Telstra launches Android-based Xoom tablet, Atrix smartphone

Managing director of Motorola Mobility, ANZ and South Pacific, Timo Brouwer launches the Xoom in Sydney

Telstra and Motorola Mobility have teamed up to launch the much-anticipated Xoom tablet and Atrix smartphone, giving consumers more options for Andorid-based devices, including PC apps and functions.

The two companies already announced their plans last month and put on a launch event in Sydney to unleash both devices, with the Xoom seen as one of the few big-name competitors to the iPad.

The Xoom will launch on Telstra’s Next G network on May 24 and is available on a 24-month contract from $54 a month with 1GB of data or for $840 outright.

For $74 a month you get 7GB of data and 12GB for $94. There is also a 3GB business mobile broadband member plan for $64 a month.

The Motorola Xoom was the first device to run on the Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) operating system and features a 1GHz dual-core processor, 1 GB of RAM, a 10.1-inch 1280x800 widescreen HD display, HDMI out and two cameras — a five-megapixel rear-facing camera and a two-megapixel front-facing camera.

Managing director of Motorola Mobility, ANZ and South Pacific, Timo Brouwer, said the Xoom has enabled him to live without a PC for most of his business tasks.

“I’ve been using the Xoom for the past three or four months and I hardly use a PC anymore,” Brouwer said. “And it’s a great entertainment device for watching movies and playing games.”

Brouwer said his team is receiving a lot of enquiries about the Xoom and he is quite bullish about its potential in the business market, where tablets in general a still finding use cases.

“We are interested in the business market and have invested in security with the acquisition of 3LM,” he said.

Brouwer said the Xoom will be sold to enterprises and government customers through carriers partners like Telstra.

The Xoom has an SD card expansion slot but requires a software update to use, which Brouwer said is coming soon, but not before the launch date. Adobe Flash 10.2 is available for Honeycomb via the Android Market.

Atrix smartphone

Motorola’s Atrix joins the ranks of Telstra’s limited high-end Android smartphone range which it becomes available from June 7.

The Atrix runs on Telstra’s Next G mobile network, but not LTE, which this device is not compatible with. Motorola has announced an LTE version of the Atrix in the US.

It will be available on Telstra’s new Freedom Connect Plans for $79 a month including $550 of calls and 1.5GB of data.

The Atrix can also be purchased for $840 outright.

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Director of Telstra’s mobile products, Andrew Volard, said the Motorola Atrix is the first smartphone from an Australian telco to offer the power of a dual-core processor.

“Android is proving popular and we sold 300,000 Android-based handsets in the six months to December 2010,” Vollard said.

“We have listened to feedback from customers and the Telstra apps on the Atrix a not a locked-down as previous Android handsets and people can choose to run them or not.”

Telstra has exclusivity with the Atrix until the end of July. Late last year Telstra and Motorola also partnered to launch the Defy smartphone.

The Atrix has a 1GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, a 4-inch qHD display, front- and rear-facing cameras and 16GB internal storage (up to 48GB with SD card).

It runs Android 2.2 ‘Froyo’ and not the latest 2.3 ‘Gingerbread’, which Motorola puts down to time-to-market constraints.

'Smart' accessories

To accompany the two new devices Motorola has launched a new range of “smart” accessories to the local market.

Motorola’s webtop application runs a full Mozilla Firefox 3.6 browser and supports Flash for a standard desktop-like Web experience.

The optional Motorola HD Multimedia Dock ($129) and Lapdock ($449) allow the Atrix to be used with a larger screen, keyboard and trackpad for a “computer-like experience” with their phone.

Webtop can run Android apps in a window, browse the Web with Firefox, edit documents, send messages and make phone calls. Calls continue uninterrupted if the Atrix is removed from a dock.

The new Entertainment Centre feature can display photos, music and videos on a large screen TV.

For the Xoom there is the Standard Dock for watching videos or listening to music through external speakers while the device charges ($69), the Speaker HD Dock for sending HD content to a TV or listening to music through built-in speakers ($149); Folio on the Go ($59); the Power Pack car and AC charger ($49); colour Gel Cases ($29); and a custom keyboard with Bluetooth and special Android shortcut keys ($79) which is also compatible with the Atrix.

With webtop the Atrix also has an integrated Citrix Receiver application that provides access to virtual desktops and Windows, Web and office applications hosted on Citrix XenDesktop.

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