On Friday, Acer officially announced a new tablet. It is the Iconia A200. It will be their 2nd generation tablet which will ship with Ice Cream Sandwich (if you order it next year). The spec for this tablet seems to point to one thing. That is that Acer are aiming for the mid range here. Below is the spec and I will explain my thoughts after that.
| Size | Dimensions | 260 x 175 x 12.4 mm |
| Weight | 720 g | |
| Battery | Standby time
Video playback |
400 hours
8 hours |
| Capacity | Li-Po 3260 mAh, 24.1 W | |
| OS | Version | Android 3.2 (Honeycomb) starting in November in select countries |
| Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) starting in January 2012 worldwide | ||
| Processing | CPU | NVIDIA® Tegra™ 2 Dual Core A9, 1 GHz |
| ROM / RAM | 8 GB or 16 GB eMMC / 1 GB | |
| Imaging | Front Camera | 2 MP |
| Screen | Display | 10.1″ WXGA 1280 x 800 |
| Touch technology | Capacitive multitouch | |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi® | 802.11b/g/n |
| Bluetooth® | Class 2.1 with EDR | |
| GPS | Yes | |
| MicroSD slot | Yes | |
| USB | USB: Host Micro USB: Client |
|
| Audio output | 3.5 mm standard audio jack | |
| Detection | Sensors | G-sensor
Gyrometer |
| UI | Version | Acer Ring |
| Entertainment | Multimedia | Gallery, Soundhound, Google Movie Studio, TegraZone |
| Movie | Netflix (US, CA) | |
| Music | Google Music, AUPEO! | |
| Reading | LumiRead (Global, excluding US), Zinio, Kindle (US) | |
| DLNA sharing | Acer clear.fi | |
| Social networking | Social network | Facebook (web link), Acer SocialJogger |
| Productivity | Push mail | EAS – Exchange ActiveSync (Android default) |
| Office | Documents to Go | |
| Cloud Note | Evernote | |
| System Protection | McAfee VirusScan Mobile |
First of all it is a Tegra 2 device not Tegra 3 and secondly the built in memory of 8 or 16 gb. These both suggest Acer is not aiming to compete with Asus for the high end crown. The Transformer prime is set to have 32 or 64 gb and is Tegra 3. Admittedly Acer have not announced the price yet. If this comes in around the £300 pound mark they will have a great tablet on their hands. If it is over £400 I imagine most people will stump up the extra cash to get the higher spec Transformer Prime. I don’t know, what are your thoughts on this? Below is the official press release for a little more info.
The tablet for sharing good times with family at an affordable price
London, 2nd December 2011 — Acer Inc. announces the release of the ICONIA TAB A200, the company’s latest tablet. Ideal for sharing good times via gaming, e-books, movies, music, photography, social networking and more, this tablet is an amazing hub of activity for people of all ages, and it comes at a very affordable price. Shipments in select countries include the Android 3.2 OS (code named Honeycomb) beginning in November. Shipments with Android 4.0 (code named Ice Cream Sandwich, or ICS) will start in January 2012 worldwide. A free ICS upgrade to current ICONIA TAB A200 users will also be made available at that time.
Priced right and looking sleek from all angles, the ICONIA TAB A200 stands out in Titanium Gray or Metallic Red. The rear side is soft to the touch and features an eye-catching pattern. Made especially for multimedia enjoyment, this tablet packs hardware and apps for loads of fun. Visuals are fantastic on the generous 10.1″ multitouch screen, and even thrilling games run smoothly thanks to the NVIDIA® Tegra™ 2 Dual Core 1 GHz processor and gyrometer.
The ICONIA TAB A200 improves multitasking with the Acer Ring interface for setting easy-access apps from any screen. It also features Screenshot, which quickly captures web images, articles, Google Maps and even smiling faces from video calls. Screenshot can be used in any app on any screen for maximum convenience.
Adapted perfectly for mobility, this tablet has a full-size USB port for hooking up other devices and a MicroSD slot for passing data. A 2 MP web camera enables face-to-face chats for keeping friends and family close at hand wherever you are. Whether on the road or at home, sharing multimedia is easy; you can read an e-book or watch a streaming movie, anytime. For enhanced social networking the ICONIA TAB A200 includes Acer SocialJogger, which consolidates Facebook, Twitter and more.
The ICONIA TAB A200 is expected to be available mid Q1, pricing to be advised.
Even the press release suggests that it is going to be “The tablet for sharing good times with family at an affordable price”. I am quite looking forward to early next year as a lot of companies are going to have their newer tablets out and there should be lots to choose from.
Not impressed, Tegra 2 is last generation tech.
The 8gig would have to be £229 and the 16gig £279.
The Archos 101 G9 turbo 16gig is £299 and a much better bet.
I am pretty dissapointed with the Android teablets 🙁
I was so looking forward to the Prime coming out, finally a tablet that would be worthy of my dosh, but no, it is no better than the iPad2. And now this from Acer.
Martin, agree. Been really surprised with how slow Android tablet take up has been, and with the cost of them. One of the reasons Android has gained traction in phones is that it has been consistently cheaper than the iphone with no real significant drop in quality in comparison. Yet, with tablets, it seems like everyone struggles to compete with the iPad on price. Perhaps Ice Cream Sandwich will help with this, though we haven’t yet seen a serious ICS tablet being released. And then there’s the problem of few tablet specific apps. Google will have to push this big time in 2012. (And I’m still hoping HTC will produce a class tablet next year…)
When I first received the press release I was shocked. Tegra 2? Oh well. Hopefully it will be a nice price and a decent build quality.