After losing its CEO, Acer is hoping it will find success with its latest mobile device. Acer made its first tablet equipped with Android 3.0 Honeycomb available for pre-order at Best Buy amid rumors that Apple was unhappy with Best Buy for holding back iPad 2s.
The Acer Iconia Tab A500 is a 10.1-inch touchscreen tablet. The only other tablet on the market running Honeycomb is the Motorola Xoom, which isn’t putting a dent in Apple iPad sales.
“The biggest problem with Honeycomb right now is the lack of tablet-specific apps,” said Avi Greengart, an analyst at Current Analysis. “So having additional options on the market will hopefully increase the install base, and that should entice developers to either rewrite their apps for the large form factor or create entirely new apps specifically for the platform.”
Is it Magical?
Sumit Agnihotry, vice president of product marketing for Acer America, didn’t mention apps. Instead, he did his best to paint a picture to help the Iconia stack up against what Apple CEO Steve Jobs calls the “magical” device that is the iPad. Agnihotry used many more words, including performance-minded, sleek, stylish, intuitive and fluid.
Spec-wise, the Iconia is up to par with what’s on the market. The tablet offers a Nvidia Tegra 250 one-gigahertz dual-core processor and an integrated GeForce GPU that lets users do HD gaming, 1080p video, faster browsing, and run multiple applications and digital media playback at the same time.
The Iconia weighs 1.69 pounds and measures 0.52 inches thick. It offers forward- and rear-facing cameras to capture videos and photos, and for video conferencing. It offers Wi-Fi connections and is exclusively available through Best Buy. The price, however, could be the most compelling feature at $ 449.
Where’s the Apps?
But what good is a $ 449 tablet with a handful of apps? As Greengart sees…
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