back to article Acer Iconia A1-810: The Android tab longing for eight-inch Apple action

The Iconia A1-810 is, of course, an iPad Mini clone. How else could Acer, after years of offering slates with 16:9 widescreen panels, have suddenly hit on the idea that punters want a 4:3 tablet - “the right aspect ratio”, an Acer exec eagerly told me - without being inspired by Cupertino’s latest? Acer Iconia A1-810 Mini me …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Asus FonePad

    yesterday

    reviewed

    same price

    much better specs

    (it seems)

    Acer = pass

    ;)

  2. Greg D
    FAIL

    no way

    no way in hell are Acer getting 220 big ones out of me for this. Even if they offered it to me for free, I'd say no. I know it's at the lower end of the market, but a complete rubbish effort nonetheless.

    The other guys are doing much better devices (Asus, Samsung etc.) for the same price point.

    1. Richard 81
      WTF?

      Re: no way

      "Even if they offered it to me for free..."

      Who says this and actually means it?

    2. Mark .

      Re: no way

      Which devices are you referring to, out of interest? (Honest question, I'm curious.)

      Samsung's offerings are either more expensive (Note 8) or outdated/lower spec (Tab 7"). The ASUS Fonepad looks great and is cheaper, though had a poorer CPU in the benchmark.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: no way

        "Who says this and actually means it?"

        Lots of people, I imagine. Possessions own you to a certain extent. With tablets, you have to keep them charged up; you need to clean up a premium space in your house (ie, near a power socket) for them to nest while doing so and you should devote the time to customising and security if it's going to be a useful tool. I probably would take this machine if offered for free (I have teenagers and spares of easily breakable kit are always welcome); but I wouldn't buy one...it's heavy, has crap cameras and I already am adequately tabletted up.

        That said, I wouldn't take an iPad or iPhone for free because I don't like the ecosystem. I'd take 10 iThings for free because eBay, but I couldn't be arsed with just one.

        1. Richard 81

          Re: no way

          I'm not above the effort of turning one free thing into £300.

      2. Ian McNee
        Happy

        Re: no way

        @Mark .: you may be right about the Samsung alternatives but as Tony points out in the review the (Asus) Nexus 7 whips this tab's butt - as it has been doing most wannabe tabs since its launch.

        And the more new 7-8" tabs are launched the more I think that Google shipped the Nexus 7 at little more than cost - smart move as Android tabs are now outselling iPhads and I still feel like I have the best one on the market seven months on.

        </smug>

  3. Tom 7

    A1 mirrors almost exactly the Mini’s key attribute

    I'm sure there would be fireworks if it had Apples logo on it.

    The aspect ratio used has been used for a good 25 years on video/computing devices.

    1. Mark .

      Re: A1 mirrors almost exactly the Mini’s key attribute

      Yes, I'm wondering if the iphone 5 is a Nokia clone then, since Apple were doing 3:2 for years before switching to 16:9 that everyone else was already doing... Or perhaps we can stop calling everything an Apple clone.

      As for the article saying:

      "My rejection of the "one size fits all" approach doesn’t suit everyone, of course, as the success of the iPad Mini would seem to suggest. "

      I think that actually adds weight to he author's argument that choice is good - if there was only one true size as Jobs claimed, then all the people wanting an IOS device would have bought a normal ipad.

  4. Phil W

    4:3 A common Android occurrence for years

    I'm pretty sure my Archos 80 G9 was designed and produced quite a bit before the iPad Mini and that's 4:3 ratio.

    There have also been dozens of models cheap Chinese Android tablets with 4:3 ratio screens knocking around for years.

    However I'm sure the author of this article would be quick to tell us that these are all also iPad Mini clones, perhaps as a result of the manufacturers travelling to the future to see what Apple were going to do?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: 4:3 A common Android occurrence for years

      Or, rather, "4:3 - an aspect ratio used in images for over a century" (e.g. see wikipedia)

  5. Azzy

    Sounds like a crap tablet...

    The screen is dim, it's heavier than the competition, and thicker too...

    The screen resolution is poor (1024x768? please, my 1.5 year old phone has higher resolution), the touchscreen responsiveness is below par...

    It's processor performance barely matches that of the Tegra 3, even though the former has been in shipping devices for nearly a year...

    Oh, and it's made by Acer, which has a less than sterling reputation for build quality and power management.

    This tablet seems to have nothing to recommend it.

  6. uhuznaa

    Hmm

    Looking at all those tablets I think I would like one with 6-8" and hardly any bezel. Yes, the bezel is useful for putting your thumb on it, but with my Nexus 7 I rarely put my thumb there anyway.

    But it just looks so like wasted space. It's a purely subjective feeling, but these things are large enough and having a fat, wide bezel around the only thing you really care for (the display) just fells so incredibly silly.

    And please: Include stereo speakers at the front (or at least the sides) and a kickstand. These things are great for viewing video and to abuse them as a video phone on WiFi at home, so having a poot mono speaker on the back and no way to prop it up on the table is just like "we have no idea why anyone would buy this thing, but please just buy it, it's cheap!".

    No. Why are these things all so similar? And so poorly conceived? What's so hard about some decent speakers and a kickstand and a back camera that is good enough to snap a photo of a whiteboard or a letter if you want to "digitize" analog stuff for using it later? Why is there nobody putting some thought into these things? I bet that basically the same hardware in a thoughtful design and with some cheap useful features added would make this thing truly useful.

    And yes, my Nexus 7 also has a really poor speaker on the back (useless for Skype) and no kickstand and no back camera. God!

  7. Dana W
    Thumb Down

    Its lost on me. If I didn't have an iPad Mini I'd get another Nexus 7 for just a little bit more. Really, if they were going to make an iPad mini competitor why make it LESS good then the already nice Nexus 7?

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