Cheap Price Acer Iconia A200-10g16u
Customer Reviews
Purchased my A200 about a week ago. It was tough to find locally and
it appears as though Android tablets in general are hard to
find...quantities are very low right now. I ended up checking with
about 10 different local electronics chains and office supply type
stores until I finally found someone that had just received 2 in.
While not the cheapest nor the best peforming tablet on the market, I really think this is a winner in the value category. While I am typically a latest and greatest type person when it comes to electronics/computers, I really just didn't see the need to drop another $150+ on a high end tablet. I'll use mine mostly for Internet access, some gaming, email, Netflix, etc. With the exception of the more advanced games, a dual core versus a new quad core just isn't going to make much of a difference if at all and even right now on the gaming side, I don't think there is a whole lot that will take advantage of quad core chips. If I do want to do some photo and/or video editing, I will break out my much more powerful laptop. I really think buyers need to evaluate their true needs when it comes to buying these.
One of the first things I did once I got connected via wifi, was to do the upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich and I definitely wasn't disappointed. It is a beautiful OS that seems to run quite well on the A200. Transitions run well and smooth, and only until I enabled live wallpaper did I see any lag to speak of when moving from one home screen to another. Even then it wasn't an issue for me and frankly a quad core may not make a difference.
While this tablet isn't the thinnest nor the lightest, it is still in the same ballpark and frankly I really appreciate a little extra heft and thickness since I have larger hands. The textured back feels nice in my hands and not as slippery as an iPad and overall it just feels very solid and robust to me. I think it will hold up quite well...I'm very impressed for a $350 device.
To summarize, here are the pros and cons as I see it:
Pros:
Value, value, value - can't beat it for $350 for a 10", with ICS and level of quality
Ice Cream Sandwich...yummy yummy ice cream :)
Solid design
Great screen resolution - better than iPad 1 and 2. Screen is sharp and very bright even at lower brightness settings. Default is around 40% and I see no need to go higher.
Colors are vibrant and seem to be accurate and text is clear...looks better than my 17" Dell laptop and wife's Lenovo screens
Full sized USB - used with USB sticks and it worked great for transferring files and photos. I haven't tried any other accessories yet, but wondering if a USB game pad would work??? Doubt it but would be great if it did.
Micro SD card slot - I plugged in a 16 gig from an old blackberry and it was able to read the photos and music I had on it. Astro file manager is included with ICS and works well for moving files around.
Battery life is great...the first night I had it, I had it off of the charger for 5 hours straight (4:58 to be exact) playing games, surfing, and installing apps and it still reported 52% battery life left...very impressive!
Cons:
Current lack of accessories
Lack of rear camera - really a non issue for me as I don't anticipate using the camera anyhow. My Android phone has an 8 mega-pixel camera already and I have a mid-range Canon DSLR that I take if I anticipate shooting photos.
Sometimes when bringing up my browser, the A200 will tell me it doesn't have an Internet connection. I refresh and all is good. Not sure if this is an ICS issue or an issue with hardware but likely ICS.
Sound levels are little on the low side although I don't have any other tablets that I can compare to. It's certainly acceptable. I did download an equalizer program but I started hearing a weird crackling sound through the speakers so I uninstalled and all is well again. I may try a different program but so far a non-issue.
Stupid built-in Android browser defaults to mobile sites, not full. This is an Android built-in browser issue though (seriously why don't they fix this for Tablets). The normal work arounds didn't do anything...debug mode and browser check box for full sites didn't work. My workaround was to install Boat browser which seems to work well for displaying full sites.
Big con, is that my wife initially thought I wasn't smart buying yet another gadget, but now that she has tried it, I can't get it away from her. Same thing with 4 year old son...he thinks it's his now (istorybook is awesome app for kids BTW).
In summary, evaluate your needs for a tablet. If this is a back up device and you already have a PC/laptop/Mac for more processor intensive apps and you want/need a device for surfing, portability, easy of use, game playing and don't need a rear camera or 3/4G connectivity this is a wonderful device for a wonderful price. I love it!
While not the cheapest nor the best peforming tablet on the market, I really think this is a winner in the value category. While I am typically a latest and greatest type person when it comes to electronics/computers, I really just didn't see the need to drop another $150+ on a high end tablet. I'll use mine mostly for Internet access, some gaming, email, Netflix, etc. With the exception of the more advanced games, a dual core versus a new quad core just isn't going to make much of a difference if at all and even right now on the gaming side, I don't think there is a whole lot that will take advantage of quad core chips. If I do want to do some photo and/or video editing, I will break out my much more powerful laptop. I really think buyers need to evaluate their true needs when it comes to buying these.
One of the first things I did once I got connected via wifi, was to do the upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich and I definitely wasn't disappointed. It is a beautiful OS that seems to run quite well on the A200. Transitions run well and smooth, and only until I enabled live wallpaper did I see any lag to speak of when moving from one home screen to another. Even then it wasn't an issue for me and frankly a quad core may not make a difference.
While this tablet isn't the thinnest nor the lightest, it is still in the same ballpark and frankly I really appreciate a little extra heft and thickness since I have larger hands. The textured back feels nice in my hands and not as slippery as an iPad and overall it just feels very solid and robust to me. I think it will hold up quite well...I'm very impressed for a $350 device.
To summarize, here are the pros and cons as I see it:
Pros:
Value, value, value - can't beat it for $350 for a 10", with ICS and level of quality
Ice Cream Sandwich...yummy yummy ice cream :)
Solid design
Great screen resolution - better than iPad 1 and 2. Screen is sharp and very bright even at lower brightness settings. Default is around 40% and I see no need to go higher.
Colors are vibrant and seem to be accurate and text is clear...looks better than my 17" Dell laptop and wife's Lenovo screens
Full sized USB - used with USB sticks and it worked great for transferring files and photos. I haven't tried any other accessories yet, but wondering if a USB game pad would work??? Doubt it but would be great if it did.
Micro SD card slot - I plugged in a 16 gig from an old blackberry and it was able to read the photos and music I had on it. Astro file manager is included with ICS and works well for moving files around.
Battery life is great...the first night I had it, I had it off of the charger for 5 hours straight (4:58 to be exact) playing games, surfing, and installing apps and it still reported 52% battery life left...very impressive!
Cons:
Current lack of accessories
Lack of rear camera - really a non issue for me as I don't anticipate using the camera anyhow. My Android phone has an 8 mega-pixel camera already and I have a mid-range Canon DSLR that I take if I anticipate shooting photos.
Sometimes when bringing up my browser, the A200 will tell me it doesn't have an Internet connection. I refresh and all is good. Not sure if this is an ICS issue or an issue with hardware but likely ICS.
Sound levels are little on the low side although I don't have any other tablets that I can compare to. It's certainly acceptable. I did download an equalizer program but I started hearing a weird crackling sound through the speakers so I uninstalled and all is well again. I may try a different program but so far a non-issue.
Stupid built-in Android browser defaults to mobile sites, not full. This is an Android built-in browser issue though (seriously why don't they fix this for Tablets). The normal work arounds didn't do anything...debug mode and browser check box for full sites didn't work. My workaround was to install Boat browser which seems to work well for displaying full sites.
Big con, is that my wife initially thought I wasn't smart buying yet another gadget, but now that she has tried it, I can't get it away from her. Same thing with 4 year old son...he thinks it's his now (istorybook is awesome app for kids BTW).
In summary, evaluate your needs for a tablet. If this is a back up device and you already have a PC/laptop/Mac for more processor intensive apps and you want/need a device for surfing, portability, easy of use, game playing and don't need a rear camera or 3/4G connectivity this is a wonderful device for a wonderful price. I love it!
