[rwp-review id=”0″]
Acer Iconia Tab 8: A pleasant, unexpected surprise
I had tested out the Acer Iconia A1 tablet (the Iconia Tab 8’s predecessor) for some time last year and found it lacking in many departments, as well as not being a fun and beautiful device to use. With the Iconia Tab 8, Acer seems to have responded to some of the beef I had with its older version.
Launched in the summer at Computex 2014, the Tab 8 is an Android tablet running 4.4 out of the box, and comes with an Intel Atom processor and a super-bright IPS screen with a 1280×800 Full HD resolution.
Using Intel’s Z3745 quad-core Atom processors (Bay Trail series), running at 1.86GHz. There’s 2GB of RAM, the device is quite fast and reactive – quick browsing, quick applications open and no noticeable lag. Unlike its older brother, I also enjoyed the fluid, non-latent movement of screens.
At 8 inches, the screen’s real estate allows for a maximized entertainment experience, both for movies, as well as for gaming – which, by the way, with the fast processor, are very enjoyable. An impressive screen display with rich colors at every viewing angle, the Tab 8 is light and slim enough (360g and 8.5mm thick) to comfortably be held in one hand.
The battery life, at 7.5 hours, according to Acer (when watching HD videos), is somewhat lesser than what we expect from tablets, and probably will not last you a cross-Atlantic flight – but that’s what in-flight entertainment is for!
The dual speakers at the bottom seem to need a bit of a volume booster, since even at full blast, I found myself tilting my head towards the device to try and hear better. With headphones, though, things turned out to be much better.
As far as cameras go on tablets, I’m yet to see one that I would actually use – it amazes me to no end that people hold tablets up at concerts at night to record the experience, because a. please just watch the concert with your eyes, and b. if you’re going to capture it, please use a camera or a smartphone. The Tab 8 camera gives some pretty sketchy results, unsurprisingly – grainy photos, no real focal point and de-saturated colors.
I’m a heavy tablet user, personally, and vouch for the iPad, but that’s more because of the OS than anything else. However, as an Android tablet (and I’ve tried a few), the Acer Iconia Tab 8 can hold its own – a premium tablet selling at an affordable budget: most websites claim it to cost around $270, which is a steal for the what you get from this device.
