Acer has officially launched a total of five new tablet devices in the India market. All the new tablet devices are a part of Acer’s new ICONIA series. While three of the devices run Android, the remaining run Windows 7.
At the moment two of the total five devices are available in the market, both come in a 10-inch form factor and are Wi-Fi only models. The first one is the 10-inch ICONIA A500 which runs Android 3.0 Honeycomb, and the next one is the 10-inch ICONIA W500, which runs Windows 7. This is not the only difference in the tablets - unlike the former, the Windows 7 based ICONIA W500 comes with a portable keyboard dock which also includes the track point like the one on Lenovo laptops.
The Acer ICONIA A500 is powered by NVIDIA’s 1GHz dual-core Tegra 2 processor, it is bundled with 1GB of DDR2 RAM and is available in two sizes – 16GB and 32GB. It also includes 5 megapixel camera on the back and a front-facing 2 megapixel camera. It runs Android Honeycomb version 3.0.1, which is currently the latest Honeycomb version available. In the brief hands-on we got with the device, the tablet seems quite responsive and it comes at an affordable price of Rs. 27,990.
Next is the Acer ICONIA W500 which is also available in the market and comes with the portable dock. It is powered by AMD’s new 1GHz C-50 dual-core processor, and as it runs Windows 7 it cannot be powered by ARM processors like the Tegra 2. It is bundled with ATI Radeon HD 6250 mobile graphics engine, it includes 2GB of DDR3 RAM and 32GB of internal storage, while the camera and other features are similar to the Android-based ICONIA A500. In our hands-on with the device we noticed that it needs some extra power to perform efficiently. While, it is a great device and a niche market may be appealed by it, the ICONIA W500 just seems like a fancy netbook with a touchscreen and a removable display. It is priced at Rs. 32,499.
Other devices which Acer unveiled include the Acer ICONIA Dual Screen notebook, which runsWindows 7, and features two touchscreen displays. The device is priced roughly around Rs. 70,000 and the company has launched it in India expecting to attract a niche market. Well, we are not very hopeful for the device, and it just seems like a good idea. It lacks some power, and we believe a smaller size and the inclusion of Android would have done it some justice.
Next is a tablet and smartphone hybrid devices known as the Acer ICONIA Smart A300, which includes a brilliant 4.8-inch display which runs on Android Gingerbread 2.3 and is topped up withAcer’s UI. It seems like a good device (at least a lot better than the Dell Streak), it also includes a 8 megapixel camera and Dolby Digital sound capabilities. Acer is yet to announce the pricing for the device - expect it to be about Rs. 28,000 or less.
Finally, there is the 7-inch Acer ICONIA A100. It is an Android 3.0 Honeycomb based tablet device in a 7-inch form factor and feels absolutely impressive. It has similar specifications to theAcer ICONIA A500 but obviously a smaller screen. The price for the device is not yet announced but we expect the 16GB model to start shipping at around Rs. 22,000.
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