Motorola Xoom 2 and Xoom 2 Media edition: announcement, release date, and hands-on

It was 10 months ago, during the Super Bowl, that Motorola announced the original Xoom to the world. In a 60-second ad that spared no expense, Google and Motorola united to show us their bold new vision for tablets; Honeycomb was going to revolutionize Android and our lives with it, while the Xoom was to be the flagship cresting that wave of change. You know your history, so you're no doubt aware that those grand plans didn't come to fruition.

Motorola's approach with the Xoom 2 is, perhaps as a consequence of its experience with the Xoom, much more cautious, almost taciturn. The upgraded tablet has been put up for sale in the UK with nary a billboard or a late-night commercial to champion it, while its US promotion seems to have been handed off to Verizon, who's been allowed to deface it with the tacky moniker of Droid Xyboard. It wouldn't be unreasonable, therefore, to describe the Xoom 2 as the product of a company in a holding pattern. Moto clearly doesn't feel comfortable being an also-ran in the Android race, particularly not once Google becomes its parent company, but the time has apparently not been deemed correct to introduce the true successor to the extremely ambitious Xoom.

Extra apps preloaded on the second-generation Xooms will include Citrix, Dijit, Evernote, Fuze Meeting, GoToMeeting, QuickOffice, Skitch, Twonky, and MotoCast. The latter gives you direct IP connectivity to your computer at home, allowing you to browse and access content via the tablet. Motorola tells us that the Xoom 2 range is only starting off with Honeycomb and will be getting an Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade "in due course."

Both Xooms look exceedingly thin and their 1280 x 800 IPS displays mark a huge upgrade from the original Xoom's dull and uninspiring screen. Colors are brighter and viewing angles are much improved. A neat new trick Motorola has implemented in the new hardware is called Intelligent Grip Suppression. What that means is that you can grip the tablet with your finger on the touchscreen surface, which the software is smart enough to recognize as not being an attempt at input and chooses to ignore. The result is that you can scroll, browse, and pan with your right hand as usual, while your left is also touching the screen in a grip position. It's a small and simple little tweak, but might turn out to be a legitimate usability boon.

It sounds a heck of a lot like the original Xoom on paper, but the biggest changes comes with form factor — the Xoom 2 measures just 8.8mm and the Media Edition 8.9mm, the edges have been "designed to make the tablet more comfortable to hold," and it's covered in a "splash-guard" coating to protect against spills and bumps. Additionally, the displays (which it isn't outright saying is IPS) are brighter and have better viewing angles than the original. Interestingly, the Xoom 2 is also available with a stylus, which we're assuming is similar to the variety on HTC's Flyer and Lenovo's ThinkPad Tablet.

So when are the two finally hitting stores? No word on US availability yet (though we're betting Verizon chimes in sooner rather than later), but it will be hitting UK and Ireland in mid-November for £329.99 ($528) in Media Edition flavor and £379.99 ($609) for the standard Xoom 2. We're scheduled to attend a Motorola event in the UK later today, so it shouldn't be long before we bring you hands-on pictures, video, and impressions. In the meantime, we will leave you with the gallery below and this handy chart comparing the entire Xoom family.

Given the two leaks in the last 24 hours, it's pretty clear by now that Motorola's got a thinner and lighter Xoom 2 in the hopper, but we're now learning that it will be joined by a smaller version -- the Xoom 2 Media Edition. According to our very-trusted source, the Media Edition has an 8.2-inch HD IPS display with an anti-glare coating, weighs 0.95 pounds, and can easily be held in one hand. There's an obvious focus on portability, but durability seems to be a big part of the industrial design equation; the chassis itself is made of a combination of magnesium and aluminum, has a Gorilla Glass display, and is apparently "splash" proof. From what we're hearing, Motorola's pushing this one as an out-and-about ereader replacement; however, it seems to have home entertainment appeal with an integrated IR remote and a subwoofer on the chassis itself.

So, you're likely wondering if the Media Edition is in fact the same Android Honeycomb tablet we saw a few days ago (pictured after the break) -- the one we believed to be a 7 incher. It seems more likely that this is the same product (at least from our eyeballing of the picture and comparison to the pen sitting next to it), and that Motorola decided to go with an 8.2-inch display. But what we do know for sure is that Moto's prepping a smaller tablet (a Xoom Mini, if you will) and it will likely hit soon, since an additional source added that Verizon is currently prepping signage and fixtures for a similarly-sized Motorola device. We're currently digging for more on the Media Edition, so stay tuned!

Sure, we just brought you details on the 4.3-inch Droid RAZR (or Spyder), but now we're hunting bigger game -- like a 10.1-inch Motorola Xoom 2 that's just 9mm thick. That's still a hair thicker than the iPad 2's 8.8mm frame, but our trusted source says this Xoom successor will have an unspecified dual-core 1.2GHz processor, come with 1GB of "faster" RAM, record 1080p video, and still supposedly get eleven hours of battery life compared to the original model's ten. There's an optional keyboard case planned, in addition to a stylus pen, though our source couldn't tell us whether the HD screen has an active digitizer or if it just transfers the electricity to your finger.

Our mole did, however, spend some time talking up some special software deals -- the Xoom 2 is scheduled to be the first tablet to ship with Adobe Flash Player 11, stream Netflix in HD (are we looking at an OMAP 4?), and may wirelessly sync to your PC with some new apps that Moto's cooking up in-house. Last but not least, we're hearing the Xoom 2 will have a built-in IR blaster and some sort of home automation software may be ready for launch. We don't have much more than that, but when we find out, you'll be the first to know!