Acer Iconia Tab A501: Is it Worth 3X the Kindle Fire?

[Guest]

You know that you want a tablet, but you really don’t want to spend $500 or more on an iPad. Does the Kindle Fire deliver enough on the tablet promise? How much do you actually need to spend on a tablet in order for it to meet your needs?

Acer Iconia Tab A501: Is it Worth 3X the Kindle Fire? : Read more

 

[de5_Roy]

tegra is an underperformer until it outperforms apple's (powervr?) gpu in ipad with it's ulp geforce. most of the media-centric stuff is handled by the gpu and in a tablet it's important.

I learned that seven inches are just too much of a compromise for a tablet as far as web browsing is concerned. Eight inches are better, but Steve Jobs had a point when he said that 10 inches are what a tablet really needs.

yeah, 10" is what a tablet really needs!

 

[shadamus]

Anybody looking in the $200 range for a tablet may want to checkout the Vizio 8" tablet. It's got a micro-SD slot, HDMI, front-camera, access to the Android Market (WiFi only, so some apps aren't available that need OTA networking) and a 1024x768 screen. I purchased one for my wife, and it works great for her (Cozi calenar app, browsing, etc.) and the kids (games). I bought it at Costco for around $190, then stuck an 8GB card in it and bought a folio case for it so it wouldn't get scratched up in her purse... very inexpensive, and very effective for it's intended usage.

 

[hammer256]

or if you are willing to hack it, go for the touchpad with cyanogenmod route. $250 for 16 gigs version, nice IPS panel (identical to ipad2's screen, I think?) and full android market access. I use it everyday mainly to read and annotate pdf papers. Come January ICS will be ported to it, so should be pretty sweet. Hardware's decent, the MSM8060 has a slightly slower CPU but faster GPU compared to the Tegra 2.

 

[AndrewMD]

Until other tablet manufactures can release the seamless ease of use as Apple has done, they will continue to burn potential clients in the future....

 

[house70]

[citation][nom]AndrewMD[/nom]Until other tablet manufactures can release the seamless ease of use as Apple has done, they will continue to burn potential clients in the future....[/citation]
Keep shaking those golden chains, buddy... If they're golden, then it's OK. Right?

 

[bfstev]

This is upgradable to 3.2 and acer has said 4.0 will be available on it sometime in 2012.

It took 3 updates for me to go from 3.0.1 to 3.2 on this devices. 2 of them were 300MB+ and 1 was about 35MB.

 

[house70]

Exposed to sunlight, every tablet's screen is useless. That is, until they adopt S-Amoled technology.
Weight: it's a 0.5 lbs difference between the lightest and the heaviest tablets (according to Gruener); half a pound will really break your hand? In that case, you need to put the tablet down and go to a gym. Really.
Of course it's not a notebook; none of the tablets is. This should be a "negative" point in reviewing any tablet, not just this one. You get a tablet because you don't need a notebook, given the circumstances, not because you are looking for a replacement. If you are, just get the damn notebook and be happy. This "downside" is a moot point.
The price of 4G: this is shameless carrier pricing, and I don't see how this is a tablet's "negative". There are plenty of tablets out there without the 4G experience, and if you think a 3G suits you better, go for it. Same goes for a Wi-Fi only tablet. And again, nobody puts a gun to your head to get the 4G working; even if it's available, you can always turn it off and use the Wi-Fi option only. At least you have the option, most tablets do not offer that. I would see this as a positive.

 

[cknobman]

What is the sweet spot? $300 or a 10 inch fully featured tablet

Happens to be the price I paid for my Asus Eee Transformer back in September. I love it for what it is but I can say without a doubt that it would not have been worth it if I had spent any more money.

 

[neon871]

The Real iPad killer is the Asus Transformer Prime with the Tegra 3 & 1gig of DDR2 32 & 64 gig storage. I can't wait for mine to get here. Last I heard release date was 12-8-11. You can re-order as I have now.

 

[Guest]

"only lacks an SD card slot" ..?

I had to scroll to the top of the page to make sure this article was about the A501. I own the A501 and I can vouch that it does indeed have an SD slot. A microSD, but it is definitely an SD with a 32GB max capacity.

 

[Guest]

picked up the Acer A100 (7") Tegra 2 Android 3.0 for $189 with 8GB and the Lenovo K1 (10") Tegra 2 Android 3.1 with 32GB for $300 during black Friday sales. Beats the Kindle and iPads any day

 

[joytech22]

Uhh It has a SD card slot, a mini-SD anyway or micro SD whatever.

I know because I have a A500 :\

 

[joytech22]

Not only that, the Iconia can be officially updated to Android 3.2 and ICS later next year.

 

[singemagique]

Wow, I just can't imagine dropping $500 on a tablet. Perhaps if they designed one with a full operating system, I might consider it. It would be nice to have something portable in a laboratory setting that could be used to document, take pictures, and make audio recordings. But then I would want to take it to my desk and be able to crank out a powerpoint or Prezi on it, the Transformer looks close but it needs a fully fledged OS. I guess I will just have to dream.

 

[Guest]

It seems to me the author should really consider what he is buying since frankly the last i hears Amazon was selling the Fire at a loss to push its products, namely e-books, music, and videos. Last I heard reading ebooks on the 7-inch form factor was ideal, and far better than 10 inches. 7-inches is lighter and far closer to a paperback or small hardcover.

I have a Nook Color and am very happy with it. I read and have read, tons of ebooks on it, and am glad it isn't larger and clunkier. I have a great Cyanomogen mod on it, full access to the Android Market, and dual boot thanks to the micro SD card I stuck in it. As a chess player I enjoy the apps I can run on it too. In fact, I can get Google Maps by tethering it with my phone.

As to the Fire, all the reviews agree it will disappoint you if you go in expecting it to compete with iPad2 or other. It is like going to see a play and complaining about the lack of visual special effects.

 

[kartu]

This tablet sucks ("uses best materials", give me a break), but could we, for the sake of humanity, stop comparing 7" and 10" tablets?

 

[kartu]

[citation][nom]joytech22[/nom]Uhh It has a SD card slot, a mini-SD anyway or micro SD whatever.I know because I have a A500 :\[/citation]
I guess it doesn't matter since the whole point of this so called news article is to advertise Kindle Fire.

Both tablets suck IMO. Go for Samsung Tab 10.1, Asus Prime or Sony's tablet (it has plasticky feel, but is the most ergonomic tablet out there)

 

[eddieroolz]

Looks okay, but still not sold. The design could be miles better.

 

[techtre2003]

I quit reading after these two statements:

"I am conservative with my money. I don’t like experiments and I rarely spend money on things I don’t need."

"We currently have five $200-or-so tablets in our household. All of them are used by our kids but only for games."