Motorola Xoom 2 Images Leaked, First Look Fails to Impress

Remember when the Motorola Xoom was going to be the first and hottest Honeycomb tablet of 2011? Almost a year has passed since we first got word of the potential iPad killer and about six months since it was released. Now comes round two — er, Xoom 2, with leaked images of the latest version flooding the web. If you’re interested in where the world of Android tablets is headed, read on.

A few sites have posted the leaked Xoom 2 images, including the infamous DroidForums.net and Engadget. Both sites show what looks like a rounded rectangle-shaped tablet, with chopped-off edges (Battlestar Galactica, anyone?) sporting an aluminum back with a 5MP camera. Alongside the 10-inch Xoom 2 is an 8-inch Xoom 2, which seems to match Samsung’s strategy of releasing a 10-inch tablet alongside an identical 8-inch version. There’s not much known about the guts of the tablet, but they are alleged to support LTE 4G networks and are apparently “about as thin as a 9.3mm iPhone 4.”

Quite frankly, if the leaked photos accurately portray the final look and feel for the device, the Xoom 2 will be swimming in a sea of similarly uninspired Android tablet designs. In addition, the Samsung Galaxy 10-inch tablet, which I’ve long herald as a one of the best Android tablets worth buying, is still thinner than the Motorola Xoom 2. No, thinness isn’t everything, but when they’re side-by-side at the big box stores, the average consumer will judge them by their look, feel and design.

But here’s what I’m wondering: Is the Xoom 2 the last batch of non-Google-inspired hardware, now that Google owns Motorola Mobility? The anonymous tipster who turned in the photographs claims the devices run Android 3.2 but are “buggy as hell” and crash quite a bit. Since they’re apparently slated for release around the holiday season, at which point Android Ice Cream Sandwich should be already in play, a Xoom 2 Android Honeycomb 3.2 tablet could very much be the last dregs of a company finishing up its existing production cycle.

Google has clearly shown an interest in Motorola, especially since Google gave Motorola the honor of releasing the first Honeycomb tablet, but Google may have also felt frustrated by the design aesthetic and implementation, which could explain the support and subsequent giveaway of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10-inch at Google I/O. I fully expect the next Motorola tablet, after the Xoom 2 has run its course, to be a hands-on Google tablet sporting Android Ice Cream Sandwich and a much sexier design.