Fetures of Acer Iconia Tab A501 Tablet
Acer�s entries into the tablet market have been impressive, and the 3G-enabled 10.1in Acer Iconia Tab A501 continues that trend. The main difference to the A500 tablet released earlier is the presence of 3G, which has bumped up the price a little bit.
We think the Acer Iconia Tab is the best Android tablet yet. Its powerful hardware is well matched to the Honeycomb version of the Android OS designed by Google specifically for tablets, which is as polished as the iOS operating system seen in the much loved Apple iPad.
A fast NVIDIA Tegra 2 T250 (1GHz) processor along with 1GB of RAM power a very crisp 1,280x800 pixel resolution 10.1in capacitive screen. The key here is that the screen has a 16:10 aspect ratio, which means you can watch HD movies at full screen, without the black top and bottom bars you get on an iPad 2's 4:3 display. Right now the Acer Iconia Tab A501 can play back 720p HD, now but this will be upgraded via software to 1080p full HD soon. The stereo speakers are surprisingly good (sound is much better than on the iPad 2) making this tablet a real entertainment powerhouse. This model has 16GB of flash drive storage, which can be supplemented using the Micro SD slot.
What's really outstanding about the Acer Iconia TAB A501 compared to the iPad is the selection of ports and slots. There's a full-sized USB 2.0 port, a Micro USB 2.0 port and a Micro HDMI port for streaming video to TV. There's a 5MP back facing camera and a 2MP front facing camera, and there's 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi along with Bluetooth 2.1. A major plus for road warriors is the presence of 3G, so you an keep surfing the internet pretty much no matter where you are.
In all, the Acer Iconia A501 is the best-specced Android tablet yet, and even looks great, with a brushed aluminium case. But you pay a price for all the features: weight. It weighs 700 grams as against the iPad 2's 601 grams. While the difference is only 99 grams, the Acer feels noticeably heavier. It also bigger overall, measuring 13.3mm thick, 177mm deep and 260mm wide. Is it an issue? APC's reviewers gladly make the extra weight for features tradeoff.
There is one other version of the A501 that will be attractive to some, and although it costs more at $799 it's got a 32GB flash drive. If you're going to store lots of content on this tablet then the enhanced storage is certainly attractive, but remember that the more affordable base model has a Micro SD slot that also enhances the storage.
Related Video for Acer Iconia Tab A501 Tablet
Specifications of Acer Iconia Tab A501 Tablet
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GENERAL |
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Series: |
ICONIA TAB |
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Processor: |
1 GHZ |
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Graphics: |
ULP GeForce |
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Voice Call: |
No |
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In The Box: |
Tablet, charger, USB cable, QSG |
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PLATFORM |
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Operating System: |
Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) |
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User Interface: |
Acer User Interface |
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Sensors: |
Proximity Sensor, Gyro Sensor, Accelerometer |
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STORAGE |
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Internal Storage: |
16 GB |
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Expandable Storage Capacity: |
32 GB |
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Memory Card Slot type: |
microSD Card, microSDHC Card |
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DISPLAY |
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Display Type: |
10.1 inch TFT LCD 800 x 1280 pixels , 256 K Colors |
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CAMERA |
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Primary Camera: |
5 megapixels |
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Secondary Camera: |
2 megapixels |
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Flash Support: |
LED Flash |
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Video Recording: |
Yes |
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BUSINESS FEATURES |
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Mail Features: |
Email , Pushmail |
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Document Support: |
Document Viewer |
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BATTERY |
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Battery Type: |
3260 mAh Lithium - Polymer |
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INTERNET CONNECTIVITY |
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Wi-Fi: |
Yes , 802.11 b/g/n |
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3G: |
No |
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MULTIMEDIA |
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Video Playback: |
Yes , Full HD Playback |
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Video Formats Supported: |
XviD, MP4, H.264, H.263 |
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Audio Formats Supported: |
MP3, WAV, WMA, eAAC+ |
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CONNECTIVITY |
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HDMI: |
Yes |
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USB: |
Yes, Micro USB 2.0 |
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Audio Jack: |
3.5 mm Headphone Jack |
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Bluetooth: |
v2.1 , Supported Profiles (A2DP) |
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DIMENSIONS |
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Dimensions: |
177 x 260 x 13.3 mm |
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Weight: |
730 g |
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ADDITIONAL FEATURES |
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Dual-Core Processor |
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WARRANTY |
|
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1 Year Manufacturer Warranty for the Tablet |
Reviews of Acer Iconia Tab A501 Tablet
The ACER A501 follows the same footsteps as the original Iconia A500 in every way imaginable, nothing here has changed so you can expect the same good build quality, stellar performance, and crisp bright screen. The one deciding factor here is AT&T 4G comes included with the A501. One of AT&T�s first fully capable 4G tablets running on Android Honeycomb although I must mention this is not the next-gen 4G LTE, instead we have HSPA+ speeds.
To start the video above should give you a great idea of the hardware but I�ve got some specs and pictures for everyone too. What we have is the standard sized 10.1″ Android tablet � powered by Android 3.0.1 Honeycomb, the NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual-core processor we all know and love chugging along at 1.0 GHz, 1GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage, a rear 5MP camera with LED flash, 2MP up front for those video conference users and a slew of ports as well.
On bottom we have a 30 pin docking port but this doesn�t charge the device so I�ve yet to use it. Up top is where the magic happens. We have the volume up/down rocker, a screen orientation lock then the all important port for 4G. We have a door that opens to the microSD port for expanded storage and the full-sized AT&T sim card for 4G HSPA+.
On the backside we have a well designed and sturdily built tablet with a brushed aluminum design. A nice chrome accented ACER logo, 5MP camera with LED flash and stereo speaker grills. Audio quality is loud and clear and was surprisingly better than most the tablets I�ve used thus far.
On board we sadly only have Android 3.0.1 Honeycomb. I was hoping for an out of the box OTA update to Android 3.1 or even 3.2 like the brother A500 has received but we had no such luck here. Most likely Android 3.2 for the A501 is coming shortly but no direct details were available. Performance is snappy, fluid, and smooth although 3.2 would really help. We all should be plenty familiar with the performance of a Tegra 2 dual-core tablet as they all perform pretty similar at the moment.
The ACER A501 features the same internals as the original and battery life seems about average for a tablet. I�ve played plenty of games over the past 12 or so hours, ran benchmarks and probably watched about 45 minutes of TRON streaming with the micro HDMI to my HDTV and I�ve still got a decent 47% remaining. It�s been off and on so straight usage will be much lower but who uses their tablet for 7 hours straight anyways right?
We have a 5MP camera on the rear along with a large LED flash. The lens is capable of 720p video capture but it�s nothing to write home about. Full 1080p would be preferred but for the odd moment you�d like to capture video with the A501, you�ll be just fine.