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We received a tip earlier today that Sprint stores were finding boxes of Motorola Xoom accessories this morning, ahead of what would presumably be a launch of the tablet on that carrier. Now BGR has some pics of what is certainly a Xoom case along with an entry in the store’s inventory system, strong indicators that the tablet will indeed be soon available there. Of course, we’re all still waiting on the LTE wizardry Moto is said to be enabling on the Verizon flavor, but we would naturally expect Sprint’s version to be packing some WiMAX whenever it ships. Word is the tablets themselves will be arriving in stores sometime before the end of the month, but let’s just wait and see what Sprint has to say before we get too excited this Tuesday morning.

Motorola XOOM available soon at Sprint, shipping with WiMAX on-board? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 12 Apr 2011 08:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Motorola Xoom might be starting to look a bit pricey compared to some of its new competitors, but it seems that the company may have a solution in the offing. According to a leaked, supposedly authentic Verizon screenshot obtained by Droid Life, Motorola is apparently planning to launch an LTE-upgradable Xoom with just 16GB of storage instead of the current 32GB, which would presumably also open the door for a cheaper 16GB WiFi-only model. Of course, that’s still a long way from being official, but cutting the storage in half is certainly one sure way to make a (seemingly necessary) price drop a bit more bearable.

[Thanks, Josh S]

Purported Verizon screenshot points to LTE-upgradable 16GB Motorola Xoom originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 08 Apr 2011 15:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google's Andy Rubin speaks at an Android Honeycomb event in February. Photo: Mike Isaac/Wired.com

Android chief Andy Rubin took to the blogs Wednesday evening to combat recent reports of Google clamping down on Android’s openness.

“We continue to be an open source platform and will continue releasing source code when it is ready,” wrote Rubin on the Android Developer Blog. “As I write this the Android team is still hard at work to bring all the new Honeycomb features to phones. As soon as this work is completed, we’ll publish the code. This temporary delay does not represent a change in strategy.”

Google has championed its platform as the open alternative to Apple’s closed iOS system. That openness has been called into question recently, as Google has yet to release the Honeycomb source code to all developers and manufacturers.

Honeycomb is Android’s first tablet-optimized software release. Rubin cites the difference in form factor between tablets and phones as the reason Google hasn’t released Honeycomb’s source code to device manufacturers and developers.

Motorola is the exception: The company’s Honeycomb-fueled Xoom tablet has been on the market for more than a month, which makes Google’s decision to hold the code from wide release a bit mystifying.

Members of the Android industry showed faith in Google, however.

“They say they’re going to release it, I’m not gonna call them liars,” Linux Foundation executive director Jim Zemlin told Wired.com in an interview. The Android OS is based on a version of the Linux OS, which has been an open source, collaborative platform since its release decades ago.

Rubin’s post also addressed questions raised in a recent Bloomberg story about Android’s level of control over its partners. Bloomberg wrote:

Over the past few months, according to several people familiar with the matter, Google has been demanding that Android licensees abide by “non-fragmentation clauses” that give Google the final say on how they can tweak the Android code — to make new interfaces and add services — and in some cases whom they can partner with.

Rubin combats this claim directly, stating Google’s so-called “anti-fragmentation program has been in place since Android 1.0,” citing a list of compatibility requirements manufacturers must adhere to in order to market a device as “Android-compatible.”

He’s referring to Android’s compatibility test suite, or CTS, an automated litmus test to measure whether or not a piece of hardware can claim to run Android.

“Our approach remains unchanged: There are no lock-downs or restrictions against customizing UIs,” wrote Rubin.

Motorola vouches for Rubin’s statement.

“In the time since we’ve started working with Google, our relationship has matured, but it isn’t any more limiting than it ever has been,” Christy Wyatt, Motorola’s VP of mobile software development, told Wired.com. “I don’t believe that anything has changed in the CTS since the beginning.”

Finally, Rubin emphatically denied other rumors of ARM-chipset standardization in the platform, much of which arose in the wake of an anonymously sourced DigiTimes story.

“There are not, and never have been, any efforts to standardize the platform on any single chipset architecture,” Rubin wrote. With the Nexus One, Google’s first flagship phone, the company worked with Qualcomm to install its 1-GHz Snapdragon ARM processors in the HTC-manufactured handsets. The subsequent Nexus S came equipped with Samsung’s 1-GHz Hummingbird processor, which is also based on ARM architecture.

It’s out of character for Rubin and Android to post such a defensive update. Rumors circulating in the media are usually given a brusque “no comment” by Google’s communications team.

But the title of Rubin’s post — “I think I’m having a Gene Amdahl moment” — explains it all. Amdahl coined the acronym FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) in 1975. After leaving IBM to form his own IT company, Amdahl claimed he suffered attacks by IBM sales staff attempting to undermine his new venture.

All of this negative attention isn’t good for Android’s “open” image, and maybe that’s what overcame Rubin’s reluctance to speak: too much FUD about Android’s future.

Whether or not this FUD is warranted, however, remains to be seen.

See Also:

• Android Trojan Highlights Risks of Open Markets
• Amazon Launches Its Own Android App Store
• Google Removes Flash App From Android Market
• Google Launches Android Market Web Store, Improves Payment System

Motorola's Xoom remains the Android tablet to beat, but the high price may be scaring off the public. Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Motorola’s 2011 Android lineup looked like it would give Apple a run for its money. But high prices and second-place product reviews may be defeating Motorola while its feet are barely out of the blocks.

Sales trends for Motorola’s Xoom tablet and its Atrix smartphone have been “disappointing,” according to James Faucette, analyst for research firm Pacific Crest. Faucette doesn’t provide any specific numbers, and Motorola hasn’t released sales figures, but analysts from Deutsche Bank are estimating the sales of the Xoom at 100,000 units sold within the tablet’s first month-and-a-half of availability, according to a Dow Jones wire report. Compare that to the 300,000 iPads sold on Day One of the tablet’s release a year ago.

Price is a big problem for Motorola. Consumer Reports ranked Motorola’s $800 3G, 32-GB version of the Xoom as equivalent to the 3G, 32-GB version of Apple’s first generation iPad, which goes for $580. Apple’s recently debuted iPad 2 topped Consumer Reports’ list of the 10 most-promising tablets.

However, the Xoom still remains the most viable competitor to the iPad 2, says Consumer Reports. Both tablets boast 10-inch screens, 3G and Wi-Fi capability, but the magazine concedes that the Xoom offers a few features the iPad 2 doesn’t — e.g., a built-in memory-card reader and Flash support.

The Xoom will also be upgradable for use on Verizon’s 4G network for free in the future, whereas Apple has no immediate plans to utilize any of the current 4G networks with its devices.

Each of the tablets on CR’s list was evaluated on 17 criteria, including ease of use, touchscreen responsiveness, versatility and screen glare. Tablets from Dell, Archos, Samsung and Viewsonic were also among those tested.

“So far Apple is leading the tablet market in both quality and price,” Paul Reynolds, electronics editor at Consumer Reports, said in a statement. “However, it’s likely we’ll see more competitive pricing in tablets as other models begin to hit the market.”

In Wired.com’s reviews, we ranked the iPad 2 at the top, scoring a 9 out of 10, while the Xoom came in at a 6.

As for the Atrix, the recent price drop of two competitive phones to $50 — Apple’s iPhone 3GS and HTC’s Inspire 4G with an Amazon deal — may account for Atrix sales coming in “well below forecast,” according to Faucette.

The Atrix has also taken flak for the high prices of its heavily hyped peripheral products. The laptop dock, which allows the phone to be converted into a portable notebook-like device, costs a cool $500. And the HD multimedia device that lets you attach the phone to an external HD monitor, essentially turning the Atrix into a PC, costs another $190. While the bells and whistles of the two accompanying devices made the Atrix stand out from competing smartphone debuts, the price points brought less-flattering attention.

However, as a phone, the Atrix is superb, Wired.com’s reviewer found.

While Motorola may have priced the Atrix’s accessories out of reach, it may be doing the right thing by thinking outside the mobile-market box.

“As the devices become more and more alike, manufacturers will do anything they can to differentiate themselves,” Gartner analyst Ken Dulaney told Wired.com in an interview.

That may include hardware peripherals like those found with the Atrix, or it could include tweaks in the Android user interface — as evidenced in Motorola’s Motoblur UI, or HTC’s Sense — though not all users prefer the UIs (or skins) created by the manufacturers.

With the release of multiple, relatively lower-cost tablets to come later in 2011, we’ll see if Motorola’s plans will change.

See Also:

• Report: Motorola Xoom Tablet to Cost a Hefty $800
• Motorola Thinks You’ll Pay $800 for the Xoom Tablet
• Motorola Xoom Launches Without Flash
• Farcical Xoom 4G Upgrade Plan Requires 6-Day Mail-In Operation …
• Verizon Memo Leaks Motorola Xoom Pricing: $799
• Hands-On With Motorola’s @$#%ing Atrix Superphone
• Video: WebOS, Motorola Atrix, Airplay-Capable Zeppelin
• Motorola’s Atrix Smartphone Coming in Early March
• Double Feature: Motorola’s Phone-Laptop Combo Is a Mixed Bag