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Motorola DROID XYBOARD 8.2 hands-on

Published Dec 12th, 2011 12:24PM EST
BGR

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Motorola DROID XYBOARD 8.2

We just got our hands on one of Motorola’s latest tablets, the Motorola DROID XYBOARD 8.2. Besides the name, there seems to be a lot to like at first glance. For starters, Motorola has picked a near-perfect size for this tablet. At 8.2-inches, the XYBOARD seems like a perfect and portable tablet. It’s reasonably fast, though we’ve noticed some lag in the UI when browsing, or doing other tasks. One thing we’re just not understanding is the landscape orientation push. It feels unnatural to hold a tablet that has a widescreen proportion in landscape most of the time, though clearly that’s what Motorola intended with the XOOM and now XYBOARDs. There’s also the issue of the black bezel being almost too narrow to hold comfortably with two hands in portrait orientation, though because the device is so incredibly light, there really hasn’t been any fatigue yet in a little bit of usage. With the tapered edges, and the extremely thin and feather light design, this could be a huge winner at an extremely different price point. Maybe at $199 or $249, but not at $429 with a two-year agreement from Verizon, that’s just crazy talk. Stay tuned for coverage of the Motorola DROID XYBOARD 10.1 tablet and, of course, the review. In the meantime, we have a hands-on gallery ready to go.

Jonathan S. Geller
Jonathan Geller Founder, President & Editor-in-chief

Jonathan S. Geller founded Boy Genius Report, now known as BGR, in 2006. It became the biggest mobile news destination in the world by the end of 2009, and BGR was acquired by leading digital media company PMC in April 2010.

Jonathan is President of BGR Media, LLC., and Editor-in-chief of the BGR website.

What started as a side project at the age of 16, quickly transpired into 24-hour days and nights of sharing exclusive and breaking news about the mobile communications industry. BGR now reaches up to 100 million readers a month through the website, syndication partners, and additional channels.