Tablet comparison

Today we’ll be looking more closely at two Honeycomb slates: the Acer Iconia A100 and the Sony Tablet P. What can these two slates do and are they worth your hard-earned cash? If you want to find out more about their specs and features, head on past the break, where we’ll discuss in greater detail all of their main characteristics.

What first strikes you when looking at a tablet is its design. In this case, the one which stands out is the Sony Tablet P, because it features a clamshell design, with dual screens which can be folded, providing a pocketable size. Its unique form-factor is all we know for now, because the weight or dimensions of the slate haven’t been announced yet. It will be available in black. On the other side, we have the Acer Iconia Tab A100, which is a classic 7-inch tablet, weighing 470 grams and having a thickness of 13.1 mm, available in a Silver color. The pocketable design of the Sony Tablet P makes it more portable, but we’ll have to wait for its exact dimensions to be revealed so we can know for sure.

The display is another crucial element. There’s the Sony Tablet P with 5.5-inch dual displays, each having a resolution of 1024 x 480 pixels and 16 million colors. It also includes an accelerometer for auto-rotate and a proximity sensor. The Acer Iconia Tab A100 features a 7-inch LCD capacitive touchscreen with a resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels, with integrated light sensor, gyro sensor, accelerometer, and proximity sensor.

Next we’ll take a look at their cameras. For now, we only know that the Sony Tablet P will feature a still camera with video capture capability, while the Acer Iconia Tab A100 comes with a 5MP rear-facing camera (2592 x 1944 pixels), with LED flash and auto-focus, and a secondary 2MP (1600 x 1200 pixels) shooter up front for video calling. It also supports video recording.

In terms of connectivity, we see that the Sony Tablet P will feature GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA, and HSUPA connectivity, Bluetooth 2.1, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, GPS, 3G, and a 3.5mm headphone jack, while the Acer Iconia Tab A100 comes with GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA, HSUPA, Bluetooth 2.1, WiFi, 3G, and A-GPS as well as a HDMI port and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

What about their processors? The Acer Iconia Tab A100 operates on a 1GHz Nvidia Tegra 2 dual-core processor, with 512MB of RAM, and integrates an Nvidia GeForce GPU. The Sony Tablet P will also feature an Nvidia Tegra 2 dual-core processor.

In the internal storage category, there is no relevant information for the Sony Tablet P, but the Acer Iconia Tab A100 comes with 8GB of internal memory, plus a microSD card slot for extra memory (up to 32GB). There’s still no word on pricing for the Sony Tablet P, but it’s scheduled for release this fall. The Acer Iconia Tab A100 sells for $350 without contract.

Finally, let’s also take a look at their software and apps. The Sony Tablet P will come with Android Honeycomb 3.0 on board, it will be PlayStation Certified, and include the following apps: Google Maps, G-Talk, Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, and many more will be available through the Android Market. The Acer Iconia Tab A100 also comes installed with the Honeycomb 3.0 software, it has access to the Android Market and includes apps such as Google Maps, G-Mail, G-Talk, Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, Socialjogger. Both tablets support Adobe Flash 10.1.

Wrap-up

Although we don’t know all the details about the newcoming Sony Tablet P, it looks like it’s going to be a great new device, with a stylish look and extra portability. If it is priced reasonably, then it should become a real competitor for other well-known tablets. The Acer Iconia Tab A100 is a good mid-range tablet itself, and at $350 free of contract, it’s certainly one to consider if you’re seeking an affordable, viable Honeycomb slate.