Comment on Acer Iconia Tab A500-10S32u 10.1-Inch Tablet (Aluminum Metallic) by Real Iron Man “Tech Savvy Bargain Shopper”.
The underdog that should not be overlooked,
I have never bought an Acer before and this is my first Acer product and I am impressed by the value and its features. It’s a shame because this tablet is overshadowed by the likes of Samsung Galaxy tab, Moto Xoom, Asus Transformer. Our family has 2 of the Acer Iconia tablets used by the parents and the kids. Underneath, the core hardware (i.e. processor) is essentially the same as the other tablets but there are areas where the Iconia shines over the other tablets. It has full size USB, micro USB, micro HDMI, Gorilla Glass. Yes it is a bit heavier than the rest but frankly I prefer the value and the additional features over thin and less weight. Let’s face it, it’s a tablet and you will not carry it around with one hand – it’s a not a phone! The tablet feels well constructed unlike the Galaxy tab which feels cheap due to its plastic back. The weight distribution is a like a BMW – equal on all sides no matter how you hold it.
I recently got the HC 3.1 upgrade and the tablet has performed even better. I will admit I had some issues with force closing of certain apps in HC 3.0 but it is not the hardware. Honeycomb still needs to mature and if you are an early adopter then you have to live with it and experience its other benefits like USB host capability. Can Apple iOS do that??? I have been able to add many apps to the tablets and more apps are becoming available. We have Netflix on the tablets but at this point only allows instant queue management. Netflix is in process of delivering “play” capability.
The Iconia works great with USB wireless mouse and keyboards, detects all flash drives or drives (formatted as FAT or FAT32 – limitation of Honeycomb). Connected them to our Samsung LED HDTV and worked like a charm. Paired two Bluetooth headsets and they work perfectly. The plus is that I can connect the tablets to the TV, have the keyboard & mouse connected, Bluetooth headsets connected, charge the device, and stream from our PC via the Acer Clear.fi (DLNA app). Waiting on adding 32GB MicroSD Class 10 cards. Have tested a 32GB Class 2 card already and works like a charm. Can you do that kind of multi-tasking with an iPad or a Galaxy tab???? No, but you can try and also spend another $100+ to get all of the accessories to make it practical.
The display is fantastic, crisp and clear. I was able to run a hi-def video running at 1920 x 1080 off of a USB flash drive no less with not a single stutter or issue. Played very nicely.
Unlike other users, never had any issues with WiFi as both tablets have connected from the start at home as well as other WiFi networks. Never dropped a connection and I have strong security measures in place and still no issues.
To sum it up:
Pros:
* Cost – purchased Iconia 32GB from Costco for $480/ea and came with Acer OEM case (retails at $40) and a HDMI cable. Yes for $30 more from Acer 16GB and got double the storage, case and HDMI cable.
* Features – no need to pay more for special adpaters. Includes full USB port , HDMI out, micro USB port, MicroSD card slot, gorilla glass (neither Galaxy tab or iPad have these features)
* Honeycomb 3.1 update – Iconia was able to do USB host prior to the update but now it does more and supports more video and audio formats, and supports Microsoft Exchange email
* Came with free HD games but not too much bloatware. Acer kept the original HC skin without overlaying it with their own UI.
* Acer case is great except for Velcro enclosure. It protects all corners and fits like a tight glove. Most cases do not cover the corners which get damaged before anything else.
Cons:
* The GPS on the devices have been the only pain point for me. At first, the devices could not lock on for a long time. After much research found out that as with any hardware based GPS (i.e. Garmin, Tom Tom, etc.), the devices that stay dormant for awhile need to “learn” the location of the satellites and their positions at any given point of time. Had to take them out in open sky and sit them down for at least 15-30 minutes using GPS Status app from Market. After that, GPS has been working fine – usually locks within 30 seconds and most times between 10-15 secs. The issue as I understand it is in the GPS config file as it does not have all of the parameters as it should and this is true of many of the phones and tablets. Once the GPS has been used once, it is very responsive afterwards. **Note that I found this issue to be prevalent with Google Navigation mostly. Apps that use the GPS to get location data have no issue. I hope there will be an update in the future to make the GPS be more responsive…but I don’t plan on using these tablets as a GPS device anyway -have our Android phones for that!
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