Acer Iconia Tab A500-10S32u 10.1-Inch Tablet (Aluminum Metallic) on sale

Jeffrey Peterman Say: Acer Iconia Tab A500-10S32u 10.1-Inch Tablet (Aluminum Metallic)
Love it so far - still true after three months., 2011-07-18
This review is for: Acer Iconia Tab A500-10S32u 10.1-Inch Tablet (Aluminum Metallic)
I too took advantage of the great price, warranty, and return policy at Costco and picked one up yesterday. I'm very impressed, and will add a more detailed review later. Things are moving along nicely - maybe too nicely (see below). I downloaded a file manager and also paid the $15 to get the full version of Documents to Go (which allows edits and creation of new documents - essentially MS Office for Android). I've been able to create and edit Word files on the unit and then copy them to a thumb drive, and to open Word files on a CF card in a card reader attached to the tablet. I've also been able to open/play music and videos on a thumb drive or CF card, and copy them to local memory or to a micro SD card inserted in the tablet. Next test (not today) will be to try connecting an external hard drive. I'm still examining battery life, but it uses almost no power when in standby, and I've used it intermittantly for at least 5 hours since last night (after the first charge), and it showed 30% when I had to plug in the power to install the pushed Android update (from 3.0 to 3.1) this afternoon. I'd estimate at least 8 hours of solid use once the battery has settled in.As for too nicely - my wife will be going to a conference from Wednesday afternoon until Sunday morning. When she went last year, she took our netbook as she didn't want to carry the weight of her laptop when walking too/from the conference in Washington summer temperatures, especially as she'll typically be carrying papers and books too. She was happy she just had the netbook last year. This year she's decided that the tablet will do everything she needs, as long as she uses the Swype virtual keyboard, which I've downloaded and installed for free. So, I get one more day to play/test and then it's gone for 5 days!As for negatives, they're for Honeycomb, not the tablet - many of my existing Android Apps won't install, even key ones like Facebook (I must use the browser) and the Amazon Android app store. But Android tablets are new, so I expect this to change very shortly.Before buying this I was very tempted by the Toshiba Thrive and the Asus Transformer, as they each offer features I'd like. BUT, this is so much cheaper than the others, and has a solid reputation, so I think I made the right choice.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------It's now been about three months, and the tablet continues to work very well - now at Honeycomb 3.2. A number of the Apps that didn't work (such as the Amazon App market) have been working fine since 3.1. The keyboard was initially an issue, with low typing accuracy, but we've solved that by switching to the standard Android keyboard and turning off the auto-complete (or connecting a $15 compact USB keyboard, when desired). The best feature is as a photography tool - I use Astro File Manager to copy photos from my DSLR CF card, using a standard USB card reader, to a 32 GB microSD card in the tablet for backup. I then run CR2 Thumbnailer and select the ones I want to convert to JPGs and save those, which I can copy to a thumb drive, if desired. The second great photography function uses DSLR Controller with my Canon 7D. This allows me to control the camera with the standard USB cable, showing the Live View image on the tablet, where I can adjust exposure and set the focus point, and then trigger the shot.If I could give it 6 stars, I would. By the way, I liked it so much that we bought a second (just a 16 GB) for my daughter and wife to share.

Eric Westrope "KindleReader" Say: Acer Iconia Tab A500-10S32u 10.1-Inch Tablet (Aluminum Metallic)
A great Android Tablet, 2011-06-28
This review is for: Acer Iconia Tab A500-10S32u 10.1-Inch Tablet (Aluminum Metallic)
I purchased my Acer Iconia at Costco, and really love it. It was easy to set up and configure and it works beautifully. So far, I have no complaints.It also has a great bonus in that even though it is a WiFi only model, it actually has a built in GPS, which can be used with Google Maps, and an add on voice navigator.It has a standard USB port which allows for plugging in extras, such as an external memory stick, which I found for allows the playing of video files directly from said memory stick! A microSD memory slot for additional storage, a HDMI port for video/audio output to an HDTV, and an additional micro USB port for connecting to a computer.Bluetooth allows for using extras such as a bluetooth keyboard and printing to a bluetooth enabled printer.The display is crisp and sharp and in HD and it has front and rear facing cameras that take crisp and sharp images and video.Overall, I am really happy with my purchase and do recommend that if anyone is in the market for a 10 inch tablet, they should take a look at this one.

Matthew Say: Acer Iconia Tab A500-10S32u 10.1-Inch Tablet (Aluminum Metallic)
Read this before others, 2011-12-16
This review is for: Acer Iconia Tab A500-10S32u 10.1-Inch Tablet (Aluminum Metallic)
I did a lot of research on tablets and the Acer A500 is right there with all the others in processor and ports. So basically it is the same as the others with two differences. One it has a flash on its forward camera which none of the others have. Two I got the 32GB for the price the other tablets had for 16GB. That sold me.I got it in the mail 48hrs after I clicked order so no waiting for my toy :) Now here is what you need to know to make your initial experience good. I had issues and had to do a bit of research to find what to do. This like any computer has it's quirks in the operating system (OS) wise so here's what to do: As soon as you open the box plug it in for at least 2 hrs before turning it on. Set up your Wi-Fi like it asks. As soon as it boots up go to settings. Change to screen time out to the max (I believe it is 30 min). *Turn your tablet to portrait view and keep it that way till completely updated. Then go to the About at the bottom and check for updates. It will have the OS update to 3.1 (but it will be numbered 4.10 something). Start the down load and do not touch the screen again till just before the 30 min screen time out to keep it on. Remember you have to keep it in portrait view. Once that update is done it will unzip then reboot. Once it is done repeat the download update check for your 3.2 OS update.Apparently there is a few bugs with the orientation and also the update has to be done before anything else or it will give you a update version error. I had to factory reset several times before I found all this out but it isn't Acer's fault. I've been around computers for awhile and know how they can be fickle for no reason. If you followed my steps you should fly through the update process in a few hours (depending on your Wi-Fi speed) and be using it.Hope this helps!