2 and SamSlung in camera and video tests, read the recent MacWorld.
XOOM – has a new open source O/S to build on.
What do you have, besides a whole lot of “I wants, and I don’t want to pay for it” dooshness? (crickets)
Pay your basement rent to your momma and keep dreaming, you can’t afford technology.
$599 is just fine for what is being offered in the Xoom. You get 32GB of storage. An iPad2 with equivalent storage capacity will cost you the same $599. Plus, with Xoom you can add a micro SD card later for a nice upgrade.
What Motorola needs to do is offer a Xoom in 4GB, 8GB, and 16GB varieties. They can lower the initial cost of ownership and make the device more attractive to buyers. A 4GB Xoom starting around $399 could easily compete on the market against the iPad2.
I agree. A lower end 4Gb, 8Gb model with an SDCard slot
at < $450.00 would be perfect. Atlease at < $450, the XOOM will get looked at by consumers.
The Xoom will Rock when it gets a 4G upgrade, Stabalized Flash, Native Apps, access to the USB port,consistent battery life (fluctuates between 2-7.5 hrs) Better Video Playback, viewing in non native landscape, consistent rendering of websites, better viewing of text, a lower price, slimmer design, something better than NVIDA, Netflix, control of malware and viruses, once all this is corrected the IPAD will not stand a chance, People will be lined up for miles to get a Xoom, Apple will be out of business in less than 4 months.
Kappa
I don’t care if a tablet is 4g 5g or 6g.
I just want it to have alot of apps that are simple to use at a reasonable price and some program to steam movies and music without having to use bittorrorent or VPN. plus I want it to be legal and virus free.
Plus I don’t want to root it or mess around under the hood
Great specs mean nothing if it’s not simple to use.