Hands-on: Acer Iconia One 7 and Iconia A1-830 tablets

During Acer’s launch yesterday, they have introduced 2 new tablets which packs quite a lot for very little money. Both are compact in size and uses IPS display for better viewing angles. The Iconia One 7 comes with a 7″ display while the Iconia A1-830 is a little bigger at 7.9″.

Despite its low price below RM600, the 2 tablets are actually quite well put together and Acer has been pretty generous with the internals as well. Read on to find out our first impressions of the Iconia One 7 and A1-830.

Acer Iconia One 7

The Iconia One 7 is low in price but is on the high side when it comes to its hardware. The front 7″ display pushes a respectable 1280×800 pixels resolution in 16:10 aspect ratio. While the body is made of plastic, the textured cover back which comes in a variety of colours – Red, Blue, White and Black gives it a more upmarket feel. On the right side, it comes with a power button and volume rocker along with a microSD slot which is exposed for easy access.

Internally it runs on Intel Atom Z2560 processor with dual-cores running at 1.6GHz and is mated to 1GB of RAM. It even gets 16GB of on-board storage which is huge for tablets and even smart phones in this price range. When we played with the tablet, it feels pretty smooth and should be sufficient for your daily web browsing and social media updates. In terms of connectivity, the Iconia One 7 is WiFi only and it is powered by a 3,680mAh capacity battery.

For imaging, it is quite a low key affair with a 2MP camera at the back while the front gets an unspecified HD camera. At time of writing, the Iconia One 7 is still running on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean but Acer says that a newer Android 4.4 KitKat will be coming soon. For RM399, the Iconia One 7 is a steal if you’re looking for an affordable tablet that has a decent screen. This is definitely better than the recently announced Lenovo Tab A7-30 if you don’t plan on using it as a phone.

Acer Iconia One 7 Hands-on Photos

Acer Iconia A1-830

The next device is not only bigger but is more premium to hold. The Acer Iconia A1-830 gets a metal body which reminds us of the iPad mini. The front display is slightly bigger at 7.9″ but gets a more “iPad” display aspect ratio of 4:3. While the earlier Iconia One 7 is better suited for watching movies, this is better suited for reading eBooks with its more squarish dimensions.

Despite going a size bigger, the screen resolution is lower on the Iconia A1-830 at 1024×768. In our short hands-on, the screen is still quite clear and it is worth pointing out that the display is identical with the first generation iPad mini. We won’t be surprised if both tablets are getting their displays from the same source.

The internal specs follow the earlier Iconia One 7 with the same 1.6GHz Dual-Core Intel Atom Z2560 processor with 1GB RAM and 16GB of storage. It also gets an expandable microSD slot which is also exposed on the right side of the device.

Being a more premium device, the camera is upgraded to a 5MP main unit while Selfies are taken with a 2MP front camera. The battery is slightly bigger too at 4,000mAh and like the Iconia One 7, it has a pair of stereo speakers at the back. At RM599, the WiFi-only Iconia A1-830 is worth considering for its decent hardware and a solid build quality.

Acer Iconia A1-830 Hands-on Photos