Hasta La Gadget!

To Xoom or not to Xoom, that is the question — and Xoom Corporation says Motorola needs to ditch the name of its new Honeycomb-laden slate. That’s right, Xoom has filed a trademark infringement lawsuit asking for monetary damages, a temporary restraining order, and / or a preliminary injunction to spoil Moto’s release party for its new tablet. In case you’re curious, Xoom (the company) does seem to predate the slate by a good bit: it’s been operating its online payments business under that name and has owned the www.xoom.com domain since 2003. Xoom got a registered service mark for its money transfer and e-payment services in 2004.

But what about that Xoom trademark Motorola filed last year for mobile computers and related accessories? Traditionally, courts give priority to the first user to register a mark, so Xoom Corp. certainly has a case here, but we’re not so sure they’ll be able to prove that consumers are likely to be confused. To find out, the court will look at multiple factors to determine the likelihood of confusion: the strength of Xoom’s mark, the similarities between the two marks, the proximity of Xoom’s services and software to Moto’s tablet in the consumer marketplace, evidence of actual customer confusion, and the similarity of the marketing channels used by Moto and Xoom. Honestly, we can’t see Moto marketing the Xoom tablet to anyone looking for online payment services (aside from the occasional Android Market purchase) so Xoom Corp. has a tough road to hoe, but stranger things have happened — we’ll see how it goes.

Motorola dragged into court for Xoom trademark infringement originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Feb 2011 16:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What’s the first thing you’re going to do with your Motorola Xoom? If you’re Koush, the answer’s clear — install your very own ClockworkMod recovery image and ROM Manager, and grant the latter superuser permissions. That’s right, on the very day of release, the Motorola Xoom’s all but ready for custom builds of Android and all the joy they bring.

Meanwhile, Verizon’s decided to bring us the latter half of the abruptly cut Xoom TV ad, which actually differs significantly depending on whether or not Spanish is your primary language. Either way, it’s a fairly sordid affair, with no Iron Man feats of stratospheric skill to be found, merely a quick demonstration of gaming with the accelerometer and a few quick swipes through Honeycomb. You’ll still watch it if we tell you it’s after the break though, won’t you?

Continue reading Motorola Xoom rooted in two hours flat, sinister transforming exoskeleton jetpack returns in Verizon ad

Motorola Xoom rooted in two hours flat, sinister transforming exoskeleton jetpack returns in Verizon ad originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Feb 2011 02:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oh yes, the world’s first Android Honeycomb tablet really is here now. As Verizon announced earlier, you can snag a Motorola Xoom for $599.99 with a two-year contract, or splash out $799.99 for just the LTE-ready device. Alas, the WiFi-only version is nowhere to be seen just yet, but maybe some will show up in the stores later if not tomorrow, so hold on to your personal hotspot devices and keep believing. Either way, in case you’re still indecisive over this 10-inch goodness, maybe our review will help.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Update: Verizon’s been in touch to inform us of a policy change: customers who purchase the off-contract Xoom will now no longer need to be on a month to month plan. That said, we still see “Month to Month” as a compulsory option at the time of updating this post.

Motorola Xoom now available for purchase straight from Verizon, no data activation required (updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 Feb 2011 23:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve been waiting for the pricing and availability pieces of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 puzzle, and a short press release from Vodafone Portugal seems to at least help fill out the edges. While we thought Vodafone’s UK branch had exclusive dibs on the 10.1-inch Honeycomb tablet, it looks like it will be hitting Vodafone Portugal first in March for €699. That’s not exactly a bargain, but it’s in line with the pricing of the other Android tablets overseas. Now, if only we knew more about when this one was going to learn English and hit the US. As always, we’re digging as hard as we can on that one.

Updated: It looks like Vodafone Spain announced pricing last week, too. Our friends at Engadget Spanish report that the tablet will go for €349 on-contract sometime this spring.

[Thanks, The Wizard]

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 hitting Vodafone Portugal in March for €699 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 Feb 2011 12:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Looks like Verizon’s idea of levying mandatory data fees on tablet buyers may be a global thing — not only will new Xoom owners have to activate and pay for a month of data, but an eagle-eyed tipster sent in this image of a Best Buy price tag that confirms the very same for Samsung’s Galaxy Tab. There’s nothing to suggest that WiFi-only versions of either tablet would be subject to the surcharge — with these cellular variants, we can almost understand — but we don’t see 3G iPads carrying mandatory activations, so what’s the deal, Verizon?

[Thanks, Brian R.]

Verizon charging for one month’s data with Samsung Galaxy Tab, too? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Feb 2011 23:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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