The Acer Iconia A500 Tab is one of the latest Android Honeycomb tablet to hit the market. It comes with everything you can expect from a Honeycomb tablet: dual-core NVidia Tegra 1 GHz CPU, 10.1 inches display, 16 Gb of internal storage and a SD Card slot (that works out of the box… not like the XOOM). For $449 you can get the Wi-Fi only version (only one available anyway) and it does come with a USB port which is nice. Even better it has been rooted! Instructions after the break.
Disclaimer: Please note that we will not be responsible if you end up bricking your device. Rooting or customizing your device can be risky, if you follow the instructions you should be fine!
All the credits go to monki-magic @ XDA who released the original instructions. You will need to install the USB driver for your Acer tablet as well as the Android SDK (to get access to ADB).
Update (06/19/11): The first custom ROMs for the Acer Iconia Tab A500 have now been released. Find out more @ First Custom ROMs for Acer Iconia Tab A500.
You can follow these instructions to root / jailbreak your Acer Iconia A500 Tablet:
- First you will need to install 2 apps on your tablet from the Android Market: OI File Manager and BusyBox
- On your Acer Iconia tablet, go to Settings > Applications > Development and enable USB debugging
- Insert your microSD card in the SD Card slot of your Acer Iconia A500 tablet and also rotate the display to use the Portrait mode (or you will experience Force Close in Gingerbreak later in the process). Lock the screen in Portrait mode to make it easier.
- Download the file GingerBreak-v1.20.apk @ http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=13292713&postcount=82
- Connect your tablet to your computer
- On your computer: Open a command prompt (or Terminal), navigate to the directory on your computer where ADB is installed and type adb push Gingerbreak-v1.20.apk /data/local
- On your tablet: Start OI File Manager, press the SD Card icon and go to /data/local/Gingerbreak-v1.20.apk
- Install the Gingerbreak app
- Start Gingerbreak on your tablet, pick root device and wait for your tablet to reboot
- Once your Acer Iconia A500 tablet is rebooted, you can disconnect it from your computer and uninstall Gingerbreak
- Start BusyBox and you can now install any app requiring root privileges (SetCPU etc.)
You can also follow the YouTube video below which shows you how to root / jailbreak your Acer Iconia A500 tablet:
You can get more information @ http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=13303626&postcount=147.
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