Blu-Ray ripper Review

Kudos to author BoostHungry for his hard work on this

Okay so I spent hours playing with different options for ripping blu-rays into a format that could be transferred to my Xoom and I would like to share what I have learned.


The Rippers
I started with some research and downloaded six or seven different programs designed for ripping blu-rays that were recommended some where on the web.

I almost immediately discarded all but three rippers. Two were immediately ruled out after just examining the UI and noticing the lack of customization options. Another three were ruled out based on the fact they required a separate program called AnyDVD to run at all. This didn't bother me too much but further investigation found that AnyDVD costs $60+ in itself and does not offer the most user friendly experience.

It's also worth noting I did not try out the beta of DVD Catalyst because it also requires AnyDVD or a similar program running in unison both of which would be added cost and added hassle. If your only looking to rip DVDs then DVD Catalyst for only $10 is the way to go from what I hear.

What I ended up with were three blu-ray ripping trials.
DVDFab 8 - $60
Pavtube Blu-Ray Ripper - $50
Foxreal Blu-Ray Ripper - $50
(I don't know about the others but Pavtube requires you to spend an extra $5 for them to store your product key in their databases for a year for your convenience...)

At first glance Pavtube and Foxreal seemed almost identical in UI but they performed very different.


Customization
DVDFab was the first ripper I tried and I was very disappointed with the lack of control when ripping the blu-rays. There were nine different profiles to choose from when selecting .mp4 output format. Five of which had either 'ipad' or 'iphone' in the name and had very low max resolution outputs. In the end the only profile that was workable was the basic profile for h264 and for some reason did not support 1920x1080 resolution.

Pavtube and Foxreal had, like I mentioned, identical UIs and actually shared identical customization options. In addition to having many more built in profiles for everything from different Android phones and IPhones to gaming consoles and even power points, it also had basic profiles for common video formats.

Where both Pavtube and Foxreal set themselves apart from DVDFab was in the customization of these profiles. While DVDFab attempted to give me control of resolution, frame rate, bit rate, and audio, Pavtube and Foxreal actually allowed me to change these to an assortment of options including 1920x1080 at multiple frame rates.


Testing
In order to get a good base line of these programs I popped in Avatar on blu-ray into my blu-ray rom and selected a chapter to use as testing so I didn't need to rip the entire movie every time.

From here on you will see me post settings in the form:
Codec: [codec used, file type always .mp4]
Resolution: [resolution]
Bit Rate: [bit rate]
Size: [file size generated]
Speed: [time it took to rip, in minutes]

In DVDFab I was only able to make one good base test due to the lack of customization. I set the settings to:
Codec: h264
Resolution: 1680x946
Bit Rate: 5000
Size: 130mb
Speed: 9:33

This test led me to believe that DVDFab was a possibility because the picture looked phenomenal with good 3d depth and very little artifacting around moving objects. The problem was that it was laggy. It took 10-15 seconds for what appeared to be buffering before the clip would smooth out and then I would get bullet lag quiet often.

I was confident this would be improved if I played with the settings but found that quality had to really be reduced in order for the clip to smooth out.

DVDFab was essentially ruled out.

I then put together some test batches for both Pavtube and Foxreal. I chose to go with four different profiles for each program. h264 with HD standards, h264 base standards, MPEG 4 (xvid) with HD standards, and MPEG 4 (xvid) with base standards. These were the final settings and results:

Note: The chapter I chose was 3:34 long and my computer is using an Nvidia GTX 570 paired with an Intel E6750 2.66GHz dual core processor. You can use this information to judge the speed it took to rip these files. CUDA acceleration was on for all but the first video, CUDA is an Nvidia technology that speeds up the encoding and decoding of h264 files which is the reason the h264 files were significantly faster than the xvid files.

PavTube
4 files

Codec: h264 HD
Resolution: 1920x1080
Bit Rate: 9000
Size: 230mb
Speed: 12:57 (CUDA acceleration was off)

Codec: MPEG(xvid) HD
Resolution: 1920x1080
Bit Rate: 12000
Size: 307mb
Speed: 8:40

Codec: h264
Resolution: 1920x1080
Bit Rate: 9000
Size: 232mb
Speed: 3:20

Codec: MPEG(xvid)
Resolution: 1920x1080
Bit Rate: 12000
Size: 307mb
Speed: 8:40

FoxReal
4 files

Codec: h264 HD
Resolution: 1920x1080
Bit Rate: 9000
Size: 232mb
Speed: 3:19

Codec: MPEG(xvid) HD
Resolution: 1920x1080
Bit Rate: 12000
Size: 307mb
Speed: 8:40

Codec: h264
Resolution: 1920x1080
Bit Rate: 9000
Size: 232mb
Speed: 3:20

Codec: MPEG(xvid)
Resolution: 1920x1080
Bit Rate: 12000
Size: 307mb
Speed: 8:47

As you can see the file sizes and speeds were almost identical between Foxreal and Pavtube. Except of course for the first one where I forgot to turn CUDA acceleration on for the ripping.


Quality
Now here is where it got difficult. I know right off the bat people would ask me why I even tried the xvid codecs and instead just accepted that h264 would be the better codec. But I actually found the quality of the xvid looked better than the h264. After watching these clips over and over again both on the Xoom and hooked up to my HD TV, I settled on either the h264 with the HD standard and the xvid with the base line standards. Don't ask me why these two because I couldn't tell ya.

I like to think I have a pretty good eye for video quality, I currently sell HD TVs and can see the difference between 100k contrast and 120k contrast if that gives me any sort of justification.

I eventually agreed (with my girlfriend who was helping me judge) that the MPEG 4 with the xvid codec ripped by Pavtube was the best quality of the bunch. The colors were much more vibrant on my 42 inch plasma while the edges of moving objects were not blurred at all.


Results
What was important to me:

• Quality of the Video
• Compatibility with the Xoom
• Usability of the program

What was not important to me:

• Time to rip (I'm happy doing one movie overnight every night if need be)
• Size - to an extent (quality is more important)

After reviewing every aspect of these programs that was important to me I can honestly say that Pavtube gave the best quality and also the best user experience. The reason it beat out Foxreal is the fact that Foxreal would convert some of my videos (the ones with the HD standards) to a 4:3 aspect ratio and also four tests made by Foxreal failed to load on the Xoom while only one Pavtube test failed to load.

So I will now begin ripping my entire blu-ray collection into MPEG 4 formats at 12000 bit rate. But note at these settings your probably looking at 10GBs per movie so these settings are for people who share what is and isn't important for me. Even if this is not what your looking for I would still recommend Pavtube as the ripper of choice but instead of the xvid codec at 12000 bit rate I would go with the h264 codec at 9000 bit rate because you won't sacrifice clarity, just color.


Tips
If you are looking to test video quality for yourself look for a chapter when under Title Mode (on the Pavtube UI) that is rather short but has a good display of colorful moving objects and rip that chapter into different formats and settings.

When ripping the full movie switch the UI to File Mode and rip only the main file. The reason I recommend switching to File Mode is because if you rip both the title and all the chapters under Title Mode it will actually rip the movie twice. If you read my previous edits you will have seen how this doubled my file size.

Remember that movie frame rates are usually around 24fps for a reason. I recommend matching the source when it comes to framerate.

Encode the audio in stereo format. 5.1 audio does not work on the Xoom and it will cause the video to play in fast forward.



Epilogue
I need to note that I'm in no way affiliated with any of the above programs and did this testing because I couldn't find any reviews that were not sponsored by the programs themselves.

I'm entirely new to compression and ripping so this was a learning experience for me and hope that my terminology and assumptions of how the process works is accurate.

As a CS major I'm looking to get familiar with technical writing and I hope this review was readable, informative, and to the point.

Everything above is simply my opinions based on the time I spent with these programs.

-- BoostHungry

Free 20GB of Cloud Storage is only for a year

Just an FYI. Amazons Cloud Storage does do what it says, does work on your Xoom and if you buy one album you do get 20GB of storage. Unfortunately that storage only lasts for one year.



Now you know.

Looking for Xoom sized Wallpapers?

While you can use any of your own wallpaper the ones you find on Zedge and other such apps are too small and look a bit pixilated. Well have no fear there are BIG ones here. Free too. WallpaperCASA.com

Cloud Storage get 5GB free 20GB if you buy 1 Album

You might be asking yourself "What is a cloud?" Well to paraphrase Larry Ellison, "The cloud is nothing more than the internet, servers, hard disk storage, and databases." There is nothing new or special about "The Cloud" other than companies made it super easy for you to store and access your files that is music, videos, office docs, everything you may need, from anywhere! Of course with the caveat... As long as you have a connection to the internet.

Introducing the Amazon Cloud Drive

What you will need:

- An Amazon Account

- The Amazon Market App


- The Amazon Cloud/MP3 player


Sign In



Upload you own files or play MP3 purchased from Amazon (Note: I had to "buy" a FREE song in order to get the cloud to sync with my Xoom)



Buy just one album upgrade 20GB!


Click here to see the 20GB deal

WiFi and 3G Xooms 1-Click rooted

The folks over at XDA have done it again! One click root. Some WiFI folks look to be having some issues. Stay tuned.

Wifi Xoom rooted Day 1

Well it looks like the devs over at XDA have done it again! The Wifi version of the Xoom (MZ604) has root. I will be updating the XoomFAQ Hacking page with the instructions and appropriate downloads once we verify that it works as advertised.

It is Wifi Xoom day but do not BRICK it!

I see folks are piling in to Staples, CostCo and Sams Club today happily posting about their new Xoom. I have not read one anyone rooting the device, as there is no IMG file for it yet. So...

Just FYI: The instructions you see, here or around the internet, is for the 3G version only. If you try to root your WiFi xoom with the 3G boot image you will soft "brick" your Xoom. You will be stuck with it in that condition (Unusable) till the image file comes out as stores have ben instructed NOT to take the device back in this condition.

Check back here in a day or two and I am sure "someone" will have done it by then.

Black Leather Tablet Case for the Xoom

I have see a few folks asking about this in various forums so here it is. A professional looking Motorola Xoom Leather Case.
This one is genuine leather and comes in black and (as requested) has pockets for papers, business cars, etc. Enjoy.

Google Holds Honeycomb Tight

Angry Nerds! Wondering where all the Xoom hacks are? Me too.  Looks like it is going to be a while. Google is holding on to Honeycomb code "for the foreseeable future"

Read more @ BusinessWeek

Wifi Xoom in CostCo Sunday the 25th

If you are a CostCo member you might not be able to pick your Xoom up today but you can order one, get $10 off, and a "free" gel case. If you walk in to the store on Sunday, no discount, but you will have one in your hands!

Xoom News Blog being moved

In an effort to make my life easier and remotely publish while out and about the heart of my News Blog will exist on BlogSpot.com AKA Google. Why do you have to do or change? Hopefully nothing but I have a feeling all my links are going to get hosed. Wish me luck!

Edit: Woot it worked!

Motorola still making Xooms

UPDATE: Following the publication of this post, Motorola supplied BGR with a comment via email. The company states that DigiTimes’ report is not accurate, and Motorola will continue to manufacture the Motorola XOOM.

Read more @ BRG

For all the people going on and on about this... good grief! Either you want the tablet or you don’t. You still will have 4G, an SD card, and they Honeycomb OS. If they make 3 million or 5 million the device does not change.

Not everyone has a Corvette ZR-1 but if you heard they cut production on them would it make you NOT want one? I would :)

Skin your whole Xoom

If you are looking to customize you Xoom and having matching wallpaper. Check out DecalGirls website. She currently has over 40 to choose from.

4G in 145 cities by the end of 2011

If you are like myself with a 4G capable Xoom, Verizon just announced that it will be in 145 cities by the end of 2011. Great news! But if you are like myself it is not coming to my home town :( Oh well there is always 2012. If you want to see the full size map click here.

Battery Suckers

I had a freshly charged Xoom yesterday afternoon and was pretty sure I should have A LOT more battery left than I woke up to. Now as you can see I was playing Angry Birds Rio for a while and if that was my TOP battery use, after the display, I would have totally understood. After thinking about it I realized I had installed the WeatherBug Beta and had set it to use My Location and GPS. Making those calls out every 15 minutes for the Widget and trying to find My Location inside drove the Android OS and the Maps programs.

Battery suckers are always Display, Widgets (Android OS), Games, Maps and usually in that order. As I have said before if you are looking to stretch your battery life dim your display, keep the Widgets to a minimum and don’t run anti-virus applications.

Note: If you are wondering how to see what program is using what percentage of battery and data it is in Settings > Applications > Battery Use. If you click the Application it will show you how much Time and Data it has used and you can also Force Stop it.

Make phone apps go Full Screen

Tired of your phone apps not using all of the available space on you Xoom? Well it is a pretty easy fix. Here you go.

50% off Xooms charging cord @ VZ

$14.99. Free Shipping. Get them while they are hot! On the Verizon site.

Removing "Bloat"

Hate those unwanted apps on you Xoom? Me too! I put up a new page that will tell you how to get rid of Cordy, Dungeon Defenders, etc.

Battery use & CPU speed

Overclocking CPU use

The first thing I wanted to talk about is Profiles and processor speed. Like I told you earlier, before loading the over-clocked kernel, I have NO profiles set up on my Xoom. My Xoom acts just like my Android phone. The only time the tablet spends at the TOP CPU speed is when it needs it. So in my opinion locking the CPU to one speed when the screen is off or when it is on the charger is kind of a waste of time unless you have a specific reason to. I will give you one example when you might want to do this. Let’s say you have your Xoom over-clocked and are using it as a navigation device in your vehicle. Now since the map program is going to be running all the time, the screen is never going to go off, and you will have it plugged all the time. It would make sense to have a “Charging/Full” profile that cuts the CPU down to say 900Mhz to try and keep the heat down. Otherwise don’t try to “out think” your devices CPU needs.

Battery Life

As you see my over-clocked Xoom still can last a good bit of time. Granted I was pretty busy over the last few days and did not get to use my Xoom as much as I would have liked to but one thing I did observe, and some others have confirmed, is that if you have Maps running and the Google Latitude layer on, you will burn CPU. A simple fix for thins is just to turn OFF the GPS while you are inside. If you are looking to get the most battery life out of your Xoom, just like your Android phone, manually control the screen brightness down to as low as you can stand it as nothing uses more battery than your screen. There are a few widgets out there that can help you make this a bit easier. Other things that will help with battery life is not running every single widget available for all you programs and not having them update every 5 minutes. The last thing I do is switch the tablet in to Airplane mode before I go to bed or leaving the house for an extended period of time. This will keep it from doing updates all night while you are asleep or away. Again there are widgets out there that can make this task a simple thing (one button and done).

Encoding with WebM

As you may know your Xoom supports the WebM video format. This is the HTML5 solution for video encodes to replace H.264. I sure it has more to do with licensing more than it has to do with H.264 being “bad” but that is another story.

Anyway, during my initial baseline test (using a 1080p source file out of Final Cut) I was impressed on how the encoder did making a very nice looking MP4 file using the iPad quick pick. The program I used to encode was the Miro Video converter.


And initially I was surprised to see how much smaller the WebM encode was.



Then I looked at it. :( The encoder mashed it down to a 4:3 aspect ratio and it was a bit “skippy” looking. I guess I will have to figure out how to get FFMPEG with the WebM libraries going if I want to get the right aspect ratio on WebM. I pinged the company about this issue as I do not see any setting in the version I have to force things one way or another.

If you are bored and want to play around with WebM or want a good free MP4 encoder you might want to download Miro. Part II

Part II

The FireFox video encoder FireFogg

There is a free encoder that is a FF plug-in that will export WebM and while it looks great in Chrome, yet it skips around when copied to my Xoom. Lots of options and it retains the 16:9 aspect ratio. I see some potential here but would like a standalone application.

Please play with both of these and let me know your findings!

Getting ready for your SD card

We all “know” the SD card support is “on the way” for the Xoom. If you are like me you already picked up a 32 GB microSDHC card from somewhere for around $60 well I have to tell you about this. The Kingston 19-in-1 USB 2.0 Flash Memory Card Reader that is right. It claims to read 19 formats. In my tests it has read the 4 kinds of cards I have, no problem. For those wondering if it works on a Mac. YES it does. Plus it is only like $14. WIN!

Now while you do not “need” a reader it will make your life a bunch easier if you have multiple cards. Plus, if you are like me, you already have a bunch of other card types with their own readers this simplifies things a bit.

FYI: 64 GB cards are supported and you can “order” them in places but no one knows when they will be delivered.

New Xoom Boot Animations. No root needed

Old School and Radio Active added to Boot Animations page

Cheap - WiFi Xoom at Amazon

No tax!
No shipping!
Order now:

Motorola Xoom Review for the Droid Forums

I wrote this a few weeks back and since then Motorola did come out and say that they will support “rooted” devices and yes for those of you that mention that you can’t get a 64 GB Micro SD card today you are correct but the Xoom supports it.

Motorola Xoom Review - by Daniel C. Slagle (Keeper of the XoomFAQ.com)



I would like to begin my review by sharing that I had a personal bias against tablets before this review. When the idea of tablets came out a few years back I was very skeptical of the "tablet format". I figured I could either use my laptop or suffer with the limitations of my phone. Now that I have a tablet in hand, I understand the allure. Watching movies on a larger screen without having 3 pounds on my lap is a big plus. Also, browsing on a tablet is much easier than on your smartphone, without having to zoom in or scroll side to side. Now I get it.

The Hardware-
The Xoom is equipped with an NVIDIA Tegra 2 1GHz dual-core CPU with video chip, 1GB of internal RAM, and 32GB of on-board storage. It also has a microSD slot, but is not currently enabled. A future software update should give you up to 64 more gigs of storage (depending on which SD card you choose to buy).

There are two cameras; a rear 5MP with dual LED flash and a Front 2MP. From within the Camera/Video app it is simple to choose what camera and what mode you would like to be in. It also records 720p HD video using the H.264 codec. Both picture and video quality are on par with newer smartphones out today. In addition to recording in HD, the Xoom will playback 1080p HD videos (up to 20Mbps. Anything over that bitrate and Motorola says you will see stuttering). There is an HDMI port on the bottom that allows you to connect to the HDMI port of your television with the correct cable (Mirco HDMI to HDMI). I did not go too in-depth into the HDMI, except to see that it does work and there does not seem to be any limitations on the HDMI port like you would find on say the Droid X. Anything that is displayed on the Xoom is also displayed on your HDTV via the HDMI port, like a secondary display. This was a nice feature!

Next to the HDMI port, you will find a micro USB that you can use to transfer files to and from the device and charging port. (Note: the tablet will NOT charge by way of the USB port. There are two (2) large 3250 mAH batteries and USB just cannot push enough amps to charge the Xoom). There are also charger contacts on the bottom of the device to work in conjunction with a charging dock.

The only physical buttons on the Xoom are the volume rockers on the side and power-unlock button on the back, next to the camera. All of the other the controls for the device reside on the screen and will appear, as needed, for the use of the particular app you are using. Also, the controls will disappear in certain instances, like when you are watching a video.

The Xoom is 4G capable, but not out of the box. Motorola will be sending out e-mails when it is available for upgrade. This is not a software update but a hardware one. Yes, you have to box it up and ship it off to Verizon and they estimate a 6 business day turn around time.

Physically, the Xoom is not much bigger than an iPad. Where it excels is its ability to show wide-screen content at a high resolution with very little cropping (black bars at to top or sides). It, however, does not conform to true HD dimensions so there is a bit of cropping.



The Software-
Android 3.0 a.k.a. "Honeycomb" is a brand new operating system (OS), that has proven to be a double-edged sword so far. Here's "the good". Applications that are designed to work on 3.0, are smooth, fast and functional. Those familiar with how android phones work, will find the interface very familiar and easy to use.

Here's "the bad". There are very few tablet apps out right now. At the time of this writing I count about twenty. Yes, that's right. Only... Two. Zero. So, for those of you thinking about dropping your iPad for this device, you might want to check to see in what stage your favorite programs are in Android development, or if they are even being ported.

Here's "the Ugly". Many of the "old" phone apps will work. However, because of the screen resolution, or how the app was designed, it will force some oddities. For example, you may have a password field that takes up half the screen, or applications that demand to be used in portrait mode. Again, as time progresses and developers modify their apps to account for these new resolutions, I am sure these oddball problems will be resolved.



In regards to the hacker aspect of the device, I do expect the Xoom to be 'the de facto standard', if, Verizon or Motorola does not lock it down somehow. Only time will tell. Admin or root access has already been achieved with the Xoom, but Verizon has made it clear they will not touch the device for upgrade it if you have "unlocked" it.

The "Book App" is simple and slick. Google probably has the largest collection of free books on the planet. I have downloaded a few to check out, and was initially miffed that I was forced to be "online" to read them. Later, I found out there is an option in the settings to download the book in its entirety. I assume they default to this to save space, because when selecting the full download option, a "Space Left on Device" meter comes up.

The "Movie Editor"
This a fairly straight-forward and simple application. The circle looking control will let you alter the timeline view. You also have elementary controls to add transitions and export out 720P HD video. Once your masterpiece is complete you can bring it up in the Gallery app, and easily export it to any of your configured services (Youtube, Dropbox, etc). I noticed that the timestamp on the export is not correct and defaults to the Unix epoch date. This brings me to my conclusion.



My biggest complaint with the Xoom is "lack of polish". I do think this device is great! For now, it is just missing some attention to detail. I do think that in the near future, Google will update and correct some of these issues. As a matter of fact, they just announced at the developers conference today that there is an iPad to Android conversion tool to help get tablet apps to the Android Market faster. But, at the time of this review, I find the Xoom... a tad bit lacking.

However, when this device is fully functional, on 4G, running Flash, with 32GB + an extra 64GB SD Card of storage, it is going to be a force to be reckoned with! For now, you will have to wait just a bit for that reality.

The Motorola Xoom tablet is available now through Verizon Wireless or an authorized retailer. You can purchase it for $599.99, with a new two-year contract, or $799.99, without a contract. Data plan options are 1GB/$20, 3GB/$35, 5GB/$50, and 10GB/$80. 4G pricing is not known at the time of this review.

You can discuss this review at our several sister-site threads below:

XoomForums.com
AndroidTablets.net
DroidForums.net
XoomFAQ.com

by Daniel C. Slagle (Keeper of the XoomFAQ.com)
Edited by dgstorm

Overclocking your Xoom

I am showing you a screenshot of a non over-clocked (stock) Xoom using Android System Info.

As you see a stock Xoom does not spend a lot of time at "full speed", or anywhere near it for that matter, so I am not sure that forcing one speed or another when XYZ is true (AKA profile) is really behoving you too much. Some folks are anal about setting CPU profiles but I have never found running profiles on my phone to be that helpful If you want to I am not going to debate it ;). However, I do believe in over-clocking the Xoom and know what is going on in regard to temperature using a tool like Droid Overclock The best thing about Droid over clock it has a widget that will tell you whats going on. As an added bonus... it knows you have a Xoom:




This widget does NOT overclock your Xoom, if you are looking for instructions on how to over clock your Xoom I used the Tiamat build that also has the USB modifications and a few other goodies in it. If you rooted your Xoom you can do this. It is easy. Enjoy!

Dress up your Xoom

Is the backside of your Xoom lonely? Stick It Grafixs has the solution:



High quality vinyl that should not fade or peel.

WiFi only Xoom at Staples

Droid Life has a leaked picture of the Xoom ad they plan on running. Should be in stores March 27th. If I was going to get the WiFi version I would probably head on over to Sams Club since they will be selling them for $539. You could get a Xoom and a Sams Club membership for less than Staples is advertising.

Want USB host connectivity today?

For those of you that MUST have USB connectivity TODAY head on over to SlateDroid for full instructions on how to do it. (Updated for new 3.0.1 Honeycomb drop)

Flash leaked. Download Now!

We got a "gift" from Adobe. Flash! You want it too? Download here.


Then check your Version running here

Boot Animations page updated

Boot Animation? Hells yeah! I think I have all the files I need working and updated. Check it!

Swype tablet fail

I do love Swype on my Droid X phone but the new beta fails to deliver on the Xoom tablet :(

3.01 Update is out

As you may have heard by now the 1st Honeycomb upgrade is out. The new version is 3.0.1. There are (2) ways to get this upgrade for you Xoom:

1. If you are not rooted simply go to About > Tablet and hit 'System Upgrades'
2. If you are rooted, like myself, Koush was nice enough to make an update.zip file that I have tested and these instructions work

Note: If you lose root after the upgrade. In the terminal type

• adb remount
• adb shell chmod 4755 /system/bin/su

Moto releases Flash Boot for Xoom

If you would have told me this yesterday, I would have never believed it but... here it is! Motorola released the device software image for the Xoom.

Tired of Xoom boot animation?

I was tired of the "lame" looking boot up animations on my Zoom. Found a few new ones and if you have root it is not that hard to do. Copy one file. Change permissions. Done. See this page on the FAQ.

Slow Xoom Browser?

For those folks complaining about a slow or lagging Xoom browser experience try this:

Open up your browser and in the address bar type about:debug (nothing noticeable will happen) Then go to your Browser Settings > Debug and turn OFF (uncheck) 'Enable OpenGL Rendering' You can now also change your browser UAstring (how web servers see your tablet) to "Desktop" for a full web experience. Enjoy!

Where are the Xoom hacks?

While it is true that the Xoom was rooted the first day it was out it was then over-clocked shortly after that I have yet to see a lot of full system ROMs, a nandroid backup utility (think of it as a ghost image of your tablet), a screen shot application or a plethora of other apps that I kind of "expect" coming from the Droid Community. While hunting around for hacks it turns out that many of the popular Devs are waiting for the SD card to be enabled before they put a lot of effort in to it. One of the beauties of the Xoom, and many other Android devices, is you can take these "backups" from device to device via the SD card.

I also got in to an interesting discussion the other day on Twitter while talking the iPad vs. the Xoom and during the conversation I was reminded of what it was like when I first got my Mac in 2001. There were almost NO applications for it other than the few provided by Apple (OSX was brand new and old OS 9 applications on ran under an emulator) so I seriously considered going back to Windows. Boy, I am glad I didn't! I do wish I had bought a lot of Apple stock back then though :(

So anyway... what is the point of this post? Fear not! The apps are coming. I had faith then and I have faith now. The Xoom has the "hands down" best hardware and potential of anything out there today. Keep the faith.