[Q] In the market for a new tablet: A100 or HTC Flyer?

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Hello there Long time lurker here, usually I don't bother posting unless I can't find the answer anywhere else (and this happens to be that kind of situation), so I'm here asking for help deciding.

Anyway, I'm in the market for a new tablet (strongly prefer a 7 incher, the portability of it is a huge selling point for me). I've had for a few months a COBY 7 inch tablet, and while the form factor is really great, I want something newer, shinier, and better And so I'm stuck choosing between the HTC Flyer and the Acer Iconia A100 (The Viewpad 7x looks nice, but too expensive and the Thrive 7" comes too late for me, I want to order on Black Friday), so if you guys could fill in with your thoughts on the following subjects (would like to hear from owners of both camps), it'd be great to help me decide!

Display quality: Which one has the better picture quality/more responsive? Do I need a screen protector (i.e. no Gorilla Glass)?

Performance: Which performs better in your experience? I'm having the worst time choosing between a faster single core and a slightly slower dual core.

Battery Life: From what I read, the A100 is pretty mediocre here (under 5 hours). But I'd like to hear your thoughts anyway.

Mod-ability: I read that the Flyer has an HC ROM out, but is it rather difficult to install? I'm by no means an extremely advanced user on Android, but I know my way around tech, like to experiment, and with sufficiently detailed instructions I can get by fine.

Although the difference in price is about $20-30 atm, I would also need to get an MHL adapter for the flyer, so for all intents and purposes you can consider the prices to be the same. Which should I choose?

http://www.tabletvstablet.com/2011/0...r-evo-view-4g/

That article states the Acer's RAM as 512 MB, while we all know it's 1 GB. And the weight is not 470g, more like 410g, 0.92 lbs.

Lisa Gade ( http://www.mobiletechreview.com/tablets/HTC-Flyer.htm) suggested that the single-core CPU will hinder the Flyer's performance if it is ever upgraded to Honeycomb and beyond, which she doubts. Lisa also said the Flyer won't play 1080p video at all.

It doesn't look like the Flyer has any flash with its rear camera - not sure of that.

The Flyer does have 16GB of internal card storage, compared to the A100's 8GB.

I added a matte screen protector that reduces reflections and fingerprints, as well as preventing scratches.

The one factor that drags the A100 down is the battery life. With only 3060 mAh, 5 hours with WiFi on is typical.

I too would be hard -pressed to choose between Acer and HTC at nearly equal prices. I would want to be sure that the Flyer will be upgradeable to Android 3 and 4, though.

HTH.

So wait.... the A100 actually has 1GB of RAM? (on the Acer website the description says 1GB, but the Detailed Specs say 512MB, so I assumed the lower value as correct), if so, that's excellent news.

Would the battery life be more or at least around 6 hours without WiFi on? I don't tend to use the tablet to check the internet/email that often. (mostly to consume content in the form of books, audio books, comic books, or movies)

Can you recommend any good quality screen protectors? I wouldn't want to risk scratching the screen.

And do you think the Acer would be officially upgradeable to ICS? (Given the current track record of cellphone androids getting even Froyo and Gingerbread in the past year out, I really haven't been expecting much out of future official updates.)

That bit about the 1GB RAM on the A100 really has me steering towards it now.

I am in the same boat. I wanted a flyer but best buy was out of stock so I got the a100. So far I love the speed. I am a little disappointed with the battery life. It lasts me throughout the day, but I have to remember to charge it every night. With my ipad2 it would last me 2-3 days before charging. I tend to forget to charge every night so its nice to have the longer battery. The flyer is estimated at 9hrs. The flyer is not tegra 2 so there are some cool games you will not get with the flyer that you will get with the a100. I've seen honeycomb on a flyer and it seemed to run fine. The other minus on the a100 is the screen. It is very bright and clear, but to me the viewing angles are terrible. It is not ips and the flyer is so the viewing angle will be better with the flyer. It is a little distracting to me, I have a habbit of tilting the screen slightly when using it and the screen will darken or brighten when doing so. In portrait mode it is worse to me. One last thing is the home button that I keep pressing with my hand causing me to exit applications which is annoying when it happens. Other than those things the a100 is really nice. The build quality is good although not as nice as the flyer. The HDMI port is a nice feature, the sound is great, and it really is fast. They both have their good and bad points, but to me they are pretty much at a tie. If you are not comfortable 'hacking' your flyer to get honeycomb on it I would get the a100. I find honeycomb more enjoyable to use.

Sent from my A100 using Tapatalk

I'm not adverse to flashing a new ROM, but the releases so far seem a WIP rather than a leaked finished product.

I would just like to hear some opinions on what quality screen protectors you would recommend and, perhaps, instructions on how to avoid air pockets when applying them?

http://www.amazon.com/GreatShield-An...=5336612452-20

Just keep away from dust, lint and hair. Don't wear a wool sweater, for example. The GreatShields can be peeled back a bit during installation so if you spot some dust you can remove it.

if you want long life battery, and nice screen, Flyer is better
if you want HoneyComb 3.2, microHDMI, A100 is better

Remember, Flyer cant flash HoneyComb ritenow, dont know for 4.0 and i though the GPU in Tegra2 is better than Quancóm1.5ghx

Alright, I bit the bullet and went to buy it today [Iconia A100]. It's charging now, but as soon as I get some time to fiddle it, I'll give my impressions for anyone in the same spot as I am.

I also received my A100 today, but as I am in office now , I have to wait another 3/4 hours.

I was in the market for a new tablet to replace my rooted Nook Color (currently on eBay). My usage scenarios are pretty simple: Google Reader, Kindle app, browser, status updating, Flash video support, and fast/responsive 7" screen.

There are 8 Best Buy locations in my area, and only 1 with the HTC Flyer in stock. I went to check it out, but couldn't convince myself to spend $300 on a single-core tablet with the holiday season just around the corner. The sales guy remarking the product is 'discontinued' and the ambiguous fate of Honeycomb/ICS for the Flyer also held me back.

So I wandered the store and found the Acer Iconia A100. Only $30 more, smaller, with a Tegra2 dual-core proc and Honeycomb already on board. The choice was easy.

I've had the A100 for 24 hours, set it up with everything I need, and am now digging into the only 2 problems I've discovered:

1. Page margins in the newest Kindle for Android app are HUGE. All features/functions of the app work fine (downloading, syncing, buying, etc). But actually reading a book in portrait mode leaves 3/4" of margin on either side of the text. The Kindle app under CM7 on my Nook Color was terrific. This, not so much. Currently trying older versions of the Kindle app to see if they display differently.

2. Swype reports it is incompatible with the A100 screen-size. Haven't identified possible solutions yet, but might try older versions.

These issues are big ones for me. YMMV.

Happy to answer questions.

digittante