There’s no denying that the budget tablet market has boomed in the last year and a half or so. Amazon kickstarted it all with the Kindle Fire for next to nothing and then Google got in on the game with the Nexus 7, which is still perhaps the best value for money when it comes to picking up an Android tablet. Acer however, have been making decent tablets at decent prices for a while and now, they’re back with the Iconia A1. There’s been no official word from Acer on the Iconia A1 but, it’s leaked out a couple of times now.
Tablet.bg took a closer look at the tablet and discovered that while the Iconia A1 is not going to beat any speed records, it’s a solid offering that performs very well. Let’s take a look at the specs:
- 7.9-inch IPS Display at 1024 x 768 – the same as the iPad Mini
- Quad-Core 1.2 Ghz MT8125 Cortex-A9 CPU from MediaTek
- 1GB of RAM
- 16GB of storage
- micro-HDMI out
- 5MP rear-facing camera, VGA front-facing
- 3,250 mAh battery
- Android 4.2 Jelly Bean
- 208.7 x 145.7 x 10.5 mm
- 460g
Acer cannot get away with the fact that they’re going after the whole 7.9-inch iPad Mini market sector here, and why not? At least they’ve tried something different, unlike Samsung that are still releasing the same 7-incher year-on-year. That extra screen space might seem like much but, here’s an example of browsing a web page on the Iconia A1 and the Nexus 7:
As you can see, you do get a little more screen real-estate with Acer’s offering here and yet you can still hold the device in one hand. The lower resolution however, might be a turn-off for those that enjoy reading on their tablets for long periods of time. That MediaTek processor is something that might worry people but, it is a Cortex-A9 CPU which is the same type that’s in the Galaxy Note 8.0. Of course, Samsung put a lot of work into their Exynos line so don’t expect the same sort of performance from this but, it shouldn’t be too far behind that’s for sure.
The Iconia A1 does come with a rear-facing camera that the Nexus 7 doesn’t so, there’s an added bonus there. It’s no UltraPixel or anything of the sort but, it is a 5MP shooter and it can record at 1080p should you choose to. Overall, it looks like the Iconia A1 could be a solid offering for those that want a little extra screen space to work with, and the price seems like a good call from Acer here as well. At just €169, which translates to $220 at conversion, but should retail far south of 200 bucks.
What do you think, does the Iconia A1 look like a worthwhile buy to you?
[Source: Tablet.bg]