Motorola is looking to make a comeback on the tab market

Oct 15, 2014 07:07 GMT  ·  By

Like Blackberry or HTC, Motorola is a company that kept away from the tablet market in the last few years. Their latest attempt at bringing out something in the slate department dates back to 2011, when the company unleashed the Droid Xyboard and Xoom 2.

But rumors about Motorola launching a new tablet appeared just before MWC 2014 kick started in Barcelona this year.

Back then, we hypothesized a new ThinkPad X device might be making an appearance because we had just found out that Lenovo purchased Motorola Mobility.

Motorola prepping new tablets after Lenovo takes over

It turns out that we were a bit too quick to make this prediction, but it wasn't a too far-fetched supposition. So as HTC is getting ready to rise from the ashes with the new Nexus 9 tablet, the same can be said of Motorola.

A report coming from Taiwanese Yahoo, Motorola’s acquisition by Lenovo is expected to finalize by the end of the year and when that happens, the company will be to concentrate on making new products.

Most importantly, it will work towards launching new tablets under the “Motorola” brand, in the same manner they have done with their new smartphone products and smartwatch.

In a recent interview, Lenovo’s CEO Yang Yuanquing discussed the company’s strategy regarding the two brands, which includes launching products under the Motorola or Lenovo brand or both depending on the region where the product launches.

The company official didn't reveal any extra details about Motorola’s upcoming plans for the tablet segment, so at this point we can only guess whether the device maker plans to tackle the Windows 8.1 or Android ecosystem or both.

After all, the report is saying Motorola is planning to launch “multiple” tablets, so there’s room for both OS-es, right?

Motorola needs to make tablets with current specifications

Back in 2011, when Motorola launched the Droid Xyboard 10.1, the tablet was marketed as a premium device selling for a hefty price tag.

Since the tab is three years old, it takes advantage of outdated specs, so Motorola has a lot of updating to do in the spec department.

The old Motorola Droid Xyboard took advantage of a 10.1 IPS LCD display with 1280 x 800 pixel resolution and a 1.2GHz dual-core processor coming from Texas Instruments combined with 1GB of RAM.

The tablet shipped with Android 3.2 out of the box but was eligible to receive the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update.

Anyway, since we’re waiting on Google to release its latest Android L, it makes sense to mention that future Motorola tablets should be running the OS.