Motorola Switches On Broken SD Slots in Canadian Xooms

The emperor's new tablet: Rumors that the Xoom 2 will ship without a screen are unfounded. Photo Charlie Sorrel

You know how the Motorola Xoom shipped with half-baked Flash support and a lack of a 4G radio (which required you to mail the tablet in to get an upgrade)? Did you also know that it went on sale — to the real, non-geek public no less — with a non-functional SD card slot? Talk about beta hardware.

If you live in Canada and are unlucky enough to own Moto’s joke tablet, then you’re in “luck”. A soon-to-be-released software update will switch that slot on at last. Here’s the announcement, from Motorola Canada’s Facebook page:

The Motorola XOOM upgrade for Canada is coming soon! Some of the feature upgrades include basic external SD card support for general SD file and media access, expanded support for USB-connected accessories, additional Bluetooth support and Picture Transfer Protocol to enable easier transfer of photo files to your PC.

According to comments on the post, at least one Ottowa-based customer has already gotten the update.

Is it just me, or does this seem almost unbelievable? I get knocked in the comments (and in wonderfully illiterate, abusive email) for being an Apple “fanboy”, but the truth is that Apple ships finished products. They might not always work quite right, or lack basic features (copy-and-paste, anyone?) but if an iPad shipped with an SD card slot, you can bet that it would work properly.

By expecting customers to pay for a rushed-out, half-done gadget, Motorola is essentially saying two things. The first is that the Xoom is for geeks and early adopters, not the general, non-techy “post-PC” audience that tablets should be ideal for. The second? Motorola is telling us it thinks we’re a bunch of gullible idiots.

There is no mention of a date for updates outside Canada.

Moto Canada’s Facebook page [Facebook via Android Central and Twitter]

Xoom specs, including SD promise [Motorola]

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