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We’re just one day away from the grand launch of the very first Honeycomb tablet – the Motorola XOOM. Motorola, in conjunction with Verizon, have committed to giving everyone the ability to use their shiny new play-things over big red’s 4G LTE network, but we didn’t know exactly how that was going to go down.
No, you won’t get an entirely new tablet – we figured as much considering no sane business man or woman would want a warehouse full of hardware with outdated technology. Instead, you’ll send your device in to Motorola for them to crack it open and ever-so-gently insert those 4G radios.
Expect a 6-day turn around from the time it gets to their warehouses to the time they ship it back. Everything is absolutely free, including shipping to-and-fro. The upgrades should be ready come May and more information will eventually be available at this URL. [Droid-Life]
why don’t they just put it in there in the first place?
And this process is cheaper then taking it to a Verizon store for the upgrade? I find that hard to believe.
Why wouldnt they just have this installed from day 1? seems smarter to do it that way and would save a lot of money on both ends.
Seems like a HUGE inconvenience to me. FAIL.
I will just wait for the wifi only version!!!
When are they going to release pricing details? I want to know if it will be cheaper than Clear’s 4G service. Also, will these tablets turn into a hotspot device? If so, good bye laptop.
these reasons plus the price are the reasons i just bought an Adam and will just root it and run stock honeycomb for 425. for the 375 delta i can live with the worse screen
@dan: How do you like the Adam tablet so far?
I doubt Motorola and Verizon are nice enough to “eat” the cost of shipping the tablet both ways, the tech staff, and a warehouse(s)to do the work. While technically free, I bet you they built the 4G swap into the price of the Xoom.
So, it’s either wait for the WiFi Xoom or until after May to buy a 4G one.
Maybe they don’t install them immediately is because it’s a little hard to to in-network certification before the network is up and running…
“Maybe they don’t install them immediately is because it’s a little hard to to in-network certification before the network is up and running…”
The Network has been “up and running” since December.
Ok so waiting on SD card support, check
Waiting on flash support, check
No 4G support AND the HARDWARES’ not even preinstalled?
I thought 4G would be a software patch of some sort. At this rate this tablet shouldn’t even be released. It’s not a finished product!
I thought people would just be issued LTE sim cards. 4G was the only reason I might have gone for the Verizon version, but with a 6 day turnaround I’ll just stick with the wifi version.
This is one of the most insane things I’ve heard. Why would u send it in to be fixed? Why wouldn’t they just ship it that way? I bet it does ship that way, they just need an excuse to charge you for something else. With this having the potential to sell millions they stand to eat alot of cost on the backside. Man, they should have launched with 4g.
Xoom available for $599 on one yr plan at verizon!
is the wifi only version out yet? lol
Am I crazy for assuming this is only for the people that buy the Xoom before the 4G upgrade is available? Once the upgrade is available, Verizon isn’t going to keep selling the 3G model and expecting you to send it in to upgrade to 4G. So, simply put, if you’re an early adopter of the Xoom, Verizon will let you buy it before it’s ready and eat up the cost of upgrading your unit to the 4G model when the parts are ready. Of course, if this 6 day delay in having your unit is too inconvenient for you, (which is perfectly understandable) you have the option to wait until the 4G model is released. That’s what I would do, but given the feedback, mostly on the pricing, it’s really not gonna be that many people doing the upgrade. Tablets aren’t exactly a big customer base compared to smartphone users.
You people saying, “why wouldn’t Motorola just ship it w/ 4G” are retards… Do you guys want something that is not certified and tested through and through. There are many tests to ensure that a data device does indeed comply to what the specs state. Plus, being first to come out w/ Honeycomb does hinder the testing and development of that 4G radio component. These are the same people that have asked “why couldn’t Atrix labdock just put the phone where the mouse pad is to have a more integrated look?” Because retards, when you do that, you are shielding the phone! Then you have a nightmare problem such as what Apple did not think off when creating the iPhone4 w/ respect to the antenna issue.
That blows! Maybe i’ll just wait may to get mine then.
At one point, I was excited about the Xoom. Now, I think I’m just over it.
Heads should roll at Motorola over this debacle. I’m fine waiting a little longer for a finished product rather than this potential logistical nightmare of an upgrade.
People may line up to buy Apple just because it’s an Apple, but I think Android attracts a more technically sophistcated audience…I’m afraid Motorola has been alienating this audience more and more with each painful detail we gain knowledge of related to the release of this tablet.
@Nuberfin Exactly why I’m such an HTC snob. I’ve always called HTC Sense the “classy” Android UI. My experience with MOTOBLUR, however, felt a little more like I was using a very advanced toy. (KIN, anyone?)
@DS, do you think that testing takes only an afternoon, maybe? Of that Verizon has unlimited resources to test everything that comes out as soon as it’s possible? Or that rework for problems that are found during testing is done instantly? Life would be so much easier if everything was as oversimplified as people want to make it.