It's a dock for your Xoom, it looks cool enough and has built in speakers that are an upgrade over the Xoom's built in speakers.
Setup: Very easy, just un-box it, plug it in and you're ready to go.
Pros: It feels sturdy and holds the Xoom well, you can easily type on the Xoom and the viewing angle is very natural. It has an hdmi output, power connector on the back, on the front there's a cut out so you can still speak and the Xoom's mic will pick up on your voice.
Cons: No USB out, no included HDMI cable.
It's not a bad dock if you want to put it next to a TV and use the HDMI feature, or maybe on a coffee table or in the kitchen to use the built in speakers to play out some Pandora or other music. Motorola Speaker HD Dock for MOTOROLA XOOM (Motorola Retail Packaging)
Overall, I am happy with the Motorola Speaker Dock for the Xoom. It fits the Xoom great, with or without the protective gel cover on the back.
It did take me a couple attempts to learn how to place the Xoom on the dock. I can see how it could damage the dock if you have it at the wrong angle and press down too hard. Once you learn the correct angle to use, it slides onto the dock very easily.
I was a little disappointed to see that the HDMI output on the back of the dock is not a fullsize HDMI slot. It is the same mini HDMI as on the Xoom itself, meaning you will still need to have a cable that goes from the smaller form factor the the normal. It seems to me like it would have been easy enough for the dock to include a regular size HDMI output. A USB output would have also been nice.
The speaker is decent sound quality. It's not great but it's better than the built in Xoom speakers. A headphone jack on the front of the dock would have been nice too.
What I do like about the dock, is that it holds the Xoom at a good angle, and charges the unit while you're using it. It pairs well with the bluetooth keyboard. I'm using both right now as I write this review.
I bought this not knowing how it would fit into the Xoom. Works great and keeps the Xoom positioned right where I wanted it.
I also bought the wireless keyboard. It is terrific too.
I am thrilled with entire purchase!
The dock is well made. Sturdy and gives good support to the Xoom whilst it's docked. It comes with a power supply that connects to the base and also two 'face plate' that you can use for either with or without a silcone cover.
The three biggest let down and hence the 2 stars rating is that:
a) as a sound "HD" accessory,.. the sounds component is awful! very tin-ny with the low frequency (bass) being a real let down. Even with the 'bass boost' which is just a hole cut out on the back does not help. I wasn't expecting anything like the Bose Sounddock that you can get for the ipad/pods, but come-on Motorola, this is a disgrace after doing such a wonderful job on the Xoom. For the amount of money i paid for this, i expected something that's much better sounding.
b) docking the Xoom is very difficult. There are two sockets plus sprung loaded pins that protrude making it really hard to locate and mate properly. There is the dot on the front bottom center of the Xoom and docking station, but all it does is it gets you roughly in the right place. You still have to wiggle the Xoom around a bit until it falls in. I'm very afraid that if you are too rough, you will eventually damage the fragile feeling sockets on the Xoom. Just looking closely at the Xoom sockets, I can see that it's worn away alot only after about 1 months' use.
c) the power supply buzzes... i use the Xoom as an alarm clock and so it's on my beside table docked. Once i turn the lights out and your hearing becomes more sensitive, you can hear the power supply's high pitch buzzing which can be very irritating if you are trying to fall asleep. It's got to a stage where I disconnect the power supply at night.
Other thoughts: I haven't used the mini-hdmi, but as others have said, there's plenty of real-estate, so they could have put in a full sized HDMI socket.... it's just another bit of cable you must have if you ever want to connect it to a TV, etc.
In summary, I'd steer clear of this if you want some good sounds. It's not cheap and the sound quality is worse than an average cheap computer speaker you can get at your local computer store.
The audio is great. I have no complaints with that at all. My complaint is that it is hard to actually dock the Xoom to the dock. Also, the power cable is really long and I actually dropped it on cement because the cable fell apart (two pieces). It still works are there are no scratches on it thankfully. Overall.. I'm glad I purchased it.
Outstanding value. Sound quality was very pleasant surprise. With proper insert easy to place or remove xoom. Much more than I expected. Highly recommend. Very pleased with purchase, especially thru Amazon.'
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