The upgrade to 4G is an easy process that takes less than 10 minutes, but if your like me, you may be leery to send your Xoom into Motorola and be without it for a week.
There is no way to truly remove the data on the sdcard without overwriting it multiple times, restoring to default config still leaves all your credit card info/bank account info on the Xoom, and for those who know how (and it is actually very easy), that data can easily be recovered, and your credit card numbers/bank account passwords sold on the black market for pennies on the dollar.
Chances are also good, that with the sheer number of devices sent into Motorola when they start the upgrade around the first week of Sept, 2011 that some tablets will be lost, damaged (scratches, etc). The likelyhood is also great that if your device is lost you will recieve a refurbished Xoom instead, and someone else may get your Xoom with all your recoverable data on it. It has happened before with other manufacturers.
So, here is the process to upgrade your Xoom yourself (it does require a 4G board, and I will explain how to aquire that in a moment)
OPTION 1: hope that Verizon stores (for those with a verizon plan)can do it in house while you wait.
This would be ideal considering the circumstances, but not likely at this time or in the near future.
OPTION 2: The whole process consists of three steps:
step 1: Remove the two torx screws on the bottom of the case (where your power changer plugs in)
step 2: disconnect the antenna
step 3: remove the two torx screws, remove the dummy 4G miniPCIe card, and replace with the real 4G card
note: Motorola did provide two MIMO antennas and a SIM card slot in preparation for the LTE upgrade
4G card pic:
http://i53.tinypic.com/2ci79xu.jpg
To get the 4G card (the SIM will still need to be aquired via Verizon), simply wait a week or two untill Bestbuy/other store puts it on shelves, buy it, switch out the board, and then return it to the place of purchase for a full refund (ideally you want to take it back the same day).
Motorola refuses to send the 4G board even after verifying the MEID, so this is the only recourse to getting your upgrade short of sending your device in to Motorola, and getting a refurb/damaged one back. Not saying this will happen, but the likelihood of this occuring is pretty high.
i think option 1 sounds good if it ever goes down that way. i agree with you about not wanting to send my unit in to verizon. chances are they farm it out to some shady 3rd party company who's employees will most likely be shady as well.
i think i will just wait to see how things pan out after the initial rush to get 4G.
buying something and returning it after hijacking a card from it is not right in my book.
I definitely wouldn't recommend upgrading your XOOM to 4G on your own.
I don't want you to tamper with it which can result in voiding the warranty.
Please take advantage of sending the XOOM in to Motorola by going to this link
hello every one,
I have VERIZON's XOOM & I m in Kuwait now, how can I get 4G upgrade for my XOOM? Is it possible or should I forget?
Start a new topic or ask questions in the open forum.
