Ever since it was first released the Apple iPad has dominated the tablet PC market, but rival platforms especially Android are catching up fast with a range of new powerful devices being released. Today we have news that pre-orders have begun for the Acer Iconia Tab A700 after being officially announced by the company.

The device hasn’t exactly been kept secret recently but there has been no information about its availability and pricing until today. An article over at SlashGear is reporting that Acer has announced that the 32GB version of the device will be available for $449.99, and for your hard earned money you get a device sporting a 10-inch high resolution screen at 1920 x 1200 pixels, which is powered by Nvidia’s Tegra 3 quad core processor.

It will also have 1GB of RAM and come running the Android Ice Cream Sandwich operating system straight from the box. The company is saying that the screen has support for ten point multitouch, a contrast ratio of 800:1, and viewing angles up to 178 degrees. Other features include 32GB of on board storage that is expandable via a microSD card slot, micro HDMI port, and a micro USB port.

There is a 9,800 mAh battery that is promised to provide up to 10.5 hours of video playback, or eight hours of browsing the Internet, and there is also Wi-Fi b/g/n and Bluetooth 2.1 radios are on board. The Acer Iconia A700 comes with a five megapixel camera on the back while around the front is a one megapixel shooter for video calls.

From today the device in either black or silver can be pre-ordered from Acer’s website or other online retailers, and will begin shipping later this month.