The Acer Iconia One 10 is a cheap yet somewhat capable all-rounder that delivers good enough performance for the price. Its affordable pricing is one of the few things going for it though as it is let down by poor finish and a serious lack of drive and power.
This is arguably the year of the tablets, and they are totally rapidly coming of age, getting seriously oh-so-sexy and svelte, while packing enough cutting-edge tech to seriously challenge their smaller smartphone brethren. Tablets offer an excellent way of endlessly entertaining yourself and fam, with some even packing productivity options rivaling most laptops. Tablets are also loads of endless fun, combining as they do the best features of smartphones and laptops into a more versatile, hands-on, eye-centric package that you can’t help but desire and ferociously too. Any wonder then that they are currently selling like chocolate ice cream in a heat storm, and each household practically has at least one to boast and keep up with the Kardashians’ with. If you desire a good enough tab but don’t particularly feel like paying a King’s ransom or mortgaging your Barbie palace to get one, then the Acer Iconia One 10 is there for you. It is especially for when you desire to join the tablet bandwagon on a really sparse budget. While cheap it is yet respectably capable, just don’t expect premium eye-candy looks or iPad-rivaling performance from this unpretentious big fella.
The design is strictly functional like a Soviet-era building, plasticky looking and feels cheap, if tacky. But of course it is cheap so what were you expecting, inlaid gold, silver and hand-crafted leather sheating?! Twist it, and it creaks and flexes like an out-of-shape contortionist, promising so-so durability and betraying poor build quality. So it might be best to invest in an armored case for it, that is if you do want it to live a long, eventful and happy life, rather than filling a landfill just a month after purchase. On the left side of the big boss are a 3.5 mm headphone jack as well as a micro-USB, while the power button, micro SD card slot, and volume controls sit pretty on the top edge. Weight is a hefty 1.23 pounds, while it is also much more obese than most of its contemporaries at 0.4 inches of thickness.
The TFT LCD screen is a big and colorful 10-incher armored in Corning Gorilla Glass 4 and featuring a fairly pedestrian 1280 x 800 resolution. Bright it ain’t too, though it makes up for that by being very reflective in light-filled environments. Under the hood you get a 1.3 GHZ quad-core Mediatek Cortex A53 MT8163 processor, coupled to a positively miserly 1 GB of RAM and 32 GB of onboard memory. Connectivity options are all the expected usuals and range from Bluetooth 4.0 to Wi-Fi 802.11. Fingerprint/iris scanner it has not and if you can’t do without the snobby duo go look elsewhere and be prepared to dig way deeper into your wallet for them.
Sound is from a pair of speakers at the sides, which perform like surly unpaid interns at a concert. OS is the rather outdated Android 5.1 Lollipop, while cameras are a 5 MP shooter at the back, along with a 2 MP at the front. Battery juice is a 6,100 mAh monster that is rather excellent and delivers ceaseless hours of wobbly performance.
From the foregoing, it is obvious that the Acer Iconia One 10 seriously lacks the grunt power to take off properly, never mind cruise with you deliriously in tow to Neverland. The screen is just average, and shockingly so after all the HD and QHD tabs i -and my poor, entitled eyes- had gotten used to and comfortable with long ago. This one, therefore, feels rather like a letdown and a serious step backward for all concerned tablet lovers and tech fiends. But that comes of being Acer-cheap, with performance and quality taking second place to the almighty price. The display while indeed colorful seriously lacks detail and crispness, while the individual pixels can be spotted by even a blind person. It also absolutely seemed to love massively reflecting light from any source, and occasionally proved as responsive as an arthritic horse to swipes and other commands. Similarly, expect to keep the open tabs to a minimum if you want a lag-free experience. Browsing was adequate as expected, with no thrill speeds or other useful effects worth mentioning. Games too ran mostly smoothly, though heavily graphics-laden ones can take an extremely frustrating half a century to successfully load up and get running. Sound from the dual speakers too is of the same fare; fairly loud but apt to get muddy and packing distortion aplenty like an armed GI in a war zone.
The dual cameras too are adequate enough performers, with the main 5 MP back shooter occasionally capable of outputting exquisite photos when used with skill and with the cooperation of the sun. The 2 MP selfie-imager on the front on the other hand was pretty useless. But what the hell, it does makes for a pretty good ornament on the tab.
Battery life is one of the few Acer Iconia One 10 tablet good points and lasted an average of 10 hours of video playback with the brightness set to around 40%. Which while average for its class still ensue that you get to experience all the fun you paid out for.
Price is $129, which is cheap as dirt and severely undercuts its competitors. The Acer Iconia One 10 is a rather bare-bones affair that feels cobbled together, lacking in finish, performance and appeal. Still it more than makes up for it flaws courtesy of a price point that is affordable for a significant proportion of the populace who desire to get a tablet to call their very own. If you need a somewhat effective tab for just watching movies and browsing the net, you can’t do worse than carefully check it out and see if it is for you. If its flaws put you off, then prepare to sell the family jewels to acquire a way better top-of-the-range tablet.