Review on 💻 Versatile and Sleek: Acer Iconia Tab A500-10S16u 10.1-Inch Tablet Computer (Aluminum Metallic) by Larry Breeze

As many of you know, a small number of tablets are making their way into the computing world including the Motorola Xoom, Samsung Galaxy Tab and the sadly famous Apple iPad 2. Although these devices are relatively new to the market, they have many options. One of these is Acer's $400 Iconia Tab A500, an Android tablet that's stylish, powerful, and affordable, provided you're willing to sacrifice 3G mobile connectivity. Like many other models, the Iconia has a glossy 10.1-inch capacitive touchscreen and no physical buttons on the front. That's enough for the simple but advanced Android Honeycomb interface, which is version 3.0 at launch. It has a volume rocker on the sides, a lock/unlock button, and a bunch of different I/Os that I'll cover in a moment. The device itself feels very solid and solid, with a brushed aluminum back featuring the Acer logo and stereo speakers. However, the downside for some people may be an above-average weight of around 25 ounces. Inside we have basically the same as other high-end tablets of the day. At the heart of the machine is a dual-core nVidia Tegra 2 processor running at a standard frequency of 1 GHz. Hackers should be aware that this can be significantly higher after installing special software. Tegra 2 offers not only high overall performance, but also impressive graphics. I was surprised to see how well 3D animations are rendered on Android, especially in games. In terms of memory, the Iconia A500 has one gigabyte of DDR3 RAM. Notice I said DDR3. Most other tablets only have DDR2, so there's a slight performance advantage here. Overall, the Iconia is comparable (if not superior) in performance to all other popular tablets like the iPad 2 or Xoom. So if you're looking for performance for the price, this might be the smart buyer's choice. In terms of I/O (input and output ports), there are the basic things you would expect from most tablets, including the power jack and 3.5-inch headphones. connector, micro HDMI connector and micro USB connector. However, I was impressed with the FULL SIZE USB 2.0 port. This allows you to connect all sorts of peripherals like external keyboards, mice and USB sticks, which can really help you manage files in Honeycomb, as long as the drive isn't NTFS formatted, although I haven't tried ext4. a while. I'd argue that the mouse function is useless on a touchscreen device, but plugging in a keyboard is a good idea, especially if you're buying one of those tablet cases that have a small keyboard built in. There's also an additional microSD card slot covered by a metal flap on the side, which can be helpful if the tablet's 16GB internal storage (technically another microSD card) isn't enough for your needs. If anything, the full-size USB port is what sets this tablet apart in terms of connectivity. As already mentioned, the Iconia Tab Stock runs Android 3.0 Honeycomb. However, you should update to 3.1 and 3.2 as soon as possible (this will automatically notify you) as software compatibility and speed increase dramatically with new and mature versions of Android. Acer was generous enough to provide additional software, including a media player, e-book reader, and social networking app. None of them are special, although the media player comes in handy at times. The operating system is fast and quite smooth, offering an excellent browsing experience. There is nothing better than using the browser on such a large and responsive touch screen. The Android Universal Market offers a range of games and other apps to add to yours if you wish. And of course there is no 3G connectivity in this tablet, just Wi-Fi folks! Overall, I like the Iconia Tab A500 and would recommend it to anyone who wants a touchscreen laptop. However, there is one issue I would like to point out - it seems that the tablet prefers to work in landscape mode rather than portrait mode. In top-down view the whole system seems to slow down a bit and the aspect ratio is a little awkward, which just goes to show that this thing should be kept in landscape mode, although you can rotate it however you like. This will automatically set the screen to face right side up. Pros: Fast performance, long battery life, responsive touchscreen, great OS, full USB port, only $400, significantly less than similar competing models. Cons: Heavier than most tablets, works better in landscape mode, no 3G connectivity.