Our friends at PC Authority get hands on with Acer's new range of tablet computers, launched last week in New York.
on Nov 30 2010 6:36AM
An Acer product demonstrator shows off the 10in Android tablet. The Acer tablets don't have product names, as yet. Those will be decided between now and their launch around March next year, and may be different in different parts of the world.
The 10in tablet in action, showing off Acer's DLNA add-on, Clear.fi. Clear.fi is a media browser that connects to DLNA capable and Clear.fi capable products to share music, video and more.
Three little tablets, all in a row. From left, the 5in 'superphone', the 7in and the 10in Android tablets.
Up close and personal with the tablets. The styling is not the same across all three - the 10in, for example has a wide silver border. But all have visual appeal.
Compared to the iPad, the 10in Acer tablet is longer, but it's not much bulkier. We found it slightly easier to hold up for viewing in landscape mode.
The 10.1in Android Acer tablet and the iPad side-by-side. The Android tablet has an aluminium casing, as with the iPad.
One Apple, not on top. The comparistive thickness of each shown in our stacked shot. The Acer tablet is 13.3mm thick, while the iPad is 12.5mm thick.
For those who find the iPad too bulky, the Acer will probably be too large - the additional length will make it less wieldy.
The front of the 10.1in Acer Android tablet is glossy, with Aluminium casing shown at the sides.
At the rear, a camera and brushed metal look feature heavily. At the base is an HDMI connector. Acer tells us the battery won't be removable.
On/off button and (we think) a memory card slot. along one edge.
On the opposite side, a USB port is the only feature.
Sadly, it's hard to tell if there are any connectors, given the darkness of the shot. But trust us, there's a headphone jack, mini HDMI, and power button in there.
The 7in tablet fits neatly in a hand. Sort of. It features a dual-core processor - probably Qualcomm - and 1280 x 800 resolution.
As with the 10.1in tablet, there's a camera and a solid aluminium casing that looks quite stylish.
It may not fit into your back pocket easily (we tested it), but it will fit into a jacket exceptionally well.
The underside shows a swag of ports, including USB, HDMI and headphone jack. All the tablets are 3G and Wi-Fi capable -we're guessing those other covers are for memory card and SIM.
The same ports, only darker and harder to discern...
The curvature of the aluminium casing is hard to spot here, but looks attractive in the flesh. It's also incredibly solid and feels well built and robust. We manhandled it a fair bit before being asked to stop, as this was a pre-production unit. Ooops.
Power button and micro-USB on the opposite side to the HDMI and headphone jack. The 7in tablet is bristling with connections.
The 5in tablet is being called a "superphone" by Acer. It features the same aluminium casing, and again, feels robust and well-constructed.
That camera is 8MP.
The screen is an unusual 21:9 aspect ratio, and 4.8in at 1024 x 800. In landscape mode, it will fit a webpage without needing to sideways scroll.
The smartphone includes Wi-Fi 802.11N, and BlueTooth 3.0.
As with most smartphones, there are four main touch buttons - home, search, back and menu.
We took off the back to see what the battery and SIM/SD card slot looked like.
An Acer product demonstrator shows off the 10in Android tablet. The Acer tablets don't have product names, as yet. Those will be decided between now and their launch around March next year, and may be different in different parts of the world.