First impressions from day one of use.

[suade907]

Got mine, I have a few issues that I think will be resolved over time. I'm constantly getting kicked out of apps or having random apps launching when trying to use other apps. I especially notice this when installing apps from the app store. Sometimes when typing numbers the keyboard switches to letters or just disappears on it's own. I also have noticed the whole android experience is not quite as smooth as my i pad or pc. It has a slight jerkiness to it like a netbook may of had a few years back. It's very very minor but noticeable. Also my battery life is not what acer had claimed which I was really dissapointed about. I had hit 5.5 hours with less than 20% left doing random usage. I would not of made the 7 hours that endgadget claimed in there video tests. Overall I like the look and feel of honeycomb. I think Google really dropped the ball by taking away our buttons and adding them to the bottom of the screen. I feel like I'm using a convoluted version of windows now. It's ok but I would of rather seen they stuck with the phone os and built on that. I like my physical buttons. I've also had lot's of minor issues web browsing where things just go awry and kick me to the main screen. As far as the screen goes I think the colors are great but I'm constantly feeling like I'm viewing a lower resolution image for some reason. I'm not sure if it's the lack of IPS or what but it never seems super crisp except in certain apps or the home screen. I also had a weird issue when checking the battery stats I had noticed my battery was being used by a cell radio or service locater, I forget the name but essentially it was looking for cell service like my phone and it ate up 9% of my battery in the first 2 hours. It said I could disable it by putting it in airplane mode but now my unit randomly turns off the wifi so I'm not sure if I needed to do that or not. It doesn't seem to be using the battery for that function anymore though.

That's a lot of ranting but overall I have mixed feelings. I'd rate the unit a 3 out of 5 and am hoping to see many fixes in the software and hopefully they can improve on the battery usage but overall I love the experience It's pretty slick and a far cry from the boring ipad. With all the software issues fixed I'd probably raise my rating to a 4.

 

[panda]

I've been playing with mine the past two days as well and have been sufering the same software issues. A lot of force closes in certain apps and a few hiccups here and there. I think other honeycomb users are having similar issues mostly because of how new the os is.

As for the battery it is about average but does look pretty poor compared to the ipad.

The screen I've taken a liking to and is very crisp. My be your issues are related to certain phone apps that usually don't scale well on highres tablet displays? Since you admit its crisp in certain screens its probably not directly related to the lcd.

Had similar issues with keyboard disappearing/random screens changing but I think this was mostly due to accidental screen touches. Now that ive gotten more time with the device I'm starting to type reasonably fast on the keyboard. Its kind of the opposite way they taught you to type on keyboard but I find the best way to do it on the honeycomb keyboard is to stare at the keys while you're typing since they change color when you hit them and really helps you know where your fingers are.

Other things that I really liked that I wasn't expecting to:

The speakers are actually quite good for something their size. They're also located on the lower back of the device unlike the xoom so if youre holding the device at the bottom edges of the screen your hands form a sort of horn that focuses the sound to your ear better. Placing the tblet on a hard surface screen up probably gives the best projection though.

The til it lock switch is really useful when lying in bed and something I wish my android phone and iPod touch had.

Power switch is nice and glows orange while charging and white when charged which makes it easy to find in the dark.


A few other things that suck:

The length of the power cord is a joke. Its about three feet long and makes it almost impossible to use the device while its plugged in unless you're being very careful not to bresl the very flimsy power connector at the end of the cable (although kudos to Acer for making the connector a right angle plug unlike on the xoom, which which has a straight plug that's very easy to bend).

I have more thoughts but can't think of them right now...

Posted from my a500!

 

[suade907]

I like the speakers as well. For a tablet sound is very good. Much louder and fuller than my ipad1. As far as my screen goes i was totally surprised at first. After reading many reviews criticizing the screen I have no issues with the colors, brightness or black levels. Like I said above it's only sometimes I get the effect that the image on the screen is a lower res than the screen itself. It's almost like a zoomed in feeling like when you hold control and zoom in when using a browser. Could be some of the games I've been using but when i watch hd movie trailers online they are not super crisp like I have seen on my ipad1. I'm not sure why this happens because if I exit to the home screen the image is incredible. But aside from that I'm having fun with it.

Anyone know if this device will charge the battery when plugged to the USB? I have a car charger with a usb plugin and am hoping that this works.

 

[panda]

I could not get my tablet to charge over USB so I think most owners will have to to buy another AC adaptor. I wonder if those universal AC adaptors, the kind that come with swapable end plugs will work with the a500.

 

[Raven312]

I've been playing with mine the past two days as well and have been sufering the same software issues. A lot of force closes in certain apps and a few hiccups here and there. I think other honeycomb users are having similar issues mostly because of how new the os is.

As for the battery it is about average but does look pretty poor compared to the ipad.

The screen I've taken a liking to and is very crisp. My be your issues are related to certain phone apps that usually don't scale well on highres tablet displays? Since you admit its crisp in certain screens its probably not directly related to the lcd.

Had similar issues with keyboard disappearing/random screens changing but I think this was mostly due to accidental screen touches. Now that ive gotten more time with the device I'm starting to type reasonably fast on the keyboard. Its kind of the opposite way they taught you to type on keyboard but I find the best way to do it on the honeycomb keyboard is to stare at the keys while you're typing since they change color when you hit them and really helps you know where your fingers are.

Other things that I really liked that I wasn't expecting to:

The speakers are actually quite good for something their size. They're also located on the lower back of the device unlike the xoom so if youre holding the device at the bottom edges of the screen your hands form a sort of horn that focuses the sound to your ear better. Placing the tblet on a hard surface screen up probably gives the best projection though.

The til it lock switch is really useful when lying in bed and something I wish my android phone and iPod touch had.

Power switch is nice and glows orange while charging and white when charged which makes it easy to find in the dark.


A few other things that suck:

The length of the power cord is a joke. Its about three feet long and makes it almost impossible to use the device while its plugged in unless you're being very careful not to bresl the very flimsy power connector at the end of the cable (although kudos to Acer for making the connector a right angle plug unlike on the xoom, which which has a straight plug that's very easy to bend).

I have more thoughts but can't think of them right now...

Posted from my a500!

+1 - almost word for word. I'd made these observations earlier and some people thought I was being too hasty. However, when Google OS works, it WORKS - I guess I've just been spoiled... LOL

 

[deanboxer3]

try recalibrating your screen

 

[deanboxer3]

if you look on the side of your tablet there is a reset button try that

 

[deanboxer3]

everyone has problems with there tablet but me and i only have OS 1.6

 

[deanboxer3]

An ipad is about £400 and i won a andriod tabet for £48

 

[panda]

Never had to use the reset button. The os is extremely solid, and even when individual apps crash, I've yet to see the entire thing go down. An wa these are the usual growing pains when using a bleeding edge device - but make no mistake about it, 3.0 is the future of android tablets.

 

[Raven312]

Never had to use the reset button. The os is extremely solid, and even when individual apps crash, I've yet to see the entire thing go down. An wa these are the usual growing pains when using a bleeding edge device - but make no mistake about it, 3.0 is the future of android tablets.

Nor I. The annoyances are individual apps, from time to time. I don't use it for serious work so I'm patient. I look forward to seeing what Honeycomb will grow into. I do stand by my original statement that, in my opinion, it isn't quite ready for primetime. Google has always done right by me and I know they will this time, too. For that reason, my A500 stays with me. Great piece of hardware.

 

[Douvie]

Nor I. The annoyances are individual apps, from time to time. I don't use it for serious work so I'm patient. I look forward to seeing what Honeycomb will grow into. I do stand by my original statement that, in my opinion, it isn't quite ready for primetime. Google has always done right by me and I know they will this time, too. For that reason, my A500 stays with me. Great piece of hardware.

Wouldn't have an ipad even if they gave it away for nothing.

with the ipad

 

[FoFoJoe]

I agree, this A500 will definitely last a good while. I love the OS, and it only gets better from here. With mine OC'd to 1.6GHz, it will stack up against the new ones for awhile

Sent from my A500 using Android Tablet Forum