Acer?s New Wi-Fi Android Tablet Unveiled

Acer's Honeycomb-powered Iconia A500 is the latest Android tablet to hit the market. Photo: Acer

With the debut of the Iconia Tab A500, Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Acer is the latest to throw its hat into the tablet ring.

As of Friday morning, the 10.1-inch, Android 3.0-powered A500 is up for pre-order on Best Buy?s website for $450. It will be ready for purchase in Best Buy retail stores beginning April 24.

The price is less than the cheapest iPad 2, which costs $500 for a Wi-Fi only, 16-GB model. The Iconia A500 also has 16 GB of storage.

Most comparable tablets have had difficulty matching the iPad?s price. For instance, Motorola?s Xoom (the only other Honeycomb tablet currently available) costs $600, although that gets you a full 32 GB of internal storage, among other things.

Acer?s tablet will run Android version 3.0 (Honeycomb) on its NVidia Tegra 250 1-GHz dual-core processor, supported by a gig of RAM.

The Iconia A500 will be available in a Wi-Fi version first, and a 4G version will eventually make its way to AT&T?s network.

The A500?s 10.1-inch display boasts a 1280�800 resolution ratio (equal to that of the Xoom, and better than the iPad 2). You can watch HD 720p video on the screen, or use the HDMI output to view stored media on external screens. A 5-megapixel rear-facing camera comes for shooting photos and video, while the 2-megapixel front-facing camera allows for video chat.

Like the other Android tablets to debut in 2011, the A500 will trail Google?s flagship Honeycomb device, Motorola?s Xoom, to market. Samsung?s currently available version of its seven-inch Galaxy Tab runs Android version 2.2 ? not until the 10.1-inch version will we see Honeycomb on a Samsung device (although delays have pushed back the larger version?s release).

The A500 will support Flash eventually, but won?t ship with it. Motorola?s Xoom, which debuted six weeks ago, also launched without Flash, though a beta release is currently available for Honeycomb in the Android Market.

With the BlackBerry Playbook set to debut on April 19 and a number of offerings to follow, Acer?s will be entering the tablet market just as it heats up with some serious competition.

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