Google's Android Honeycomb OS was the talk of the boondocks as the agenda rolled over to 2022. Billed as Android's first truthful tablet OS, most got their first expect at Honeycomb during CES where it was loaded on the Motorola Xoom. Since then we take seen numerous Honeycomb-based tablets notice their way to market, including the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and the T-Mobile LG G-Slate, both products we've since reviewed.

Today we'll be looking at some other tablet built around Android, this time coming from a traditional PC maker, meet the Acer Iconia Tab A500.

Acer has been one of the leading netbook manufacturers in the past few years, a position that gave them the gamble to grow sales in N America and in Europe. With tablets eating up on netbook sales at an accelerated pace, we can clearly see where Acer is headed with the Iconia offerings. We intend to effigy out what's Acer suggestion with the Iconia Tab A500, not only from a value perspective -- a driving force of netbook sales -- just in terms of features, design and overall experience.

Powering the WiFi-only Iconia Tab is typical current-gen tablet hardware which includes an Nvidia Tegra two dual cadre 1 GHz processor, 16GB of internal storage, 1GB of DDR2 system retentivity, front and rear facing cameras, 802.11 b/g/n WLAN and a 10.ane" WXGA HD Multi-Touch Brandish operating at 1280 x 800.

Our unit shipped running Android version 3.0.ane with a retail price of $449. Since and then the tablet has received an upgrade to Android Honeycomb version 3.1 and a toll cutting to $395. A 32GB model is available for a $50 premium. This pricing sets the Iconia Tab to be $100 and $150 cheaper than Apple's iPad ii for the same storage capacities.

If one were to compare Acer's Iconia Tab A500 to other options on the market, it would most closely resemble Motorola's Xoom both in fit and finish, which isn't a bad thing though months take passed since the introduction of the Xoom, meaning in that location's a lot more competition amidst tablets than earlier.

On the front of the tablet is the ten.one" brandish with a black bezel that stretches from left to right border and terminates at a 90-degree angle. The top and bottom of the bezel are a rounded extension of the brushed aluminum surface found on the back of the unit of measurement. The forepart facing webcam is a 2 megapixel unit that is positioned on the left bezel.

The display defenseless our attention as y'all can really see the gridlines nether the screen that the touch sensors apply. In like fashion, you can see the same grid on the Motorola Xoom although it isn't as prominent. The Apple iPad 2 uses a different display console where at that place are no visible touch on sensitive grids. We will render to this topic while evaluating the tablet's outdoor performance.

On the left side of the tablet we find a ability/sleep button, a iii.5mm headphone jack and a mini-HDMI jack. On the right side of the Iconia Tab is a pinhole reset push button, a full size USB port, mini USB port and the power connector.

Beyond the top border of the tablet is a book rocker, orientation lock switch and a micro SD card slot nether a hidden compartment. Then at the lesser is a proprietary docking connector that works in conjunction with the optional docking station.

The docking station allows for 2 different viewing angles, works as a charging station and features an external speaker connectedness. As well included is a wireless remote control that allows yous to adjust media playback.

The behind of the A500 is similar to the iPad ii, featuring a beautiful brushed aluminum finish. A v megapixel camera resides at the top right side of the console with a small-scale LED wink above information technology. Two stereo speakers flank the lesser corners with the Acer logo centered in the middle. I really like what Acer has done with the back panel; I call back it looks meliorate than both the iPad 2 and the Xoom.