Acer Iconia A110 8GB Android tablet review

Acer’s Iconia A110 7in Android tablet is the first real competition that Google's Nexus 7 has faced. It’s similarly sized, similarly priced and uses the same quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 underpinnings. It also runs the same Jelly Bean version of Android. Acer Iconia A110 8GB Android tablet Lucky seven? Acer's Iconia A110 The …

[ContentsMayVary]

This review predates the Nexus 7 price changes...

The review wrote:

"An 8GB A110 will set you back £180 which is a tenner more than the equivalent Nexus 7 after you add post and packaging – the 8GB model only being available from Google’s Play Store. If you want to buy a Nexus 7 over the counter, you have to go for the £200 16GB model, which may give the Acer an edge in the impulse purchase stakes."

However, the 8GB Nexus 7 has been replaced with the 16GB model at the same price. So you can buy the 16GB Nexus 7 for £159 or the 32GB one for £199.

So now the £180 Asus has 8GB less storage than the £159 Nexus 7... Which probably means almost no-one will buy one.

[thesykes]

Time warp?

Has the reviewer checked the pricing of Nexus 7's? The 8Gb version is no longer available from Google and the 16Gb is now £159.

On the other hand, pop over to MoDaCo and they have details of how to get £50 cashback from Acer on one of these.

[Paul E]

50 quid cashback

on this at ebuyer at the moment.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: 50 quid cashback

Sounds like an "oops" moment from Acer who weren't expecting Google to shift to 16GB for the entry Nexus7!

[Afflicted.John]

Re: 50 quid cashback

£130 for nearly as good as the Nex7? Seems like a deal. Since I just sold my Nexus 7 to wait on the 3G version, my "need" for 3G seems to have taken a turn...

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: 50 quid cashback

Thought you had misread the cashback as It was £30 so it seems they have upped their offer to £50. For £130 it's a lot of tablet and worth a punt on and at that price I think it should be 90%.

Looks like my daughter will be getting one of these for Christmas as it looks great for kids.

[Shagbag]

Re: 50 quid cashback at Comet

Comet are offering £50 cash back after you purchase one of these.

Not really. I just thought I'd throw it in to highlight the riskiness of 'cash-back' schemes.

[Paul E]

Re: 50 quid cashback at Comet

The £50 cash back is from Acer themselves direct and not through the retailer. The main risk on cashback is forgetting the window in which you can claim it.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: 50 quid cashback at Comet

There is (a bit of) Acer small print on the cashback that says Comet, DSG, and John Lewis are excluded from the cashback.

Other than that the Ts+Cs seem fair.

[uhuznaa]

Speaker

The quiet (and backwards pointing) speaker on the Nexus 7 is really poor. Using it as a video phone with Skype is hard even in a very quiet room.

Still, at least you'll get Android updates.

[mikeyboosh]

Re: Speaker

Mine isn't quiet, not even in the slightest.

[Richard 116]

Nail ---> Head

"Still, at least you'll get Android updates."

Why I'd stick with Nexus devices.

[Pirate Dave]

Re: Speaker

Agree about the speaker. It's pretty much useless in anything other than a dead-quiet environment. Loaded it with a few movies and took it camping the weekend after I got it (to keep the kids occupied in case of rain), but the sound was too quiet to be heard over the sound of light rain on the tent. Otherwise, it's a nice device. Battery lasts pretty well. The only real lack is a rear-facing camera (the SmartTools app can do some neato stuff with one).

[Anonymous Coward]

Screen's not much cop

I'd get a Nexus 7 or buy a cheap chinese tab at this price.

[Steve Crook]

Screen res review suggestion...

For netbooks, ultrabooks and tablets. Can you put the res in the title?. Then I know if it's worth making the effort to read the review

[Danny 14]

query:

Why 70%? What is actually wrong with it? For 70% I would expect "average nothing special" but looking at the specs it should run all the usual apps, play games rather well etc. Was the WIFI rubbish too?

[Mikel]

A good review

HDMI and SD are important features for some, and if you want them on a 7" tablet then this is a slamming deal.

[The New Turtle]

Looks like good value at £130 (with some kind of cashback deal) from ebuyer today.

[jason 7]

So it'an Acer.....

....so only going to last about 6 -8 months then?

Any other firm and I'd expect it to last at least till a day past warranty.

[Vector]

Re: So it'an Acer.....

Sorry...downvote for U. I've got an A500 which I bought on release day here in the US and I've never had a lick of trouble with it (oh...do I tempt Murphy with that statement).

The A110, however, does seem like a misfire. Haven't heard of a rebate in the states, so the lesser screen and memory offset by SD card and HDMI port don't really warrant a $30 premium on the 16Gb Nexus 7, particularly with news of Miracast support in JB 4.2.

[Danny 14]

Re: So it'an Acer.....

Indeed, Acer had issue in the early 2000's but over the past few years we have had a few cheap budget almost throwaway laptops for our contractors that have outlasted HPs and Dells. We were skeptical about the warranty repair system too but for £20 we added it. Claimed twice on about 30 laptops so far (both HDDs) with no issues at all.

Whilst I agree 30 odd laptops is not indicative of the entire range we have nothing to complain about.

[I ain't Spartacus]

IPS screen

That's a deal-breaker in my book. My old Tablet PC didn't have an IPS screen, and the viewing angles were truly horrible. Holding it side to side with the original iPad made this point obvious. It's not that nice to look at yourself, as you're restricted in the ways you can hold it. But try showing the screen to someone else, and it gets truly nasty.

So for me all tablets need IPS, or whatever equivalent tech is out there.

Obviously, having just made that sweeping statement, I'll backtrack a little. It does depend on what features are most important to you. But to me, the screen is the most important feature of a tablet. It's what you stare at, it's what you interact with.

[Richard Lloyd]

Decent specs...except the screen/resolution

When I first saw the cashback deal on this on HotUKDeals, I was quite impressed for 130 quid. Sadly, the OP on the HUKD posting didn't mention the screen resolution, which is really quite poor (especially with a Tegra 3 onboard). As soon as I saw the 1024x600 figure, I realised that in no way is this a Nexus 7 competitor. A pity really because a better screen would indeed have challenged the N7, which still remains clearly the best 7" tablet, especially after the recent price drop.

The 7" tablet market, to be honest, seems oversaturated now - I'm still looking for a 9 or 10" replacement for my HP ToiuchPad (i.e. vanilla Android, decent screen res/CPU/GPU). I thought the Nexus 10 was going to be it until I was gobsmacked by the ludicrous UK pricing of it. Since when does 16GB of flash cost 70 quid and why would Samsung make a tablet that prices far too closely to the iPad 4 (32GB Nexus 10 = 389 quid, 16GB iPad 4 = 399 quid)?

I also thought the Nook HD+ (rooted/ROM'ed of course) might be a contender, until I saw it had a stupid proprietary connector for charging (hence requiring *2* mains adapters - one for home, one for work). No Micro USB charging, which is surely a dealbreaker since every other phone/tablet I have uses Micro USB for charging now (I have no Apple kit, so don't live in the land of 35 quid charging cables).