Verizon DROID XYBOARD 8.2 And 10.1 Official

Verizon has made the DROID XYBOARD Android tablets official, the 4G LTE versions of Motorola's XOOM 2 and XOOM 2 Media Edition slates. The 10.1-inch and 8.2-inch tablets each have a 1280 x 800 IPS display, 5-megapixel main camera and 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera, along with WiFi a/b/g/n and that all important EVDO Rev.A/LTE. An upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich is expected in the new year.

There's also an infrared port, which – along with the Dijit app that comes preloaded – allows the two XYBOARD tablets to work as universal remote controls. Other connectivity includes HDMI, with an optional HD dock with an HDMI-through connection, and an HD station with connections for speakers and an external display.

The LTE connection can be shared out between up to eight WiFi-tethered clients using the hotspot feature, and each slate uses a 1.2GHz dual-core processor paired with 1GB of RAM. Android 3.2 Honeycomb comes loaded on both, and the 10.1-inch model also gets a stylus.

Both of the Verizon DROID XYBOARD tablets are expected to go on sale before the end of the year. The DROID XYBOARD 10.1 will be available at 16GB for $529.99, 32GB for $629.99 and 64GB for $729.99, while the DROID XYBOARD 8.2 will be available in in 16GB format for $429.99 and 32GB for $529.99. Each will demand a new, two-year data plan, priced from $30 per month.