Today Motorola announced the successor to its Android tablet the Xoom. Expectantly the new tablet is called the Xoom 2. It features the same 10.1-inch widescreen display as its predecessor, runs Android Honeycomb 3.2, and is powered by a dual-core 1.2GHz processor. 16GB of storage is on board, as is 1GB of RAM. A five megapixel shooter sits on the back, and around the front you’ll spot a 1.3 megapixel camera for video chat. Ports include HDMI, microUSB, and 3.5mm headphone jack. And to highlight a few more key differences from the original Xoom: the Xoom 2 weighs approximately 100 grams lighter than the first Moto tablet, it is also much thinner measuring at 0.35 inches thick, the display is brighter and more vibrant than before, it features new splash-guard coating for protection against spilled liquid, Gorilla Glass protection will help deter scratches, it is compatabile with a separately sold Motorola Stylus for note-taking, and an enhanced battery will support more than 10 hours of video playback. Additionally, the body sports an elegant design with angular cut-away corners that takes cues from the recently announced Motorola smartphone the Droid RAZR; Moto promises better ergonomics because of this.

And then there’s the Xoom 2 Media Edition. It’s essentially a Xoom 2 with a smaller 8.2-inch display. A few other things distinguish the Media Edition from its larger brother: it features a wide 178 degree viewing angle, it has a 20 percent improvement in graphics performance over the original Xoom, and it weighs under a pound.

A press release, in full after the break, says that the WiFi-only versions of the Xoom 2 (£379.99) and Xoom 2 Media Edition (£329.99) tablets are headed to Ireland and the UK later this month. No word on when they will hit stateside. People who do get their hands on a new Xoom can expect a future update to Google’s upcoming OS Ice Cream Sandwich, so they are future-proof in that sense. Get a closer look at the Xooms below and jump after the break to watch a promo.

[Via Engadget] Continue reading Motorola announces Xoom 2 and Xoom 2 Media Edition tablets →