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For those not keeping track, the Motorola Xoom made a debut in early January at the Consumer Electronics Show. Verizon Wireless picked up the tablet and assured customers a 4G LTE upgrade would be just a few weeks away. We got our hands on a unit in mid-March and the upgrade was still unavailable when we published a full review a week or two later.
Nearly seven months after launch, a press release issued by Motorola Mobility and Verizon Wireless popped up in my inbox yesterday. According to the document, the Motorola Xoom with 4G LTE built-in will reach retail stores on October 13th — another two weeks away. The tablet will retail for $499 with a new two-year contract.
As for those who already have a Xoom, Motorola and Verizon have a webpage to guide customers through the upgrade process. As expected, users will need to ship their tablet to a service center for outfitting with a 4G LTE module. The press release notes the entire process should only take six business days, though I doubt that will ease the rage of those who have been waiting for months. The upgrade page also mentions that those who upgrade immediately will receive a free Standard Dock ($49 MSRP) while supplies last.
While I definitely think those who have a 3G enabled Xoom should upgrade to 4G LTE for 5-12 MBps download speeds and 2-5 Mbps uploads, I would probably suggest against buying a new one. There are several new tablets hitting store shelves as we approach the holiday season. Even though I had some complains about the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, I would still recommend it over the Motorola Xoom.
Verizon Wireless charges $30, $50, and $80 a month for 2 GB, 5 GB, and 10 GB of data, respectively.
Link: XOOM 4G LTE Upgrade
