Acer Iconia Tab A500 Review

According to technical specifications, the Acer Iconia Tab A500 rivals other 10-inch Honeycomb tablets. It ships with Android OS 3.0 (Honeycomb) with several proprietary apps, along with a 1GHz dual core Nvidia Tegra 2 processor, GeForce GPU, 1GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage.

The Iconia Tab A500 is well stocked with additional features, including GPS, a 5-megapixel back-facing camera with an LED flash, a 2-megapixel front-facing camera, microSD card slot to expand the memory capacity, headphone jack, as well as micro-HDMI, USB and micro-USB ports. A version with a SIM card slot should be available on the market soon.

The feature set is impressive, making the Iconia Tab A500 equal to the other Honeycomb tablets on the market, including the Motorola Xoom and Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. However, it is somewhat heavier and bigger than those two, making its size its biggest flaw.

Acer Iconia A500 specs:

• Android Honeycomb (3.0)
• 10.1-inch diagonal  capacitive touchscreen (1280 x 800)
• 1GHz Dual-Core NVIDIA Tegra 250
• NVIDIA GeForce Graphics
• 1GB DDR2
• 16GB internal memory, MicroSD expandable
• Front-facing 2.0 megapixel webcam, rear 5.0 megapixel camera with flash
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
• Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
• MicroSD card reader, USB 2.0, micro USB, HDMI, 3.5 mm headset
• 10.2 x 7.0 x .52 inches (HxWxD)
• 1.7 pounds
• Price at Launch: $450

BUILD & DESIGN

The Acer Iconia Tab A500 build is part plastic and part metal alloy, which undoubtedly add to its weight. It weighs significantly more than the svelt iPad 2 and even the relatively bulky Motorola Xoom. Ultimately, the Acer tablet becomes too heavy and hard to hold in hand after a while.

The device’s design is not the least bit modern, so, in addition to being bigger, the Iconia Tab A500 is not nearly as slick as Motorola or Samsung’s devices. Still, it?s a serious and impressive device, just one that happens to be heavier and larger than the competition.

Fortunately, Acer has taken advantage of its tablet’s size and added functional and practical ports. The front is buttonless, which is common with Honeycomb tablets, while the back is rounded on the left and right edge, and includes a back-facing camera with flash and a cover for the microSD card slot. This cover also encompasses the right edge of the tablet, which also includes the volume control keys and a screen orientation lock switch.

The left edge sports an accessory connector slot, while the upper side houses the micro-HDMI port, a headphones jack and the power button. There is also a charge indicator light.

The lower edge has a reset key, both a full-sized and a micro USB port and a charger port. It is a shame that the Iconia Tab A500 cannot be charged directly via USB.

DisplayIdentical to the Motorola Xoom and Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, the Acer Iconia Tab A500 comes with a 10-inch, 1280 x 800, capacitive screen. This is a slightly bigger resolution than what the iPad has, but almost identical when it comes to pixel density, given the slightly smaller screen diagonal of the Apple tablet. The surface of Acer’s display is exceptionally glossy, and fingerprints can quickly build up.

On the other hand, the screen features decent image quality. It offers excellent brightness and lively colors. It?s great for watching movies and viewing pictures. The touchscreen’s responsiveness is spot-on and smooth.

The on-screen keyboard also impresses. It is large and supports multi-touch for special characters (Shift +).

Compared to the iPad, Honeycomb tablets have different display ratios. They are narrower and longer. This is a good thing for multimedia playback when the tablet is held in the landscape position, however things are more limited in portrait mode due to the thinner design.