The Motorola Xoom 2 is a slimmed down, lighter version of the first Xoom. But it’s not running Ice Cream Sandwich, the newest version of Android, so it’s hard to see what this tablet offers over rival tablets. Stay tuned for the full review.

Motorola has kicked two new Xoom 2 tablets out of its Android device nest, and it looks like the fledgling hardware updates are a big improvement over the original Xoom. There are two new models: the Xoom 2 and the Xoom 2 Media Edition, and they’re currently slated just for the UK and Ireland.

The original Xoom, released just weeks before the iPad 2 in February 2010, was the first “real” Android tablet. It ran Google’s Honeycomb operating system (which was created specifically for tablet deployment), and offered a 10.1-inch screen — a big step up from 5- and 7-inch Android devices running Google’s smartphone OS. That first Xoom, however, offered none of the finesse, elegance and app support of the iPad. And then came the iPad 2, which quickly eclipsed all Xoom media buzz.