Database Users

[Q] Why I Bought a A500 (and Not Avoiding Apple)

I didn't buy my Iconia to spite Apple. My experience with the A500 is quite unusual. I was definately not in the market to buy a tablet when of all things, I saw a Rent-A-Center ad on TV for the Acer Iconia A500. I thought it'd be cool to give it a try!
I tried (the brand-new in a sealed box) the Iconia A500 and just fell in love. I read up on the Internet, I saw YouTube videos, I was sold on it. So there I was, paying rental fees on the Iconia and I knew I'd soon have to pay the first month (my deposit was like $50!) and that'd be just over $100.00. That's about 1/4th the cost of one to own, so that was a predicament.
I had the Iconia a week, was still paid up and bought one at OfficeDepot for $449. I turned the rental Iconia in after a week, still paid-up and surprised the salesman! Within a week, OfficeDepot and Wal-Mart were advertising them for $399, so I took mine back to OfficeDepot and the store manager was freaking out, afraid I was returning it. They happily gave me the 50 bucks on their price guarantee program. Wasn't sure if they had one, but figured I'd complain about their price and Wal-Mart's price. Didn't have to when the store mgr found out I wasn't returning it, so I left with 50 bucks!!!
I say this long, convoluted story for a reason. The Rent-a-Center I got that from had me on a waiting list to get it, so RAC's across the nation are putting thousands out there in the field. I loved it and ended up buying one. I'm sure I won't be the only one.
Thank God they weren't renting Ipad2s! I would have had no idea about .3 MP front and .97 MP rear cameras. mini and full-sized USB ports, HDMI you don't have to have a dongle to use as well as MicroSD! They don't "warn" Ipad 2 buyers about lacking all of those things the Iconia has for $100 less now after the price reduction! They don't tell you most of the Ipad 2 applications cost money while most of the Android apps are free. Heck, the game Need for Speed had me sold for quality gaming on the A500!
What made you buy the Acer Iconia A500?

I bought mine after giving up on the cheap chinatabs that lack support.
Very happy with my A500.

Not intending to put down the ipad 2. In fact, I think it is quite an engineering marvel. But no matter how much I try to like it, it still feels like an oversized iphone to me.

goodintentions said:
Not intending to put down the ipad 2. In fact, I think it is quite an engineering marvel. But no matter how much I try to like it, it still feels like an oversized iphone to me.
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Well i have both and think both have their unique place for me and like both of them

I bought mine because it's my 3rd Android tab and I wanted 3.x on tablets. The UI improvements for me are amazing. I also own an iphone 4, so I don't need an apple product. That'll likely be my last Apple purchase however. Once I see how Android 4.x pans out on mobiles instead of just tablets, I will likely replace my iphone with one. I will probably keep the iphone around though. It costs roughly 40USD to unlock them here, so selling it might be an option also.
Another reason I got the Iconia is it was too hard to get the Transformer when it launched. Kind of glad that was the case now.

I returned a Toshiba Thrive after 2 weeks due to the sleep bug, and waited a bit. I found the Staples coupon for any tablet, $100 off. By this time the Iconia had come down from $449 to $399 and Staples was out of everything other than the Xoom and Galaxy. I didn't want either, but found that OfficeDepot would honor the Staples coupon on select models, the 16gb Iconia being one. So, for $299 plus tax I walked out with one!
One of the keys to the Iconia is the Gorilla Glass, http://www.corninggorillaglass.com/products-with-gorilla/acer , and the nice aluminum body. Honeycomb 3.1 and I'm a happy camper.

mknewman said:
I returned a Toshiba Thrive after 2 weeks due to the sleep bug, and waited a bit. I found the Staples coupon for any tablet, $100 off. By this time the Iconia had come down from $449 to $399 and Staples was out of everything other than the Xoom and Galaxy. I didn't want either, but found that OfficeDepot would honor the Staples coupon on select models, the 16gb Iconia being one. So, for $299 plus tax I walked out with one!
One of the keys to the Iconia is the Gorilla Glass, http://www.corninggorillaglass.com/products-with-gorilla/acer , and the nice aluminum body. Honeycomb 3.1 and I'm a happy camper.
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Same for me, wanted to get a Tablet, found the $100 off staples coupon, went to my local staples, in stock, went home with one for $299
Sent from my A500 using XDA Premium App

New A500 coming out

Not sure if this is news to you lot but was chatting to my sis in-law today who works in acer here in Taiwan and she says a totally new A500 is coming out at the end of the year. She didn't have many details (not her dept) but she said there would be a lot of changes. Couldn't get anything else out of her she's a bit slow on the tech stuff so don't ask me
Just a heads up to any who knows someone thinking of purchasing, maybe hold off til the new year.

I don't doubt it. It's about teh right time for all these companies to bring out the next generation ( Like the Asus Transformer Prime)
I've just ordered by Acer as the price has plummeted now and I picked up 16gb model for £240 new and will be happy enough with it. better than waiting for new model and paying £200 more for it

furrypotato said:
I don't doubt it. It's about teh right time for all these companies to bring out the next generation ( Like the Asus Transformer Prime)
I've just ordered by Acer as the price has plummeted now and I picked up 16gb model for £240 new and will be happy enough with it. better than waiting for new model and paying £200 more for it
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Yeah the price here has dropped almost $200 in the last month.

It will probably have a keyboard built in like asus following their footsteps for sure. If I can go back I would buy 10" laptop for the price and I can do a lot more with that then a tablet.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

dito33 said:
It will probably have a keyboard built in like asus following their footsteps for sure. If I can go back I would buy 10" laptop for the price and I can do a lot more with that then a tablet.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
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I thought the same thing and bought an Acer Aspire 10 inch netbook with 2 gigs of ram and a 320 gig hard drive.
But the screen resolution does not compare if you want to watch movies and the android is faster.
I bought it thinking it was less expensive since it had a keyboard and I could install windows programs.
I already had one tablet.
I use the tablet 95 % of the time.
I was wrong in thinking the netbook was a better buy for the money.
I did however purchase it as a special deal for $350. and got over $150. back because it took so long to come. Shipping kept changing the delivery date so I kept complaining. So it was a good buy.

dito33 said:
It will probably have a keyboard built in like asus following their footsteps for sure. If I can go back I would buy 10" laptop for the price and I can do a lot more with that then a tablet.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
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A netbook is not going to do more than a tablet, infact it does less. A fullsize laptop however is a different story.

irishmoe said:
Not sure if this is news to you lot but was chatting to my sis in-law today who works in acer here in Taiwan and she says a totally new A500 is coming out at the end of the year. She didn't have many details (not her dept) but she said there would be a lot of changes. Couldn't get anything else out of her she's a bit slow on the tech stuff so don't ask me
Just a heads up to any who knows someone thinking of purchasing, maybe hold off til the new year.
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This might possibly be the A200 we have a leaked ROM of over in the A100 section... AFAIK, it's a cut down version of the A500, but that's all i know about it.

FloatingFatMan said:
This might possibly be the A200 we have a leaked ROM of over in the A100 section... AFAIK, it's a cut down version of the A500, but that's all i know about it.
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She was pretty positive it was the a500. But thats obviously another possibility.

As far as netbooks they suck.I found the best of both worlds.I bought a 11.6 inch HP dm1 with the new and APU. I never usemy desktop no morehas all the power for anything.and can get 7 hours on a charge for average use. Web browsing and word processing. 4-5 hours video stuff.This vision CPU with fusion tech Rocks.8 gig ram 500 gig hard diskand all the other kewl stuff Chics love well geeky ones.
With that said I love the tablet while traveling waiting at doc offices and sitting on couch surfing/reading.my spouse lol at me laying on couch with laptop on my legs and tablet on the laptop well notebook keyboard.
Tablets with a slide out keyboard I think would be to bulky and hard to hold.especially 10 inches. 10 inches is to much for my hands without the keyboard extra.
I stop rambling now.
giggles

The whole thing about using a tablet is that it's instant-on/instant-off. Press the power switch, your app loads and you're ready to go in seconds. Netbooks and laptops can do more ... but press the power button, wait for it to boot, maybe unsuspend, wait for your browser to load, network to connect, and so on. I use my A500 a LOT simply becuase I can quick do something and then be done with it and move on with life. I'm using me netbook a LOT less since I got my A500.
Sent from my A500 using Tapatalk

Purchase spare batteries

I was considering to buy a spare battery or two for my phone. I understand from dell that they have stopped commercially selling spare parts for the dell streak.
Some help is appreciated in identifying good batteries manufactured by third parties, that I may find in the market and from where I may be able to purchase them (ebay etc.) Also, how much for such a battery would be a good price?
Thanks
Sent from my Dell Streak using XDA

Dell does still have accessories in stock: DELL Extra Battery for Dell Streak : Phones and Communication | Dell:
Official accessories were always overpriced for it, but just as much with batteries you get what you pay for, especially when it comes to 3rd party ones.
The only accessories that they've cleared stock of were the 2nd gen docks and the S5 GPS cradle.
They have the 1st gen dock still though, but that only fits the S5 (whereas the 2nd gen dock fits both the S5/S7 and comes bundled with a more powerful charger)

ebay
Those $3.99 batteries works pretty well. I have only had it for 2 month so cannot comment on service life. But the capacity is comparable to the original battery.

Thanks for the information. Cheers
Sent from my Dell Streak using XDA

T-Mobile Dell Streak 7in $139 refurb

Thought I would share for anyone looking to spend as little as possible, not a bad tablet for the price.
http://1saleaday.com/

wish it was a streak 5

[Q] Just bought a TF101 Eee Pad - Did I get ripped off?

Hey all, I am a current iPad user (not by choice, it was a gift) and have been looking to venture into the android tablet world as I am biased since I've gotten my Droid X2 about a year and a half ago. I've successfully rooted/rom'd and SBF'd my X2 many times and I am currently running CM7 and have been for some time. I plan on running Revolution HD rom once the tablet arrives...
Anyways, I bought a Groupon deal shown here http://www.groupon.com/abilene/deals/gg-asus-transformer-tablet-tf101-x1-with-dock-refurb and, unlike myself, I did not do any research on pricing of this package via eBay or Amazon before I purchased it. It's a factory refurb unit with a keyboard dock. I ended up paying somewhere around $307 for it and should be getting it in a a week or two. After checking eBay (after my purchase) I am finding the similar setup (used, obviously) for anywhere between $20-80 less than what I paid. Did I get ripped? It does come with a 90 day factory warranty due to the refurb but is that worth the extra money that I paid? What are these really going for right now? I know it's not a top of the line unit since it's been out for a little while but still...I guess I am just looking to see everyone else' opinions on if I overpaid. Thanks!
-David

Well you didn't really get ripped off, since the dock itself cost around $100+ or so. The bundle is a pretty nice deal. You could have saved some money like around $50 or so, if you looked around on craigslist, swappa.com or ebay. I've seen the tablet plus dock bundle going for around $250 or so.
One thing is for sure though, you DID NOT get ripped off. You just paid a tiny bit extra. Ripped off is like paying full retail, like around $400 to $500.

Thanks for that. I'm sure the 90 day warranty has a little bit of value as well so that has to mean something towards the extra money put out. Anyways, I'm looking forward to getting it. I've already got the files ready to go for rooting/flashing the rom.

I just bought a used one from swappa.com with the keyboard dock for $250. No you didn't get ripped off. I almost used the groupon deal, but I figured I was fine with a used model.

When I bought my tablet/dock almost a year ago I paid close to $600 after taxes, so I think you did ok.

I paid $432 at the beginning of the year because I was impatient and wanted a new tablet NOW. I should've waited. You got a good deal. I didn't even get a dock, but I did get a 32gb model.

Like others have said, you did not get ripped off. IMO $50 extra for a factory refurbished unit with 3 months warranty over a second hand unit from eBay is a pretty good deal, especially with the keyboard dock.
However, personally I don’t find the KB dock all that useful for the things I do, and if you bought the whole package just because it was bundled (but don’t really need the KB dock) then you could’ve gotten a never Tegra 3 based tablet (refurbished or used) for the same price or a little more.

yea... you kinda got ripped for that. Easily can get a tf300 for around that price with a dock.
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T