Motorola has confirmed its much-anticipated Xoom Android tablet will launch in Australia with a disabled microSD card slot, and the company has not specified when it will be active.
Read our comprehensive Motorola Xoom review, and see how the Motorola Xoom stacks up against the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1v and the Acer Iconia A500 in our Android tablet showdown.
Computerworld: Which tablet should I buy? Motorola Xoom vs Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1v
The Motorola Xoom was jointly unveiled with Telstra last night at a media event in Sydney, where it was confirmed it would launch through Telstra from 24 May.
Motorola lists 32GB of internal memory, along with a microSD card slot in the Xoom's specifications sheet but the slot requires a software update to become active. When pressed on the issue, Motorola's managing director of Australian and New Zealand, Timo Bouwer, said the software update that would enable the microSD card slot was "pending" but did not offer a more specific time frame.
It is not known whether the software update is a Google or Motorola issue, but it is likely the latter. Other Android 3.0 Honeycomb tablets, specifically the Acer Iconia A500, have already shipped in Australia with a working microSD card slot. Along with a fully functional microSD slot, Acer's Iconia A500 also has a full size USB port that enables users to plug in USB flash drives, USB hard drives, and even USB accessories like keyboards.
In the US, the Motorola Xoom launched without Adobe Flash support, though this was rectified with a software update in the following weeks. US and European models of the Xoom are also waiting on a software update to enable the microSD card slot.
The Motorola Xoom will be available through Telstra from 24 May for $840 outright, or on a range of Telstra cap plans. For more information visit Telstra's website.
