I spent an hour talking with Acer customer support this evening regarding the recording level of the microphone on my Iconia Tab A500. Bottom line is they said it is performing at 100% even though the mic level does not support using Skype or Fring. They stressed repeatedly that it is an entertainment device and not a communications device. They suggested I get one of their Windows tabs instead of Android if I wanted to use communication services. I love the Iconia Tab other than this issue, but guess I will return it to Best Buy and get another brand that is not just an entertainment device.
I have found the built-in mics in Acer laptops to be very poor quality, too bad they have not paid attention to the quality issue. Sent from my IDEOS S7 Slim using Android Tablet Forum
Update ... apparently I was mistaken in the mic volume related to using Skype. I was basing my evaluation based on the call testing service in Skype, which played back my voice recording so low I had to strain to hear it. I called a co-worker on Skype this morning to test, and she could hear me fine. So, while I'm still not happy with the response from Acer customer support, I have to report that my Iconia Tab A500 can indeed be used acceptably for Skype calls
Skype works on my Iconia, so does Gtalk with the added benefit of video. Still, microphone quality isn't that great.