Acer continues to ignore the memo that Android tablets aren’t supposed to be priced competitively. Its 7-inch tablet, the Acer Iconia A100, will arrive in August for a mere $300 — at least according to a memo sent to retail partners and snagged by Engadget.
Last we heard, the Iconia Tab had a 1024-by-600 resolution display, 1 GHz dual-core Nvidia Tegra processor, front and rear cameras and 8 GB of internal storage. Nothing remarkable, but the tablet at least stands out due to its smaller size than the 10-inch Android tablets available now. We’ve seen a couple other companies announce 7-inch tablets over the last few months, including ViewSonic and Huawei, but so far neither company has brought its product to market.
(MORE: An Upgraded 7-inch ‘Galaxy Tab’ Android Tablet? Let’s Hope So)
Acer originally planned to launch the Iconia A500 in May, but reportedly delayed the tablet due to compatibility issues with Android Honeycomb, the tablet version of Google’s operating system. That’s no surprise; until now, nearly every Honeycomb tablet has come with a 10.1-inch, 1280-by-800 resolution display. Android 3.2, however, opens the door to 7-inch tablets by supporting the very resolution that Acer is using in the A100.
I like the 7-inch tablet size because it can fit comfortably in one hand and allows for easy typing with thumbs. It’s also a great size for gaming. Still, we’ve yet to see how Honeycomb apps translate into slightly smaller screens. Google is introducing ways to make screen size management easier for app developers, but it remains to be seen how this’ll translate into the real world.
If 10-inch tablets are more your thing, DigiTimes reports a rumor that Acer will slash the price of its 10-inch Iconia A500 tablet from $450 to $395. Apparently the company wants to stay competitive with Asus’ Eee Pad Transformer tablet, echoing the companies’ fierce battle for netbook dominance in previous years, although I wouldn’t be surprised if Acer is tired of being trounced by the iPad as well.
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