The Best Motorola Xoom Apps
By Will Apse
The Motorola Xoom is certainly going to challenge the iPad in 2011. There has been criticism of pricing, of course. Even so, the sheer power of this device plus the new, tablet friendly, Honeycomb operating system will make it very attractive to anyone with serious computing needs on the road. It should become the tablet of choice for all but the most die hard Apple junkies.
Game developer insiders like Trendy Entertainment (makers of Dungeon Defenders) and War Drum Studios believe that not only is the iPad completely out-gunned by the Xoom's dual core Tegra processor from NVidia but the iPad 2 will not be able to compete as a gaming platform either- it has only 265 Mhz of RAM available to the new dual core processor. The Xoom has a full GHz of RAM,
So what apps does the most advanced tablet currently available (for pre-order at least!) most deserve? There are ten of the top Honeycomb apps for the Xoom, below. Demoed recently, shipping soon.
Will Android Phone Apps work on Honeycomb OS?
A lot of apps designed for Android smartphones- like Gingerbread OS apps- will have spaces in them if used on a Xoom but the text will be crisp and there is none of the fuzziness that blowing up iPhone apps brings to an iPad.
Expect a tsuami of new apps purpose made for Honeycomb as the year goes on but don't be scared to explore Android 2 apps, either.
Xoom Apps for Fun
Honeycomb Wall
There are plenty of ways to make your Xoom beutiful and fun. The Honeycomb Wall with its cute bees is a welcoming screen as you power up.
There is a free version and a 78 cents version. The latter gives you touchable bees, bees noise a battery level indicator and an editor to customize the display elements- including a color filter.
YouTube
As you would expect YouTube looks wonderful on the Xoom. All that processing power and cutting edge video rendering pays off.
Unlike the iPad, the Xoom handles Flash video, so a lot of videos you could never watch on the iPad are now there in full.
Best Xoom Games Apps
NVidia not only deliver a fine dual core processor for the Xoom, they bring all their knowledge of graphics drivers to make the new tablet unsurpassed in sheer visual power. Here are some of the best games that will wow even hardened gamers.
Great Battles Medieval
Slitherine and Koch Media developed Great Battles Medieval, as a real time strategy game for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. It looks great ported for the Xoom as well.
Monster Madness
Comes from the PS3 to Honeycomb and should be a hot favorite with shooters who like slaying aliens.
Fruit Ninja
The Tegra optimized app might introduce a new game genre. To add to the first person shooter will be the first person juicer. The game looks great as you slice and dice your way through innocent fruit and work your way up the leaderboard to Grand Pip Splitter.
Dungeon Defenders
Not a long game but very entertaining.
See the video below...
Dungeon Defenders on the Xoom
'We Rule' Due for the Fall
I was disapointed to hear we might have to wait to the Fall for the popular startegy game 'We Rule'. What are Ngmoco thinking? The Xoom was made for this game.
Best Movie App
Movies by Flixster
This gives you access to trailers for almost any movie you can name and also access to the full range of reviews at top movie site 'Rotten Tomatoes'. The top box office movies of the moment are on display as well as recent DVD's.
If you are looking for a local movie house you can find one quickly and get the show times.
Sharing your reactions, through Facebook, is a click away.
Best Apps for Productivity
The 10 inch screen of the Xoom lets you to get a lot of stuff done. The best 2 apps to make sure you never have a (good) excuse for slacking are:
LogMeIn
This is an incredibly useful app and one of the best remote access software packages. You install 'Log Me In' on any computer and you can then access that computer from your Xoom.
The full range of applications on your home or office computer is available as well as all your files. So if you have Microsoft Office at home you can use it on your Xoom.
You can also read and compose emails, view pictures and get that web cam view of the bad guy stealing your sofa...
The pro version allows file transfer, remote printing and desktop sharing amongst other benefits but the free version is a powerful tool in itself. It is compatible with Windows PCs and Mac OS X
QuickOffice
Quick Office is a mobile version of Microsoft Office's best productivity software.
You can get full use of Microsoft Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, and PowerPoint presentations.
There is easy access to cloud based services like Google Docs, Dropbox, MobileMe and Huddle.
Files and folders are especially easy to manage with most control functions orientated to the touchscreen.
You can find it in the Android Market place or check out it's features in detail here: quickoffice_suite_android/
Best Xoom Apps for Business
Tablets have so many business applications and Xoom is set to attract some very specialized apps for everything from healthcare to stock control.
Here are some of are the must have apps for business users:
Fuze Meeting
Virtual conferencing is set to be at least as common as real face to face conferencing- especially for road warriors.
Fuze meeting is a free app for smartphones and tablets running Android with 2.2 and 3.0 versions.
It includes includes VOIP (voice over IP), and allows users to participate in a meeting and view shared computer desktops. Users can also upload videos, documents and pictures to be shared.
Intuit GoPayment
This allows you to accept and process payment from all the major credit cards without any other kind of equipment. Authorization is fast and electronic receipts can be issued immediately by email or text message.
It can be used on smartphones and tablets.
Best Apps for News
Pulse News
The Pulse app is the iPad's most popular news app and looks just as good on the Xoom. You set up newsfeeds from your favorite sources- as many as you like- and they are presented in an engaging way that allows for easy choice of what most interests you.
On the big screen Xoom, you can read an article while having other article summaries displayed. This is great way to hit information overload before the day is old but news junkies could not ask for more.
CNN
A useful and highly customizable news app with regular updates from CNN.
You also get access to CNN iReport. This allows you to upload newsworthy photos as well as get involved in discussions.
cnn-launches-app-on-android%E2%80%99s-honeycomb-tablet-platform/
WeatherBug
WeatherBug is one of best weather services around and the first to optimize for the Xoom.
- Live neighborhood weather from over 8,000 locations
- Hourly forecasts and 7 day plan ahead forecasts
- Integration with Google Maps- touch any area and the local conditions are available
- Choose current weather, forecast and alerts tailored to your GPS
- View 2,000 weather cameras in the U.S.
- Easily share the weather information with friends and family.
- Option to view live radar and maps.
2 Gingerbread Apps that a Xoom will Benefit from
Pandora Internet Radio
This is a gingerbread app but works fine on the Xoom and looks a lot better than an Apple iPhone app inflated for the iPad.
You should expect a Honeycomb version pretty fast but, in the meantime, this will satisfy the need for almost any kind of music anyone could want- as long you can bear the costs.
Facebook have given low priority to Android updates (is this a no love for Google thing?) but the Gingerbread Facebook app will satisfy most needs.
More Apps for the Xoom
There has been a surge in Honeycomb app releases since the Xoom hit the shelves. Find more here: best xoom apps
If you are looking for Accessories for the Xoom this is one of your best options: Best Xoom Accessories.
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