Motorola Xoom Tablet Demo Powered by Android 3.0 Seen at CES

by Clint Boulton

Lowell McAdam and Sanjay Jha wait for Google Android Product Manager Mike Cleron to prepare the Xoom for demo.

Cleron prepares to demo the Xoom.

This is Cleron’s home screen. Users should note the customizable widgets with tabs for Gmail, Google Calendar and the Android browser. What’s immediately striking is that there are no buttons on the front of the screen. Every control is virtual and drawn with pixels. The controls can reconfigure themselves.

Here, Cleron adds a clock widget to his screen, dragging and dropping it where he wants it.

Cleron then created a widget to easily surface his Google eBooks purchases.

The New York Times widget is displayed on the Xoom.

Gmail has been redesigned for Android 3.0. The Labels are on the left and Actions are on top.

Here’s what happens when you click a Gmail message. Icons flip when users select a message to let users take other actions.

Google Maps 5.0 for Android was released last month for smartphones, but it rocks on the tablet. Google revamped it by shedding the tiles in favor of dynamic, 3D rendering.

Note that as Cleron tilted the Xoom, the buildings raised up in 3D.

When users get a notification, the notifier’s profile picture pops up. Here, Android creator Andy Rubin pings Cleron to remind him. A button on the system bar brings up a thumbnail list of apps the user is in.

The YouTube app presents thumbnail choices of videos for users to tap. Thumbnails prove to be quite useful for touch-input devices.

Cleron calls Android Design Director Matias Duarte, who left Palm for Google, on the Xoom.

This Xoom presentation was brought to you by Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg, Verizon President Lowell McAdam ad Motorola Mobility CEO Sanjay Jha. Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes (far left) enjoyed the ride, but you can imagine his company’s content will play well on the Xoom in time.