Tabletfight!!! Apple vs. Android, It's ON!

[rittchard]

I just picked up an Acer Iconia A500.  I wanted to try a tablet that could do Flash to see what all the fuss was about, and that had external storage (microSD), USB ports and a better camera.  Supposedly the base hardware is pretty much in line with the Motorola Xoom and Asus EEE Transformer.  It's $150 cheaper than Xoom and $50 more than Asus, but I found out Asus' does NOT have built in USB, you have to attach it to the base to get the ports, so this seemed like a good compromise given I wasn't looking for 3G/4G capability.

In any event, I'll be playing with it sporadically and comparing it to both the original iPad and iPad 2.  If there's anything anyone's interested in me checking, let me know. 

First impressions.  In spite of the fact that it's listed as being heavier than iPad 2, it actually doesn't feel that chunky.  The original iPad definitely feels chunkier.  It has a longer/wider construction so that could be some of it.  Plus it's clearly geared more for widescreen/horizontal use as opposed to vertical, judging by the way all the stickers and text on it were placed.  This is neither good or bad, it just... is.  Overall I was happier with the feel than I thought I would be. 

As for first turn on, they make you charge it for 4 (or 8 depending on which thing I read) hours before you first do so, which for me was kind of a turn off compared to iPad.  But oh well.  Also you have to use a traditional power cable to charget it, and they give you a really cheap and short cable, so that was kind of lame.  Once you turn it on, though, things seemed simple/obvious enough, I had it up and running in minutes.  Bear in mind this is my first Android device.

In all honesty I haven't done much with it yet.  I did notice the browser seemed significantly slower than the iPad 2, and possibly the iPad 1 as well.  Not sure what's up with that.  Definitely want to check out the camera and some Flash sites, as well as see how easy and flexible it is with external USB devices and the micro SD card.

[iloveplywood]

Cool -- I'm definitely interested to hear how this comes out. 

[DOSHIGH]

I'm on the verge of getting an Android Tablet and am leaning toward the Asus but it looks like they only made about 5 of them.  Reviews look to be pretty favorable for the Acer with the exception of the camera, which I don't really care about.  I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on how well the phone apps scale on the larger screen since it may take a while to get more tablet optimized apps on the marketplace.