[OT] Unboxing the Acer Android Tablet

[Colin Holgate]

I had hoped that like the iPad it might charge over the fat USB cable, and I did eventually try that (surprising how hard it is to find a USB type A to type A lead), but it wouldn't charge.

I was wrong about the power adapter not being strong enough, I was using the wrong one! With the right one it powers ok while it charges, but it doesn't allow system updates until the battery is at 30% charge.

The main things Chipp said that seemed wrong was about the screen. I've seen colleagues who use their iPad at the default energy saving brightness, they just don't know how amazingly bright the iPad screen can be! I can imagine that if you compare that against the Acer that you might think the Acer was better, but the iPad at it's full brightness makes most Android screens look dull. The Acer isn't dull, but it isn't better than the iPad.

And the resolution isn't "much" better. The wide screen can be useful when playing Angry Birds Rio levels, but the actual DPI is only 149 versus 132. 132 is already fairly high, and unless I wear reading glasses and try to look for differences, I wouldn't describe the extra 12% as being that much better.

Playing Rio can get very choppy on the Acer, I'm curious whether the new system update will help that. I'm still only at 19% charge, so it won't let me do the update yet.


On Aug 2, 2011, at 12:30 AM, J. Landman Gay wrote:

>> Unfortunately the Acer doesn't charge over USB
> 
> My Archos didn't either, until I bought a USB charger cable for six bucks on ebay.