Acer Iconia Tab A701 - Specifications. Acer Iconia Tab A500 (tablet). Description, specifications and reviews of acer iconia tab tablet pc

There is a tablet computer in almost every home, as once in every home you could find a system unit with a monitor. Tablet PCs managed to take over most of the market, since no one wants big and noisy machines when much more compact devices cover the bulk of their needs.

At the same time, like computers, tablets quickly lost popularity, they no longer inspire delight and are bought as bedside gadgets (watch a movie in the evening or let a child play). As a result, expensive and advanced devices like the iPad gradually loosen their grip. Most budget devices are enough. One of these tablets will be discussed in this review - Acer Iconia Tab A1 811.

Equipment

In the box from under the device, in addition to the gadget itself, there is a small brochure. In fact, an instruction that is suitable only for those who have never used such gadgets at all, and even then it is hardly useful.

Also included are: charger (a block for connecting to the mains) and a USB cable (for charging and synchronizing with a computer).

Unfortunately, the box was not found: no covers, no headphones, no other accessories.

Fortunately, all this stuff is easy to find on the web. The tablet was quite popular at one time, and hardworking Chinese riveted a lot of accessories suitable for it. Covers, protective films, all kinds of coasters, styluses - in general, whatever your heart desires.

Device design

Dimensions: 209 x 147 x 11 mm.

The Acer Iconia Tab A1 811 has a classic design. The body is made of ordinary "soft-touch" plastic. The case is not too strong, prone to dirt, slightly backlash.

The gadget turned out to be quite thick, almost 12 millimeters, and its weight is 430 grams, which is not bad for a device of this size. The bezels around the display are a little disappointing, they are too massive in comparison with what users of modern devices are used to seeing. The same iPad mini looks much more compact. At the same time, the frames are saved from accidental clicks and have a positive effect on the grip, thanks to which the tablet lies in the hands more confidently.

Device display

On the front panel acer tablet The Iconia Tab A1 811 has a 7.9-inch display panel. The display is no different high qualitydespite the fact that an IPS matrix is \u200b\u200bused. The picture is not calibrated, the color rendition suffers greatly, the resolution is not impressive either, only 1024 x 768 pixels (the number of dots per inch is 160).

The display is covered with glossy glass, which is in no way protected from glare (on a bright sunny day it will be almost impossible to make out something on the device, not to mention direct sunlight).

The touchscreen 811 cannot be called "wooden", but at the same time it often confuses positioning, reacts with a delay or does not react at all, which is especially noticeable when typing and playing games. Reduces dirt on the display panel and allows you to easily remove fingerprints from it.

Device performance and memory

The heart of the device is the famous Chinese chip from MediaTek - MT8389. The processor works with four cores, two of which are efficient, used in games and complex programs, and the other two are energy efficient, used in light applications and in standby mode. The clock speed of the processor reaches acceleration up to 1200 Megahertz.

Also, under the cover of the gadget, 1 gigabyte was worn random access memory and 8 gigabytes of main memory (in the Acer Iconia Tab A1 811 8gb version). Most of the main memory is occupied by the operating system, since the situation is smoothed out by the presence of support for microSDHC memory cards up to 32 gigabytes. It is important to note that the work with memory cards has not yet been established in “Android” version 4, so only documents, photos, music can be stored on it, but you cannot install software.

Responsible for graphics processing PowerVR SGX554, well proven in premium devices such as the iPhone.

Overall performance should be sufficient for most simple tasks. Trying to play complex games on this tablet is not worth it, they either will not start at all, or will work with an extremely low frame rate and frequent freezes. Such a small amount of RAM greatly contributes to the unloading of programs, which means that each time they will be restarted (this process takes time, therefore, the tablet will work very slowly).

Device autonomy

The Acer Iconia Tab A1 811 3g is equipped with a rather modest battery. The battery capacity was only 4960 milliamperes / hour, which can provide no more than 7 hours of operation (with an average load).

The operating time depends entirely on how the gadget is used, on the network coverage (if a cellular module is used), on running applications, and the use of geolocation services (GPS).

Image quality

The camera is far from the most important aspect in a tablet computer, and it makes no sense to hope for gorgeous photos in it. The Acer Iconia Tab A1 811 has two cameras. Main (rear) with a resolution of 5 megapixels and secondary (front) with a resolution of 0.3 megapixels. Both cameras are more of a utilitarian function.

Using the main camera, you can take a photo for a notebook or scan a document. The front camera is suitable for video calls (there is nothing to do with it for selfie fans). Autofocus is missing. For some reason, the developers decided not to add such a function, which significantly aggravates the situation and greatly spoils the impression of using the camera.

operating system

The entire line, including the Acer Iconia Tab 811 and others, is powered by the 4th generation Android, named after the KitKat chocolate bars. Today the platform is outdated and significantly inferior to more modern versions. Some applications are not supported (both regular and sold in the Play Store), but the supported versions can be downloaded on the Internet and from other repositories.

This version of the software has made a significant leap in terms of performance, which allows the tablet to run smoothly and quickly, despite not having the most powerful hardware under the hood. Another important point is the adaptation of the interface for large displays. Also, in this version, power consumption is significantly reduced, which has a positive effect on the operating time of the device.

The system has a set of pre-installed "software" from Google, as well as from partners. The first is good news, since Google's software is different. good quality and pleases with its functionality. The second is very upsetting, since third-party, preinstalled “software” only takes up space and is rarely useful (considering that most of it is demo versions of low-grade games).

Wireless and wired interfaces

The device has a number of standard wireless interfaces. These include: Wi-Fi 802.11n, Bluetooth version 4.0 as well as support mobile networks 3G standard. Unfortunately, the tablet does not work with 4th generation (LTE) networks, which for many may be a decisive factor due to the large difference in speed between 3rd and 4th generation networks.

Another important feature of the device is support for microHDMI, which significantly expands the multimedia capabilities for the subject of this review. It is possible to seamlessly transfer images from a tablet to an HDMI-enabled TV or display.

If you have an OTG cable, you can connect all kinds of peripherals to the tablet. For example, if you like to type on a full-sized physical keyboard, you can easily connect it to this tablet. The same goes for gamepads, they also work great with this model.

Acer Iconia Tab A1 811: reviews

The main advantage of the device is the price. Users rate the tablet on the basis of its cost, which makes the assessment less objective.

Of the advantages of the device, a properly functioning GPS is distinguished, since many users purchase such gadgets as a replacement for navigation ones.

Many people like to use a tablet as a phone. It can actually receive calls and send SMS, which makes it even more functional.

They also speak positively about the battery, which can withstand a full working day (of course, it all depends on the individual user, but the fact remains).

The gadget also had unexpected flaws, such as a very weak wifi signal and mobile networks. In comparison with similar devices, Acer Iconia Tab A1 811 keeps the connection much worse, often losing it altogether.

Well, a common problem for everyone is a weak camera, unable to create more or less decent photographs.

Another major problem is the existing batch of tablets with broken power controllers capable of destroying the battery (discharging it to full zero, without the ability to recharge itself).

Some users managed to connect a USB modem with a SIM card to the tablet.

Interestingly, for this device, it is not at all difficult to find replacement parts, including the display. In the event of a breakdown, most of the spare parts can be easily purchased on the Internet and replaced on their own (such work should only be carried out with complete confidence in your competence, otherwise you should contact the professionals).

Prices

The gadget belongs to the category of budget devices, therefore it pleases with its cost. The tablet can be purchased for less than 8 thousand rubles. Last price in the “Svyaznoy” store for Acer Iconia Tab A1 811 8gb 3G stopped at around 6250 rubles.

Instead of a conclusion

This product from Acer seems completely nondescript and rather boring, but it is a good home tablet, a tool for solving life problems and should not be too colorful. The company has focused on user experience for the largest possible audience and device availability.

In fact, this is the perfect device for those who want to own a tablet computer, use it for work or school, but have a modest budget.

Acer is no longer a newcomer to the tablet market and is one of the three leaders in sales in our country, along with Samsung and Apple. In this review, we are going to consider the company's flagship device - the Iconia Tab A701 model, which has a Full HD screen, powered by NVIDIA Tegra 3 and is worth quite reasonable money.

Technical acer specifications Iconia Tab A701:

• Network: GSM / GPRS / EDGE (850/900/1800/1900 MHz), WCDMA / HSPA 21 Mbps (850/900/1900/2100 MHz)
• Platform (at the time of announcement): Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
• Display: touchscreen, capacitive, 10.1 ", 1920 x 1200 pixels, TFT IPS, 224 ppi, Gorilla Glass, 10 multi-touch clicks
• Front camera: 1MP
• Rear camera: 5MP, Full video recording [email protected]
• Processor: Quad-core, 1.3 GHz, NVIDIA Tegra 3 T30S
• Graphics chip: 520 MHz ULP GeForce
• RAM: 1 GB
• Built-in memory: 32GB / 64GB
• Memory card: microSD (32GB)
• A-GPS, GLONASS
• Wi-Fi (802.11b / g / n)
• Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
• 3.5mm audio jack
• microUSB 2.0
• microHDMI
• Accelerometer, light sensor, gyroscope, magnetometer
• Battery: Li-ion, 9800 mAh
• Dimensions: 260 x 155 x 11mm
• Weight: 680g
• Form factor: candy bar with touchscreen
• Type: tablet
• Announce date: May 2012 July
• Release date: July 2012

Video review

Design, construction and equipment

The tablet comes in a branded package, where you can see all the main characteristics. Inside, everything is not so rosy, the kit is rather meager - only a charger, several different pieces of paper with instructions and an adapter for connecting USB flash drives. There is no cable for synchronization with a PC, and the charger is not collapsible. Despite the fact that now, for sure, everyone has a wire for synchronizing with a computer (fortunately, all connectors are standard), such an accessory would clearly not become superfluous. But let's move on to the fun part - the tablet.

When you take the device in hand for the first time, you immediately notice its rather big weight (as much as 685 grams) and a very practical design of the case. The back panel is made of pleasant perforated soft-touch plastic, which does not slip in the hand at all and is not very prone to scratches (hello Samsung tablets!). On the same side, we can see the company's logo, Dolby Digital Plus marking, which means that the device is all right with sound, a microphone hole and a 5-megapixel camera peephole without a flash. On the front side there is a 10.1 ”Full HD screen, front camera and logos. On the left side there is a power button and a headphone jack. The right side is equipped with slots for a SIM card, microSD with a cover and a microHDMI connector. It looks like both ends are covered with metal overlays, but it's just metal-painted plastic. On the top side, we can see metal volume controls and a screen lock, as well as a microphone. Below are stereo speakers, a microUSB connector for connecting a charger and a sync cable, a hole for an emergency reboot.

The build quality of the tablet is excellent, except that a slight backlash of the plug on the right side can slightly spoil the impression. In general, we have before us a stern, practical, heavy and business tablet. It does not look like a plastic toy and instills a sense of reliability, as if hinting that only it can become the ideal workhorse.

Software

The device runs Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich. Before us is almost pure Android with a small number of interesting and useful improvements from the company, as well as with a lot of proprietary pre-installed software. But first things first.

Immediately after switching on, the device prompts you to register with Acer for a variety of up-to-date information and support. The desktop is exactly the same as on all similar tablets, but the status bar here is unusual. In the center of the line, you can see a green dot - it is responsible for launching the proprietary interface designed for quick access to functions and bookmarks. The dropdown window has been slightly modified. The lock screen has also been slightly improved.

There are several branded items in the Settings menu. Dolby Mobile is responsible for improving the sound, there are several tuning positions. In the Ring item, you can configure selected functions for the proprietary ring interface. The Lock Screen Apps section speaks for itself. Acer Print offers to add your devices to the list of printers and simplify the process of printing documents.

I will not list the entire standard set of applications, but will focus on the programs pre-installed by the company, since there is something to see here.

First of all, I would like to note three branded applications, combined into a folder with a strange name clear.fi - this is Photos, Videos and Music. Photo is a gallery with the ability to view the timeline and connect to nearby wireless devices. Music and Video are made in the same style, but functionally they are not very different.

The Files application is a file manager (which makes sense). It is quite convenient and intuitive, so it will completely save the potential owner of the tablet from the need to search for a file manager in Google Play.

7 Digital is a music store and a player at the same time. Here you can listen to the previews of the songs, see the latest releases and buy songs to listen to on your tablet. There is a built-in scrobbler on Last.FM.

There is an Amazon Kindle client, so you can buy literature if you want.

Aupeo! is an Internet radio with convenient controls, nice design and some branded chips like your musical DNA, a selection of music for your mood, the ability to buy songs. The only negative is a little braking.

EquiView, as I understand it, is designed to connect to wireless projectors and showcase all your goodness. I, alas, do not have such gizmos, so I failed to test the program.

The preinstalled Barcode Scanner will help to recognize barcodes, and Virus Scan from McAfee will protect the tablet from viruses (which, we can say, do not exist, if you do not install it, do not understand where it came from and allow dubious programs to do anything with your device).

You can buy various magazines with Zinio. Russian editions are available, which is very pleasing. It's also nice to see Polaris Office and Evernote on the list. The first is for reading and editing documents, and the second is for creating and storing notes.

We can also note the presence of pre-installed games - Real Racing 2, Monopoly and HW Solitaire SE. All are made at a high level, it is a pleasure to play. And if that's not enough for you, other high-quality toys can be found in TegraZone and Google Play.

The rest of the programs are standard for all Android tablets, so I suggest you familiarize yourself with them from the screenshots.

Camera

Capturing anything with a tablet is a perverts thing to do, but the A701 does an excellent job nonetheless. The photos are so-so, but the video is quite good.

Usage experience and performance

The tablet boasts a quad-core processor and a powerful video system - Tegra 3 reigns here. Accordingly, there are practically no brakes. Practically - because one should take into account that the screen resolution is 1920x1200 (not 1920x1080 pixels, please note), and not always everything can be perfectly smooth and fast. But the screen is really gorgeous. After that, you don't want to look at 10 ”tablets with HD panels at all, the ladder and the fuzziness of the fonts immediately catch your eye. But the response speed of the screen is not the highest, it is noticeable in comparison with Galaxy Note 10.1, for example. Like the yellowness of the white color of the Acer TFT IPS screen compared to the Samsung TFT PLS screen, but these are the features different technologies displays. However, if you do not compare directly, then the screen will satisfy most users, it is really very good, and in terms of clarity it is generally one of the best.

In terms of performance, the tablet copes well with all everyday tasks, however, there may be problems with the compatibility of applications or games, since not all developers have yet fastened support for Full HD screens to their brainchildren. As for me, the more serious problem is the heating of the right side of the device. It is worth, for example, launching about 12 software updates on Google Play, starting to play something heavy, or even just launching Internet radio, as the right side turns into a red-hot piece of plastic. Only a cover will save here. Well, or a habit. Moreover, this is not the only tablet on the market that suffers from this problem. Suffice it to recall at least the same new iPad.

The benchmark results, I think, speak for themselves. If you have a screen with this high resolution Acer A701 shows results comparable to classmates (but with lower resolution screens). In NenaMark1, the tablet showed a result of 59 fps, in NenaMark2 - 36.6 fps, in AnTuTu - 10 787 points, in Vellamo - 1322, in Quadrant - 3081.

Regarding toys, everything is as it should be - the device will handle any modern games, be it Dark Meadow, Dead Trigger or Real Racing 2.

The battery here is quite impressive, almost 10,000 mAh, which certainly has a positive effect on the battery life. With moderate use, you can safely count on two to three days. The tablet passed the Full HD video playback test with a result of 6.5 hours.

The advantage of a particular instance is sIM support, which means that you will not be left without the Internet at the wrong time and can even write an SMS to someone. Call, however, will fail. In general, working with messages did not cause any complaints.

In general, the device works very quickly, small jams or slowdowns can be attributed to high resolution and low screen response speed, which, according to rumors, should be corrected in a new update, since there is supposedly some kind of software jamb. There were no software failures, the tablet did not reboot and did not complain about the lack of RAM.

Outcome

Acer has got a solid tablet with an excellent price-quality ratio, which, moreover, has no competitors. You can remember ASUS Transformer Pad 300 32Gb 3G and Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 P5100 32Gb, but the first has a lower screen resolution, and the second is also weaker in hardware, and their prices are comparable. If we close our eyes to minor flaws, of which there is nothing at all, then we have the best representative of Android tablets in price category up to 25 thousand rubles (the version with 64 GB of memory and 3G will cost 23), offering maximum performance, an excellent screen and a practical, tightly knit body.

In 2014, Acer was not very active in the tablet market. They had literally two or three models for Android, and they were inferior to some competitors. But, apparently, in September the company plans to compete with the market leaders in the budget and middle segments. The A1-713HD reviewed today is just the first sign.

Specifications:

• Class: budget
• Form factor: candy bar
• Body materials: aluminum and two plastic inserts.
• Operating system: Android 4.4.2
• Network: GSM / EDGE, WCDMA (miniSIM), voice calls supported
• Platform: MediaTek MT8382
• Processor: Quad-core 1.3 GHz
• RAM: 1 GB
• Memory for data storage: 16 GB, slot for memory card microSD (32 GB cards are supported)
• Interfaces: Wi-Fi (a / b / g / n), Bluetooth 4.0 (A2DP, EDR), microUSB connector (USB 2.0) for charge / synchronization, 3.5 mm for a headset,
• Screen: 7 '', capacitive, IPS-matrix, 1280x800 pixels (HD), automatic adjustment of the backlight level, there is an oleophobic coating
• Camera: 5 MP, 1080p video recording
• Front camera: 0.3MP
• Navigation: GPS / Glonass (support A-GPS)
• Sensors: accelerometer, position sensor in space,
• Gyroscope, light sensor
• Battery: non-removable, Li-Ion, 3400 mAh

Equipment

• The tablet
• Charger
• PC cable (also part of the charger)
• Documentation

The package bundle is standard for large brands, there are no headphones or a complete case.

Appearance, materials, controls, assembly

I have been complaining for a long time that with such a beautiful ultrabook as the Acer Aspire S7, the design of the Acer tablets is not very interesting. However, things are beginning to change gradually, and the Iconia Tab 7 is a great example of this. And don't be fooled by the white face and rounded edges that resemble appearance Samsung tablets.

As soon as you turn the tablet over, all comparisons will disappear by themselves, because rear end the device is made of aluminum, with two plastic inserts on the top and bottom (it may seem that they are also aluminum, but this is not so).

The upper insert is removed, for this you need to pry it by the special groove on the left. Under the insert, there are slots for a SIM-card of a standard format and a microSD memory card. By the way, I was surprised that Acer decided to use a standard SIM card, not microSIM.

Most of the front side is occupied by a seven-inch display, above it there is a mesh of the earpiece, a front camera, as well as an LED and light / proximity sensors. The LED glows red while charging, blinks on notifications, and turns green when the tablet is charged.

On the left side there is a volume rocker and a power button. Both keys have a short hard travel with a characteristic click and are comfortable to use.

Below is a microUSB connector and a microphone hole, and on top is a 3.5 mm headphone jack.

On back cover, in addition to the main camera, you can see the mesh of the external speaker. It has an excellent volume margin and good sound quality (for a budget tablet), but at maximum volume it barely noticeably wheezes, so I recommend listening to music on the Iconia Tab 7 at a volume of 60-70%.

The tablet is perfectly assembled, all parts are tightly fitted to each other. No creaks, no backlash, no staggering.

Dimensions

The dimensions of the Iconia Tab 7 are typical of a 7-inch tablet. There is no great thickness and weight, or, conversely, thin bezels around the screen.

It is convenient to hold the tablet with one or two hands for a long time, however, this is true for most 7-inch models.

Screen

First, let's take a quick look at the display specifications.

I am very pleased that Acer decided to return the oleophobic coating for their tablets, as it was not in previous budget models. In fact, this is a significant benefit and a significant increase in end-user convenience.

If we talk about the screen itself, then I really liked it. It can be seen that a good IPS-matrix is \u200b\u200bused, pixelation is almost invisible. The display has good viewing angles, high level maximum brightness and natural color reproduction. In the sun, the image fades, but remains readable.

In general, the Iconia Tab 7 has a very good display for a budget device.

operating system

The device runs Android 4.4.2 with a minimum of Acer add-ons. Let's talk about them in more detail.

Lock screen... Three shortcuts were taken out on the lockscreen, they cannot be changed (in any case, I did not find such an option).

Notification shade... When you swipe down in the upper right corner, a panel with switches for wireless interfaces opens. A short press turns on / off a specific module, a long press opens its settings.

Browser... In addition to Chrome, Acer decided to keep its own browser from Android 4.0, and also added a very convenient function to automatically fit the text to the size of the screen when it is enlarged.

Simple Mode... In this mode, all icons become larger, fonts are enlarged, and a number of functions are limited. Apparently, it was created for the elderly and children.

Otherwise, we have before us "pure" Android 4.4.2 with all its inherent functions and features.

Performance

First, let's take a look at the characteristics of the chipset and memory.

Traditionally, I'll start with scrolling through desktops, it is not as smooth here as in the same Nexus 7 2013, this is due to the developers' decision to make scrolling wallpapers. As we all remember, with such a function, few tablets work without slowdowns. Therefore, I recommend installing a third-party launcher like Nova Launcher. An additional confirmation of my words is that there are no lags in the application menu.

Most games also work fine on this tablet, however, the same Asphalt 8 runs only on medium settings.

Autonomous work

The tablet demonstrates good results in terms of battery life. Based on our tests, its results are on average 20% higher than those of similar devices from B-brands.

Wireless interfaces

In addition to the usual set of modules, the manufacturer also added the ability to call from a tablet. And although it is not very convenient to hold such a device near the ear, in an emergency you can make a call from it or send an SMS.

Conclusion

The recommended retail price for the Acer Iconia Tab 7 is 7,000 rubles, for this money you get an excellent compact tablet with a high-quality display, an oleophobic coating (this is really very important in a budget device!), An aluminum body, good battery life and a 3G module with support for voice calls. The disadvantages I will attribute, perhaps, only small slowdowns when scrolling through desktops, the problem is solved by installing another launcher.

As far as competitors are concerned, only two models from well-known brands come to mind.

In terms of performance and price, these two models are on par, the only difference is the chipset used and the fact that the Fonepad 7 lacks an oleophobic coating (and this is its significant drawback). And this tablet came out for a long time.

The updated Tab 7.0 finally has HD-resolution, thin bezels and small dimensions (especially weight and thickness). I suppose that it will also have a higher "autonomy". However, it costs 2,000 rubles more.

To summarize: for 7,000 rubles, the Acer Iconia Tab 7 is an excellent option for those looking for a compact tablet in an aluminum case with good screen, oleophobic coating and 3G support.

By the way, for those who want to save money, Acer has a simpler version of this tablet with a resolution of 1024x600 pixels and a price of 6,000 rubles. But I still recommend paying a thousand rubles and taking the older model.

Not very expensive, but with full Windows 8

More and more tablets on Windows 8 continue to enter the market. Moreover, almost all models are not just a tablet, but a hybrid of a tablet and a laptop. At the end of last year, we met with ASUS VivoTab, but now it was our turn to look at a similar (in concept) Acer model - Iconia Tab W510.

As a reminder, Iconia Tab W510 is not the only Windows 8 model in the Acer catalog. In addition to it, the company released the Iconia Tab W700 - a tablet that, thanks to a stationary docking station, turns into a candy bar (we told you about this model and).

Before proceeding to a detailed study of the Iconia Tab W510, we traditionally study the characteristics and compare them with the specifications of competitors. The main competitor of this model is undoubtedly ASUS VivoTab TF810C. In addition to it, we have included in the table a Sony tablet-laptop on Windows 8, as well as Acer Iconia Tab W700.

	Acer Iconia Tab W510	ASUS VivoTab TF810C	Acer Iconia W700	Sony VAIO Duo 11
Screen	10.1 ″, IPS, 1366 × 768 (155 ppi)	11.6 ″, Super IPS +, 1366 × 768 (135 ppi)		11.6 ″, IPS, 1920 × 1080 (190 ppi)
CPU		Intel Atom Z2760 @ 1.8 GHz (2 cores, HT and TB support)	Intel Core i3-2365M @ 1.4 GHz (2 cores, HT support) / Intel Core i5-3317U @ 1.7 GHz (2 cores, HT and TB support)	Intel Core i3-2365M @ 1.4 GHz (2 cores, HT support) / Intel Core i7-3517U @ 1.9 GHz (2 cores, HT and TB support)
GPU	Imagination SGX545	Imagination SGX545	Intel HD 3000/4000	Intel HD 3000/4000
Flash memory	32 or 64 GB	32 or 64 GB + cloud storage 32 GB (3 years)	64/128 GB SSD	128/256 SSD
Connectors	Micro-HDMI, 3.5mm headset jack, Micro-USB, USB 2.0 (on docking station)	Micro-HDMI, 3.5 mm headset jack, two USB 2.0 (on docking station)	Micro-HDMI (includes a VGA adapter), 3.5mm headset jack, one USB 3.0 (on a tablet, not available when docked) and three USB 3.0 (on a docking station)	HDMI, 3.5 mm headset jack, two USB 3.0, Ethernet, VGA
Memory card support	microSD / SDHC (up to 64GB)	microSD / SDHC (up to 64GB)	no	SD / SDHC (up to 64GB)
RAM	2 GB	2 GB	4 GB	6/8 GB
Cameras		rear (8 Mp) and front (2 Mp)	rear (photo - 5 Mp, video - 1080p) and front (photo - 0.9 Mp, video - 720p)	rear (photo - 2.4 Mp, video - 1920 × 1080), front (2.4 Mp)
the Internet	Wi-Fi	Wi-Fi	Wi-Fi	Wi-Fi, Ethernet
operating system	Microsoft Windows 8	Microsoft Windows 8	Microsoft Windows 8	Microsoft Windows 8
Dimensions * (mm)	259 x 187 x 9.9	294 × 189 × 8.7	295 × 191 × 11.9	320 × 199 × 17.9
Weight without and with docking station (g)	567/1267	675/1340	940	1300

* - according to the manufacturer's data; For ASUS and Acer devices, thickness is shown without docking station.

As we can see, in most parameters, Acer Iconia Tab W510 and ASUS VivoTab TF810C are twins. The main difference between the Acer tablet is the smaller diagonal at the same screen resolution. As a result - less device mass. In general, among all four models, the characteristics of which are listed in the table, Acer Iconia Tab W510 is the most compact and affordable (its cost in Russian retail fluctuates around 24,500 rubles). However, unlike the Sony VAIO Duo 11 and Acer Iconia Tab W700, the W510 is closer to a portable netbook than a full-fledged work computer.

Packaging and equipment

The tablet came to us in a massive box that inspires respect for the product.

Inside it housed: the tablet itself, a keyboard dock, a charger, a Micro-USB - USB-host adapter, a cloth for cleaning the screen, as well as a number of user manuals and other paper products (both in the form of booklets and in the form of various leaflets).

For complete happiness, only a cover is not enough.

Design

Acer Iconia Tab W510 is a representative of the more and more popular class of devices "tablet-transformer" today. Like the ASUS Vivo Tab, which we recently reviewed, the Acer Iconia Tab W510 consists of two parts: the tablet itself and the keyboard dock, equipped with a touchpad, additional connectors and a separate battery.

Let's take a look at these two parts separately.

The tablet

The tablet is quite weighty, but it does not look massive (unlike the same ASUS Vivo Tab - however, it has a larger screen diagonal). And when you take the device in hand, you immediately notice that it has its own style.

Acer's designers have succeeded in what many other manufacturers fail - to create a tablet that looks quite original. True, for this it was necessary to go against the newfangled tendencies: the body of the tablet does not thin towards the edges, and the material is plastic, not metal.

The back of the device is painted in metallic silver. The front edge of the tablet is white. Acer Iconia Tab W510 style is built on a combination of white and silver-metallic colors.

Most of the connectors are located on the right side of the device. These are Micro-HDMI, Micro-USB, microSD card slot, built-in microphone hole and speaker grill. In addition, on the right side we see a volume rocker.

The second speaker is located on the left side. And on the top there is a Power button, an auto-rotate screen lock lever and a 3.5 mm headphone jack.

The bottom edge is occupied by slots for connecting to a keyboard dock. Among them is a connector for connecting a charger.

Dock station

The docking station design is in perfect harmony with the tablet design. Its entire body is made of silver-metallic plastic, while the tablet cradle and keyboard buttons are white.

From the connectors on the docking station, we see USB 2.0 (on the right) and a connector for a charger.

The keyboard is of a netbook type. The keys are small - smaller than a laptop and roughly like a netbook. Mandatory for Windows 8 / RT devices windows button, and top row auxiliary keys.

When you connect your tablet to the docking station, the distance between the bottom edge of the tablet and the main body of the docking station catches your eye: it's about half a centimeter. It is a pity that the designers did not think to make the cradle transparent: then the effect would be obtained, as if the tablet was hovering over the keyboard. But the chosen option is not bad either - at least in that it does not try to seem too similar to a regular netbook.

An important feature is the ability to tilt the tablet back (at an angle of 295 degrees) and position it so that the keyboard does not fall into the field of view. As such, it can be used, for example, to watch movies.

Overall, the design of the Acer Iconia Tab W510 made a good impression on us. This is not to say that the appearance of the device is delightful, but certainly there is no rejection. And the functionality is in order.

Screen

The tablet is equipped with a screen with a diagonal of 10.1 inches and a resolution of 1366 × 768. As we remember, the ASUS VivoTab's screen at the same resolution has a larger diagonal, and therefore a lower density of dots per inch. But how is Acer doing with other display options?

Alexey Kudryavtsev, editor of the “Monitors” and “Projectors and TV” sections, carried out a detailed examination of the screen using measuring devices. Here is his conclusion.

The tablet screen is covered with a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface and, judging by the reflection of bright light sources in it, has a weak anti-glare filter. On the outer surface of the screen there is a special oleophobic (grease-repellent) and rather effective coating, so fingerprints do not appear as quickly as in the case of ordinary glass, but are removed more easily.

With manual brightness control, its maximum value was 270 cd / m², minimum - 16 cd / m². The maximum brightness is not very high, so if you want to use this tablet outdoors in bright daylight, you will have to look for a well-shaded area. The minimum brightness will allow you to comfortably work with the tablet, even in complete darkness. There is an automatic brightness control by the light sensor (it is located in the upper right corner on the screen frame). In complete darkness, the auto-brightness function reduces the brightness to at least 120 cd / m2 (too much), in an office illuminated with artificial light, sets the brightness to 200 cd / m2 (acceptable), in a very bright environment it increases to a maximum of 270 cd / m2 (as and you need). At low brightness, there is no backlight flickering.

This tablet uses an IPS-type matrix, as a result, the screen has good viewing angles without inverting shades and without significant color shift, even with large deviations from the perpendicular to the screen. True, the black field when deviated along the diagonal is strongly lightened and acquires a noticeable purple tint. When viewed from a perpendicular view, the uniformity of the black field over most of the screen area is good, but in the corners and close to the edge in several places you can see a local increase in the brightness of the black field. The response time for the transition black-white-black is 31 ms (18 ms on + 13 ms off). The transition between mid-tones of 25% and 75% (based on the numerical value of the color) and back takes 42 ms in total.

The contrast is typical for IPS matrices - about 750: 1. The 32-point gamma curve did not reveal any blockage in highlights or shadows, and the indicator of the approximating power function is 1.76, which is less than the standard value of 2.2, so images on this device will appear slightly lighter overall than on screens that have a standard gamma curve. In this case, the real gamma curve deviates somewhat from the power dependence:

Color gamut narrower than sRGB:

Apparently, the matrix's light filters mix the components together. The spectra confirm this:

This technique allows you to increase the brightness of the screen with the same energy consumption for the backlight. The color temperature balance is good - shades of gray have a color temperature close to 6500 K. The deviation from the spectrum of a black body (delta E) is less than 10 units, which is very good for a consumer device, in addition, delta E changes little over the entire part of the scale that matters gray scale (the dark areas of the gray scale can be ignored, since the color balance there is not very important, and the measurement error at low brightness is large):

All in all, the screen has a good color balance, but this is where its advantages end, since the maximum brightness is not very high, the gamma curve differs from the standard one, the color gamut is narrow and the stability of black in relation to gaze deviation from the perpendicular to the screen is low.

Hardware configuration features

The Acer Iconia W510 is powered by the same Intel Atom Z2760 chip that we saw in our recent ASUS VivoTab review. So you can and should compare these devices in terms of implementation details. As you remember, this 32nm microcircuit is not just a processor, but a complete single-chip platform for creating compact and low-power devices with relatively low (for x86 solutions) performance. On the one hand, it has a completely x86-compatible architecture, but on the other hand, it is significantly limited in terms of peripheral buses and controllers, which has a noticeable impact on products based on it.

The Z2760 has two cores and Hyper-Threading support, resulting in four threads. The cores have a dynamic operating frequency - from 600 MHz in no load, up to 1.8 GHz (Intel Burst mode) in the presence of resource-intensive tasks. Recall that this processor model does not support 64-bit extensions and virtualization. The RAM of the tablet is 2 GB, which is the maximum for this platform. In this model, when the operating system is loaded without any applications, about 1400 MB is free, which is probably not bad. However, you shouldn't consider the solution similar to entry-level desktop systems in terms of performance.

The graphics core is interesting, first of all, by its support for decoding modern video formats and the ability to use a second monitor connected via Micro-HDMI (in modes up to 1080p60). The core drawbacks include the lack of support for the external output of the 23.976 Hz frame rate, like other Intel processors. When working with an external display via HDMI, you can realize digital audio output. According to the control panel in Windows, this output does not support HDCP and is not capable of outputting multichannel audio tracks, but stereo is quite functional. For presentations and other mobile applications, this should be sufficient.

From the point of view of 3D graphics, this kernel should not be taken seriously, although it does support DirectX 9.3, OpenGLES 2.0 and OpenGL 2.1 interfaces. Recall that a special unit for working with cameras is also built into the chip. The modules installed in the tablet support 8 MP for the rear camera and 2 MP for the front camera. Video recording can be carried out in FullHD format on any camera (the test of cameras will be below).

The tablet version in question uses a 64 GB eMMC drive as the main system drive. At the same time, it also has a hidden partition for OS recovery. Taking into account the operating system and the software installed in the basic distribution, the user has about 26 GB. If necessary, you can create a USB OS recovery disk and delete the corresponding partition (about 11 GB) from the built-in drive. Note that this tablet has certain restrictions for loading from external drives. Firstly, only UEFI mode is supported, and secondly, "Secure Boot" mode is enabled by default. So just take your favorite universal from the shelf bootable USB drive and for example make a backup system disk or recovering from a system crash will be more difficult. The speed of the system drive according to the CrystalDiskMark test is about 80 MB / s for reading and 20 MB / s for writing. Interestingly, the competitor's write speed was noticeably higher - about 30 MB / s.

The Acer Iconia W510 also has a microSDHC card slot to expand the user's data storage. However, the speed of work with the cards is not very high - we got 23/12 MB / s read / write numbers with the SanDisk Ultra 32 GB card. This is another example of the compromise that Intel engineers had to make.

To connect peripherals the SoC has a built-in USB bus controller for two ports. The tablet itself does not have a standard output, only microUSB with OTG support. But the dock has a regular USB 2.0 port. More precisely, a USB hub is used, to which the keyboard, touchpad and this port are connected. Speed \u200b\u200bof work with external drives lower than on a modern PC with intel chipset - 25/22 MB / s read and write versus 35/31 MB / s.

The audio system has basic capabilities for working with sound and nothing special can be said about it. The tablet is equipped with two speakers, a built-in microphone on the right side and the ability to connect a headset.

A Broadcom chip with an SDIO interface, similar to that used in the previously tested tablet, is responsible for the wireless connection. However, in the Acer Iconia W510, it is capable of operating in two bands - both at 2.4 GHz and at 5 GHz, which, of course, can be attributed to the advantages of the device. Unfortunately, the speed characteristics remained the same and the maximum that can be obtained from it is a 65 Mbit / s connection and a real speed of up to 35 Mbit / s with a good relationship between the tablet and router (ASUS RT-N66U was used in the test). So we will once again complain that for such a high-performance device the wireless controller is clearly weak. The same microcircuit implements the Bluetooth 4.0 controller.

This tablet model has a built-in NFC controller on the I2S bus, which is based on a Broadcom chip. There is also a TPM 1.2 module.

In general, in terms of the configuration, we see that there are practically no differences from the previously reviewed model. It seems that Intel has provided its partners with a basic platform for developing their models and the first devices will be very similar to each other. However, it is worth paying attention to some points. First is the presence uSB port on the tablet itself. True, it is made in Micro-USB format and requires an additional cable to connect devices. In our opinion, it was worth trying and installing a "regular" USB. The thickness of the case is quite acceptable. Secondly, there is a modification of the device with a built-in 3G module, which can be considered an advantage among similar models. Third, the wireless controller of the device is capable of operating at 5 GHz. But let's not forget about other differences - the screen of the Acer W510 is smaller, it has a "normal" touch module (ASUS has a Wacom with support for a stylus with pressure control), and besides, the tablet does not have a GPS module.

Performance

Today, tablets with Windows 8 on specially designed SoCs are just beginning to appear, so it is still difficult to assess the prospects for this class of solutions and select competitors for them. In our opinion, the main reason for choosing this particular option will be the use of "familiar" Windows, and not any speed characteristics. On the other hand, if we try to exclude the OS factor from consideration (although this is almost impossible with complete solutions for end users), then we can already try to compare products on some tasks popular for tablets.

Considering that in terms of its technical characteristics Acer W510 can be considered another representative of the basic platform, its performance should not differ much from the previously reviewed ASUS VivoTab TF810C. In particular, the GeekBench 2 multiplatform processor and RAM test on this tablet showed a result of 1387 points (Integer 1560, Floating Point 1392, Memory 1149, Stream 1245). This is slightly lower than the ASUS VivoTab. Unfortunately, the latter was not available to us to double-check the numbers, so it is not possible to pinpoint the reasons for this behavior. As options, you can offer updated drivers or other settings of the processor frequency control system. As we remember from ultrabooks, to estimate the speed it is not enough to know the name of the processor model, since the manufacturers adjust its operation modes depending on their implementations of the cooling system and power consumption parameters. So in this test the device is similar to nettops and loses in the overall standings to the best representatives on Android and iOS. In the first case, this is due to the quad-core of top-end ARM devices, and in the second - to the significantly higher speed of working with floating point numbers and memory in the Apple A6X.

Testing in SunSpider confirmed that the Intel Atom Z2760 looks great among the tablet platforms. The result at 700ms is the best among them. But Peacekeeper still prefers other solutions - the Z2760 gets only 422 points in it.

The traditional Windows / x86 tests PCMark 7 and 3DMark06 (at a resolution of 1280 × 720) showed a score of 1303 and 455 points on the Acer Iconia W510. The first figure practically coincides with the one obtained for ASUS VivoTab TF810C, but the second is noticeably higher. In this case, we could again face platform optimizations or driver updates. Recall that these results are at the level of nettops with other Intel Atom models, and ultrabooks in these tests have several times higher rates.

With "tablet" hits, such as Angry Bidrs or Cut the Rope, the device handles without problems. In the 3D boat racing game Hydro Thunder Hurricane, as on the previous model, there are obvious performance problems, except for a low number of frames per second, sometimes the whole system "freezes" for a split second. But in Reckless Racing and Riptide GP there were no such situations and the picture can be considered perfect.

Recall that graphics core supports a maximum of DirectX 9.3, so games that require version 10 or 11 will not run on it. To assess the speed in games, we checked a couple of middle-aged projects. Need for Speed: Underground (2003) at 1024 × 768 on standard settings produces about 20 fps, but sometimes the speed drops to 13-15 fps, and Worms 3D (also 2003) shows about 40 fps in matrix resolution.

As for video playback, the standard windows player 8 is able to work with H.264 in hardware, which allows the processor to reduce the frequency to 1 GHz in this scenario, but for some reason VC-1 and MPEG2 are not given to it (this applies to both Windows Media Player and the player for the Metro interface). At the same time, MPC-HC easily copes with the "acceleration" of these two formats (up to 25% load at 1.4 GHz), but in H.264 it gives a "broken" picture. So a user who needs versatility will have to spend time choosing and configuring players. Although this certainly does not apply to the tablet in question, but to the current version of the platform.

Concluding this section, let's summarize the testing results. The Acer Iconia W510 tablet is comparable in performance to nettops and other devices based on Intel Atom chips. You can use a wide range of x86 Windows programs on it, but you still need to take into account the limited resources of the device. So the internet, office, casual games are all quite workable. However, for professional processing of photographic materials, computational tasks, modern 3D games and other resource-intensive programs, it is better to look at more powerful devices.

Compare model with tablets on others software platforms quite difficult. But in general, we see that the W510 is clearly not worse than the best representatives of the Android and iOS world and it implements typical tablet use scenarios in terms of performance very well.

Operating system and applications

The operating system Windows 8 is installed on the tablet. We told you in detail our impressions of this OS in the ASUS VivoTab TF810C review, so we will not repeat ourselves. We only note that all claims remained in force. Windows 8 still gives the impression of a largely experimental OS - primarily due to the meager selection of apps in the Store, as well as imperfections in the pre-installed apps. For example, there are practically no settings in the Video app. Moreover, it does not support MKV files.

And there is still a problem with games: in the four months that have passed since the announcement of Windows 8, Microsoft has not been able to achieve any significant number of really cool game hits in the Store. And regular games for Windows 7 on such a configuration as the Acer Iconia Tab W510 are unlikely to be very comfortable to play.

As a plus, we note that Acer, firstly, designed the OS desktop in its corporate style, and secondly, preinstalled the Acer Explorer application, which is designed to help you manage other applications. It also contains a user guide and a list of recommended applications. In general, the presence of Acer Explorer should make it easier to get acquainted with the new device for its owner, who first encountered Windows 8.

Autonomous work

As we remember, ASUS VivoTab proved to be a real record holder for battery life. Acer Iconia Tab W510 does not break records, but demonstrates a very decent level in terms of autonomy. As a reminder, this tablet has two batteries, one in the tablet itself, and one in the keyboard dock. The battery in the tablet itself is about twice as large as in the docking station. Its charge lasts about 7 hours of YouTube video playback via internet browser Explorer - at maximum screen brightness. Connecting the dock with a fully charged battery will provide approximately another three and a half hours of video playback. Thus, in total, the tablet will last about 10.5 hours, which is very good.

True, the main "battery eater" is the screen. Therefore, even if you leave the tablet just turned on (of course, the automatic shutdown of the screen when idle should be disabled) and do not start anything on it, the battery life will not increase very much: the maximum you can count on is 11 and a half hours. If you lower the brightness to an average value, then a tablet with a docking keyboard can last up to 14 hours.

The remaining battery life is indicated in the lower right corner, and there is both information separately for each battery, and the total percentage of charge.

Camera

As befits a top-end tablet, the novelty is equipped with two cameras. The front one is designed for video communication and has a resolution of 2 megapixels. The rear camera - with a resolution of 8 megapixels - is designed for taking photos and videos. Let's look at examples of pictures taken by her.

In a reduced version, the picture looks very decent, the colors are natural, the clarity is sufficient.

However, if you look at the original in 100% form, you will have to admit that the clarity is still lost in the background. This is clearly seen in the above fragment.

The tablet coped with shooting a page of text under daylight - text and numbers are visible everywhere, although we saw much more decent results with cameras of similar resolution.

The rear camera shoots video with Full HD resolution and a very decent, almost flawless (for devices of this kind) quality. 31-second video filmed in the rear acer camera iconia Tab W510, can be downloaded (MP4 format, size 57.7 MB).

Note that by default the video is shot at 720p, so to get Full HD, you need to go to the application settings in advance. Likewise with photos (by default they are shot with a funny resolution of 0.9 megapixels).

conclusions

Acer Iconia Tab W510 is a nice hybrid of Windows 8 tablet and netbook, the main competitor of ASUS VivoTab TF810C. Moreover, despite the significantly lower cost (less than 20 thousand rubles for a model with 32 GB of memory and a docking station included), it cannot be said that the Acer Iconia Tab W510 is fundamentally worse than the ASUS model. Yes, it has a shorter battery life and a smaller screen, but at the same time the screen resolution is the same (which means the density of dots per inch is higher), and the built-in Wi-Fi modem can operate at 5 GHz, unlike ASUS. As for the hardware platform, both devices are on a par.

Of course, ASUS VivoTab is more focused on professionals: this is evidenced not only by a more capacious battery and used aboutlarger device diagonal, but also such a specific feature as support for Wacom-pen technology, which makes this device interesting for designers, artists, architects. The Acer tablet is more focused on mobile and non-professional use: it is lighter, more compact, and more affordable.

That being said, we still note that Windows 8 still needs some work in terms of applications for the new tiled interface. But on the other hand, you can safely use the familiar programs for Windows 7, work in Microsoft Office (which, however, is not included in the package) and do other things that people used to do on netbooks.

Acer continues to expand into the tablet market. Following the Iconia Tab A200 (an updated version of the A500) and the NVIDIA Tegra 3-based A510, the company announced the A701 and A700 models. They are of particular interest: these are the first Android tablets with a Full HD screen. Note that hereinafter, FullHD refers to screens that can reproduce video at full resolution of 1920 x 1080.

However, we note that these two tablets have not yet gone on sale (the presentation was about July). Therefore, it is possible that Acer will overtake Huawei: the start of sales of Huawei MediaPad 10 FHD with a Full HD screen is also scheduled for July (the manufacturer presented it to journalists in mid-May).

In general, there is no doubt that in the second half of 2012 we will see a number of tablets with Full HD screens. After the release of The New iPad, manufacturers simply have nowhere to go, since in order to compete with Apple, it is necessary to produce not just a product of similar quality, but a better one (or the same, but significantly cheaper). Now, in fact, it turns out that the New iPad simply has no worthy competitors. However, we repeat, the situation should change in the second half of the year. The Acer Iconia Tab A700 / 701 and Huawei MediaPad 10 FHD are the first of the potential competitors. Moreover, the Chinese will probably press on with the price, so Acer will have a hard time. And at the end of summer or autumn (there is no exact information yet) ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity will appear - the successor to the Eee Pad Transformer Prime, only with a Full HD screen. It is likely to be more expensive than Acer and Huawei, but with the ability to connect a docking station that turns the tablet into a laptop and expands its capabilities. In general, the fight will be hot.

For clarity, we have brought the characteristics of the main competitors into the table. At the same time, we have removed the traditional "Price" column, because of all four models presented in the table, prices are known only for the new iPad.

	Acer Iconia Tab A700 / 701	The New iPad	Huawei MediaPad 10 FHD	ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity
Screen		IPS, 9.7 ″, 2048 × 1536 (264 ppi)	10.1 ″, IPS, 1920 × 1200 (224 ppi)	10.1 ″, Super IPS +, 1920 × 1200 (224 ppi)
SoC (processor)	NVIDIA Tegra 3 @ 1.4 GHz (4 cores + 1 auxiliary, ARM Cortex-A9	Apple A5X @ 1 GHz (2 cores, ARM Cortex-A9)	HiSilicon K3V2 @ 1.5 GHz (4 cores, ARM Cortex-A9)	NVIDIA Tegra 3 T33 @ 1.6 GHz (4 cores + 1 auxiliary, ARM Cortex-A9
GPU	GeForce ULP	PowerVR SGX543MP4	unknown	GeForce ULP
Flash memory	32 or 64 GB	from 16 to 64 GB	from 16 to 64 GB	from 16 to 64 GB + 8 GB cloud storage
Connectors	Micro-HDMI, Micro-USB, 3.5mm headphone jack		dock connector, 3.5 mm headphone jack	Micro-HDMI 1.4а, docking connector, 3.5 mm headphone jack
Memory card support	microSD (up to 32GB)	no	microSD (up to 32GB)	microSD (up to 32GB)
RAM	1 GB	1 GB	2 GB	1 GB
Cameras	front (2 Mp) and rear (5 Mp)	rear (5 Mp; video shooting - 1920 × 1080), front (0.3 Mp)	rear (8 Mp), front (1.3 Mp)	front (8 Mp) and rear (2 Mp)
the Internet	Wi-Fi on the A700, Wi-Fi + 3G on the A701		Wi-Fi (optional - 3G and 4G LTE)	Wi-Fi (optional - 3G and 4G LTE)
operating system	Google Android 4.0	Apple iOS 5.1	Google Android 4.0	Google Android 4.0
Dimensions (mm) *	260 × 175 × 12.4	241.2 x 185.7 x 9.4	unknown	263 × 180.8 × 8.5
Weight (g)	675	652	unknown	586

* - according to the manufacturer's data

So, on the side of the Acer device, there is Micro-HDMI and, apparently, a more powerful SoC than Huawei, and certainly more universal (the Chinese manufacturer will use a chip of its own design, and this, to put it mildly, is a pig in a poke; it is not known which films and games will be shown on it and which will not). But the rear camera of Acer is worse than that of all competitors. Another disadvantage of Acer is the inability to work in 4G networks. For the sake of fairness, we note that although formally the iPad has support for 4G (LTE), nevertheless, it will not be able to work in Russian networks, since it is designed for another frequency range... But Huawei and ASUS are likely to be able to, which will give them some edge. Also, Acer loses the comparison in terms of dimensions: it is thicker and heavier than its competitors (except that Huawei's weight cannot be said for sure, but about the thickness - I held it in my hands, it is definitely thinner). However, Acer's design has its own appeal. That’s just about design and we’ll talk.

Design

Since the copy that came to us is an engineering sample not intended for sale, it arrived without a box, but with a Micro-USB - USB-host adapter. According to the manufacturer, commercial models will be equipped with the same adapter. Thus, Acer compensates for the lack of a full-size USB port in the A700 / 701 (the full-size USB was one of the distinctive features of the A500 and A200 models).

Like the Iconia Tab A200, the tablet is massive and heavy. Apparently, the entire line of Acer tablets in 2012 received approximately the same case (with some differences, of course, but the general trend is evident).

These are rounded corners and edges, a soft-touch plastic cover, a rather massive overall appearance (Acer, unlike Samsung and ASUS, clearly does not pursue the minimum thickness and weight of the device).

The location of the connectors and buttons is different from the Acer Iconia Tab A200. On the right is Micro-HDMI (that's a big plus!), Slots for a SIM card and microSD. Both slots are hidden under a lid, which must be pry off with your fingernail to open. In the engineering sample, this lid did not open as tightly as in the Iconia Tab A200, let's hope it will be the same in the commercial version.

On the bottom edge, we see Micro-USB for connecting to a PC and recharging, as well as a Reset hole.

On the left is the Power button and 3.5mm headphone jack.

Above is a volume rocker and a screen lock lever, as well as a microphone hole.

Screen

Obviously, the 1920x1200 (WUXGA) screen is the main feature of the Acer Iconia Tab A701. Before we saw Full HD resolution only on iPad. True, in fairness, it is worth admitting that the density of dots per inch in iPad screen still a little higher, since the Acer has a slightly larger diagonal, and the number of dots on each side is less. But, however, compared to the resolution of 1280 × 800, which became the standard last year, this is a big step forward.

Alexey Kudryavtsev, editor of the “Monitors” and “Projectors and TV” sections, carried out a detailed examination of the screen using measuring devices. Here is his conclusion.

The tablet screen is covered with a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface, and judging by the reflection of bright light sources in it, there is no anti-glare filter or it is very weak. A special oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating is applied to the outer surface of the screen, so fingerprints can be removed more easily, and appear at a slower rate than in the case of ordinary glass.

With manual brightness control, its maximum value was 265 cd / m², minimum - 33 cd / m². As a result, at maximum brightness in bright daylight, the screen brightness may not be enough, but the minimum brightness will allow you to comfortably use the tablet even in complete darkness. There is an automatic adjustment of the backlight brightness by the light sensor (it is located to the left of the front camera) - in complete darkness it reduces the brightness to at least 33-57 cd / m² (depending on the history of the brightness value), in a very brightly lit environment it increases to the maximum value. The automatic brightness control should be recognized as adequate and fast.

The brightness control is apparently carried out using pulse-width modulation of the LED power supply, but the modulation has a high frequency, and there is apparently a smoothing filter in the backlight supply circuit. As a result, the backlight at low brightness has modulation with a frequency of 18 kHz and with an amplitude less than 100%, so there is no visible flicker. However, if you look closely, it is difficult, but still you can notice a faint flickering of vertical stripes with a thickness of one pixel on halftone fills. Perhaps this effect is caused by the peculiarities of the algorithm for changing the polarity of LCD cells or dynamic color mixing.

This tablet uses an IPS-type matrix, as a result, the screen has very good viewing angles without inverting shades and without significant color shift, even with large gaze deviations from the perpendicular to the screen. True, which is typical for any IPS matrix, the black field is significantly lightened when deviated along the diagonal and, which is no longer found in all IPS-type matrices, acquires a noticeable purple tint.

It is not in our rules to make a direct comparison with competitors, since we believe that based on the data presented, the reader is able to draw his own conclusions, but as an exception, compare the screen of this tablet with the screen of the new iPad, using the new data on viewing angles.

To find out how the brightness of the screen changes when you deviate from the perpendicular to the screen, we carried out a series of measurements of the brightness of black, white and shades of gray in the center of the screen in a wide range of angles, tilting the sensor axis in the horizontal and diagonal (from corner to corner) directions. We excluded the vertical direction, since the height of the 10-inch screen does not allow us to measure viewing angles in the used range of angles using our setup. Since the properties of the IPS matrix are exactly symmetric (without taking into account local defects) about the vertical axis, to save time, measurements were carried out only with a deviation to the right, but for clarity and convenience of comparison, the graphs were completed by symmetric reflection of the curves about the vertical axis. Visually, at least, the screen of the new iPad is not symmetrical in properties about the longitudinal axis, so the viewing angles were measured diagonally to the right and down and to the right and up.

The dependence of the brightness of halftones (0% - black, 100% - white) in the center of the screen from the deviation of the sensor axis (negative values \u200b\u200b- to the left, positive values \u200b\u200b- to the right) from the normal to the screen in the horizontal plane:

The dependence of the brightness of halftones (0% - black, 100% - white) in the center of the screen from the deviation of the sensor axis (negative values \u200b\u200b- to the left, positive values \u200b\u200b- to the right) from the normal to the screen in the diagonal plane:

Contrast dependence (the ratio of the brightness of the white field to the brightness of the black) in the center of the screen on the deviation of the sensor axis from the normal to the screen in the horizontal and diagonal planes:

Black field brightness:

Decrease brightness by 50% of maximum value:

Note the gradual decrease in brightness when deviating from the perpendicular to the screen in the horizontal direction, while the graphs do not intersect in the entire range of measured angles. When deviated in the diagonal direction, the behavior of the brightness of the shades is similar. The New iPad has slightly better viewing angles in terms of decreasing brightness, as in the case of this tablet, the brightness drops to 50% of the maximum value at slightly higher angles. In the diagonal direction, the brightness of the black field begins to increase sharply when deviating from the perpendicular to the screen already at 20 degrees in the case of the Acer Iconia Tab A701 and at only 45 degrees in the case of The New iPad. Since the brightness of the tablets differs, for clarity, we present the graphs of the brightness of the black field as a percentage of the maximum brightness:

These graphs confirm what can be seen in visual comparison - when you deviate from a diagonal, the black field comes out much less on the new iPad. As a result, the contrast in the angular range of ± 82 degrees for the diagonal direction in the case of the Acer Iconia Tab A701 falls below 10: 1 with a deviation of more than 72 degrees, and in the case of The New iPad does not fall below 50: 1.

To quantify the change in color rendition, we carried out colorimetric measurements for white, red, green and blue fields in full screen. The measurements were carried out in the range of angles from 0 (the sensor is directed perpendicular to the screen) to 45 degrees with a step of 5 degrees. The obtained values \u200b\u200bof the intensities were recalculated into the deviation delta E relative to the measurement of each field at the perpendicular position of the sensor relative to the screen. The results are presented below:

From the graphs it follows that only in the case of the Acer Iconia Tab A701 and only the blue color with a diagonal deviation undergoes a significant hue shift. At the same time, the color shift of the screen of The New iPad is generally slightly less than that of the Acer Iconia Tab A701.

As a result, at least in viewing angles, the Acer Iconia Tab A701's screen is slightly worse than the screen of the new iPad.

This concludes the comparison of screens, since the data presented below is also available in the article about the new iPad.

From a perpendicular view, the black field uniformity is good. The response time for the transition black-white-black is 53.1 ms (45.7 ms on + 7.4 ms off). The transition between 25% and 75% halftones (by numerical color value) takes 30 ms in total.

The gamma curve plotted at 32 points did not reveal a significant blockage in either highlights or shadows, and the exponent of the approximating power function is 2.26, which is quite close to the standard value of 2.2, but the real gamma curve deviates from the power law:

The contrast is high - 970: 1. The color gamut is very close to sRGB:

The spectra are typical for devices with LED backlighting:

The color temperature balance is good - shades of gray have a color temperature that does not differ much from 6500 K (the range close to black can be ignored, since the color rendition is not so important in it, and the error in measuring color characteristics is high.). Although the deviation from the blackbody spectrum (ΔE) is relatively large due to the excess of the green component. This contributes to an increase in brightness due to some deterioration in color reproduction:

However, the color temperature and ΔE do not change much over the entire gray scale area that matters, so the color balance is not visually challenging. In terms of the aggregate parameter, the screen definitely deserves a very high rating.

I would like to add that I personally like the New iPad screen better. But it is possible that the matter is in the software part as well. Apple has optimized iOS and all pre-installed apps for high definition. And third-party application developers tried to release updated versions with a resolution for Retina Display as soon as possible. Was the same careful optimization in the case of Android? Not sure. However, we'll talk about software later.

The screen recognizes ten-finger multitouch.

The actual size of the sides of the usable screen area is 21.7 × 13.6 cm. The diagonal is 25.7 cm (10.1 inches).

Platform

The tablet runs on the already familiar NVIDIA Tegra 3. And although this is not even the second tablet on this SoC, nevertheless, Tegra 3 is still perceived as an ultra-topical novelty.

Before we tested ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime and HTC One X smartphone on Tegra 3. Comparing the performance of the Acer tablet with a smartphone, perhaps, does not make sense, but with an ASUS tablet - of course. Well, it also makes sense to compare with the Acer Iconia Tab A200 (on Tegra 2) for clarity. So that they will appear in the table. But before we start testing, let us make a reservation that we had an engineering sample with preliminary firmware, so the results should be treated with a grain of salt. Perhaps a commercial copy will be more productive.

So, in the Quadrant Standard, the tablet scored 3603 points. This is one of better results, although Trasformer Prime's record could not be broken.

The result in SunSpider 0.9.1 upset us: 2504.6 ms - less than even the Iconia Tab A200. However, we will repeat the thought repeatedly expressed that SunSpider is not quite indicative for modern powerful tablets.

* Here and below for ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime, test results are shown on latest version firmware (the operating system has been updated to Android ICS). The results of this tablet on original firmware running Android 3.2 were slightly better in most tests.

But in the processor test, the Super Pi performed even better than the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime on the same SoC. While this is a record.

The table below shows the results for all three plates, rounded to the nearest 1 second.

In the comprehensive AnTuTu Benchmark 2.7.3, the tablet scored 10165 points, which is almost identical to the results demonstrated by the ASUS flagship.

But here the difference with the Tegra 2 tablets is clearly manifested (A701 and Transformer Prime bypass them more than twice).

And finally, the performance results graphics subsystem in NenaMark2 (v2.2).

They just turned out to be very strange. For comparison, ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime in Nenamark 2 gains 47.1 fps. And this is much more plausible, since the graphics capabilities of the new NVIDIA chip are the main advantage in comparison with Tegra 2. Therefore, the relatively low result of Acer Iconia Tab A701 should be attributed to the imperfection of the preliminary firmware. As well as small lags in other tests.

Operating system and applications

The tablet will ship with Android 4.0 preinstalled, just like all other 2012 Acer Android tablets.

We will not write in detail about the preinstalled software, because, we repeat, we had an engineering sample with test firmware, and in the final version, the set of software may change. However, one application is still worth mentioning. It is a very nice file manager.

Hope in final version he will also be present.

However, speaking of software, one cannot ignore the question of how well the software for Adnroid is optimized for high resolution. Here the impressions are ambiguous. On the one hand, everything looks quite correct: the inks do not seem blurry, the fonts both in the OS interface and in programs (both pre-installed and taken from the Google Play Store) look normal. On the other hand, we cannot yet speak of any special software optimization for high resolution. That is, in other words, the amount of visual information does not increase, new details do not appear. Of course, programs and games originally created for high definition will gradually appear. But the process of filling with such google apps The Play Store will obviously be slower than the iPad and App Store.

Autonomous work

Unfortunately, the sample did not reflect the actual situation with autonomous work... Therefore, we omit this question. But perhaps we will return to it after the product is released to the market. The tablet will be supplied with a 9800 mAh battery.

Camera

Unlike the Acer Iconia Tab A200, the novelty is equipped with two cameras. True, the resolution of the rear camera is small: 5 megapixels. This is not enough for a flagship model (all competitors of a similar level are equipped with 8 megapixel cameras). On the other hand, if this allows you to reduce the cost even a little, then it may be quite justified.

The main thing is that the quality of the resulting images is quite decent (by the standards of mobile devices). Of course, the detail is not as high as we would like, but there is almost no digital noise and dirt. This can be clearly seen in the fragment of the picture presented above.

The tablet can shoot panoramas, but the resolution of the panoramas is very low (the original image below is available by clicking).

We also tried to shoot a sheet of text (magazine page) on the rear camera of the tablet. At the same time, the journal was placed on a table standing by the window so that daylight fell on it (this is a condition necessary for repeatability and testability of the test). The original snapshot can be seen by clicking on the snippet below.

The quality is not bad, all the symbols are distinguishable, but a certain amount of dirt is still present.

Despite the low quality of photos, the rear camera shoots video with Full HD resolution and a very decent quality. The 30-second video captured with the rear camera of the Acer iconia Tab A701 can be downloaded (3GPP format, size 75.9 MB).

conclusions

The Acer Iconia Tab A701 is the first Android tablet with a Full HD screen in our test. And, I must say, in general, he pleased us and strengthened our opinion that Acer's market share in the tablet segment in the second half of the year will be not only not less, but more than before. Acer can only be praised for being among the first to introduce new technologies and bring them to the user at a reasonable price. At least that was the case before. How fair the price will be for the A701 remains to be seen. And, note, this will be a key factor. Since this model will have to compete with two very serious competitors: Full HD tablets from ASUS and Huawei. If Acer can set the price lower than ASUS, and roughly on par with Huawei, then the A701 (and its twin brother A700) will emerge victorious from this battle.

But to whom all Android tablets with a Full HD screen are losing so far is new iPad (by the way, recently entered into the official sale in Russia). On the iPad side, it's not just a better screen ( it comes and about the density of dots per inch, and about the viewing angles), but, more importantly, applications (including games) that use high resolution to the fullest. It is clear that most of the apps in the App Store have not yet been optimized for Retina Display. But at the same time, there are already great games with high-definition graphics, and the process of replacing old versions of applications with new ones will go very quickly. On Android, everything will be much slower - precisely because of the large fragmentation of the platform.

Therefore, you need to clearly understand why you are taking an Android tablet with a Full HD screen right now (that is, this summer or in the fall, while Full HD will not yet become the general standard for tablets). I see the following options here. First of all, watching movies - and just for this application, the same Acer Iconia Tab A701 is better suited than the iPad, since the screen has an aspect ratio of 16:10, which fits well with the "cinematic" aspect ratio of 16: 9, and films are not need to recode (even without hardware acceleration Tegra 3 pulls Full HD video). Besides, this is, of course, a reserve for the future. In the end, such an expensive toy is not bought for a year, but for at least two or three, so if you are aiming at buying a 10-inch Android tablet and are not very constrained in funds, then look at the models of the usual resolution, by and large, doesn't make sense. But which model to choose from those with a Full HD screen is a question that we cannot yet answer (since, we repeat, Acer Iconia Tab A701 is the first such tablet in our testing). But we can say for sure that high resolution is the future.