Skip to main content
DEAL WATCH: Keurig K-Express | 22% off $69.99

Keurig has changed the face of coffee, and snagging one of these for less than $70 is a solid deal. Read Review

BUY NOW
  • Introduction

  • Design & Usability

  • Performance

  • Conclusion

  • Science Introduction

  • Screen Performance

  • Battery Life

  • Introduction
  • Design & Usability
  • Performance
  • Conclusion
  • Science Introduction
  • Screen Performance
  • Battery Life

Introduction

Design & Usability

{{section_header}}{{section.name}}{{/section_header}}

Impressive design, plus a spill-proof case

Wow: this thing's light for a tablet. Because of the tiny dimensions and light materials used, the {{product.name}} is very easy to hold, and there's virtually no fatigue associated with long sessions. As far as tablets go, this is one of the better units to hold. Did we mention it's water-resistant? Don't worry about a light mist or spill, because there is a nano-coating on the outside and inside of the tablet that prevents liquids from shorting out connections that would normally kill any other tablet. That's a huge plus.

The controls for the {{product.name}} are accessed almost exclusively from the capacitive touch screen, but there are a couple physical buttons on the back that you should be aware of. For starters, the power/sleep/wake button is on the back of the right side (if held at a landscape orientation), and right next to it are the physical volume controls. Though some may lament the loss of physical buttons, it's more of a taste thing, as there are very few tablets that we've seen with physical buttons that enhance the experience by a large degree.

Though some may lament the loss of physical buttons, it's more of a taste thing.

This is the point in the review where we tell you that the {{product.name}} has some fairly great connectivity options, many of which are seen on other tablets, but that doesn't make them any less useful. If you want a tablet that can interface with your computer and TV, you'd probably be delighted to know that the {{product.name}} has a micro-HDMI port, as well as several apps to handle things like streaming and remote office applications. On top of all that, Motorola joins Sony and Vizio in the universal remote application club with an IR-blaster to directly control your devices at home with an included application.

As with most tablets, the {{product.name}} has an on-board 802.11n wireless card, and there are other iterations of the device that are 4G-enabled, although they require a data plan. Also available is the ability to make use of Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, allowing you to tether accessories to your tablet. The {{product.name}} also has an assisted GPS unit that runs with the Google suite of navigation software, including Maps, Navigation, and Streetview.

{{photo_gallery "Front Image", "Back Image", "Side Image", "Front Size Comparison", "Packaging Contents Image", "Handling Front Image", "Handling Side Image"}}

Performance

As snazzy as the casing and features are, the internal guts are less so.

The screen of the {{ products(50fa2df796ab5860160c6ecf).name }} is a 8.5625 x 5.325 inch TFT LCD display that is IPS-enhanced. Like most of the higher-end tablets on the market, the touchscreen used by the {{ products(50fa2df796ab5860160c6ecf).name }} is capacitive, as well as semi-water-resistant. Similar to other Android tablets, the color gamut is lacking, though the contrast performance is actually decent.

One major drawback on the {{ products(50fa2df796ab5860160c6ecf).name }} is its highly reflective screen—even its moderately high brightness isn't enough to overpower the sun, so with these factors combined, it doesn't do terribly well in the outdoors unless it has some help from shade, cloud cover, or generally bad weather.

The battery life was very disappointing.

The battery life was very disappointing, considering that Motorola's Xoom tablet is a former champion of battery life on TRI. It was a little baffling to get the results back on the Xyboard and see that it lost well over an hour on both the eBook reading and the video battery life. With eBook reading clocking in at 6 hours, 9 minutes, and video playback at 5 hours, 37 minutes, the Xyboard's performance is a huge drop off in comparison to the Xoom's battery life.

Conclusion

{{section_header}}{{section.name}}{{/section_header}}

Impressively feature-laden, but lacks power where it counts

The {{product.name}} is a very impressive, feature-laden tablet that will undoubtedly push other competitors in the tablet arena to focus on capability-driven performance. While many of its performance points like hardware and interface are very formidable, there are a couple nagging concerns mixed with some optimism for the future of the {{product.name}}.

We were impressed that Motorola crammed so many features like Bluetooth, an IR blaster, media streaming platforms, and a micro-HDMI port into the tablet without the user interface seeming cluttered or overloaded. The additional office applications are a huge plus if you're accustomed to taking your tablet on the road, especially if you need to access your remote desktop via Citrix, or if you need a video-conferencing application. The streaming support and capabilities for home media consumption are fantastic.

The streaming support and capabilities for home media consumption are fantastic.

In spite of all this, the battery, while large for a tablet, seems to be leaned on a bit too heavily by the hardware, as we got surprisingly low battery life in our labs. We're not entirely sure why this is the case, as many other people report much higher results. Still, our results were repeatable, and we stand by them. A lackluster battery life may color your experience a bit if you're prone to using your tablet for more than 5 hours at a time.

Overall, if the price holds out at its current point, it is a strong contender among the top-tier of tablets on the market right now. The battery life is disappointing, but there are things you can do to mitigate this setback, even while keeping your brightness at a level comparable to the iPad. If you're looking for a tablet that can be used pretty much anywhere you go with a ton of functionality, you'd be hard pressed to find something better, outside of the Asus Transformer series of tablets.

Science Introduction

{{section_header}}{{section.name}}{{/section_header}}

Despite the slew of novelty features, the Xyboard underperforms in all measures of screen performance and battery life. Here come the numbers.

Screen Performance

{{section_header}}{{section.name}}{{/section_header}}

Yes, it's water-resistant, but it's also high-performance resistant.

There's a cost to having a peak brightness, and that's usually having a very high black level if your tablet is backlit (as opposed to having an OLED or AMOLED screen). The {{product.name}} is no different: While it does have an impressive peak brightness of 457.26 cd/m2 , it has a rather poor black level of 0.64cd/m2 . Why is the black level important? The lower it is, the wider the potential contrast ratio is, which in turn is important because a wider contrast ratio means more values your device can display in greyscale. In other words, a better contrast ratio means more detail.

With a resolution of 1280 x 800 and a screen size of 8.5625 x 5.325 inches (150 DPI), the rather large screen of the {{product.name}} has no issues with loss of detail whatsoever. Granted, it's a smallish display in comparison to a television set, so it's not exactly fair to expect it to support all standard NTSC resolutions.

{{product.name}} owners will probably notice after a while that their tablet does not handle its color performance as well as their LCD TV does, but to be fair, no tablet that we've ever reviewed does. By consulting the rec. 709 standard, you'll notice that the {{product.name}} has some issues with undersaturating greens and reds, while it wildly shifts blues to a more cyan-ish color. Additionally, the white point is more cyan than we'd like to see, but no tablet is perfect.

{{photo_gallery "Science Section 1 Images"}}

Battery Life

{{section_header}}{{section.name}}{{/section_header}}

Not bad, but could be a lot better

Maybe it's due to the incredibly powerful backlight, or maybe it's due to something else. Whatever the reason, the {{product.name}} does not do well with battery life when reading eBooks, as it clocked in at around 6 hours and 9 minutes. This will probably be suitable for a car ride, commute, or very short flight, but not for a continental flight. Keep in mind, though, that in our labs we test with the backlight cranked and the wireless turned off, so your mileage may vary depending on your settings, as each of these affect battery life.

Much like the results we discovered in the eReader battery test, the video battery tests were disheartening to say the least. Lasting only 5 hours and 37 minutes, the {{product.name}} falls far short of competitive in terms of battery performance in comparison to the rest of the pack. This may have to do with the super-thin size, or the super-bright screen, but for whatever reason, video playback suffered heavily.

{{photo_gallery "Science Section 2 Images"}}

Meet the tester

Chris Thomas

Chris Thomas

Staff Writer, Imaging

@cthomas8888

A seasoned writer and professional photographer, Chris reviews cameras, headphones, smartphones, laptops, and lenses. Educated in Political Science and Linguistics, Chris can often be found building a robot army, snowboarding, or getting ink.

See all of Chris Thomas's reviews

Checking our work.

Our team is here for one purpose: to help you buy the best stuff and love what you own. Our writers, editors, and lab technicians obsess over the products we cover to make sure you're confident and satisfied. Have a different opinion about something we recommend? Email us and we'll compare notes.

Shoot us an email

Up next