Android Coming To A Gamestop Near You

Seriously?  Yep, sounds that way.  Looks like taking a bite out of a rather popular fruit/device maker wasn't all that Gamestop had planned.  Just the other month Gamestop announced they would be taking trades and selling Apple's iDevices.  And now it looks as if they are actually branding their own Android based tablet as well.

I for one, fear that they may be too late to this show for anybody to care.  Especially with the controversy surrounding them the last several months.  If they are willing to snatch coupons from game boxes, why would they be willing to do anything better with an actual tablet device.  Even when they are already carrying another brand of a similar type of device.  I'm actually surprised that Apple didn't include in their agreement with Gamestop that they be the only device provider for the game chain.

Anyways, if you'd like to read the entire story, swing by:
TechCrunch

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Tablets Owners Do Play Games!

If you own a tablet, do you also play games on it?  My answer is definitely yes!  Why would you carry around a device with an awesome display, and plenty of horse power to play games.  And then not play them?  That sounds crazy to me!  And with mobile gaming becoming more competent as weeks go on; making them attractive to more than just the casual puzzle gamer.  Why not?

Well, apparently a study was conducted for the month of September that concluded that 23% of U.S. tablet owner's played at least one game every day on their tablet during the month.  This equates to two-thirds of tablet owner's enjoying mobile gaming goodness.  Other popular activities enjoyed via tablets inlcude: listening to music, YouTube, streamed online content (like TV shows), and of course using their tablets as e-readers.  Whether it be magazines or ebooks.

What does this tell us?  The numbers seem to suggest that more and more people are using tablets.  No surprise there.  But one thing comes to my mind when we see these kind of studies.  If tablet use is becoming so prevalent; then how come we don't see people at Starbucks and at the Mall sitting around messing with their tablets?  Around my area I see plenty of people sitting around playing on their smartphones.  But not so many tablets.  I, for one would rather sit at home and jam away at a game, rather than actually play it on the go.  Mostly because out in public there is some much going on I find it hard to concentrate fully on tasks like games and reading lengthy articles.  Just not my cup of tea.  But sitting on the couch with my feet kicked up...That's game time around my house.

For more info on the exact study and statistics visit: http://8b08ac42.tinylinks.co

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India Has a $35 Dollar Tablet

Last year some news headlines hit the world in a storm when it was reported that some folks in India were trying to develop a cheap tablet.  Their goal was simple, to develop a tablet and keep it cheap and affordable.  What they came up with was the concept for a $35 tablet.

Now, first and foremost let's keep this in perspective.  At $35 for a tablet, you're not going to be getting much.  But they endured anyways, and now a Canadian company by the name of DataWind is indeed manufacturing these devices for the people of India.  Don't expect these puppies to show up here in the U.S. or at least not anytime soon.  And if they do migrate to the U.S., I definitely wouldn't expect the tablet to retail for $35.  Maybe somewhere between $50 to $100.  Our tablet market just isn't willing to stoop that cheap quite a yet.

And if they do roll out for $35 bucks a piece, I'd buy one for each room in the house.

So let's take a look at what $35 dollars would buy you in India:
-7 inches of screen real estate.
-2GB storage capacity.
-366MHz Processor
-Wifi
-Running the Android OS (not sure which version)

In other words a 7inch tablet with smartphone guts from 3 years ago.  But for simple tasks like connecting to the web and web browsing; I'm sure it's probably enough.

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Netflix on the Acer Iconia a500 Works without Root!

It's no secret that the only feature I am lacking in my Acer Iconia a500 is the ability to stream movies via Netflix Instant Streaming.  This afternoon I was doing my usually weekly Google search for a solution.  I was even open to the idea of looking for a way to root my Iconia a500 to get this ability.  But to my surprise, I accidentally stumbled across a great discovery (which requires no root, and since 3.2 isn't easily rooted on the Iconia a500 I figured it was worth a shot).  I will go on record to say that I did not come up with this solution, the hardwork belongs to ezterry and snickle at the XDA Developers forums.

I found a link to the XDA Developers forums which provided a promising solution patched by ezterry and refined by snickle on the forums.

Apparently, ezterry made the initial edits allowing the Netflix apk to work on the Iconia a500.  But according to snickle's post, screen rotation didn't work (I didn't try ezterry's apk first).  So snickle did a little refining to it and got screen rotation to work.  

I can verify that snickle's version of the apk does work.  When I initially ran it, after logging in to the service via the app, I got a white screen with some errors in the top corner.  I closed out of the app and relaunched and it worked just fine on my Acer Iconia a500 running stock (non-rooted) Honeycomb 3.2.

For ezterry's solution:

 http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=18058380&postcount=147

And for snickle's solution (the one I tried): 

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1289346

Now if you'll excuse me, I have some old episodes of Doctor Who to watch!

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Kindle Fire sells how many preorders?!

As expected Amazon's Kindle Fire seems to have taken off; if nothing else, the pre-order numbers seem to look good for Amazon's tablet.  Sitting at 95,000 day one pre-orders!  And spinning the tech-retail world into a tailspin by kicking off what appears to be the first of the tablet price wars that I predicted a few months back to start hitting about now.  Is it just getting warmed up?

It's kind of funny that in the same week that Amazon announces the Kindle Fire, Best Buy drops the price of the HTC Flyer to $299.  Will the other tablet manufacturers follow suit in fear of the Kindle Fire?  Do I think the Kindle Fire will dethrown the iPad as the king of tablets?  Probably not, because Apple has enough money to ramp up ad campaigns and sell more of their devices too.

But as far as casual tablet buyers, looking for a basic entry level tablet to get them into mobile computing.  Yep, I think those people will definitely bypass the iPad.  But time will tell!

And word of advice, if you're looking to get a Kindle Fire before the end of the year, it might be a good idea to go ahead and pre-order with numbers like those.  It wouldn't surprise me at all to see a shortage of Kindle Fire tablets before they even hit the street.

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Amazon's New Tablet Dubbed 'Kindle Fire'

Looks as though Amazon's new tablet that has taken the news by storm will be called the 'Kindle Fire' and should retail for $199.  It will feature a 7 inch screen and will be Android based.  If you check the article over on CNET: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-20112714-94/amazon-unveils-kindle-fire-tablet-for-$199/?tag=mantle_skin;content

You may notice that the device seems to resemble the Nook Color by Barnes & Noble.  The release of the 'Kindle Fire' will be the first actual tablet offered directly by Amazon.  As the previous versions of the Kindle were strictly e-book readers sporting the e-ink screens (which are monochrome).  The device does not include a camera or microphone and will only connect to Wifi networks (sorry, no 3G this time around).

The Nook Color by Barnes & Noble

So, it looks like for $199 you will not be running Honeycomb on it, but for $200 bucks it doesn't look like a bad tablet.  And if you know someone who loves their Kindle e-book reader, than I would recommend the 'Fire' for them.  Essentially, you are getting the e-book reader everyone knows and loves along with a color screen and more tablet like features.

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So what is the Honeycomb 3.2 Update for the Acer Iconia a500 good for?

So, as mentioned in a previous post; I received the Honeycomb 3.2 OTA Update last night on my stock Acer Iconia a500.  It weighed in a little over 350MB's, and took four attempts to download before completing successfully.

One of the big questions with every Honeycomb Update is: 'What does it do/change/fix?'

Apparently, there isn't too much significant included in the update.  It improves SD and USB notifications when attaching these devices, smoother scrolling, and proper stretching/zooming for apps designed for smaller screens (the a500 sports a 10.1 inch screen).  So far, that seems to be about it.

I have one recommendation for Google or Acer concerning Honeycomb Updates: How about including a change notice with the Update Dialog when the device gets prompted for the new OTA Updates?  Theoretically, it should be fairly easy, it could be handled the same way permissions are displayed prior to installing a new app or .apk file.  Right now we just get to see the name of the update and what the download size is.  A little more info would be nice, just a thought.

For those who root or run ROM'd versions of the Acer Iconia a500; you better hold off on updating (as of this writing) since there currently isn't a way to root Honeycomb 3.2 on the Iconia yet.  And you will loose your custom ROM should you apply the OTA 3.2 upgrade.

And it appears that Netflix still isn't supported on the Iconia a500 (as we guessed).

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Acer Iconia a500 Tablet OTA Honeycomb 3.2 Update

The other week I expressed my frustration with Acer's handling of the Honeycomb 3.2 Update.  Prior to that, I really expressed my frustration with Acer's handling of OTA Updates period and the lack of the ability to manually install the OTA Update from an official source (via a download section on Acer's site, etc.) without having to jump through hoops getting the update files from 'unofficial' sources.  Meanwhile, the Acer Iconia a100 was released recently with Honeycomb 3.2 preloaded.

According to a post on Acer's Malaysian Facebook page a couple of weeks ago, the update was pushed back to August 25th for Iconia a500 owners.  Now whether this means everyone will get it or just those on the other side of the planet will get the update remains to be seen.  I guess we will find out tomorrow (on 8-25-11).  Just to note, the delay wasn't just an Acer problem.  But it was Google enforcing policy changes for Acer to abide by.

The major updates within Honeycomb 3.2 are pointed at devices sporting 7inch displays (including better support and better resolutions for these smaller screens).  So many of us a500 owner's will not experience much (if any) if a change with the update; since the a500 tablets have 10inch screens.  However, my fuss with updating in a quick and timely manner points more towards future updates and support.

With the release of Honeycomb 3.2 we are essentially one step closer to seeing Android's 'Ice Cream Sandwhich' release which is claimed to be a 'unifying' version of Android which will aim to close the gap between Android versions for smartphones/earlier tablets and Honeycomb on the more recent tablets.  And if this is what will actually happen, than some of the fragmentation of apps in the Android Market will get better as well.

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So you bought a $99 HP TouchPad...What Now?

Ok, so you were one of the many people who decided to take the risk and pickup one of the HP TouchPad's that were sold off this past weekend for a rather cheap $99.  What now?  Especially since it no longer has HP's support.  You'll not get any future software updates.  Not to mention app development is pretty much gone too.  And since there currently isn't a working port of Android to use on it, what exactly can you do with it?

Well, here is a short list of things you could do with it:

1- Mobile Web Surfing
You could use the device solely for surfing the web or checking your email.  Not to mention making your social network updates.  All of this can still be done via the tablet minus manufacturer support.  At least until web standards change, flash gets updates, etc.  You'll have a very competent internet tablet.

2- eReader
At $99 the HP TouchPad could be one of the cheapest eReader devices on the market at present.  You could use it to catch up on your reading with little trouble.

3- A Media Player
You can still run media files on it.  So why not slap a digital copy of your favorite movie on it and take with you when you travel (legally of course).

4- A Digital Picture Frame
Remember a couple of Christmas' ago when all the rage seemed to be digital picture frames?  A lot of those little devices are still rather pricey, so why not slap a bunch of your favorite pictures on it and display it on your desk.  And when you want to show off your vacation pictures just snatch it up and take it with you.

5- A Coffee Table Computer
For $99 you can leave it on your coffee table, much like people do with magazines.  If you have a guest over and they need to catch up on their news, or check email, or even schedule their DVR via the internet; just hand them the tablet and let them go.

6- A cheap device for the kids
Let's face it if you have kids around the house, electronics like this can take a lot of abuse (depending on their ages).  So why not give them something to let them play with as opposed to your devices.  They'll love you for it later, I promise.

7- Internet access while traveling
Why not use this solely as your means of being connected while abroad.  Ever need to pull up a confirmation email for your hotel booking?  This would be perfect for that.  And you can leave you laptop, or more expensive tablet at home.

8- Assuming someone gets a decent version of Android running...
You could turn it into a cheap Android tablet.  So far nothing has been released, but supposedly a project is in the works.  Time will tell.

Let's just face it, regardless of the TouchPad's recent boot; if you purchased one, you have a very competent tablet device and you picked it up a lot cheaper than the rest of us did with our tablets.  If you were an early adopter and picked one up when it hit the market, I'm sorry I feel your pain.  You could always offload it on eBay to someone hoping to resell it if an Android ROM hits the web.  But you'd be taking a loss on it.

So, it was an unfortunate death.  But maybe the world can make the best out of the now defunct TouchPad.

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HP is doing what? Is the PC Market Approaching Death?

So by now you've probably heard that HP is selling of it's Personal Systems Group.  Basically, that includes PC/laptops/smart phones, and that little HP TouchPad tablet that all of the cool people are advertising but nobody is buying.  So what does this mean?

This is obviously a huge turning point for HP as a company.  Until now HP was primarily known as the computer and printer company.  They are one of the 3 leading PC manufacturers in the US.  But suddenly they are getting out of that market?  What are they thinking you may be asking?  It is very obvious that computers are becoming faster, smaller, and in the case of this story cheaper.  As the hardware gets cheaper, of course the profit margin that these manufacturers tap into is of course getting smaller.

Ten years ago, a PC half as powerful (if that) as an average use computer is now, would cost well over $1,000. My first Dell (purchased in 2004) cost me $1,100.  It was a Pentium 4 running 2.4GHz, with 1GB of RAM and an older Nvidia Gforce card (I can't remember it's specs).  My current rig is an Intel Core 2 Duo running a 3.0GHz with 2GB's of RAM with an nVidia 8600 GTS built almost 3 years ago for $400 with parts from Newegg.

The only company that seems to be able to make a rather substantial profit from their hardware sales appears to be Apple.  And they sell quite a few less machines, but make more money on what they sell than any other PC manufacturer in the US.  So, how do they do it?

Not sure, personally I believe it is smart implementation of their peripheral products.  Namely, the iPod brand.  Think about it.  Before Apple released it's very first iPod music player, Apple computers were basically commonly found in graphic design offices.  Applications were pretty scarce for it, and since their computers ran the older Power PC processors they were incompatible with anything else on the market.  Then came along the iPod and a small program called iTunes.

Now people who never thought about Apple were picking up iPod's and using iTunes.  The next step of course would be for a new customer to see what else Apple makes that might interest them.  So they get into the older iMacs or early MacBooks.  Fast forward several years, Apple makes a deal with Intel and replaces the Power PC processor for Intel.  Now you have the ability to pick between Windows or Mac OS X.  You can virtualize Windows using Parallels.  Now that their machines are 'Intel-Based' more software is being developed for their platform.  All the while, they continue to upgrade and build features into their devices that are based around apps like iTunes, easy use with their iPods.  Meanwhile, iPods are getting bigger and better and being turned into phones and tablet devices.  So in my opinion the iPod helped direct a lot of attention back to Apple over an extended period of time.  Instead of being one of these: "Hey, look what we have, shiny new tech" and then a couple years later they fizzle out.  Fast forward to 2011, people who own a Mac computer absolutely adore them.

Does this build up over time explain why Apple can sell a laptop and ask a substantially higher price for it and make more profit off of a single sale?  Maybe, I'm not market analyst but this makes sense to me.

As of late HP hasn't made the best business decisions, but at least they have taken risks other companies may have stayed away from.  For instance, remember when they bought out Palm?  They bought Palm for $1 billion dollars the other year.  Pretty much to strip out the webOS developed by Palm for the smart phone devices (which had a hard time selling) for use in future products.  Fast forward to now, they have released the HP TouchPad which has snazzy commercials being about the only thing going for it.  And in the meantime, will someone decide webOS is still valuable enough to invest in from HP?  Time will tell.





BTW, I love the Russell Brand 'Ostrich Commerical' for the TouchPad.  HP tried to do exactly what RIM did.  Both companies attempted to bring a tablet device into a market completely owned by Apple and Android at the moment.  As RIM found out with the Blackberry PlayBook, other devices are having a difficult time breaking through the crowd of Android devices and iPads.  Sure, they are nice devices.  But let's face it, why not go with the flow and ride the cash train while we can.  And it's at the point now that even Best Buy is trying desperately to be rid of the TouchPad.

So what does this mean for HP as a company?  Well, they are doing pretty much what IBM did years ago.  They are going to be focused more towards enterprise solutions where the sales are typically larger with a larger profit margin.  And for the most part, this has worked pretty well for IBM.

And what does this mean for the home PC market?  Is it dead?  Not quite.  There will always be a need (at least in our foreseeable future) for PC's.  After all, even devices that rely solely on the cloud (looking at you Google Chromebooks) without a PC or Server sitting in a data center somewhere, those devices will not have a reason to access the 'cloud'.  And let's face it, sure mobility is great.  But there comes a time (and some tasks) that a mobile device just can't handle yet.  Would Pixar be able to render another sequel to 'Cars' solely on an iPad?  Not currently.  Would Netflix be able to serve millions of subscribers using a data center of Android Tablets (definitely not at the rate they allow these devices access to their services).   So as far as I can see, PC's are going to be around for a while to come.  This doesn't mean they will be the most popular or most practical form of computing.  But they aren't going anywhere anytime soon.

Maybe one day a form of cluster computing may emerge that allows the internet to become a thriving, mobile entity as many devices are trying to make it now where everyone's computer serves everyone else's.  But that is a whole other security story in itself.  In the meantime, don't expect to see many TouchPad's floating around and the household HP Pavilion Laptop appears to be going the way of the dodo bird.

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Tablet Price Drops In the Near Future? Very Possible.

DigiTimes reported that tablet makers are expected to go through another "Tablet Price War"  probably by the end of September.  This is obviously excluding the iPad.  Apple obviously has no plans on budging on it's pricing.  But other vendors may very well be fixing to make some price cuts in order to minimize damages due to unsold inventory.

Does this mean tablets are going extinct?  Nope, it just means that the current price point for the devices is still too high for the average consumer to digest.  I think Barnes & Noble proved the point when they released the Nook Color.  I know a handful of people who have that devices and purchased it primarily to root it and run a version of CyanogenMod on it and turn it into a full fledged tablet device; and it even came to the point where the Nook Color received an official update with it's own tablet offerings.

Motorola proved that an alternative to the iPad could work (even if sales were modest it sent a message to the 'Big-A', i.e.: Apple).  And other vendor's followed suit by releasing a device similar to Motorola's Xoom but cheaper.  That is the natural progression of the lifecycle of consumer electronics.  Sure it happened fast, but right now vendor's seem to be hard pressed to rollout a device with a decent hardware configuration and keeping the price point under $350 to $400.

Would this upcoming price war bring down the price points even further, it's very possible.  Analysts are expecting some tablets to drop to the $350 price level for the average device, and could experience drops even lower than that (some think possibly $300 could be a future going price for some devices).  And by lowering the price point for these devices, it is very possible that people will feel more comfortable investing in one.

Let's face it, tablets are basically a hybrid between our cell phones and laptops.  For $400 to $600 you can buy a heck of a laptop, and for how many people really pay full retail price for their cell phones?  Not many.  That's right, a lot of those fancy smart phones on the market come with price tags in the $300 to $500 range. However, you're cellphone carrier usually gives you steep discounts on the hardware in order to make that money back on the service charges through the course of your contract.

So why would you pay that kind of price for a similar device?  Makes sense to me, drive the cost down.  Sales may pick up, which means more companies may get into the tablet market and generate competition.  Let's face it, right now if you're looking at tablet you're looking at (aside for the iPad):
-Asus
-Acer
-Motorola
-Samsung or
-Toshiba

There are cheaper tablets, but they come at a cost.  With either an older outdated version of Android, or significantly lesser hardware and resistive touchscreens.  And they often times have a poorer user experience. So I encourage the vendor's to do what they need to help drive the price down.  This can only help their sales, the end user's experience, and a means of further extending the Android (or similar) Operating System. And I see a lot of value for these Android devices and only hope that the market for them doesn't crumble around itself to due to over priced and underused devices.

Read the main article at: http://bb875c41.tinylinks.co

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Acer Iconia a100 has been released?!

As reported from Android Police, the new Acer Iconia a100 has is now available in North America.  That's all good and well.  At least until I looked through the specs for the device.  Seriously Acer, roll out Honeycomb 3.2 on your newest device and let those of us who decided to support your products and get the 10 inch big brother to this device (the a500), just received Honeycomb 3.1?  That's kind of messed up.

With the only hint of Honeycomb 3.2 showing up on the a500 anytime soon is an article over at AndroidCommunity mentioning us a500 users could see the OTA update by the end of August.  Apparently, word on the web is somewhere around August 25th.  It would be nice if the end of next week I was able to report a happy upgrade to 3.2.  However, I wouldn't hold my breath.

Oh well, if you'd like to read more on it see Android Police's article.
And in the meantime, here is a shot of what it looks like:

Happy surfing!

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Acer Iconia Tab a500 Update Complete

So after downloading a hefty 356MB download, and sitting through the install, my a500 is rocking Honeycomb 3.1.  Some apps have been added: Movie Editor, Google Videos, Nook reader to name a few.

I'll get some more hands on with it tonight and tomorrow and then I'll post up a quick review of the update and a couple of the apps.

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Feeling Jilted over NetFlix? There are other choices out there...

I have no problem letting it be known that I was more than a little torqued off about the 60 percent Netflix price hike.  Personally, I have been a NetFlix subscriber for quite some time now.  We only occasionally would rent a physical DVD, and between my wife and I; I was the primary user for the NetFlix streaming through my Wii and PS3 (occasionally through the iPad).  The previous pricing for their subscriptions was nice.  Basically, streaming account with one DVD rental at a time via snail mail for $2 extra.  Bringing it to a $10 cost each month.

Even though we didn't use it that much, it was nice to have when you do want to waste a Saturday afternoon.  Therefore, for the extra $2 bucks a month it wasn't worth my trouble to change my account to a streaming only setup.  However, now that the price has basically rocketed up from $10 to $16 ($15.98 to be spot on).  I'm re-evaluating our options.  So, I figured I'd make my thoughts public in this post.  This is me 'think out loud' about our current streaming/DVD options.

For DVD Rentals:
RedBox is a pretty prominent offering here in my area.  It's nice because you can reserve and hold movies for pickup. And their kiosks are everywhere in this area.  So going out of the way to return a DVD isn't a problem, and I have a couple kiosks closer that the post office is (where I'd normally return my NetFlix DVD's).

If RedBox doesn't have what we are looking for, there is a really good video store about 5 minutes from the house.  Their selection is huge, and they are one of 2 or 3 rental stores still left in our county.  They have movies ranging from the newest stuff to really old (and even some VHS for VCR lovers out there).

And the chances of us adapting to this method for DVD/BluRay rentals is a nonexistent problem, because we have been using these two sources all along.  So we'll continue doing this.

For Streaming:
This is where it gets a little messy.  I like to stream video from the web.  It's just simple to do it.  Find a good site with a nice offering of shows to stream and I'll have a blast.  At least until I watch most of their catalog that strikes my interest or until they quite updating it.  Currently, my streaming options include Crackle.com, Hulu.com, and OVG Guide for searching for shows to stream.

These are all nice offerings, but Crackle is very limited.  And Hulu has a good selection, but I'm not sure if it's worth the $8 a month for a Hulu Plus account.  I liked the fact that with NetFlix Streaming I could watch all of the old Doctor Who episodes.  And I've yet to find a different source for those.  But not a deal breaker for me.

My wife has a smartphone, and I have an iPod Touch, access to an iPad, a PS3, and my android tablet.  Which supposedly all have access to Hulu Plus except for my android tablet (as of this writing).  And I know my wife would use it to watch more current shows than she could find on NetFlix streaming.

I know there are other options, but I may ended up rolling through the free week trial of HuluPlus and seeing what they have to offer as far as selection goes.  Watching ads isn't a big deal to me, especially since I won't be living and breathing on their website all the time.  My other options include: video rental on my Xbox 360 and PS3.  I'm not a big fan of how Apple has setup their Apple TV offerings, so I'll be staying away from that option as well.

Other alternatives if you're shopping around too:
Green Cine: a mail order service much like the NetFlix DVD service starting at $9.99 a month.  I don't know much else about this service.  But here you go. http://www.greencine.com/main

Mspot Movies: they work off of a club or credit style service.  And you can rent digital movies starting at $1.99 and going up to about $4 to $5.  Not bad for the occasional rental, but could get pretty costly with prolonged use.  They do have a Rental Club you can join as well. http://www.mspotmovies.com/

And of source Blockbuster has a mail order style service and some On Demand stuff, as well. 1 Disk at a time will cost you $9.99 a month and 2 at a time will set you back $14.99 a month.

And Amazon has an offering now as well that is pretty limited but is likely to grow: http://www.amazon.com/gp/prime which is $79 a year.

So if you know of any other legitimate sites that can act as a NetFlix replacement, drop us a line in the comments section and let us know!

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Acer Iconia Tablet a500 Update Woes... UPDATE

At 11:00pm eastern standard time, still no update.

Did find a blog that rumored Acer estimates the Honeycomb 3.1 update to not be completely rolled out until sometime in August.  I'm not sure of the credibility of the blog, but I hope that isn't so...

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Acer Iconia Tablet a500 Update Woes...

A quick update on my issues with receiving the Honeycomb 3.1 update after selecting "Remind Me Later" in the notification dialog box that popped up on my tablet.

As of 1:00am on Wed. 7-13-2011: Performed numerous manual checks throughout the day and evening.  Still no update available.

Per my live chat dialog from yesterday, the Acer Representative I chatted with told me to not be surprised if the update rolls out to my device "either tomorrow or the next day".  Well, looks like "the next day" just started. We shall see if by the days end I have been prompted to download the update.

I'll report back later.

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Acer Tech Support

Last week Acer rolled out the update to Honeycomb 3.1 for my Acer Iconia Tab a500 (which is an awesome tablet btw).  On Tuesday of last week, I was thrilled to see that the notification for that an update was ready for download had popped up on my tablet's screen.  However, I wasn't at home and my battery was running low, so I checked the 'Remind Me Later' option.  All the while keeping my hopes up that I would be able to come back and manually check for the update which at that point would proceed to download and make me a happy customer...  In my opinion (and my gut feeling) is that if you choose 'remind me later' to an update, this should still keep it available for you to download.  Apparently, this is not the case.  By selecting 'Remind Me Later' you essentially push yourself back in the line.  Not fair.

Almost a week later to the day and my tablet has yet to notify me for the update again.  By following these instructions, I can manually force the tablet to go out and see if there is an update ready:
1- Tap the top right of the home screen where it is says 'Apps'.
2- Find the 'Settings' icon and tap it.
3- In the 'Settings' Menu look towards the bottom of the list to 'About Tablet' and tap it.
4- In the 'About Tablet' menu tap on 'System Updates' and hit 'Check Now' in the box that pops up.

Doing this just says 'Your device is up to date.'  Checking the Android version I am running gives me: Android 3.0.1.  So I know it's not magically updated itself.  All the while I have made sure the 'Automatically Check for System Updates' is checked.  Still no go.

So, upon snooping around a Acer community forum, I found a post that suggested user's who couldn't update to contact Acer and have them roll out the update to your Serial Number.  I figured what could it hurt to give that a try?  So I did.  And here is the result.

Early Sunday morning (7-10-11) I contacted Acer via Live Chat.  The representative I was chatting with definitely didn't help out any.  After describing what I have done, the rep. had me do the same manual check and it did the same thing (no update found, device is updated message).  Then their next post said: 'You'll just have to wait for it to automatically appear on your device'.  So I proceeded to inquire as to how long I should wait (a few days, a week, a month?).

They responded by letting me know that my tablet wasn't an Acer product.  Which I responded by saying: "You mean the Acer Iconia Tab a500 that I'm using right now is not an Acer made/supported product?" and the rep responded promptly with a big 'No'.  And they proceed to 'inform' me that what they meant was Honeycomb is not an Acer software.  It is developed by Google.  Surprise!  We already know that.

My response was that of much disappointment with something in the realm of: "I understand that, but doesn't Acer prep the version of Honeycomb for their products and roll it out themselves?".  This question was left unanswered and I was told that Google handles all of that (which we know isn't true).  It's up to the manufacturers of said device to offer the updates to the software on said device.

At this point I was defeated, and abruptly ended the chat session with a calm: "thank you.  goodbye."  And it was clear I'd be getting no help from this person.  So I decided to let it set for a day or so and check it again, and attempt to contact Acer one more time.

The second attempt for gainful support was well met.  The rep I spoke with today in Live Chat was very courteous and helpful.  They still weren't able to help me get the update (as the forum post from earlier mentioned).  But the way they handled the customer service end of the chat was professional.  Apparently, I have to wait until the next update 'schedule' begins to roll out.  When I asked if they could ballpark a guess as to when the next  'schedule' would be released, the couldn't give me even a guess.  Other than, it should show up 'within the next day or day after'.  See below for the chat transcript (sans names and serial numbers):

I completely understand that Android user's everywhere are experiencing similar issues when it comes to wanting/needing for one reason or another the updates to their devices.  I just think it's not fair for Acer to basically say: "Ooo, here is your shiny new update, take it now."  and if you don't "Well, you'll get it when you get it.".  That's not a good way to handle your customers.  And this is another way that Android is fragmented.  Maybe by the time Ice Cream is released some this crap will be a thing of the past.  Android is an awesome mobile operating system and is being run on top notch hardware.  And it slated to become (if not already) one of the top market leaders in the mobile market.  So it deserves better than what we are getting (speaking to the hardware vendors out there).  And this is one of the very reasons people ROOT their devices.  Just saying.

Does this change my mind about my Iconia a500?  Not a chance, it's still a rock solid device and I love it.  Does this shadow my opinion of Acer (for which we own other products by), yes it does.

Enough of my rant.  If/when I get Honeycomb 3.1 on my tab I'll give a review once I've explored it.  Until then, happy surfing!

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Got my Android Tablet!

Well, this past Thursday I finally bought an Android Tablet.  I chose the Acer Iconia A500.  Best Buy currently carries the A500 for $449.99 U.S.  It rocks the Android 3.0 'Honeycomb' out of the box.  And let me say, it is pretty freakin' sweet.

This isn't a comprehensive review by any means, but I'll quickly hit the highlights.  This tablet is sporting a NVIDIA Tegra 2 Dual Core mobile processor and 1GB DDR2 memory.  The A500 is a wifi only tablet, so no need to add it to your mobile carrier's data plan.  With public wifi being so readily available these days here in my area I don't have much of a need for a 3G connection at this time (this is subject to change).  This device also offers Bluetooth, A-GPS, 802.11 b/g/n WLAN, HDMI, Dual Speakers (with Dolby), MicroSD card slot, 16GB of internal storage, front facing and rear facing cameras.

The unit is slick to use and very impressive.  A lot of people have mentioned on other sites that this tablet is pretty heavy.  Personally, I don't have a bit of an issue with it's weight.  I had noticed that the battery life seemed to dwindle down fairly quickly.  After doing a little snooping around the devices settings menu I found the 'Battery Use' sub-menu which pointed to the 'Cell Standby' process as using a lot of my expended battery power.  After a few minutes of snooping around forums online, I found the simplest fix that has worked for me (without downloading an app from the Google Market).

I simply put the device in 'Airplane' mode and leave it in airplane mode while then activating the Wifi connection.  Wifi will stay turned on and the device will remain in airplane mode as well.  After doing this I have noticed a huge difference in battery life for the better.

The only other issue I have is voice chat is pretty limited at this time.  My wife has an HTC Evo 4G and occasionally  we'll use something like Yahoo IM to do a video chat from my PC to her Evo.  Which works great.  Right now due to limitations on the Evo (running Froyo) Google Talk's videochat is non-existant.  Supposedly the Evo is in line a the update for Gingerbread later in June which should alleviate this issue.  Honeycomb optimized apps are at a premium right now due to the fact that there just aren't that many apps optimized for Honeycomb.  However, most of the other apps I have tried have worked flawlessly.

Now that I am getting pretty familiar with Honeycomb, look for a few reviews to show up pretty soon.  Right now I am playing through Cordy, and have several other games in mind too.  So check back soon.

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