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Acer Iconia A200 Arrives January 15th, Gets Android 4.0 February

Alexander Udalov — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 01:03:29 +0000

Acer America has just announced that the Acer Iconia Tab A200 will go on sale in the US on January 15th. The Android 3.2 slate features a dual-core Tegra 2 processor, a 1280 x 800 10.1-inch display, and 8 GB and 16 GB storage options. Tablet with 8 GB of storage will retail at $329.99, while the 16 GB variant is priced at $349.99. Tablet sports 2MP front-facing camera, microSD slot for expanded storage, and a full-sized USB 2.0 port. For those obsessed with the latest and greatest, an Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade is scheduled for delivery in February.

It’s quite unclear how this new installment from Acer to its Iconia lineup will fare against the very popular ASUS Eee Pad Transformer (non-Prime, a TF101 model. Similarly specced slate from ASUS adds a rear 5 megapixel camera and its quite successful “transformer” docking keyboard, but even without keyboard ASUS slate can be had for $360…$380 if you care to shop around.

So I doubt that a price difference between Acer’s $349.99 (or even $329.99 for a model with lesser storage) and ASUS first Transformer may turn the chances to win customers in Acer’s favor. All in all, “legacy” Tegra 2 tablets are on their way out and may soon show in sub-$300 price category. Then, releasing a tablet with Android 3.2 this late in January is not a very good sign when every tablet device worth north of $300 is expected to run Ice Cream Sandwich.

Acer has also a history of releasing its Iconias with locked bootloaders, and nobody knows what this A200 Tab would come out with on January 15th. ASUS, in its turn, seems to listen to their customers and promises Ice Cream Sandwich and bootloader unlocking tool at least for its flagship Transformer Prime slate.

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The Rumored ASUS Transformer Prime Mini/Memo 7-Inch Android Tablet

Alexander Udalov — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 00:51:15 +0000

According to NotebookItalia, who got this leaked rendering, ASUS will officially announce a 7-inch version of its successful Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime. The rendering makes it look like it’s running Android Honeycomb, and at launch time it’s quite possible, as no recent ASUS Android devices were launched with Ice Cream Sandwich just yet. Apparently it will sport the same mighty Tegra 3 processor as its bigger brother. However, here’s where this rumor gets quite unclear: a 7-inch tablet from ASUS was demoed at CES 2011 where it was called ‘ASUS Eee Memo Pad’ and was said to be based on a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 1.2 GHz processor. Some models of that Memo (or was it ‘MeMO’?) might even be set with glasses-free 3D screens, but it didn’t happen just yet.

Whatever the discrepancies between the two proposed pocketable ASUS tablet prototypes, the same press photo leak source has its price point pinned at $299. Will it be based on Tegra 3, or Snapdragon S3, or even S4, will be established at CES 2012.

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Acer A700 Tegra 3 Android Tablet spotted in Russia

Alexander Udalov — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 22:24:04 +0000

Engadget has got this story first, basing it on a Russian source NoMobile.ru. They obviously used some online translation service, like Google Translate. Or something else. Which actually looks quite good when discussing specs for a device in question: “1920×1200, 10,1 дюйма” was translated perfectly into 1920×1200, 10.1″ screen for this Acer A700 intercepted in Russia when on its way to CES. All other claimed by NoMobile.ru specs do look good, too:

– Tegra 3 running at 1.3 GHz (well, maybe);

– claimed 10 hours of battery life;

– 1.43 pounds (or 650 грамм, if you wish)

– 5 MP rear camera with single flash;

– 3G radio, SIM slot;

– textured back on a compound (non-monolithic) body.

What was lost in translation is this: guys at NoMobile.ru failed to charge the device and, consequently, turn it on. So the specs quoted were taken from wherever else they could dig information from, except from the device they held in their hands. Sure, the numbers claimed don’t really have official Acer support. The title of the article is quite revealing, too: it’s called “Smuggled”. Even if it’s a kind of a Russian joke.

Smuggled or not, the tablet is very interesting though. See you at CES.

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ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime Available at BestBuy for $499

Alexander Udalov — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 14:30:54 +0000

Latest news has it that these nVidia Tegra 3 quad-core 32GB 10-inch tablets running customized Android 3.2 Honeycomb were sold out quickly. However, slates are about to reappear soon, or can be shipped to stores (at least in Silicon Valley where I checked) in 3-5 days from now. So anyone feeling holiday blues and 5 Franklins in his/her pocket thats left unspent, may try this toy instead. Droid-Life’s Kellex has put up an interesting video review of the slate, so much of the boring tech specs could be just omitted:

On top of what was being said in this review, it’s worth to mention that the responsiveness is not so stellar throughout the tablet’s UI. ASUS customizations of a clean Android 3.2 are suspected to be responsible for this, then the nVidia Tegra 3 code for drivers and such might be just quite immature for the first Tegra 3 based device.

Yet the tablet is quite agile and popular to the extent that XDA-Developers started to have a harder look at it. First, attempts to root the device were reported as successful ones for at least an earlier version of its firmware, and over-the-air (OTA) firmware updates from ASUS were neutralized — for the time being. No custom ROMs of Ice Cream Sandwich yet, and it’s kind of too early for that development, but certainly improvements over the stock Honeycomb firmware will be on their way.

Like a previous ASUS model, this Eee Pad Transformer Prime will take an optional docking keyboard for another $150 that transforms your Android tablet in to a sort of Android netbook, with the keyboard also hiding an additional battery.

UPDATE: The link of availability of Transformer Primes was valid at the time I posted this article. My apologies for that mess-up that they at BB have every sale. Source of my information is here, so if you intend to track a device, go to that Slickdeals thread. Thank you for your attention.

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Acer Iconia A500 10.1″ Tablet For $229 At BestBuy

Alexander Udalov — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 20:50:00 +0000

This year’s Black Friday sales offered some pretty appealing gadgets, but as the holiday season continues there are many more attractive deals on there way, from Cyber Monday and beyond.

One such deal is the Acer Iconia A500 10.1″ tablet at BestBuy. A 8GB model is just $229 with free shipping and a $10 gift card. The price cut is quite substantial for a 10-inch tablet that normally costs $300 or more.

Acer Iconia A500 is a solid performer powered by dual core Tegra 2 chip and weighing only 1.7 pounds. For the technically inclined, its specs reveal this:

1 GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2
Li-Ion Battery with around 8 battery life
WXGA HD touch screen (1280 x800)
1 GB of DDR2 RAM
Internal Storage Type: eMMC
8GB of base storage
SD Card Slot for expansion
NVIDIA GeForce graphics
Adobe Flash support
2MP Front Facing Webcam
Outward 5MP digital camera
Wi-Fi
Bluetooth-Enabled
Dolby Mobile Technology
2 USB 2.0 Ports
HDMI Output
Android 3.2 Honeycomb

There are some quirks in handling the touch while device lies flat on the table, but otherwise the tablet is a good gaming gadget, magazine and comics reader, and has very good web-browsing capabilities.

The tablet runs stock Android 3.2 with unobtrusive Acer customizations, but for adventurous user there are some other custom ROMs and tweaks available from the Acer Iconia community of XDA Developers. Luckily, an active user community for the Iconia means that, in time, a ROM running Ice Cream Sandwich will most likely come to the tablet.

Thanks to all the power behind the hood and its active community of users, the Iconia certainly offers a fairly good deal even when compared to other hot Android tablets like the Xoom, Kindle Fire, and the Nook Tablet.

The downside? Expect this to go fast, as they are already sold out online. A good place to still look might be your local brick-and-mortar store. It’s also worth mentioning that there have been price-slashed Iconia A500 sightings at Costco, too.

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MSI takes on Apple’s iPad with a $500 10″ Tegra-based tablet

Michael Kwan — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 19:38:17 +0000

Following up on yesterday’s official unveiling of the Apple iPad tablet computer, it’s not suprising to see the floodgates opening from its competitors. One of the first devices to join the iPad-occupied arena is a yet-unnamed MSI tablet PC.

Although there are definitely tablet PCs, mobile Internet devices (MIDs), and UMPCs already on the market, this MSI product is much more in line with what the iPad is trying to accomplish. The features sound very similar too, except for the lack of Cupertino flair, of course.

With the MSI tablet, the chipset comes by way of Nvidia Tegra and it comes equipped with a 10-inch color touchscreen. We’re hearing that the MSI tablet will have “wireless support,” but there is no direct indication whether this refers to Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3G, or all of the above. The provided picture looks like Google Android is under the hood.

As with the Apple iPad, the MSI net tablet will also be priced starting at $500. The current timeline calls for a launch in the second half of 2010, which will probably usher in accusations of being an iPad clone, justified or not.

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