The Motorola Xoom tablet, with Wi-Fi or 3G connectivity, has many features. Since Android 3.0 Honeycomb is a entirely new interface geared for tablets only, we thought we'd round up the best tips and tricks for the Motorola Xoom. We will be adding tips when we find them. Many of these tips come from Motorola's help forum.
Beginner User Tips
- If you can't see the screen while wearing sunglasses, take them off. Screen brightness changes because the Xoom senses the current lighting level.
- To return to the home screen, touch Home.
- To sleep/wake the Xoom, press Power/Lock.
Browser Tips
Easy Browser History, Bookmark Deleting and Browser Bar - Press the back button on the lower left of the Motorola Xoom screen, while in the browser, to show a month of browser history and most-visited websites. To delete a bookmark in the browser, press and hold the bookmark link, and a pop-up menu will give you several good options. To bring up the address bar in the browser without scrolling to top of page, just click on the tab of the browser page you're currenly on, and the address bar will appear.
Desktop Tips
Use Shortcuts - Go to the upper right-hand corner of your screen, and hit the + button. Then click on the "More" tab to find shortcut features, apps and information. The Gmail label will let you open directly to a folder in Gmail. There are shortcuts for contacts, music, settings, and more that you can add to the desktop. Desktop Cleaning Tips - If you add icons on your desktop by mistake, you can clear them off by dragging them into the trash. To stop the Android Market from creating an app shortcut onto your home screen whenever you download a new app, open the Market app, touch My Apps, touch the right-corner settings menu, and remove the check mark from "Add shortcuts for new apps."
Quick Screen Freeze Fix - Press and hold the power button and volume up to soft-reset after your tablet freezes.
Volume Control - After hitting volume up or down, the level icon that appears is selectable. Tapping the speaker mutes all sound, the icon on the right allows you to quickly adjust notification volume separately, and dragging the green bubble allows for quicker volume changing.
Battery Life Savers
To keep your battery fit, charge the Xoom often. There is no need to fully discharge because it stresses the battery. Several partial discharges (regular use) with frequent recharges are better for lithium-ion than one total discharge.
Keep the Xoom away from heat because heat will decrease the battery life of lithium-based batteries. Keep the battery cool. Don't leave it in your hot car, in the sun, or near a heater. If you use your Xoom in the steam room or sauna, release that mean that your battery won't last as long. When storing the Xoom, store it partially charged (around 40%).
Lower Battery Usage Turn off Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and GPS - To shut off Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, go to Apps> Settings: Wireless and Networks. To shut off GPS, go to Apps> Settings > Locations and Security.
You can make a faster-screen timeout or lower brightness in Apps>Settings> Screen.
Tag Your Photos with Location But Don't Publicly Share - You can turn on the location tracking in your pictures so they are tagged. It's turned off by default. To turn it on, open the Camera app, touch the wrench icon in the Settings area, and change "Store Location" to "On." But - be sure you want that information.
If you post a photo online with location information, it's available to anyone. For instance, there was a case where reporters found out where a local TV news crew showed up at the home of a family based on the pictures they posted on Flikr. They were not aware that the location was embedded in the photos, and that anyone who wanted to find out where their kids lived could easily find out.
Advanced User Tips
App Info - To see detailed information about a particular app, open the Apps area, then touch and hold the app's icon. An Information icon appears in the top right corner next to the Trash Can icon. Drag and drop the app onto the Information icon, and you'll see that app's Application Info page. From there, you can touch the app's Clear Cache buttons and Clear Defaults button - a way to start from scratch with that app without performing a complete Factory Reset.
Copy & Paste / Sharing Tips
The copy-and-paste function has many features. When you long-press any eligible text, you get a green highlight and two bounding arrows. You can drag to expand or contract your area of interest. Then, you can use the controls at the top of the page to find more instances of that text in the document, or search the web for more. You can also use the Share command to move that information to a notepad, send it via Bluetooth or email, post it on Facebook or more.
Advanced Browser Tip
If you're searching the web, and you find a link that you want to explore later, you can always long press it and open it in a new tab, keeping your current tab open as well. The default, however, opens the new tab in front of the old one, forcing you to go back to finish what you were looking at. To change this browser behavior, go to Menu > Settings > Advanced, and click the box marked Open in the background. Those new tabs will now stay in the background.
View Xoom on HDTV - You can snap photos and capture videos, then seen them on your home HDTV flat screen. The Xoom's HDMI port lets you connect it to other HDMI devices.
Some fun suggestions from forum members include:
Don't show your Motorola Xoom to your spouse. I purchased a netbook for my wife and she loves it. However, when she saw my Xoom, she cheated on her netbook and kept me away from my tablet playing "Dungeon Defenders".
Learn How to Layer Google maps. When you add the other google apps into the picture, such as street view, google earth, and google sky, it makes for quite an interesting experience.
The Motorola Xoom is available with 3G/4G access from Verizon Wireless and is available in Wi-Fi only from many outlets.
Motorola offers new users video demos, a guided assistant, and even a help app .
Read Motorola Xoom review.
Why can't I watch espn video clips on my xoom?