Motorola Xoom 2 Media Edition waterproofing test with a bath

Zë Au Sol -

According to Motorola, my Xoom 2 Media Edition has a waterproof coating outside and in. This obviously means that it is intended for reading in the bath, which is full of water.

I simulated a standard full-immersion today, and was saddened to notice that almost immediately, I could see water soaking its way up the pages of my Kindle book, making the font harder to read. The device then iniated a cascade failure, with the touch screen not responding (probably as it thought the water was a giant thumb pressing the entire surface).

Symptoms of failure:

  • black vertical lines on the screen,
  • large chuks of screen black,
  • device is off and won’t turn on.

Not a strong vote in favour of the P2i coating Motorola boast in their video.

(Separately, this tablet is not suitable for SCUBA diving as it has negative buoyancy.)