Acer Iconia Tab A100 launching end of April

Motorola Xoom, Acer W500 and Asus Eee Pad Transformer all on the horizon

Acer has brought forward the launch of its 7in Iconia Tab A100 device to the end of April.

Business users looking to purchase a budget tablet may find the A100 an enticing option, as the device is set to be one of the cheapest Honeycomb tablets on the market with a launch price of £300.

Specifications of the A100 also look promising. The 7in display comes with a 1,024 x 600 resolution, and the tablet is powered by a 1GHz Tegra 250 dual-core processor.

Acer has included 8GB of storage, micro-SD and HDMI support, together with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and HSPA connectivity.

The device is equipped with a rear-facing 5-megapixel camera and a front-facing 2-megapixel camera, and weighs 470g. Acer quotes up to five hours of video playback.

However, the A100 could be overshadowed by other tablets such as the Acer Iconia W500, Motorola Xoom and Asus Eee Pad Transfomer that are due to hit the shops this week.

Business users are likely to be attracted to the Acer Iconia Tab W500, which runs Windows 7 and is designed to replicate the experience of a netbook.

The 970g device is powered by a 1GHz dual-core C-50 processor together with 2GB of DDR3 RAM, and will ship with a 32GB SSD. The tablet will also be able to slot into a companion keyboard, effectively turning it into a portable PC.

Key features include a 10.1in LED backlit touch screen, which has a resolution of 1,280 x 800. The W500 also supports full HD 1080p video playback.

Support for Adobe Flash 10.1, Adobe Reader 9.1, Bing and Microsoft Starter 2010 is included, and USB, HDMI and Ethernet ports, together with a two-in-one card reader are built into the chassis.

Pricing for the Wi-Fi-only model has been set at £449.99.

Acer Iconia Tab A100 launching end of April

Motorola Xoom, Acer W500 and Asus Eee Pad Transformer all on the horizon

The Motorola Xoom, meanwhile, is likely to tempt early adopters as it will be one of the first premium 10in tablets to run the Android Honeycomb OS.

Key specifications include a 10.1in HD wide screen with a resolution of 1,280 x 800. The tablet is powered by an Nvidia Tegra 2 1GHz dual-core processor together with 1GB of RAM.

Other features include a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera, 2-megapixel front-facing camera, 32GB of internal storage, micro-SD card support and HDMI output.

Connectivity-wise the device comes with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and 3G connectivity is optional.

The Xoom was launched in the US without Flash support and, although it is believed that this has been added in time for the UK launch, Motorola has yet to confirm this.

A SIM-free 3G model version priced at £599 in available to pre-order from Carphone Warehouse, and a Wi-Fi model is available from PC World for £499.

Finally, the Asus Eee Pad Transfomer will aim to provide an alternative to the W500 and Xoom by offering the Android Honeycomb experience with a detachable keyboard.

The keyboard is the same size as those found on 10in netbooks, and the Transformer features a trackpad, additional battery, two USB 2.0 ports, mini-HDMI output and an SD card reader.

An Nvidia Tegra 2 1GHz dual-core processor will power the device together with 1GB of DDR2 RAM. Users will be able to choose 16GB or 32GB of SSD storage. The display will also incorporate a micro-SD card slot into its chassis.

A rear-facing 5-megapixel camera and front-facing 3-megapixel camera have also been incorporated into the device. This will make for a better video calling experience than on the iPad 2.

Business users will benefit from the Polaris Office 3 productivity suite that supports Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents. A PDF reader will also be included.

The Transformer is due out on 6 April starting at £379 for a 16GB Wi-Fi device. This will rise to £429 for the 16GB and keyboard bundle.