Motorola Xoom confirmed to be running stock Honeycomb

Great news for everyone looking forward to having the “pure” Google experience on Motorola’s upcoming Android tablet – according to the latest reports online, the Motorola Xoom will be running a stock version of Honeycomb (Android 3.0). Pocket-lint sat down in an interview with Google and Motorola to discuss about Honeycomb and dug up some interesting facts. The Xom tablet that was demonstrated at CES wasn’t running the complete version of Android 3.0 – it was a half-baked version that was readied in time just for demonstration purposes, and the complete version is supposed to be very different.

It was also pointed out that Motorola had some staff working at Google for the tablet, and Google had some of their staff working at Motorola as well. The arrangement was made to ensure the final product would really be what both companies wanted in the Android tablet.

Google mentioned that with each major iteration of Android, they chose to work with a different partner to build the flagship devices – HTC had the Nexus One (Android 2.1), Samsung the Nexus S (Android 2.3), and now Motorola Xoom (Android 3.0). Seeing how almost all the major Android players have been named, will LG be getting their turn at championing the next version of Android?

While there’s no guarantee that Motorola will be bringing the first Android 3.0 tablet to the market – if the source code is released before the tablet (however unlikely that might be), there’s a chance that another manufacturer could push out the Honeycomb tablet before them. But if you’re looking forward to the Android experience as Google intended, the Xoom will be your best bet. Google won’t be limiting what manufacturers can do with the operating system though, so it looks like we’ll still be seeing custom user interfaces skinned by the manufacturers themselves if they ever choose to do so.

No new information concerning its release date and pricing have been released, but let’s hope it won’t be too long before we can get our eager paws on the device. Are you looking forward to the Motorola Xoom?