Acer America today announced the Acer Iconia Tab A500 which is the company’s first 10.1-inch tablet running Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) in the new Acer Iconia family of tablets for North America. It is available for pre-order online exclusively from Best Buy.
The new Acer Iconia Tab A500 tablet features the NVIDIA Tegra 250 1GHz dual-core processor and integrated GeForce GPU and weighs 1.69 pounds and measures 0.52-inches thick. It also includes forward and rear-facing cameras for capturing videos and photos as well as video conferencing.
A Best Buy exclusive, the Acer Iconia Tab A500 with WiFi is now available for pre-order online at bestbuy.com and may be pre-ordered in stores beginning April 14. The Acer Iconia Tab A500 with WiFi will be available in stores and online beginning April 24. The Acer Iconia Tab A500 has a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of US$449.99.
“Staying connected and entertained are firmly embedded as a part of our everyday lives – and the Acer Iconia Tab A500 does this and so much more in a performance-minded, sleek and stylish design,” said Sumit Agnihotry, vice president of product marketing, Acer America, in the press release. “This tablet absolutely delivers on the expectation that customers can be entertained, stay in touch with family, friends, colleagues and social networks, as well as keep up on the world around them in a way that is intuitive and fluid, and also incredibly enjoyable.”
Best Buy’s vice president of computing, Jason Bonfig, stated in the press release, “Tablets are paving the way for people to enjoy a whole new form factor in entertainment and connection. We’re pleased to have Acer join our tablet selection and to offer our customers an opportunity to try this tablet out for themselves at any Best Buy store.”
The 10.1-inch capacitive touch-screen has a 1280×800 TFT WXGA display with an 80-degree wide viewing angle. It offers HD 720p video in a 16:10 aspect ratio, a built-in HDMI port, 1GB of RAM, integrated 16GB of flash storage for programs and apps (a larger storage capacity of 32GB is planned for future models), a Micro-SD card reader (supports up to 32GB Micro-SD cards), a six-axis motion sensing gyro meter and comes with two full games: “Need for Speed: Shift” and “Let’s Golf.” The tablet supports eReading and comes pre-installed with Acer LumiRead and Google Books eReading app, while Zinio is pre-installed for reading digital magazines.
The Acer Iconia Tab A500 connects to Wi-Fi networks with Acer InviLink Nplify 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi CERTIFIED wireless tech. It is DLNA-compliant. Customers can also set up multiple email addresses in the tablet and open and view Microsoft Office documents using the trial version of the “Docs to Go” app.
The tablet features two webcams, a 5MP rear-facing camera has a flash and is auto-focusing and a 2MP fixed-focused front-facing webcam. The device features built-in GPS, integrated Bluetooth, and houses two 3260 mAh Li-polymer batteries that Acer claims provides “up to eight hours of playback for casual games, eight hours of HD video playback and 10 hours of WiFi Internet browsing.” Acer promises Adobe Flash capability is a “future update” (after the reviews about performance and battery life are published, of course).
The Acer Iconia Tab A500 has a brushed metal aluminum chassis and a “high-gloss finish decorated with engraved patterns” that Acer claims “creates a subtle sophistication.” It measures 10.24″ x 6.97″ x 0.52″. The device looks very similar to the Acer-made Packard Bell Liberty Tab sold in Europe.
MacDailyNews Note: iPad 2 specs: 9.50″ x 7.31″ x 0.34″. 1.33 pounds.
The Acer Iconia Tab A500 will launch with a few accessories:
• The full-sized Bluetooth keyboard. MSRP is $69.99.
• The dock with IR remote with connection for an external speaker or headphone. MSRP is $79.99.
• Protective case. MSRP is $39.99.
• The Americas power adapter set comes with the four connectors used in North, Central and South America as well as the UK and Europe. MSRP is $29.99.
Source: Acer America Corp.
Thickness and weight: Acer Iconia Tab A500 vs. Apple iPad vs. other pretend iPads:
MacDailyNews Take: So, how many apps can Sir Fat Fugliness run? Is it still 16 or have the various Android marketplaces collectively hit 17 by now? Not counting malware, of course. And how many of these Android tablet apps are specifically designed for 7-in. pretend iPads and how many specifically for 10-inch fake iPads? Fragmentation is a bitch. We can’t wait for the reviews, but we’ll bet you one thing, in head-to-head performance tests it’ll get its ass soundly whipped by Apple’s A5.
Related articles:
Apple’s iPad: 60,000+ apps vs. Android 3.0 tablets: 16 apps – February 25, 2011
With the ends cutoff like that, it sort of looks like a Nano.
$199.99 or it will fail.
It’s fatter and heavier, but actually a bit appealing in appearance and feel. It has the USB and SD, and even has its own peripherals. If those things are actually useful, then they are a big plus. However, they might be like Mobil Flash, which is pretty much vaporware.
The specs on the battery are very much a deal threat, if not a breaker. And of course, it’s Android, with all of its problems, and so few tablet apps.
I have a first-gen iPad, and I’m not really tempted, because I know how wonderfully well the iPad works.
it’s got that Acer look, which some like, with a metal shell, and is probably the best they can do. we’ll have to see how it tests out to know if it is any good. it’s real competition is the Xoom of course. and the upcoming Samsung 10″ tab.
is $50 enough to take sales from iPad? no. it would take at least $150 cheaper right now for price to make a difference, given the lack of Honeycomb apps.
both Android and iOS will get major software improvements over the course of this year. which is to say, Apple will remain significantly ahead in that regard too.
80-degree wide-viewing angle TFT screen? Really? Even sight unseen, that doesn’t instill confidence as a real competitor, hardware-wise, to the iPad.
They can’t even compare iPad 2. When ever they brought it in for comparison (i.e. weight, thickness, etc.) iPad won every time…. Its pretty pathetic. iPad can’t be beat!
A “reset button” – really?
doesn’t the iPad make you hold down TWO buttons to reset when the little guy freezes on you?? I was able to get UBUNTU on this thing BTW dual boot with honey do that on an ipod grande and then we can talk
There’s the GOOD tablet. We know which one.
Then there’s all those OTHER tablet things.
Hmm. Which to choose? Are the OTHERs cheaper?! No. That doesn’t help. Do the OTHERs have a better OS? No. Darn. Do the OTHERS have faster speed?! No. Do the OTHERs have a better screen? No. Are the OTHERs lighter? No. Are the OTHERs easier to hold? No. Do the OTHERS have more apps? No. Are the OTHER’s apps free of malware? No.
Hey but wait, this Acer OTHER has a 5 pixel camera, a flash, it might someday play Flash! It has an SC card reader. It has USB! So, maybe, kind of, sort of this is actual competition with the iPad 2? Hmm. If only the OTHERs didn’t have all these OTHER problems. 😉
OMG! LAG!
4 seconds into the video and I have already classed this as a POS. iPad has KILLED this wannabe in 4 seconds. This pice of crap lags like all android devices.
When they start making non laggy crappy android software, they might have a chance.
FAIL!!!
If you actually watch the video, you’ll realize that what you see in the first few seconds is a lead-in video promoting the reviewers website and has nothing to do with the Acer being reviewed.
six axis ??? As I understand we live in a world in 3 dimensions. Adding time will make 4 dimensions. That is 3 axis and time.
A cube in 3 dimensions has 6 faces all angles are 90°.
A tesseract (4-dimension cube) has 24 faces and all angle are 90°. Try to draw that! And it is “only” in 4 dimensions.
Don’t even try to imagine a cube in 6 dimensions…
Apples biggest flaw, and it is a big one, is putting up with being forced to use certain programs, or forced to update.
Being forced to do something is the enemy of usability.
That’s not to say the programs aren’t good, but I’d like to decide for myself what I want on my Tablet/phone and when I want it.
Plus, no flash? Either on web or the cam? How the hell does that make it a better user experience? You can’t do stuff without those.
Is this some sort of mutual support group for a flock of blinkered sheep incapable of thinking independently unless Steve tells them what to think first? To each his own. I just got one of these and it’s awesome.
2 good quality cameras and a Flash. 🙂
I can connect any of my many portable USB drives or thumbsticks. 🙂
I can connect a USB Keyboard. 🙂
Plenty of free apps. I’ve certainly found everything I need … for nothing.
I can watch video on my long train journey to and from work iPad is supposed to be entertainment centric … 4:3 sucks for video. 🙁 1200×800 16:10 is awesome! … and if I get home before I finish the video I can connect it to my TV via HDMI
Apple Store iPad 2
… “9.7-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit glossy widescreen”
Since when has 4:3 been widescreen???
bahh bahhh Apple said it so it must be so …. Lol
Oh and did I forget the Micro SD card slot … so
~$400 + $50 = $450 64G tablet
vs
~$699 for iPad 2??.
Forget $50 difference … nearly $250.
“Is this some sort of mutual support group for a flock of blinkered sheep incapable of thinking independently unless Steve tells them what to think first?”
Yeah! What is it with all these companies incapable of inventing their own hardware and OS ideas? Come on HP, Acer, Motorola, Samsung, blahblahblah! Can’t think for yourself?! Bahhhh! Baaahhhh! Moooo! Oink oink…
BLOWS the iPod Grande AKA iPad out of the water. if you want a device that makes you sign your life away for a 9.7 inch do nothing paper wait then by allll means the iPad2 is your tab. I bought both played with them and took that apple back to the market. if nothing else you have 16GB a 10.1” and a micro expansion and a sim slot and a hdmi slot and a dock slot…… COME ON people I am writting this on the best MacBook Pro money can buy apple does a lot of things right but they failed on the iPad 2 !!! they probably just took apart old iphones and added some solder and a new screen and poof 500 for a 16 GB NON expandable no 3G pair of handcuffs. iPad for the kids and techno ignorant, this tab is for people who know how to use technology! got it for $378 COOOOOMMMMMEEEE OOONNNNNNN!!!! iPad officially Killed