Acer Iconia Tab A200 On Sale January 15 Priced At $329
by Vivek Gowri on January 5, 2012 9:18 AM EST- Posted in
- Tablets
- Acer
- Tegra 2
- Android
- Iconia
- Mobile
- Android 3.2
- Android 4.0
- A200
Acer has formally announced the US pricing and launch date details for the Iconia A200, the follow up to the Iconia A500 tablet it launched mid-last year. The A200 specsheet reads pretty similar to the A500, with a 10" 1280x800 display, Honeycomb 3.2, Nvidia's tried-and-true Tegra 2 computing platform, 1GB of memory, microSD expandable storage, a full size USB port, and your choice of 8GB ($329) or 16GB ($349) internal NAND.
Some of the bigger changes include the deletion of the rear facing camera (a 2MP front facing webcam remains), but by far the biggest difference is the change in industrial design. The A200 has a much cleaner and more elegant design than the A500, with a smooth, rounded backplate done in a titanium gray soft-touch plastic (there's also a metallic red model available elsewhere in the world, though the Acer US press release makes no mention of its availability on this side of the pond).
The overall look is more conventional and conservative than the A500, but it looks like it should have better build quality (our biggest peeve with the A500 being the ill-fitting plastic and metal pieces that made up the chassis) due to the single plastic part making up the body of the device. Also, the rounded edges and corners should make it more comfortable to handle than the previous Iconia.
The A200 will hit stores on January 15 with Honeycomb 3.2 installed; an upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0) is promised in the mid-February timeframe. With its budget-oriented price and relative lack of features, the A200 is clearly aimed at the entry-level 10" tablet market. For performance users, Acer is expected to debut a high end Iconia Android tablet at CES next week, so stay tuned.
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GuinnessKMF - Thursday, January 5, 2012 - link
That fire is making an absurd amount of noise in that video.Oh, there was something about a tablet too?
coolhardware - Thursday, January 5, 2012 - link
If this article is accurate then I am surprised they are calling their new 10" tablet the "A200" since their previous "A100" is a smaller <br>7"</b> tablet...Personally the A100 is my favorite 7" tablet though I do wish it had a USB (host) connector. The existing Acer tablets also have a very nice rear-facing camera, so I hate to see the rear cameras left out in this generation :-(
therealnickdanger - Thursday, January 5, 2012 - link
I've got a couple A100s. Great tablet! I hear people complain about Acer quality, but I've owned Acer monitors, laptops, and tablets and never had issues - always great products that are priced lower than their competition. Whatever the more expensive brands offer must be something I don't notice.Southernsharky - Thursday, January 5, 2012 - link
I don't even know what a rear camera is for. I mean who walks around holding up their camera to take pictures. You want to take a picture use a phone or a dedicated camera. Now a front facing camera is absolutely essential, for Skype of course.GuinnessKMF - Thursday, January 5, 2012 - link
It's not terrible on the 7" tablet to have a rear facing camera, but on a 10" you look ridiculous, although people still do use it... I couldn't see myself trying to take a picture with a tablet, but I do understand that with tablets having less of a bulk issue than phones, often times they can fit better lenses and sensors into a tablet.I say the priority should be front facing camera, for video chat, and If they really wanted to be smart about it they could make it swivel so that you could still see the screen and take photos that aren't of yourself.
The only other reason I can think of for the back camera would be things like google goggles/galaxy and other enhanced reality applications (overlaying a UI on life).
VivekGowri - Thursday, January 5, 2012 - link
Which is why I'm not complaining about the lack of one. It's a smart idea - you can make the device thinner, you can keep the BOM cost down, there are less parts to worry about, it makes the rear of the device simpler to design, etc. Cuts down on cost and complexity while losing not very much of the utility.