That’s the gist of Walter Mossberg’s review of Motorola’s new challenger to the iPad on All Things D. He says the Android Honeycomb operating system works like a charm, super fast, and the screen is nice and big.

The Xoom has a more potent processor than the current iPad; front and rear cameras versus none for the iPad; better speakers; and higher screen resolution. It also can be upgraded free later this year to support Verizon’s faster 4G cellular data network (though monthly fees may rise.)

The downside is the price and the fact that it doesn’t yet run Flash so it’s more expensive than the iPad while not offering Flash, just like the iPad doesn’t. Xoom goes for $800 at the low end. That model is similar in features to the iPad that costs $729, so not THAT much more, but the point is that the iPad is also available in a $499 model.

Regardless, to paraphrase Mossberg we all know by now that the new iPad will be announced next week so Xoom is about to become yesterday’s tablet.

I should mention that Mossberg’s review is roughly consistent with what a lot of other people are saying.