Acer Iconia Tab A500-10S16u 10.1-Inch Tablet Computer (Aluminum Metallic)

by Acer

• The Acer Iconia Tab A500-10S16u provides the ultimate tablet experience with a gleaming 10.1" touch-screen.
• It has 802.11b/g/n Wireless(802.11n 2.4GHz only).
• It also has 5MP Rear Facing Camera with Auto Focus and 2MP Front Facing Camera.
• 1GB DDR2 Memory , 1.5 lbs.
• Android , Honeycomb , Operating System, NVIDIA Tegra , 2 Dual Core Mobile Processor.

Product Description

Amazon.com

The Acer® Iconia Tab A500-10S16u provides the ultimate tablet experience with a gleaming 10.1" touch-screen and attention grabbing metallic design fueled by top-of-the-line technology and the latest build of Android "Honeycomb" OS. The A500 delivers powerful tablet performance and effortless multimedia enjoyment in a flash! Have fun with Google Apps like Google Movies and Google Music, connect to social networks, play full-version games in console-quality, browse the Web in accelerated speeds and so much more.

Key Features

• 10.1” HD Multi-Touch Display: (1280 x 800) resolution, 16:10 aspect ratio
• NVIDIA® Tegra™ 2 Dual Core Mobile Processor
• 1GB DDR2 Memory
• NVIDIA® GeForce® GPU
• eMMC: 16GB on board
• MicroSD memory card up to 32GB
• Dolby® Mobile Technology
• Dual Analog Microphone
• Dual Speaker
• 802.11b/g/n Wireless(802.11n 2.4GHz only)
• Bluetooth® 2.1+EDR
• 1- Micro USB 2.0 Port
• 1- USB 2.0 Port
• 1- Micro HDMI™ Out (support Dual Display)
• 5MP Rear Facing Camerawith Auto Focus and single LED flash
• 2MP Front Facing Camera
• Sensors:G-Sensor, E-Compass, L-Sensor, Gyro-meter
• Rechargeable Lithium-ion polymer Battery
• Up to 8-hours battery life

Learn More

The Latest Android Tablet Experience!

Experience crisp, clear HD content anywhere!

The Acer® Iconia Tab A500-10S16u is designed to maximize content enjoyment, providing a rich and vibrant experience on the user-friendly 10.1" multi-touch screen display, while the orientation-less design ensures optimal on-screen viewing from every angle - up and down or left to right. The latest build of Android™ Honeycomb™ Operating System combined with Acer UI brings a whole new level of interactivity- you can personalize your Tab by easily resizing apps widgets that are most important to you! In addition, the Android Market lets you choose from thousands of apps and games, making your Tab uniquely yours. This latest OS now supports Google Apps! Rent the latest flicks with Google Movies and listen to your personal play lists with Google Music in great Dolby Sound! Port this whole entertainment experience to your big screen TV in full 1080p HD glory through the micro-HDMI™ port. Experience crisp, clear HD content anywhere! The 10.1" HD multi-touch display features an astounding 1280 x 800 resolution, 16:10 aspect ratio and advanced flash support, displaying all your HD content in crystal-clear form. Thanks to the USB 2.0 port and the Micro-SD slot, the Iconia Tab gives you the ability to connect USB flash drives, USB media card readers and even a portable hard drive. The expansion opportunities are endless giving you more time to be a master multitasker.

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The Power to Play

Enjoy console-quality gaming and fun with preloaded full versions of games!

NVIDIA® Tegra™ 2 brings the fastest, most visually-rich tablet experience, and extreme multitasking for effortless multimedia enjoyment. Enjoy the best Web experience with accelerated browsing with full Adobe® Flash® support* and get your heart racing in console-quality gaming with an NVIDIA® GeForce® GPU. Are you ready for serious gaming? This is the first mobile device to bring an arcade-like gaming experience with 10 point multi-touch control for high-level gaming that’s on par with the best game consoles. And with preloaded full versions of top games like Electronic Arts ‘Need for Speed: SHIFT’ and Gameloft ‘Let’s Golf’, let the fun begin immediately! The battery provides up to 8-hours of cable-free battery life giving you the freedom to experience the web, email, view photos and HD videos, play high-end games and read ebooks wherever you may be!

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Stunning Design & Unique Extras

Stay fully connected with friends and the latest buzz wherever you go.

Stand out with the Iconia Tab A500 designed with an aluminum casing that provides a cool, metallic tactile sensation, while the high-gloss anodized finish with textured engraving portrays sophistication. Additionally, the smooth, rounded surface ensures comfortable handling. Snap photos, record videos or enjoy online chats with the 5MP autofocus rear-facing camera and 2MP front-facing camera the easily share on line. SocialJogger puts your social life in one place so you can check updates from your Facebook® and Twitter contacts in a single glance! Enjoy face-to-face video chats and more with the 5MP rear-facing and 2MP front-facing camera. Acer Clear.fi™ allows you to manage, store, share, and enjoy media between any Clear.fi enabled devices, in any room throughout your home. Acer Sync® lets you wirelessly synchronize your contacts, calendar, photos and video clips between your Acer Tab and PC. USB ports and Micro-SD card allow for expansion and enhance connectivity.

Product Description

Set your eyes on the large 10.1-inch screen size with 16GB of internal storage for your videos, pictures, files and endless other data. The Acer Iconia Tab A500-10S16u XE.H60PN.002 Tablet performs on a 1280 x 800 WXGA resolution display and contains multi-touch features that make it easy for you to navigate through a variety of applications and online browsing. The Acer Iconia Tab A500-10S16u XE.H60PN.002 Tablet comes with the Android™ 3.0 Honeycomb™ operating system and a NVIDIA® Tegra™ 2 Dual-Core Mobile Processor. Communicate with friends face-to-face and in real-time with built-in front and rear facing webcams that are perfect to engage in a conversation and also show your surroundings.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1,001 of 1,035 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Great tablet May 8, 2011

By Gary Lai

I'm typing this review on the A500 now. I was deciding between an Ipad2 (and had actually purchased one), an Asus Transformer, and the A500. I became frustrated with the limitations of the Ipad 2, and once it became clear that the Asus Tranformer wouldn't have adequate stock for weeks, I decided to give the A500 a try. No regrets, and I ended up returning the Ipad2.

Why this is better than an I pad 2 -
- Micro SD card slot gives this all the memory you practically need with just a 16 gb model. Cards are cheap - you can get a 32 gb card for $50. No card slot on the I pad 2.
- USB port makes file transferring easy. You can plug in external flash drives or a USB keyboard. Yes, it has a USB host port so it can externally power or charge devices through the port. No USB on the I pad 2 without buying a $30 adapter.
-HDMI port - easy projection to your HDTV. The A500 screen has about the same aspect ratio as most HDTVs, so you will be able to take full advantage of the area on your HDTV. With the Ipad2, you need a separate $39 adapter for this, plus the IPad 2 screen is a different aspect ratio than most HDTVs.
-Android Honeycomb is way better than Apple iOS. It's much more customizable and supports true multitasking. Yes, iOS has a simpler, dumber interface that your grandma can use, but for me it is too simple and limited. Plus, with Honeycomb you are not chained to using ITunes to manage your content. You can just plug it into the USB port of your PC and manage files like you would any external USB drive.
-If you use Google applications like Gmail, Picasa, Docs, Maps, Youtube, etc., the integration is excellent. You log in with your Gmail account and all your Google data is synched to the device within minutes....

Don't believe the reviews about lack on apps for Honeycomb or frequent crashes. I have had almost no issues in a week of use. Most of the apps for Android smartphones I tried work fine and there are over 65,000 of them now. The Android market is better than the Apple market because there are a lot more free apps.

Because of the USB port this is a better value than the Transformer too, which doesn't have USB port without the separate docking station.

This is a fast, powerful tablet, great screen, long battery life (I'm getting two days with normal use). A good value.

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UPDATE 10/20/11: Had the A500 tablet for 6 months. Netflix works on it now, and it got an update that enabled Skype and Google Video Chat as well. The OS updates to Android 3.1 and 3.2 made it run faster and smoother. However, after the Android 3.1 update the microphone sound got pretty muffled to the point that video chatting or using it as a camcorder became pretty poor. I would have to speak rather loudly or directly into the speaker for it to get picked up. I checked around online and this seems to be a problem that many people have experienced due to the OS update on their A500 tablets. There were rumors that the Android 3.2 update would fix the problem, but this didn't happen. I downgraded from 5 stars to 4 stars because of this.

Overall I am happy with the Android Honeycomb tablet experience and not regretting returning the IPad, but I wanted something that would work flawlessly for video chatting. So I purchased an Asus Transformer, updated it to Android 3.2, and tried out the microphone, and it worked fine. So I ended up selling my A500 and am using the Transformer now instead. Had the microphone worked flawlessly, the A500 is still the better tablet in my mind than the Transformer due to the full-sized USB port and the metal construction, but they are pretty close. If you don't plan to use the microphone I think the A500 is still the better deal. But Asus seems to do a better job of pushing out OS updates.

I recommend you'all take a serious look at the Honeycomb tablets. There are many available now, all pretty close in specs, for much better prices than IPads and they are more versatile. With the upcoming launch of Android 4.0, the operating systems for smartphones and tablets will be unified, which will make many more apps useable on the tablets. Just like Android smartphones eventually blew away the IPhone in market share, Android tablets will do the same to IPads someday, I am confident. Read more ›

206 of 211 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Why so much angst about buying an Iconia Tablet? July 14, 2011

By R. Mcmillen

So I've been on the sidelines agonizing about which Android tablet to buy.

Every blog and magazine is filled with lots of negatives about each tablet they review. After reading all of the negative vibe I was paranoid about buying an Android tablet so I decided to wait.

Then the unexpected happened. My wife bought me the Iconia for Father's Day and surprised me. I was stuck.

Reality has set in now and it's great.

I've never had Honeycomb crash on me. I surf the web, get my gmail, get my Outlook mail, IM, buy apps, play games, check the weather, read books and it's a blast.
The screen quality is great and I love the motion backgrounds. Wireless speed is fine, 32GB is plenty, and I'm glad to have the USB port for future options. Execution speed is fast and everything I care about runs without issues plus battery life is multiple days.

So after two months I'm scratching my head to find a negative... Power cord too short? Plug it in on the counter top. No auto on capability? Push the button. Fingerprints on the screen? Try washing your hands more often. Is the tablet too heavy for your puny forearms? Get off the couch and do some push ups dude! Not your favorite color? Buy a can of spray paint.

The real issue is that the negative vibe is keeping people on the sidelines like it was me. Come on in the water is fine.

245 of 255 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Pretty good tablet, with some issues that will probably be fixed soon May 9, 2011

By Lyle Eckert

UPDATE - 6/27/11 -
I did get a software update a while back for the A500, and it did fix the screen waking up, this made it so that the battery will now last for a couple of days of light use before it runs out, compared to being plugged in everyday like it was before when the screen would wake up for notifications.

I haven't really noticed any other large changes from the previous version. On the other hand, I did see that a leaked version of the 3.1 upgrade is out on the web today, so we should be getting that upgrade soon, and it sounds like a lot of enhancements are in that update.

One other thing of note, is that I picked up a wireless usb keyboard for use with the A500, and it worked fine for me, but my wife was trying to use it with blogger and she said she was having problems with it. Seems like it couldn't quite keep up with her typing. It doesn't seem to be the keyboard but the A500 that was the limiting factor, because I used the keyboard on a normal laptop, and didn't notice any lag.

I still really like using the A500 over having to use a normal laptop like I was before, it is just so much nicer that it is always on and I can just hit the power button and go! Still very happy with this purchase.

END UPDATE
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I bought this the week it showed up in a brick and mortar store near me. I love having a tablet around, it is much quick to just pick it up and use it instead of having to wake up/start up my computer. I use this for most of my web browsing now when I am at home, and I also take the tablet to work and use it for music via bluetooth (works perfectly with my sony DR-BT50 headphones).

HDMI
I have also purchased an hdmi cable for the tablet and that works awesome.... When you plug in the hdmi cable, it will automatically start mirroring the display, and the sound worked through the TV speakers as expected. I have noticed that since the resolution on the A500 is 1280x800 it cuts off part of the top and bottom when it is connected to my tv, which runs it at 720p (1280x720). This is a minor annoyance because I was able to share videos and other content quickly and easily with the tablet, where as with my laptop, it never seems to work as nice.

Sound & Display
The sound on the tablet is really good, I was kind of surprised, for such a small thing to have such good sound. I am not saying I would want to listen to my music over the speakers, my headphones are much better for that, but for sharing music or videos with people around it works pretty well. The display is fine, good, but not great. I think the colors and brightness are fine, but my phone seems better (Galaxy S phone). The viewing angle is good, and easily sharable with a person sitting next to you.

Apps & Software
I really like Honeycomb (Android 3), the G-mail client is much better. The browser is fine, but it is a little on the sluggish side. I planned on using this to replace a laptop for surfing the web while moving around the house, and it is good for that, but I can tell that the browser is just not as fast as the laptop on the same network, so I think it might be a little underpowered by comparison. Most sites load with the full site and not a mobile site (wired for some reason always gives me the mobile... grrrr), and that makes it a much better experience. The on-screen keyboard is ok, I am so used to using swype on my phone, that I miss it when using the A500, but I haven't tried to install it yet. As for the other apps in the android market, I have loaded a bunch of the non-tablet apps, and they seem to work fine for me. Most of them scale great (including angry birds, which is huge on a 10.1" screen). I have also picked up a few tablet only versions, and they worked just as well.

Hardware
Overall the tablet seems zippy, I haven't noticed any slowdowns when running regularly, though I did get choppy video when trying to use a 720p video on You Tube while connected to HDMI. I haven't tried that again, but I have a feeling it just was too much for the tablet. Anyway I love that it has the HDMI port, and the USB micro in for transferring data over, and a normal usb for a keyboard, or flash drives.

WIFI
The wifi works just ok, the signal strength doesn't seem as good as a normal laptop, but it is about the same or possibly a little better than my Galaxy S phone. I have also had times where sitting 10 feet from the router I kept loosing the signal, but after a reboot, it seemed to work fine. I have also wifi tethered the A500 to my phone, and that worked out great. Basically you just turn on wifi-tether on the phone, and the A500 saw it as an access point right away. The only bad part is that it does suck the phone's battery very quickly. I did this while out camping (sadly only getting E :( and not 3G), and it made the trip a lot nicer than trying to use my phone like I had in the past for e-mail and catching up in reader.

Now for the downers....
So I mentioned that there were a couple of problems, and they will probably all be fixed via software updates. First off I had a heck of a time using the market when I first purchased the A500. It would get stuck when it was suppose to download something. I finally did a wipe of the data (fresh install again), and I had the same problem. I realized that I had clicked on the update for google maps when it first loaded up, and after another wipe, I went to the market first, and had to accept the agreement, and then everything worked fine. So, click on the Market icon first and accept the terms.

*FIXED* -- Another thing that is annoying is that the screen keeps popping on when the tablet is not in use. I was reading on some of the forums, that if you turn off wifi, or put the tablet in airplane mode, that it would stop doing this. It seems to be that when it tries to do data updates in the background, it turns the screen on. This is a minor annoyance, but it keeps the screen waking up, and it sucks battery.

I have also had a one lockup that I had to hold down the power button till it turned off, and then turned it back on. And once where the browser wouldn't load anything after clicking on a link in the google reader app. I had to reboot the table to get this fixed.

Overall
I really like the tablet, and I think the issues I had above, will all be fixed by software updates as honeycomb becomes more mature. I had a G1 when it first came out, and it was pretty much a mess when at the beginning. As the software updates came along, it worked much better. Using the tablet as a replacement for a laptop, works pretty good for surfing the web, and watching videos and such, though it could use more power in the browser area. The battery life is better than my phone, but that just isn't saying much. I really like the options that it presented (like the USB and HDMI ports), and the screen resolution, which is why I purchased this over the Asus transformer (need the dock for a normal usb port), and it was much cheaper than the Xoom(Verizon or WIFI) or G-Slate (T-Mobile), or the iPad2. I also was more interested in an Android tablet over an iOS tablet, because I use a lot of Google services (GMail, Docs, Calendar, Reader, etc), and they work better on Android than they seem to on iOS, so it is much more convenient for me. I bet within 3-6 months I will have to upgrade this to a 5 star review, but with the software problems as they are now, I just can't do it, even though I wouldn't get rid of the A500. Read more ›

411 of 439 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Iconia vs. Transformer May 9, 2011

By A. Dent #1 HALL OF FAMETOP 10 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Myself and a friend of mine bought a new Android tablet recently. I was lucky to grab the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer TF101-A1 10.1-Inch Tablet Computer (Tablet Only) on launch date and he just got the Iconia. Both of us are on the market for at least one, possibly 2 more tablets (me with 2 high school kids and a third catching up fast) so we agreed to swap our new gadgets for a couple of days so we could each better decide what our second Android tablet was going to be.

Here's my 2-day evaluation of Iconia vs. Transformer with frequent references to the other better known tablet players such as the iPad and the Xoom. This is going to be a quick and incomplete comparison so do feel free to add your own categories as comments to this review.

- FREEDOM (even) - They are both non-iPad tablets that are technologically on par (and here and there superior) with the 'leader' AND reasonably priced AND, unlike the iPad, they don't force us, the paying customers, into some 'ecosystem' mandatory straightjacket. While not perfect, both the Transformer and Iconia offer a great deal when it comes to features and expandability. The Honeycomb is a reasonably open OS. You are free by default as you should be. There's no need to jailbreak because you're free. You can shop on more than one app store, do comparison shopping, download beta code and you can even run Flash.

But let me continue with my brief Transformer vs. Iconia comparison.

- PRICE (Transformer) - with everything else more or less equal, the Asus tablet beats the Iconia by $50.... It can be argued that the Iconia has some advantages - I like its solid aluminum backside - but the Transformer has its own so, on a Dollar vs. Dollar competition, the Transformer wins. They each come with options and expansions but, unlike cars, you can get a lot off the base models.

- DISPLAY (even) - Both come with 10.1", 16x9 (wide screen). In my view, they both beat the iPad's 9.7" screen which is in a 4x3 format. Apples has a few more square inches but movies show much better on a 16x9 screen. The viewing angle is quite wide with few distortions and the colors are rich and bright when used in a room under natural or artificial light. Outside, the glare is significant.

- RESOLUTION (even) - 1280x800 on both the Transformer and the Iconia translate in 30% more pixels than iPad's and a few more pixels per square inch.

- INTERNAL MEMORY (even) - 1 GB is twice as much than iPad's (better multi-tasking) and on par with the more expensive Xoom.

- PROCESSOR (even) - 1GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 (2 x Cortex A9) is on par with Xoom, clock speed similar with iPad 2.

- STORAGE (even) - 16 GB, same as iPad 2 but Xoom comes with 32GB. Both are expandable through microSD.

- WEIGHT (even) - they are both slightly heavier than the iPad or the Xoom but only slightly.

- CAMERAS (Iconia) - they both come with 5MP rear camera for picture or video-taking but the Iconia has a 2MP front facing vs. the Transformer's 1.2MP. In addition, the Iconia has a flash which the Transformer lacks. Iconia's pictures appeared a little crisper to me.

- PHYSICAL BUILT (Iconia) - Transformer's plastic back is not a major concern to me but Iconia's solid aluminum armor makes it the clear winner in this category. The Iconia feels like a solid, well-designed product.

- MULTIMEDIA (Transformer) - I had problems with the Iconia accessing content from other media servers on the network while all was more or less flawless with the Transformer. It's a significant plus for the Transformer but my friend is telling me that the Iconia may get a soft upgrade soon that should take care of this. To be fair, I had to update the Transformer before I could use some of the cooler (MyCloud) features.

- EXTRA FEATURES (Transformer) - The Transformer comes with a well thought/designed dock/keyboard/expansion option that will effectively 'transform' it into an Android-running netbook. Do people who buy tablets actually want to transform them into netbooks? That's a good question. I'm not sure I do but at least one of my kids believes that he could use the physical keyboard. The Transformer's MyCloud makes it very easy to remotely control other computers and get access to digital content.

I didn't have sufficient time to extensively test battery life or downloaded apps but I can say that Kindle and Gmail work great on both tablets.

EVALUATION

Following the 2-day swap we both agree that The Transformer has the edge at this time and, unless something completely new and unexpected emerges in the next couple of months we are both likely to get a Transformer as our second tablet. However, there is the AVAILABILITY category where, at the time I'm writing this, the Iconia beats the Transformer hands down because you can actually buy one at the list price. This is going to change, for sure.

My friend likes the Iconia and so do I but we both like the Transformer more. Let me say this: I missed my Transformer over the weekend. We only wish we could get one or, in my case, a second one.

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