Acer Iconia Tab A500

Laying it on the tablet


Choosing a tablet need not be a hard pill to swallow

by S Shiva


04:46 AM Jun 08, 2011
Acer Iconia Tab A500

The Acer Iconia Tab A500 is a bit of a left-field choice, with its simple design and large form factor, but this underdog will surprise you with its quality hardware and long battery life.

Sporting a 10.1-inch display panel and weighing in at a hefty 730g, the A500 may not be the most portable tablet around, but it feels durable and its screen size is big enough for comfortable viewing.

The A500 is powered by Android's Honeycomb OS. As with all tablets operating on Honeycomb, there is a slight learning curve before you get used to the interface.

Something interesting about the A500's dual-core processors is that they are from NVIDIA, a name synonymous with graphic cards and video games. So, evidently, the A500 places more emphasis on games - which you can download from the Android Marketplace - than other tablets do.

The A500 features a rear-mounted 5-megapixel camera capable of shooting videos at 720p, and a front-facing camera for video calls, but what really steals the show are its speakers.

Thanks to a speaker system from Dolby, the sound on the A500 is excellent. The only problem would be that they are back-facing, a problem shared by many tablets. Nonetheless, the sound quality of the A500 is unmatched in this category.

With all these functions, one might expect the A500 to run out of juice quickly, but it exceeds expectations by lasting for more than eight hours with heavy usage, and almost 24 hours under average use.

The Acer Iconia Tab A500 may be not be the most obvious choice at first, but its sturdy, metal body, powerful speakers, and battery life make it a tablet worth considering for anyone who wants something different.

The Acer Iconia Tab A500 is available now for S$799.

Source: www.todayonline.com