Unlike many people that jumped on the band wagon to buy an Ipad, which to me was nothing more than a glorified Iphone. I decided to wait it out, for the newer honeycomb tablets to come out. OK, so first we had a couple of them like the galaxy & Xoom which looked promising but not just there yet. Now Acer came out with the Iconia, which I was surprised. I never thought it would be Acer that would come up with something, that could give the Ipad some honest competition. I did some research into the specs & what other people were saying about it. I also went to Best Buy & played around with it several times before making the purchase. I broke down and bought one and man I am loving this thing. I even went & got a second one for my daughter. Now you can't get the stupid thing out of my hands. LOL My only complaint is the power cord is pretty short. Some people have complained about the weight, but seriously I am an old broken down male with neck and back problems. Geeez if this seems heavy to some people, then go lift some weights.
I have been using MAC OS for 3 years (macbook pro); however, using the google-Android (interface) for example: contacs, emails and calendars as well as documents and picassa make this OS ultra good. It seems that this OS could be the start for a good PC instead of Windows or MAC. Let see...
The Iconia A500 is a pretty good deal for the price. It's a little heavier than comparable tablets and the battery life is inferior to the iPad, but I found the display quality, and sound quality, to be equivalent to other tablets. I am willing to tolerate a heavier device in order to have a bigger screen, but not all potential users may want this trade-off.
The USB port is a plus, but note that (at least so far) not all flash drives will be recognized, Acer presumably plans an update to address this. The micro-USB port and cable allowed for quick transfer of contents from my PC to the tablet. I haven't yet tried inserting a microSD card; some users report problems with failure to read such cards, again, this may be something Acer will fix via updates.
I intend to use the Iconia A500 for business, so having Docs to Go loaded as a free app is a plus; pdfs and Office files load fast and look reasonably good, and minor editing is feasible (but obviously, a tablet is not the preferred platform for extensive composing and editing).
This device is superior to an iPad in every way.
Updated on Apr 20, 2011
The best overall value in tablets.
While I like the tablet itself, I am unhappy that it freezes and goes to a black screeen. Maybe updates can fix this issue.
All around the best tablet for the money. Not a lot else to say.
I bought this to take away with me, in May after two retailers cancelled my order for an ASUS equivalent.
It's good but could be better. However most of the issues are with Android rather than Acer, but I am concerned about the fine grid on the screen, which at some angles seems to reduce resolution a little bit. The device mounts on a PC when connected to PC as a named device rather than a full USB disk drive. I prefer the USB disk option because the files on the device can be used on the PC directly. In this case the PC will attempt to copy the file to a temerary folder rather than using it directly. Hopeless for large video fiiles.
Full USB Host port works with keyboards, floppy drives but none of the USB sticks I own. Nor would it allow access to the files on my HTC desire Android phone in the same way as a PC does.