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December 06, 2011

Motorola to Offer Droid Xyboard Tablets this Month

The jury is out as to whether two new tablets from Motorola will hit the shelves in time for holiday gift giving, however, the company is most certainly launching two new Droid Xyboard tablets this month, another try at this tablet offering for Motorola.

Despite no release date for the DROID Xyboard 8.2, it’s suspected to show up with Verizon later this month. With price points starting at $429.99, the DROID Xyboard 8.2 is expected to launch alongside the DROID Xyboard 10.1, its 10-incher sibling.

The tablets are successors to the Motorola Xoom, but instead of sticking with the Xoom 2 name like they did in Europe, Motorola and Verizon opted for Xyboard.

The tablets feature Android 3.2 Honeycomb with business-ready apps, including Quickoffice HD for document editing and creation, Citrix GoToMeeting for productivity and collaboration and Google Talk for video conferencing.

The Xyboard 8.2 is geared towards portable entertainment while the 10.1 is more for the business professional.

There’s Wi-Fi, HDMI port and an infrared port so the tablets can be used as remote controls, on both of them, and the 4G LTE connection can be used as a mobile hotspot, allowing up to eight WiFi tethered devices to connect.

Both the 10.1-inch and 8.2-inch DROID XYBOARDs will be available by the end of the year with the 10.1 slate going for $529.99 with 16GB of storage, $629.99 for double that amount and $729.99 for the 64GB version. As for the 8.2, only 16GB and 32GB version will be available for $429.99 and $529.99, respectively.

Also from Verizon we’ll be seeing the Galaxy Nexus smartphone very soon, but not with Google Wallet.

Despite the fact that the Nexus is an Android device, Android being a Google product, Google Wallet will not be supported because Verizon is building its own payment system.

The Galaxy Nexus has the necessary component to make Google Wallet work - one functioning NFC chip – but ISIS, the mobile payment project for Verizon Wireless, is to blame for the blocked Wallet service.

It looks like Verizon and the other cell phone carriers want to push ISIS and don’t want any competition on the phones.


Michelle Amodio is a MobilityTechzone contributor. She has helped promote companies and groups in all industries, from technology to banking to professional roller derby. She holds a bachelor's degree in Writing from Endicott College and currently works in marketing, journalism, and public relations as a freelancer.

Edited by Carrie Schmelkin


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