US telecommunications giant Verizon will begin selling Motorola Mobility’s “Xoom” tablet computer on Thursday at a price close to that of a top-of-the-line iPad.<\/p>\n
Xoom will be the first tablet on the market powered by the “Honeycomb” version of Google’s Android operating system which Google said was specifically built for such devices.<\/p>\n
According to Verizon the Xoom will be sold for US$800. The price will be lowered to US$600 for those who opt for a two-year contract with Verizon.<\/p>\n
Wireless 3G plans will begin at US$20 monthly for a gigabyte of data, Verizon said.<\/p>\n
The 32GB iPad with both Wi-Fi and 3G capabilities retails for US$729 in the US with the 64GB version selling for US$829.<\/p>\n
Xoom is said to include 32GB on-board storage with a microSD slot to expand that storage by up to another 32GB.<\/p>\n
It also features a 10.1-inch screen and a front-facing 2-megapixel camera for video chats and a rear-facing 5-megapixel camera that captures video.<\/p>\n
The Xoom tablet computer was crowned the best gadget at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) last month.<\/p>\n
“This is really the next generation of tablets,” Motorola Mobility device team head Alain Mutricy said as he held a Xoom in one hand at the awards ceremony. “Our partnership with Google has been very intense and has enabled some great technology.”<\/p>\n
The CES accolades came just four days after Illinois-based Motorola split into two companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions.<\/p>\n
Motorola Mobility will focus on mobility, the Internet and computing markets while Motorola Solutions will target next-generation communications solutions to government, public safety and enterprise customers.<\/p>\n