debbi alter: Acer Iconia Tab A700 hands-on (updated: now with more video!)

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Acer Iconia Tab A700 hands-on (updated: now with more video!)

So, the mystery quad-core tablet shown off by Acer at CES has a name... kinda. The Tegra 3-powered unit is the oft rumored and leaked Iconia Tab A700, though, we were told repeatedly that this is just a technology demo and not a consumer product -- so don't be surprised if you never see an A700 come to market. Underneath the hood is a 1.3GHz quad-core Tegra 3 and a full gig of RAM for pushing a customized version of Ice Cream Sandwich to its 10.1-inch 1080p "IPS quality" panel. The most glaring difference between Google's stock experience and Acer's version of Android is the "ring" -- a lockscreen launcher with a selection of shortcuts available depending on which direction you drag your finger in. The textured back felt quite nice to the fingers, though it sports a healthy amount of heft that might worry some fans of lightweight devices. As far as ports go, you're looking at an HDMI-port, microSD and micro USB -- ~~the latter of which can actually be used to charge the device. Huzzah!~~ (Update: After originally telling us the tablet could be charged via micro USB they came back to us and said they had to double check that one). Check out the gallery below for a few more impressions.

Update: Head on after the break for a quick hands-on video.

Gallery: Acer Iconia Tab A700 hands-on