Just got the 3.1 update for my Xoom. Few observations :<p>* Flash acceleration seems to be both enabled and making a positive difference in smoothness.<p>* UI is noticeably smoother and we got a brighter text selection caret.<p>* New scrollable multitasking is welcome as I was frequently hitting the older limitation of handful apps listed there<p>* No crashes or force closes yet<p>* SD card STILL does not work which is ridiculous.
Its some really positive improvements. It will be interesting to see if the UI evolves more rapidly to a better place than the iPad UI.<p>Support for USB devices is an interesting thing from a number of perspectives. I don't think it puts ChromeOS in jeopardy but I do think it means some great differentiation from the iPad. Looking at the Cellbots [1] stuff that has been done with Android I can imagine some cool things with a tablet and the even better capabilities.<p>It will be interesting to see what they do to replace Skype now that Microsoft has a plan to own it. Without the equivalent of 'facetime' (and yes I fully expect Microsoft to limit your rights to run a Skype client on any 'mobile device' that isn't running Windows Phone) they will need a replacement. Fortunately they have the video engine in GTalk.<p>[1] www.cellbots.com
The "input from mice, keyboard, and joysticks" sounds like Android might just supplant ChromeOS.<p>GoogleTV+Android3.1+joysticks = console play... considering GoogleTV hasn't really been popular, this might be what it needs to make a splash in the living room.