Acer Iconia Tab A100: 7 inches and Android 3.2 Honeycomb

Computer gear maker Acer is expanding its Iconia line of Android tablets with the new Iconia Tab A100, a half-inch thick, 7-inch touchscreen device running Android 3.2 Honeycomb. Acer is betting the 7-inch form factor will be a hit with consumers, families, and moms (who get mentioned no fewer than seven times in Acer’s official press release): the Iconia Tab A100 is big enough for video and doing actual work, but small enough to use comfortably with one hand.

“The Acer Iconia Tab A100 tablet delivers the ultimate combination of portability and performance for fun and gaming as well as staying in touch,” said Acer America’s VP of marketing Sumit Agnihotry, in a statement. “Families are spending more time social networking and enjoying Web-based digital media, so a highly portable tablet like the Acer A100 will let them get more done and stay connected on-the-go to enjoy their lives more fully.”

The Iconia A100 Tab features a 7-inch touchscreen display with a 1,024 by 600 resolution and is powered by a 1 GHz Nvidia Tegra 2 dual-core processor and Nvidia GeForce graphics. The tablets sport 1 GB of RAM, a 5 megapixel rear-facing camera with autofocus and single LED flash (it can handle 720p video capture), along with a front-facing 2 megapixel camera for video chat. Also on board the A100: microSD card removable storage supporting up to 32 GB cards, a microUSB 2.0 port, a micro-HDMI output for pushing video and media to an HDTV, a 3.5mm combination mic/headphone jack and a docking station port, and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR. The Iconia Tab A100s will be available with either 8 or 16 GB of onboard flash storage, and sport 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi connectivity—Acer hasn’t announced any plans for a 3G or 4G option, so Wi-Fi may be as it gets.

Of course, hardware is only part of the story: the Iconia Tab A100 also supports Acer’s clear.fi media sharing technology that enables the tablet to hook in with any other DLNA-enabled device, including Acer’s own clear.fi enabled smartphones, notebooks, and media players. Acer says the tablets should get about five hours of use on a single battery charge—although we’re betting extensive use of the included Adobe Flash 10.3 player might bring that down a bit. The tablets also feature Acer’s Social Jogger, which offers a unified interface for Twitter and Facebook.

The Iconia Tab A100 is available today in the U.S., with the 8 GB edition going for a suggested price of $329.99 and the 16 GB version bumping up to $349.99. Acer also plans to offer a Walmart-exclusive version, and expects the A100 will be available in Canada in September.

Sprint Business Chief: BlackBerry Is Resilient

The glossy brochure that Sprint Nextel is using to publicize Biz 360, its new package of communications services for small businesses, features just one cellphone. That handset, Motorola’s XPRT, appears three times in the 12-page handout. A caption notes that the Android phone boasts “enterprise-class security”, international roaming in more than 200 countries, a physical keyboard and touchscreen and mobile hotspot functionality.

Sprint may be highlighting Android devices like the XPRT to its enterprise customers -- and have a "reinvigorated relationship" with Motorola to sell its high-end smartphones -- but the company says demand remains for BlackBerry phones. That position is notable given the tumult that BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM) has endured in recent months. Even RIM’s unveiling of five new BlackBerrys last week elicited only muted enthusiasm from most industry watchers.

Paget Alves, Sprint's head of business services, is more optimistic about RIM’s fate. The Canadian company still holds about 50% (in terms of operating systems) of the enterprise market, said Alves in an interview. That “pretty substantial” share means “by no stretch is RIM vanishing,” added Alves.

At the same time, Android has become much more appealing to businesses in the past year or so, as Google and its hardware partners, like Motorola and Samsung, have worked to make the operating system more secure and manageable for IT managers. Alves acknowledged those strides but also said that RIM continues to be viewed as a particularly secure operating system by his business clients. The company “still has the dominant security solution for enterprises,” said Alves. “We think it has a resilient business model.”

Alves’ remarks are in line with Sprint’s announcement last week that it would offer two of RIM’s new devices: a revamped BlackBerry Bold and the new, full-touchscreen BlackBerry Torch. Those two phones, which have yet to be priced, will come to Sprint in the September timeframe.

Alves has also been keeping a close eye on business interest in tablets. He said the trend is ramping up “perhaps faster than many people expected,” primarily because companies view tablets as compelling, lower-priced alternatives to laptops. “There can be a cost benefit to letting workers have tablets,” said Alves. With business customers, the “primary catalyst is saving money,” he added.

Sprint currently offers two tablets with cellular plans: Samsung’s Galaxy Tab and HTC’s EVO View 4G. but Alves said the tablet market remains “Wi-Fi centric” for now. He expects that to change once more consumers adopt tablets and grow comfortable toting them around. “The trend will change as users…shift to using tablets in motion,” said Alves.

Like other carriers, Sprint develops its own mobile applications, for both consumers and business customers. So far, Sprint has not created many business-focused apps specifically for tablets but Alves said he expects that to change.