Acer Iconia A500 Tablet

My Acer Iconia A500 Android Tablet is one week old today.

A500 reminds me of many happy ‘Amiga 500’ days. Well it’s a much smaller but just as innovative as the ‘Amiga’.

Like most new things one should read the Manual. I am pretty good at just pressing all the buttons to see what happens! Well the manual is very basic, so I pressed and gestured (some rude one’s as well) and slowly got it to do what I wanted. The Android 3.01 OS has a few gremlins but I understand that 3.1 is due soon.

I looked on the ‘Whirlpool’ forum and picked up a few tips and grumps.

I had to download the PC Sync application and USB drivers for the PC before I could get the PC to recognise the Iconia. When I first turned on the Iconia it tried to download an update trouble I was outside McDonald’s with Free WiFi but I had forgot how you bypass the New Startup & Setup menu, so I could not get to the browser to login to McDonald’s 🙁

The Acer Website specification for the Iconia Tablet range is a bit lacking. It took a number of visits to other sites to work out that it did have a real GPS, I had seen one in JB-HiFi and had a play but they had removed the stick on label that tells you most of it main features. So I went home and did a lot of research before going to the Good Guys to make a purchase as ‘Whirlpool’ posts seemed to think they gave the best price (AU $625 for 32Gb & case $35)

The GPS at first seems to be dead, this had been reported on the forums so I was a bit concerned. I can report my findings  here >…

When first turned on outside in the open it takes ages to find any satellite and then the signal strength  is very low after about 15 minutes I was getting 8 satellite’s locked. I am guessing that the Almanac needs to be acquired once this has been received it sprang to life. I put the Iconia alongside my in vehicle GPS antenna and found that the signal strengths showing 30-40% on the Iconia whereas the other GPS was showing 60-80%. I have come to conclusion that the touch screen may be attenuating the signal. However once the satellites are locked it works OK so it may just be that my in vehicle has an external amplified antenna connected by a cable.

I installed a number of GPS applications to try it out. This highlighted the fact that some filter the satellites (they add a number of captures together) to get a more stable reading averaging out the errors. I had been using a test application to receive the signal strength readings and this must have been filtering. When I tried another real application I was locked to the satellites much quicker!

I have further testing to do but I also has a suspicion that the GPS chip dose not like the cold, because each time I powered on the Iconia the GPS would take a few minutes for the signal strength to climb even with over head satellites. Now its winter here and we do not have central heating living on a rural property I will be in the tropics soon so will check it out when ambient temperatures are in high 20’s C.

I have tried GPS Test, GPS Status & GPS Essentials all free from Android Market.

GPS Essentials is the best application with the satellites locking much quicker.

GeoCam Free is another great Application it uses all the sensors X,Y,Z axis and  Magnetic Compass. Turns on the rear camera and shows all the details of where you are pointing the camera overlaid on the picture so you can accurately align before taking the shot. The  GPS location details are recorded with the picture.

Go to maps.google.com on the browser find a location with Street View live and drag the little man (enable GPS  first) now hold the Iconia vertical and as you turn around so does the street view image! Pan and Tilt and don’t fall over else the gravity sensor may record a few ‘G’s’. No the gravity sensor dose not measure the strength of you beer but it will certainly tell you how heavy you fall if you have had to much.

I have not been able to make the proximity sensor work or even find any settings but it’s supposed to have one so that when you move away from the Iconia it can go to standby after a period and return to active when you approach or touch screen, maybe that’s in Android 3.1 along with the iTunes Sync.

The Acer Case is great with a fold back cover to make a stand. If balanced on one’s lap it’s ideal for the Train or bus. The edge of the case  protrudes and would provide some edge protection if dropped at same time absorbing some of the shock.

With all the Sensors & GPS it leaves the iPad 2 standing. I decided not to wait for the Phone version W500 as I think a tether to a dongle would allow me to use other laptops / netbooks.

Beware if you live in Australia in the metro area with 3G once you leave and enter rural areas you need Next G 850 Mhz) most sellers of mobile phones do not know this and will sell you a 3G phone telling you it will work with Next G, it will not unless it has 850Mhz band.  The W500 has 850 mhz band and should work but check with Acer if it will connect with a 3G/NextG (Telstra) Sim fitted. W500 is due in June.

SD card storage will only work once you have downloaded the USB PC update from Acer it must install something on the Iconia as well as the PC once this was done I could see the SD card with the Free Astro File Manager and SMB module Applications  installed.

The Video HD resolution is 720p and will be updated to full HD in early June by Acer Update. Yet to try the HDMI output I wonder if it has Ethernet wires connected so the WiFi in the Iconia can feed my SONY Bravia TV when plugged in?

Well just a few thoughts it’s only been a week and I have been busy setting up this new website. Know doubt more will follow.

Just one other thing, try ‘Tweet Caster’ Twitter application it’s great and Free.

Before you go have a look at some of the other Tablets on offer in the UK. or Tablets from the USA.

The Oldtimer.