How crazy-good are tablet deals getting? So good that I couldn't even wait for "Tablet Tuesday."
Today only, and while supplies last, 1SaleADay has the refurbished Acer Iconia Tab A200 10-inch Android tablet for $159.99, plus $4.99 for shipping. That's without a doubt one of the lowest prices I've seen on a name-brand 10-inch tablet.
The A200 is the slightly downgraded version of the A500. It comes with a 1,280x800-pixel screen, 8GB of storage (easily expandable via dirt-cheap microSD cards), a front-facing camera, Bluetooth, GPS, and Android 3.2 (which you can easily bump to Android 4.0, aka Ice Cream Sandwich, via an over-the-air update).
So, what doesn't the A200 have that the A500 does? Two key items: an HDMI output and a rear-facing camera. Personally, I can live without both, though obviously they might be deal breakers for some.
On the plus side, the A200 offers nicely rounded corners, a wonderfully grippy backside, and a slightly lighter design (though still pretty hefty at 1.56 pounds).
CNET rated the A200 three stars, bemoaning those aforementioned missing features. However, that was back in February, when the tablet was selling for $330 (!). At today's price, it's a lot easier to forgive those omissions, especially when you consider that popular 7-inch tablets (like the Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet) have no HDMI output and no cameras at all -- and sell for $199.
So once again I have to pose the question, "What's the best screen size for a tablet?" I mean, when you take price out of the equation, which you can now do, what's your preference: 7-inch or 10-inch? Personally, I think it's worth owning both.
Acer backs the refurbished A200 with a 90-day warranty. That's really the only downside to this otherwise stellar deal. Let me know if you're planning to jump on it.
Bonus deal: Need more HDMI ports? Ice Monkey once again has the Kinivo five-port HDMI switch for $24.99 shipped. (It's $39 at Amazon, where it has a 4.5-star rating.) The switch turns one HDMI port into five, autoswitches to the active input, and comes with an IR remote.
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