Motorola has put out a rather detailed statement on the current status of the long-awaited Android 3.1 update for European XOOM tablets. The previous overly optimistic launch announcement has been replaced by a new official line, with the company now saying it’ll arrive in “early August”.
And yes, it’s only 3.1 rather than the 3.2 that’s already appearing on some US models. Here’s the full thing, complete with Moto’s initial excuses for being so late with its homework…
Motorola collaborated with Google to develop the industry’s first Honeycomb tablet. Motorola XOOM and Motorola XOOM Wi-Fi in the US are Google Experience Devices. Software updates for these devices are developed by Google directly, so while Motorola XOOM users in the US may be the first to receive such updates, the updates only include what is provided by Google.
Motorola XOOM units in other regions are not Google Experience Devices. Because of this, Motorola has greater flexibility in providing software updates to these devices, including providing additional functionality that may not be included in the Google software updates.
Following our previous post regarding 3.1, we can now announce Android™ 3.1 for Motorola XOOM™ will soon be available over the air to all Motorola XOOM users in Europe. We expect the over-the-air deployment to begin in early August, with the package being available for pull by August 9th.
The most notable of the new enhancements, the 3.1 update activates the SD card slot so users can expand the memory of their Motorola XOOM up to 64GB, with the addition of a 32GB SD card (this feature not available until Android 3.2 in some markets). This update also includes improved multi-tasking, providing instant visual access to a large number of applications as well as resizable home screen widgets. More information on the update will be available once the release notes are finalised.
Phew. Not long now then, XOOM lovers.
The Panasonic Eluga marks the company’s return to the European mobile phone scene years after several years of absence, and it’s come back to us with a moderately high-spec Android model that features a rather stylish, slim case.
The HTC One V is HTC’s third entry in its high-profile new HTC One range, offering a smaller 3.7″ display running on a single-core 1GHz processor. It is is very much the “affordable” option in HTC’s newest Android series, but…
The HTC One S is the piggy in the middle of HTC’s 2012 line-up, offering a 4.3″ AMOLED display inside a very slim and stylish aluminium chassis. The end result is a phone that’s very, very slim and stylish.
HTC’s new quad-core monster, the 4.7″ flagship for 2012 that introduces the Tegra 3 processor to mobile phones, updates HTC’s range to Android 4.0 and brings us the supposedly streamlined version 4.0 of HTC’s Sense user interface.
Sony returns with an all-new mobile design for 2012, pairing a dual-core processor with a 720p display. It’s a lovely phone, but is it enough to end our Samsung and HTC obsession?
LG’s updated Prada phone comes with an absolutely crazy black & white theme, but is it just for fashionable suit wearers who want to make themselves look a bit more interesting?
Mike C
/ July 27, 2011And with this, it is clear that european buyers of the Xoom get a very different level of service than US buyers. The Xoom ships with Android 3.0. We are still waiting for fixes for the bugs in 3.0. I would love if Eurodroid could get Motorola to comment on their performance with this update. I would love to know if we can expect the same lack of service for with Android 3.2, 3.3?, 4.0?
Safe to say that the Xoom will be my last Motorola device.
Gary C
/ July 27, 2011It’s a strange situation. Motorola got such a kicking over the EU Milestone updates, you’d think it would’ve learned to streamline the upgrade process – if only to make things easier on itself.
But… no.