Acer will launch two Honeycomb tablets in April

HONEYCOMB TABLETS from Acer are due to arrive in the UK in April, the Taiwanese manufacturer said it will confirm in the last week of January.

The company said last November that it would wait for Google's Android 3.0 Honeycomb operating system before releasing tablets. Honeycomb arrived at the Consumer Electronics Show and, while Acer announced the 10.1-inch Iconia tab A500 for the US only, it didn't specify which Android OS it will use.

In the last week of January the UK will find out about the two Acer Honeycomb tablets that are coming to Blighty. But The INQUIRER has some details already. They will have 10-inch and 7-inch displays and Acer told The INQUIRER, "the tablets will be launched with Honeycomb in April."

The 10.1-inch Android tablet has a capacitive 10-point multitouch screen, a gyroscope, an HDMI port that is able to output HD 1080p, WiFi, 3G, an aluminium casing with engraved patterns and it is 13.3mm thick. No name for it has been released.

The 7-inch tablet is also unnamed and it has an unspecified dual core processor with Flash 10.1 support, a 1280x800 16:10 aspect ratio touchscreen, a front-facing HD camera, an HDMI port, Dolby Mobile Technology. WiFi, 3G and DLNA support for multimedia sharing.

The company had presented an Android tablet in May 2010. However the company deferred to Honeycomb, probably because Android 1.6 through to 2.4 are designed for smartphones not tablets.

Because of this many of the tablets with Android that do not have phone functionality are unable to use Google's Android Marketplace. As such the manufacturers have had to create their own app stores.

Acer has also been considering using the Nokia and Intel created Meego, and expects to announce such a device in the second half of this year. A 10-inch Windows tablet will also be unveiled at the Android briefing and will be launched in the UK next month. µ