Acer Iconia Tab A501 4G Android tablet listed for pre-order, $499 off-contract
Posted on 03. Sep, 2011 by Paul in Tablets
The 10.1-inch Acer Iconia Tab A500 tablet. Image: Acer
First released in April of this year the Acer Iconia Tab A500 marked Acer’s entrance into the Android tablet market. The A500 boasted high-end specifications for the time; a 10.1-inch HD touchscreen, an NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual-core chip, 1GB of RAM, dual cameras, a USB 2.0 port, a mini-HDMI port, a microSD slot, Wi-Fi n and Bluetooth.
The A500 was released in Wi-Fi only variants at launch with the option for a $449 16GB model or a $499 32GB model (prices have come down a bit). At launch the only thing missing for the A500 was a mobile broadband option, there are some people who want 3G or 4G connectivity for when they don’t have Wi-Fi at their disposal.
Rewind now back to March when AT&T announced the 4G Acer Iconia Tab A501 would launch on their network later this year. The A501 was announced as essentially the same tablet as the Wi-Fi only A500 but it has a slightly different name and a 4G radio built-in. It’s been months since the initial announcement and the A501 still hasn’t been released on AT&T or another 4G carrier. However a new pre-order page listing on top retailer Amazon.com indicate the off-contract release is on the horizon.
The Acer Iconia Tab A501-10S16u is the 16GB model and it’s listed with an MSRP of $499.99. At that price the A501 will be the best value 4G 10-inch Android Honeycomb tablet. The only other available option is the $529 on-contract 16GB Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 4G LTE at Verizon, but if you want the tablet contract-free (as the A501 on Amazon is presented) you’ll need to pay $699.99.
Neither Acer or the Amazon listing have a precise release date listed. It should also be noted that Acer hasn’t revealed how they will price the Acer Iconia Tab A501.
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