The curtain has officially been lifted on the successor to Motorola’s Android-powered Xoom tablet – the Droid Xyboard.
This becomes the first Android tablet to carry the ultimately valuable “Droid” moniker and that fact alone could help spur sales in a market that is seeking a leader in the high-end space.
The new Android-powered Kindle Fire is poised to become the defining name in Android tablets, but at $199 its appeal is with the mass consumer crowd and, some argue, not a direct iPad competitor.
For Motorola and Verizon, the Droid Xyboard may be able to fill that void. The two paired up on Motorola’s predecessor, the Xoom, but that name failed to really take off.
The Droid brand is owned by Verizon but has become synonymous with Motorola smartphones, so by bringing that name to the tablet world, it could bring about the same kind of recognition that Amazon was able to do with the Kindle. Incidentally, the new tablet is called the Xoom 2 in other regions of the world.
Like the Xoom, the Xyboards have support for Verizon’s blazing fast 4G LTE network. A 1.2 GHz dual-core processor, 1 GB of RAM, 1280×800 resolution, and capacities from 16 GB to 64 GB also come with the new LTE device. The device comes in two different sizes – an 8.2-inch display or a 10.1-inch display. By comparison, the Kindle Fire measures in at 7 inches and the iPad is the king of the 10.1-inch segment.
Prices for the Xyboard will range from $429 to $729 based on specific model specifications.
