Google's Android Honeycomb OS lands on two Acer tablets and a widescreen smartphone, while Windows 7 powers a third tablet.
Barcelona--Computer maker Acer launched a slew of products at this
year's Mobile World Congress (MWC), including the Iconia smart, which
the company is billing as a 100 percent smartphone, 100 percent tablet
device. Along with the smart, Acer showcased the Iconia Tab A100, A500
and W500 tablets, which run either a version of Google's Android
operating system (the A100 and A500) or Windows 7 (the W500).
The W500 is a 10.1-inch multi-touch screen tablet that is complemented
by a full-size docking keyboard and sporting a high-resolution screen
together with Dolby optimized audio. The keyboard features the
company's FineTrack pointing device with two buttons for navigation, an
Ethernet port for Internet connections, and a USB port for external
devices.
Running on Windows 7 OS, the W500 is equipped with an AMD C-50
processor and AMD Radeon HD6250 graphics, and offers multiple
connectivity options including Wi-Fi, 3G (on selected models) or
Bluetooth 3.0, as well as a 1.3MP Web cam to enable video chats or
video calls or record HD videos and share them on Facebook or YouTube.
The starting point of the W500 touch experience is the Acer Ring, which
provides access to the special features and touch application
pre-loaded on the tablet. Utilities in Acer Ring include Clean Disk, to
manage and optimize disk space, Snipping Tool, to select, tag and clip
screen images, Device Control, to fine tune the tablet settings,
Camera, to launch the Acer Crystal Eye Webcam and Calculator and Game,
to reach the games stored on the W500.
The Acer Ring also features a series of AppCards to browse through and
launch touch applications such as TouchBrowser, which lets users
search, open, resize, select content from the Web with their
fingertips, My Journal, where users can collect Web clips that are
dynamically updated to keep them posted on any news in the Web sites
found interesting and clear.fi to search, share, and playback favorite
music, photo, and video.
The 10.1-inch A500 tablet is equipped with Google Android's latest
operating system, Honeycomb, designed specifically for tablet
computing. Complete with a built-in HDMI port and 1080p output, it can
also be used to display HD content. The A500 is equipped with the
dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 processor, 5-megapixel rear-facing camera and
HD front-facing camera. The company said the A500 would be available in
April 2011.
The A500's cousin, the 7-in. A100, also runs Honeycomb and groups
resources into four main content usages, including Games Zone,
eReading, a multimedia group, and a social media group. The A100 is
also powered by the Tegra 2 processor, and offers the majority of
features found on the A500, including Dolby Surround Sound, multiple
wireless connectivity options and two cameras.
In an effort to combine the best of the tablet world with the form
factor advantages of the smartphone, the Iconia Smart features a
generous 4.8-in. widescreen display with a 21:9 aspect ratio and four
keys: Home, Search, Back and Menu. The Smart is also equipped with an
8-megapixel camera and LED flash, and a 2-megapixel front camera for
video calling, and a 1GHz Snapdragon processor.
Nathan Eddy is Associate Editor, Midmarket, at eWEEK.com. Before joining eWEEK.com, Nate was a writer with ChannelWeb and he served as an editor at FierceMarkets. He is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.
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