USA Tablet into the UK

Lokolo

Hello !

OK so I am pretty techie.... but I don't know the answer to this.

I am tempted to buy the upcoming Acer Iconia A501.

Now, in the UK this is going to cost a whopping £530.

However in the USA it is going for $450.... which is £280....

The only difference is the HDD size (32GB in UK, 16GB in USA). Which personally, is not worth almost double the price.

But I can't tell if it would work in the UK, I can't see why not (charging by USB). Only problem I may have is 3G... I can't seem to see if the USA version has a 3G version (the A500 is Wi-Fi only, A501 is 3G and Wi-Fi, USA doesn't state which it is) - and if it does, whether this would work with UK SIMs.

So does anyone think it won't work?

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Amazon Version

Best Buy Version

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p.s. I am going to USA in June

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Edit - the one advertised on Best Buy doesn't seem to be 3G version, so I will have to find out the cost of that, but even at +$100 still makes it worthwhile.

redped

Does your US price include all sales taxes?

Have you factored in the applicable customs duty/VAT you are meant to pay when you bring it through UK customs?

Lokolo

redped wrote: »

Does your US price include all sales taxes?

Have you factored in the applicable customs duty/VAT you are meant to pay when you bring it through UK customs?

Yes I know everything about tax and what I would have to pay.

But that wasn't the question

redped

Lokolo wrote: »

Yes I know everything about tax and what I would have to pay.

But that wasn't the question

As the whole premise of of the question is based around a decent saving if you buy the US version, then I was checking if you were aware that the saving won't be as large as you might think, due to US sales tax and UK customs duty & VAT.

As for your question, the US version should be ok for charging & using via WiFi, but you're not comparing apples with apples. The version listed on Best Buy doesn't have 3G. So it's $450 + sales tax + UK VAT for the US version versus £405 for the WiFi UK version (according to your Amazon link).

Lokolo

redped wrote: »

As the whole premise of of the question is based around a decent saving if you buy the US version, then I was checking if you were aware that the saving won't be as large as you might think, due to US sales tax and UK customs duty & VAT.

As for your question, the US version should be ok for charging & using via WiFi, but you're not comparing apples with apples. The version listed on Best Buy doesn't have 3G. So it's $450 + sales tax + UK VAT for the US version versus £405 for the WiFi UK version (according to your Amazon link).

But if they should release a 3G version (Acer's USA website states 3G version will be available and I'm not going to USA til June anyway - so prices in UK could easily drop and then it wouldn't be worthwhile), would a UK sim work in a US pad?

redped

I don't see any reason why a UK sim shouldn't work in a US pad - I don't think US Android devices are locked to a network, as surely users would just re-install a generic version of the OS to get round this.

jayme1

I have tried to find out with no look, but the US version isn't CDMA for verizon/sprint is it?
and if it isn't (ie has a sim slot) it has the UK 3G frequancy bands, (ie it works 3G on AT&T but not T-Mobile in the US.

if one of those is the case than that would explain the different UK - US versions.