Packard Bell Liberty Tab
| Industry | Computer hardware |
|---|---|
| Founded | August 1, 1976 |
| Headquarters | Taiwan |
| Products | Iconia A500 tablet |
The Acer Iconia A500 tablet, created and distributed by Acer Inc., originally shipped with the Android Honeycomb operating system and has been upgradeable to Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0.3 since April 2012. By mid-2011, the device had surpassed one million units sold, marking a key achievement for Acer in the Android tablet sector. Its design and technical specifications closely resemble those of the Packard Bell Liberty Tab G100, which targets comparable market segments.
Hardware
Equipped with a 5 MP rear camera and a 2 MP front-facing camera for video conferencing, this tablet is powered by a 1 GHz Nvidia Tegra 250 CPU paired with 1024 MB of DDR2 RAM. Storage options include 16 GB and 32 GB models, with a 64 GB version available in selected regions.
A distinctive feature of the A500 is its inclusion of a full-sized USB port on the device itself, setting it apart from competitors like the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer, which require accessory docks to provide USB connectivity. Since the Android Honeycomb 3.2 update, the tablet supports an expanded array of USB devices, including those formatted with NTFS and Linux file systems, thereby enhancing its compatibility beyond basic peripherals and FAT32 drives.
Software
Initially released with Android 3.0, the Iconia A500 received incremental over-the-air updates to Android versions 3.1, 3.2, and ultimately Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0.3 by April 2012.
Early rooting methods were possible through an application developed by sc2k for versions up to Android 3.1 until Acer addressed this security gap. Users were able to revert to earlier firmware iterations to install ClockworkMod Recovery and pre-rooted ROMs. Prior to the official Ice Cream Sandwich release, unofficial builds of Android 4.0.3 leaked online, facilitating custom ROM development.
The official April 2012 Ice Cream Sandwich update aligned with these leaked versions and remained vulnerable to root exploits using saurik’s 'mempodroid' technique. Although some exploits were mitigated by enhanced bootloader security measures, alternative approaches involving APX Mode and modified bootloaders enabled users to flash custom images and gain root access without relying on userland vulnerabilities.
Community members on TegraOwners have developed unofficial CyanogenMod and OmniROM builds supporting Android versions from 4.0.4 (ICS) through 5.1.1 (Lollipop), extending software support well beyond Acer’s official releases.
Furthermore, Ubuntu Linux has been ported to the A500 by substituting the recovery image kernel and utilizing an SD card as the root filesystem, showcasing the device’s adaptability to alternative operating systems.
In 2019, Android 10 Go Edition—a streamlined OS designed for improved efficiency—was introduced on comparable hardware platforms. Some enthusiasts have demonstrated dual-boot configurations combining Android Go with Windows 10 to optimize storage capacity and functionality on tablets such as the Iconia A500.