Acer Iconia Tablet Details (With Photos).

1280 x 800. Plenty of room!

Acer's 10.1" Honeycomb tablet weighs a bit more than most competitors. For that small weight penalty you get a tank of a tablet with more features than most.   I've had my A500 for a few weeks now (Target.com) , and am greatly appreciating the included full-sized USB port, 5mp Camera (with flash),  and solid construction. You can find more information about it at Acer.com.

Brushed Aluminum Back.  Stereo Speaker.

Audio output is surprisingly good with the two built-in speakers.  Not the best for music as there is no low frequency output, but fine for podcasts, audio books, and even movies. There is a standard headphone jack on the left end.  The A500 also sports an LED flash next to the 5mp rear camera!

MicroSD slot under the top-edge flap. Future 3G SIM slot on the right. 

 You get a volume rocker and screen rotation lock on the top edge, left. The power button and headphone jack are on the left end near the top.  That is a Micro HDMI jack near the bottom of the left end (below).

Power, Headphone jack, and HDMI jack.

The right end holds the rest of the goodies.  The AC power jack is near the top, with microUSB and standard USB ports near the bottom (below).

USB, microUSB, Reset, and Power jack.

You can enjoy ALL of the web with Adobe Flash support and full sized web pages on the large screen. Angry birds is a joy to play on the 10.1" screen, and even more to watch on your HDTV via the HDMI out port. The USB port supports USB keyboards, USB mice, removable storage devices, and (when android 3.1 arrives) USB joysticks and game controllers.

Google.  Not their Mobile version.

Angry Birds Rio!

Music and Video are well served by this Iconia.  The 16:10 screen is far better than any 4:3 screen on a tablet for wide screen movies. The Google Music app works great!  Photos look wonderful in portrait or landscape view.

A scene from Mulan fills the screen.

Google Music app.  Now-Playing portrait view.

Photo of a Rocking Hammock.  Designed by Lydia Palma.

Conclusion:  Acer's Iconia A500 is a winner here.  At $449 for the 16gb version it is $50 less expensive than a comparable Apple iPad 2 yet far more capable. You can easily expand its memory with up to a 32GB microSDHC Memory Card. Access media or documents off a connected USB thumb drive  or external USB hard drive.  You'll find thousands of Android apps certified to work with Honeycomb (Android 3.0/3.1). I was able to find parallels of every critical app I have on my iPad2. The dual-core Tegra 2 processor inside will play any game on the android market with ease. Plug in a USB keyboard and get some work done with the included Document to Go programs. Put your inner artist to work with Autodesk's Sketchbook or any of a dozen other drawing programs for Android. Send your sketch over Bluetooth or in an email to your friend's phone or tablet.  If you are looking for a great tablet, this is a serious contender.  Acer has promised an update to Android 3.1 before the end of June (2011). 

I'm keeping mine!
4D

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