Acer Iconia A100 7" tablet questions

[DreamWriter]

Regarding the 7" Acer Iconia A100, can anyone tell me:

• Can it stream Amazon Prime instant videos? If so, is there an app that needs to be installed or is this done through the browser?
  
• Can it play videos rented from Amazon? Again, is there an app that needs to be installed?
  
• I know that it has HDMI-out. Is the video quality good when streamed to a 50" TV from the A100?

Thanks for any help! I've been looking at tablets for a while now, and if the A100 can do these things well, I may buy it.

[=X=]

Originally Posted by DreamWriter

I'm an Android newbie, so I hope these questions don't sound too dumb. Regarding the 7" Acer Iconia A100, can anyone tell me:

• Can it stream Amazon Prime instant videos? If so, is there an app that needs to be installed or is this done through the browser?
  
• Can it play videos rented from Amazon? Again, is there an app that needs to be installed?
  
• I know that it has HDMI-out. Is the video quality good when streamed to a 50" TV from the A100?

Thanks for any help! I've been looking at tablets for a while now, and if the A100 can do these things well, I may buy it.

Yes you can watch Amazon Prime over the web. I've tried it on my nook and it worked, the A100 sports a T2 CPU (dual core 1Ghz) so it should handle the video even better.

There is an apk(install file) of the Amazon Prime App floating around. It will allow you to watch Amazon Prime movies from the App. I've not tried it but the thread at XDA says they where able to watch the movie from the A100. (link)


I can't answer the question about the HDMI since I've not tried it. However if the movie is 780p it should handle it just fine.

=X=

[Noah98]

I installed the .apk on my Samsung Galaxy Tab 7 and it works well.

[DreamWriter]

Thanks for your responses! I'm still interested in the Acer Iconia A100, but I'm looking at other tablets as well.

[DreamWriter]

I purchased the 8GB Acer Iconia A100 online at Best Buy today for $189.99. I'm aware that the device has a few drawbacks, but it has every feature that I was looking for in a small tablet, and I think it's a good value for the price. It usually sells for around $300.

I downloaded the user's manual, and now I have another question. The A100 uses a 32GB micro SD card, and in the manual it specifies that the card must "use the FAT or FAT32 file system." I know that FAT is a formatting term, but how can I tell if a micro SD card uses either FAT or FAT32? The card product descriptions never seem to mention this.

[Greg_E]

It should come as FAT32 so there shouldn't be anything to do when you buy the card. Try to buy at least a class 4 card, class 6 or class 10 would be better (faster) but probably more expensive.

I've had an a500 for about a week, seems to be a decent tablet but i think the Android OS still has to mature a little more.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by DreamWriter

I purchased the 8GB Acer Iconia A100 online at Best Buy today for $189.99. I'm aware that the device has a few drawbacks, but it has every feature that I was looking for in a small tablet, and I think it's a good value for the price. It usually sells for around $300.

...so did I. It was one of three tablets I bought. The other two were the Dell Streak and Toshiba Thrive. Will keep one and return the other two.

I'm with you. Tablets obsolete so fast these days. So I'm not inclined to spend a lot when I can get most of what I want at a good price.

[DreamWriter]

Originally Posted by Greg_E

It should come as FAT32 so there shouldn't be anything to do when you buy the card. Try to buy at least a class 4 card, class 6 or class 10 would be better (faster) but probably more expensive.

I've had an a500 for about a week, seems to be a decent tablet but i think the Android OS still has to mature a little more.

Thanks for the info! I bought a class 10 card for the A100. At least there's some hope with the Acer Iconia A100/A500 that there will be an upgrade to Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) early next year. We'll see how that goes.

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

...so did I. It was one of three tablets I bought. The other two were the Dell Streak and Toshiba Thrive. Will keep one and return the other two.

I'm with you. Tablets obsolete so fast these days. So I'm not inclined to spend a lot when I can get most of what I want at a good price.

Well, aren't you special—three tablets! I was very tempted by the Toshiba Thrive myself. I like the ASUS Transformer too. I'd also considered the Kindle Fire, but I really want the ability to connect to the TV via HDMI and I prefer having an SD card for storage.

After mulling it over for quite some time, I decided that Acer's 7-inch screen is probably a better fit for my needs. It's easier to hold and it has all the ports I want. The drawbacks I've read about didn't seem like deal-breakers for me. I don't think I would have paid $300 for it, but I was happy to pay $190. I'm new to Android, so this will be "fun."

I look forward to reading which of the three you decide to keep—and why.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by DreamWriter

Well, aren't you special—three tablets! I was very tempted by the Toshiba Thrive myself. I like the ASUS Transformer too. I'd also considered the Kindle Fire, but I really want the ability to connect to the TV via HDMI and I prefer having an SD card for storage.

After mulling it over for quite some time, I decided that Acer's 7-inch screen is probably a better fit for my needs. It's easier to hold and it has all the ports I want. The drawbacks I've read about didn't seem like deal-breakers for me. I don't think I would have paid $300 for it, but I was happy to pay $190. I'm new to Android, so this will be "fun."

I look forward to reading which of the three you decide to keep—and why.

Will do. When I saw them online, I just bought knowing I didn't have time to make an informed decision as to which one I wanted. Sure enough, they disappeared fast.

[DreamWriter]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Will do. When I saw them online, I just bought knowing I didn't have time to make an informed decision as to which one I wanted. Sure enough, they disappeared fast.

When I checked Best Buy online shortly before midnight (Wednesday night), the Acer A100 showed the reduced price of $189.99 with the note "coming soon." I checked it off and on before I went to bed Thursday at 2 a.m., and it still said the same. Then when I woke up later that morning, it said "sold out online."

Sometime that afternoon, I checked one of the "deals" websites and someone there mentioned that it had just become available again at Best Buy online. Sure enough, I was able to buy one! When I looked a half-hour later, it was "sold out" again. I never was able to catch the Thrive at $279.99, but I did give up after I got the Acer.

I really like that the Thrive has a replaceable battery, and the larger screen is nice. But it is heavier (and bulkier) than the Acer: 1.6 lbs. versus .92 lbs. Both tablets have Honeycomb, 1 GHz Tegra dual-core processor, 1 GB internal memory, 8 GB storage onboard, GeForce graphics, SD (or microSD), bluetooth, GPS, HDMI (or microHDMI), USB, Flash capability, light sensor, and two cameras. One criticism of the Acer is that the battery life is short; Toshiba can run much longer per charge. And Acer has a problem in a certain viewing angle. Its screen is 7" 1024 x 600 TFT vs. Thrive's 10.1" 1280 x 800 IPS display. But the Thrive was $90 more.

I'm sure you'll be happy with at least one—or all three!

[Greg_E]

There is a trick to the Bestbuy prices, always check to see if you can pick it up at your nearest store, cost is the same and they often have it when the online is sold out. This is great unless your local store is too far away to help.

[DreamWriter]

Originally Posted by Greg_E

There is a trick to the Bestbuy prices, always check to see if you can pick it up at your nearest store, cost is the same and they often have it when the online is sold out. This is great unless your local store is too far away to help.

The nearest Best Buy is about a half-hour away, and I did consider doing that. Both the Thrive and Acer A100 were listed in the ad as "minimum 4 per store." Since they're both popular items and the prices were excellent, I doubted that they'd have enough in stock.

But, to be honest, I was simply feeling too lazy to drive over there and deal with the madness. I wasn't that desperate to buy a tablet because I know there will be more good deals in the next month or two since new models with Android 4.0 will be released soon. I would be surprised to see the A100 anywhere for less than $189, though, so I'm happy.

[soondai]

showing as available online right now.

put it in my cart but not pulling the trigger. bought and returned the nook tab last week and realized all I really want from this size is a reader-- and my cheapo Pandigital actually works great for me for that.

really nice price, though

[DreamWriter]

Originally Posted by soondai

showing as available online right now.

put it in my cart but not pulling the trigger. bought and returned the nook tab last week and realized all I really want from this size is a reader-- and my cheapo Pandigital actually works great for me for that.

really nice price, though

Yes, the 7" 8GB Acer Iconia A100 is currently available at Best Buy online for $189.99. And the 10.1" 8GB Toshiba Thrive is online for $279.99 right now too.

It looks like Best Buy has been offering them both periodically during the day and then making them "unavailable" again, so if anyone wants one just keep trying.

[DreamWriter]

If anyone's looking for a case for the Acer Iconia A100, this one gets excellent reviews at Amazon and it's only $12.95 (free shipping):

Poetic Slimbook Leather Case