ICS on new A500. Should I???

[brian1984]

so i just bought this tablet and im waiting for it in the next couple of days...
i was reading since then this forum and saw that most of you didnt like the update cause it brings a lot of problems...
If Im not wrong this is an Acer supported update so i would updated from the beginning with no doubts...
but after reading all this complains i have my doubts and i dont want to regret an early update...
what would you do???
i should play an with stock os and install things to check how it works for me
or just go to straight update before messing around with the tablet?

 

[excav8ter]

I had a few problems with mine after the update, but after a reset, it runs great! All I had to do, is reinstall my apps. I would say it was worth it.

 

[Mrhelper]

I agree with excav8ter that the ICS update was worth it for me, but that's partly because I'm willing to overlook some of the problems in trade for some of the improvements. If it were me just getting a new a500, I would not update quite yet, at least until after Acer issues another update for ICS, which is likely already in the works. Here is why I would wait if getting a new tablet:

• Honeycomb is naturally more stable at this point, because it has had more time to settle and have bugs resolved.
• Many more apps have been soaked by many more users on Honeycomb, so you are less likely to see problems with apps on Honeycomb at this point in time.
• some popular apps that worked well with Honeycomb do not yet work at all on the a500 with ICS -- e.g., Sims Free play. It seems possible that the opposite may be true in some cases, but I have not seen evidence of this.
• some of the problems being seen by users of ICS on the a500 mimic hardware issues. This could be very confusing on a new tablet. It's always better to test new hardware on a more stable OS, so you can decide whether or not a problem is caused by hardware or software, and determine if you just need a replacement unit.

If in your position, I would defer the a500 system ICS update at this point. Honeycomb is an excellent and very stable OS for the a500, and is more likely to provide a better experience for new a500 users at this point in time. The differences in functionality between Honeycomb and ICS are just not that vast, and you will probably like your a500 better if you start with Honeycomb.

You can then save the ice cream sandwich treat for desert, after you know your hardware is sound, and after the ICS build for a500 has been made more stable by Acer.

You can skip/cancel the update to ICS while you are going through the initial setup. You will be asked immediately after connecting to your wifi network, where I recall that you can select cancel. I suggest you then go to Settings -> About Tablet -> System Update, and uncheck the box there. I would then check back in this forum or others periodically/patiently for announcements about a subsequent ICS update from Acer before initiating/accepting a system update.

 

[mtollin]

Zero issues, love it. I think most issues people are having is if they rooted prior, or are running a program that isn't updated for ICS yet.

 

[Bridey]

I was in almost the same boat, I'd just gotten my A500 right before ICS came out. I decided to wait. Honeycomb seems just fine What I wanted you to be aware of was that I got one Honeycomb update prior to the ICS one. So when you get the prompt to update you will probably want to do that one too so you are running the most current version on Honeycomb, which will say 3.something and ICS is 4.something. You may already know that or yours might try to skip ahead to ICS bipassing the Honneycome update I got.

 

[ebookof]

My advice: Wait that the issues with ICS are solved. ICS does not bring that many new features, and it's not worth getting aggravated with a tablet that becomes almost useless.

 

[dbldipp]

Guess I'm in the minority here. I've had a the greatest tablet known to man since this tablet was first releast to the publec. I bought the first one available in Columbus , Oh. It has been great! After the 3.1 update alot of us had problems with the wifi and each machine responded to that update differently. Got mine back on track with some patients and a bit of hair pulling. After the 3.2 update it made the tablet even better. It could read ntfs files and all files could be sean on your PC. all kinds of good stuff with the 3.2 ( it was the 4.000+ update if you looked at your system info). Then came the ICS, once again, each machine reacted differently. Mine became and unstable brick. I use my machine mainly for mapping, I'm a truck driver and do depend on it to find my way. ICS killed my mapping software and made my machine totally unusaeble.
I was frustrated so I figured I'd do the factory reset... Wonder of wonders... Made a new machine out of it. Fixed prety much all the bugs. More stable than Gingerbread was even.
So if you have a new machine and are wondering if you should do the update, I say GO FOR IT! After the update do a factory reset. What it does with the factory reset is like doing a clean install of windows on your PC. There are lots of Apps that just don't work with ICS and who knows if or when they will. So do the update now before you add a bunch of stuff that won't get along with ICS

 

[brian1984]

Guess I'm in the minority here. I've had a the greatest tablet known to man since this tablet was first releast to the publec. I bought the first one available in Columbus , Oh. It has been great! After the 3.1 update alot of us had problems with the wifi and each machine responded to that update differently. Got mine back on track with some patients and a bit of hair pulling. After the 3.2 update it made the tablet even better. It could read ntfs files and all files could be sean on your PC. all kinds of good stuff with the 3.2 ( it was the 4.000+ update if you looked at your system info). Then came the ICS, once again, each machine reacted differently. Mine became and unstable brick. I use my machine mainly for mapping, I'm a truck driver and do depend on it to find my way. ICS killed my mapping software and made my machine totally unusaeble.
I was frustrated so I figured I'd do the factory reset... Wonder of wonders... Made a new machine out of it. Fixed prety much all the bugs. More stable than Gingerbread was even.
So if you have a new machine and are wondering if you should do the update, I say GO FOR IT! After the update do a factory reset. What it does with the factory reset is like doing a clean install of windows on your PC. There are lots of Apps that just don't work with ICS and who knows if or when they will. So do the update now before you add a bunch of stuff that won't get along with ICS

Im satarting to think that all the ppl that had problems with the tablet in ICS was becouse you had apps that were messing with the OS...anyway Im still very unsure what I gonna do.. I think I ll get it tomorrow..
we ll see.

 

[excav8ter]

@brian1984: you will probably hear more bad than good about ICS. But that's what internet forums are like. People are (in general) quicker to come to forum and complain, than to applaud a product. I would go a head and do the ICS update, I don't have a ton of apps on my a500, but I do need it to work for me. I did the update with out a second thought. I did had to do a complete reset, and reload a few apps. My biggest concern was being able use Quick books. It works fine, and the Gmail is better too.

Ben

 

[AntimonyER]

The app theory is extremely plausible, especially with tablet apps, which still do not have the support that phone apps do. I haven't had an issue with any of my apps on ICS on my Nexus, but also I started out with ICS on that one. I will almost certainly be doing a factory reset when I finally get the ICS update pushed to me.

 

[Xphyle]

ICS for the WIN. No problems. STABLE. Better wifi range. Don't wait, just GET IT. Nuff said.

 

[Mrhelper]

Im satarting to think that all the ppl that had problems with the tablet in ICS was becouse you had apps that were messing with the OS...anyway Im still very unsure what I gonna do.. I think I ll get it tomorrow..
we ll see.

It's hard to argue with folks who suggest that you update to ICS, but you should remember that they have had time to prove in their hardware on honeycomb first. You should give yourself the same opportunity that we have had. Again, I agree with Ben (excav8tor) and others that there are some improvements in ICS, but again not that significant overall relative to Honeycomb to justify the risk for a new tablet. E.g., seeing a bug and not knowing if it is hardware (warranty replace) or ICS (wait for fix). I also agree (and have written elsewhere) that you tend to hear mostly complaints on the internet, and less praise.

Keep in mind though that even paranoids have real enemies, and complainers sometimes find real bugs. There _are_ some problems... at least one big one that I have observed anyway, and it is very significant if you encounter it. You should read this post if you still have doubts about waiting a little while at this point:
http://androidforums.com/acer-iconi...veral-a500-ics-related-symptoms-problems.html

There is no list available of the apps that trigger this ICS bug, so the level of stability you will see with this first release of ICS on the a500 is essentially a gamble which can be either greater or less based on your taste in apps, your behavior, and even your luck.

Folks like Ben and I who are having fewer problems have apparently been more selective in our choices than some (partly due to luck), and may not run as many apps as do others, some of which are apparently ready to send in their tablets for repair because of this.

Relax, be patient, try everything on your tablet to first verify your hardware is good on Honeycomb. You will not be disappointed. You can then sit back and watch the ICS fireworks over the next few weeks, and enjoy one of the best tablets on the market while doing so. You can always change your mind and get ICS at any time. It is comparably difficult and riskier to roll back to Honeycomb if you later decide you would rather wait.

You have nothing to lose by staying on Honeycomb for a few days or weeks while you assess your new tablet. If you're like me, you will neglect your poor old notebook PC and want to use the tablet for everything you can. It is so convenient.

 

[brian1984]

It's hard to argue with folks who suggest that you update to ICS, but you should remember that they have had time to prove in their hardware on honeycomb first. You should give yourself the same opportunity that we have had. Again, I agree with Ben (excav8tor) and others that there are some improvements in ICS, but again not that significant overall relative to Honeycomb to justify the risk for a new tablet. E.g., seeing a bug and not knowing if it is hardware (warranty replace) or ICS (wait for fix). I also agree (and have written elsewhere) that you tend to hear mostly complaints on the internet, and less praise.

Keep in mind though that even paranoids have real enemies, and complainers sometimes find real bugs. There _are_ some problems... at least one big one that I have observed anyway, and it is very significant if you encounter it. You should read this post if you still have doubts about waiting a little while at this point:
http://androidforums.com/acer-iconi...veral-a500-ics-related-symptoms-problems.html

There is no list available of the apps that trigger this ICS bug, so the level of stability you will see with this first release of ICS on the a500 is essentially a gamble which can be either greater or less based on your taste in apps, your behavior, and even your luck.

Folks like Ben and I who are having fewer problems have apparently been more selective in our choices than some (partly due to luck), and may not run as many apps as do others, some of which are apparently ready to send in their tablets for repair because of this.

Relax, be patient, try everything on your tablet to first verify your hardware is good on Honeycomb. You will not be disappointed. You can then sit back and watch the ICS fireworks over the next few weeks, and enjoy one of the best tablets on the market while doing so. You can always change your mind and get ICS at any time. It is comparably difficult and riskier to roll back to Honeycomb if you later decide you would rather wait.

You have nothing to lose by staying on Honeycomb for a few days or weeks while you assess your new tablet. If you're like me, you will neglect your poor old notebook PC and want to use the tablet for everything you can. It is so convenient.

i just got the table. i made just one update.. im running on 3.1
next update its like 300MB so i guess thats ICS right?
i wont do it for now..
the only problem is that i dont want to install ICS and then make a factory reset...
so far everything works fine in this tablet i like it the way it is

 

[dbldipp]

You definately want the 3.2 update! It's the next one before 4.0. It makes your machine run circles around everything out there. It allows you to view all your files on your PC should you desire to. With 3.1 you can only see the folders and not the actual files. Also the 3.2 update allows you to see external HDs of any size even if they are formated in NTFS, you can't do that on 3.1. There are lots of good things included in 3.2. God ahead and wait on the 4.0 but you won't be sorry you did the 3.2 update.

 

[brian1984]

You definately want the 3.2 update! It's the next one before 4.0. It makes your machine run circles around everything out there. It allows you to view all your files on your PC should you desire to. With 3.1 you can only see the folders and not the actual files. Also the 3.2 update allows you to see external HDs of any size even if they are formated in NTFS, you can't do that on 3.1. There are lots of good things included in 3.2. God ahead and wait on the 4.0 but you won't be sorry you did the 3.2 update.

i also notice that on 3.1 some apps were crashing and i ve been using only for one hour..
astro crash few times also maps and if im not wrong android market crashed..
im going to 3.2 now.

 

[brian1984]

i also notice that on 3.1 some apps were crashing and i ve been using only for one hour..
astro crash few times also maps and if im not wrong android market crashed..
im going to 3.2 now.

ok I m on 3.2 and there is one more update available.. how can i know when is the ICS update so i stop updating
or is this another update for HC??

 

[Mrhelper]

When you manually check for the update, it will show the Image name.

If the image name is Acer_A500_041.203.01_COM_GEN1, then that is ICS.

There was also some extra information in the screen noting that you would have to manually load Acer Sync, Adobe Flash, and maybe Kobo.

3.2.1 is the most current Honeycomb version

 

[dbldipp]

If you've made it to the 3.2 I'd say stay there for now, till you get the hang of using the tablet and the little quirks. Each machine seems to have a personality of it's own and each table acts differently to the ICS undate. Get to know your tablet and then maybe they will have a chance to wqork out the gremlins. Enjoy your tablet, you got the best tablet out on the market.

 

[splatoid]

I'm running ICS v4.0.3 on A 2.6.39.4+ kernel build and my tablet runs better than I have ever had it run. I'm using Flexreaper-R14 ICS 1.033.00/1.031.00 After flashing the kernel to to the ICS bootloader it has made my tablet run smoother than it ever has.I have had this tablet rooted almost from day one and It is quite stable. It has never caused me any problems except when I flashed a beta of ICS real early on and Thought I bricked it but I was able to recover.

 

[brian1984]

ok im on 3.2.1
everything seems almost fine..
maps always crash within first 5 minutes i open the app but after it seems to work fine...
just to make sure
it says android version 3.2.1
Build number Acer_A500_7.0.014.02_COM_GEN2

and i did all updates manually
i just checked for another update and it says that there are no more updates...
Am I on ICS or what???
If I m not wrong ICS supposed to be 4.0 right?? so what?? they removed the ICS update??? or the ICS is not official or has to be installed in different way.

 

[RMinMN]

No, you are not on ICS, you are on Honeycomb, version 3.2.1 There isn't anything inherently wrong with that but eventually you will likely want to get the upgrade to ICS. Acer has apparently been doing a rolling upgrade where they don't just put it out for everyone and hope the server doesn't crash. Your turn will likely come. If not there is a way to manually update.

 

[brian1984]

No, you are not on ICS, you are on Honeycomb, version 3.2.1 There isn't anything inherently wrong with that but eventually you will likely want to get the upgrade to ICS. Acer has apparently been doing a rolling upgrade where they don't just put it out for everyone and hope the server doesn't crash. Your turn will likely come. If not there is a way to manually update.

thats fine after reading about all the problems i wouldnt updated right away...
i ll wait till its safe to update.
But i didnt understand why it didnt give me the option to update..
thanks to let me know how it works..

 

[dbldipp]

It just might not be available to you in your area yet. In time it will offer you the ICS, stay put with what you have for now and enjoy!