Acer Iconia Tab A1-810 was, in fact, the first 8-inch tablet on the Android platform. In general, on the mobile gadget market, frankly low-quality devices do not linger, especially with regard to some design or assembly errors. All prices of one or another segment are kept at approximately the same level. That is, an ordinary user in order to make a choice, it is enough to correlate the main characteristics of the gadget.
Varieties of "filling" for each manufacturer is enough, as well as the choice of device diagonal. Here, it would seem, there should be a clear differentiation, because this is still a rather peculiar production and is constantly developing. But when conducting a more thorough analysis of the modern mobile market, it begins to seem that the manufacturer cuts the displays as if it were a banal window glass. In this regard, despite the apparent diversity, we can distinguish only two main segments, as they say, dimensions are small 7-inch devices and large ones with a diagonal of 9 or 10 inches.
After the Acer A1-810 tablet appeared on the mobile gadget market, many owners suddenly realized that, it turns out, 8 inches is just what you need. It is convenient to hold it with one hand, because it is neither large nor small, and the picture on the screen seems quite worthy, both for horizontal and vertical orientation. And this means that the user has access to full-fledged web surfing, any toys, books and work with documents.
So, the hero of our review is the Acer A1-810 tablet . Characteristics, features, advantages and disadvantages, as well as expert opinions, along with the reviews of ordinary users of the gadget will be discussed in detail in the article.
Contents of delivery
Despite its relatively average size, the gadget comes in a rather bulky box. The package is additionally reinforced with a double lid, and inside you can see something like a cassette tray made of high-quality and dense cardboard.
Inside the box you will see:
- Acer Iconia A1-810 itself;
- micro-USB cable for network charging and PC synchronization;
- 2 amp charging unit (5.35 V);
- plug for charger;
- The manual is in Russian.
Options can be called modest. There is nothing superfluous, only everything you need, and therefore, if you are missing something, you will have to buy a separate item. If you look at user reviews in specialized forums about Acer A1-810 (w3bsit3-dns.com and the like), many obviously lack an adapter such as dad-mom class of macro-USB - micro-USB. The tablet quite comfortably supports synchronization with peripherals (mouse, keyboard, etc.), so itâs better to immediately worry about buying such an adapter. As for covers, films and other things, it is better to leave the purchase of such things at your own discretion, rather than shift them onto the shoulders of the manufacturer, because of taste and color ...
Appearance
The appearance of the Acer Iconia Tab A1-810 is not particularly impressive. Yes, it is neat, well-built, without any extra designer chips, and maybe a little thick. If we put similar gadgets in one row, like the same âNexusâ of the seventh series or âiPad miniâ, then visually they are not much different, even though the latter have a diagonal of seven inches, while our respondent is an eight-inch representative of tablets .
Sensible ergonomic advantages are felt during operation with the device. Many owners in their reviews note that the tablet seems to be made specifically for their dimensions (it is comfortable to read data, itâs convenient to control the screen and it's nice to hold).
Dimensions
The dimensions of the Acer A1-810, in principle, correspond to the diagonal of the screen - 209x146x11 mm with a weight of 410 grams. Visually, of course, it still looks a bit thick, and weighs a little more than usual, so for some users this moment will be critical at the time of purchase. Nevertheless, holding the device in your palm is very convenient.
It is clear that in most cases the size of the gadget is set by the diagonal of the screen, but if the body of our tablet would exactly repeat the aspect ratio of the display, then it would be much more square. Therefore, the manufacturer slightly extended the device, leaving the frames around the screen with different thicknesses: horizontally - 2 cm, vertically - 1 cm. Plus, the gadget is additionally equipped with a small edging frame.
Generally speaking, the manufacturer made a pretty smart move with this framework. While working with the Acer A1-810, the touchscreen is in the middle, and there are 2 cm of non-touch surface on the sides, so the user does not need to be afraid that his thumb accidentally clicks on the sensor.
A pretty nice metal frame resembles the perimeter of the device, and if you look inside, we will see that almost all the main elements of the tablet, including the motherboard, are mounted on a solid mounting surface made of plastic, which merges with the metal edging. The design turned out to be relatively light, and most importantly - reliable.
Cameras
The eye of the front camera is located exactly in the middle of the display frame, and in its short part, which means that the design of the Acer Iconia A1-810 is designed for the vertical position of the device during conversations on the same Skype. In general, when the aspect ratio is 4 to 3, it is very convenient to operate the device in a vertical orientation, there is no feeling of discomfort.
The matrix of the main camera has an expansion of five megapixels and is capable of recording video in Full HD-format. The peephole is located in the corner of the back cover, so you can take photographs and videos in both horizontal and vertical orientation. Judging by the reviews on the Acer A1-810 cameras, users do not have any problems during the shooting, the manufacturer thought a lot, so there are no critical comments here.
Interfaces
Not far from the main camera lens, on the side face, there are mechanical buttons: in the horizontal part - the volume rocker, on the vertical - the power off button. The device does not have any other mechanical controls.
In the mirror position to the eye of the main camera is the only Acer A1-810 speaker, closed with a decorative grille. Naturally, itâs not necessary to talk about at least some kind of audio system, but for the built-in sound card, the capacities are quite enough for domestic needs. In any case, if you have few speaker options, you can always connect third-party audio peripherals to the 3.5 mm âmini-jackâ. Near the audio jack you can see the mini-interface USB 2.0.
The other part of the exits is located in the horizontal part of the end. Next to the volume rocker there is a slot for an external SD card, a microphone hole, a hot reset button and, a little further, a micro-HDMI interface. There are not as many connectors as many would like, but you can fully work. Some owners in their reviews complain about the lack of a separate DC-in interface for the network adapter, and therefore have to take a very necessary USB port. In addition, if you need to âresetâ the gadget or change the basic settings when the Acer A1-810 does not turn on, the hot reset button is so inconspicuous and hard to reach that you have to resort to using a special tool.
Platform
At the time of the first launch, the owner will be unobtrusively asked to go through a series of official procedures. This may include entering your identifier, and if this is not, then go through a simple registration on the companyâs website, after which the Acer tablet will give you access to the desktop.
The base platform, which comes from the manufacturerâs assembly line, is the âAndroidâ version of Jelly Bean 4.2.2. Wallpaper on the desktop is clearly an amateur, but we are of little interest. In addition to the required widgets from the "Google" mail and the "market", you can find very useful and interesting utilities from the "Acer" and its friendly companies. Be sure to pay attention to the convenient online directory for multimedia 7Digital, the cloud-based company service âAcerCloodâ (similar to the âappleâ), as well as the TuneIn online radio transmitter and the pretty Zinio digital publishing store are worthy of attention. In any case, if this is not enough for you, then the same Google Play always works for you.
Some users in their reviews complain that certain gadget series are equipped with another version of Android, which was distinguished by an overabundance of all kinds of advertising widgets and other uninstallable applications, which will certainly annoy the owners of the Acer A1-810. Firmware, or rather, its replacement is the only optimal option. The benefit of tools and capabilities for this procedure is now abundant.
Performance
We can say that the gadget is well balanced in terms of "filling." The Acer Iconia A1-810 has an 8-inch (20 cm) display with a 4 to 3 aspect ratio and with a corresponding resolution of 1024 by 768 pixels. IPS-matrix has good viewing angles and gives a juicy picture at the output.
The hardware is built on the MT8125 single-chip chipset from the MediaTech company from Taiwan. The Cortex processor from the A7 series, which operates on four cores with a frequency of 1.5 GHz, is responsible for performance. The graphic component did not lie on the shoulders of the rather nimble PowerVR card of the SGX544 series.
In addition, the device fully and fully supports Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless protocols, and there is also the ability to work with 3G networks (optional).
Bench tests
In the popular Antutu benchmark, the Acer Iconia A1-810 device scored 12,881 points, leaving behind the Nexus of the seventh series and the Transformer Prime from Asus. The gadget, of course, is far from the indicators of venerable Galaxy S4 and Ixperia Z, but nevertheless the available result is very pleasing.
In a separate 3D visualization test from the same Antutu, Acer A1-810 outperformed its competitors by a good margin. If you look at the bare poster statistics, it is clearly noticeable that the manufacturer did not save on the âstuffingâ and equipped its brainchild with a decent set of chipsets.
Offline work
When passing the test for the efficiency of the battery, the device showed shocking results. Note that this Antutu test takes place in several stages with a maximum load of the gadget, and until the battery runs out to 20% of its capacity.
So, the bench test lasted six hours! That is, the device was loaded as much as possible and worked on the wear of its forces for six hours. The test scores exceeded the mark of 1000 points, and this is a kind of record among devices of this class. Usually, under such conditions, the batteries even from venerable manufacturers could not stand it for more than 4 hours, but here some Acer tablet lasted six.
The bare figures of the reputable Antutu benchmark may not have impressed anyone, but field trials have confirmed the unique capabilities of the modelâs battery. For testing in real conditions, high-resolution audio and video samples were compiled (1080p, 360 Kbps), that is, there was provided a set of tools that test things more seriously than tablets (TVs, media players). The result fully met expectations: with all this entourage, the device lasted a little more than 9 hours, which is very impressive.
But at this moment there is one fly in the ointment. The thing is that on the official Internet resource of the company the capacity of the battery is 4960 mAh, approximately the same thing we see on most other trading platforms of the World Wide Web (Yandex.Market, Svyaznoy, Citylink, etc.) .d.). Some stores even indicate a capacity of 3250 mAh. As for the cost of the Acer A1-810, its price is mostly unchanged.
Judging by the reviews of the owners of the gadget, it is clear that someone got a device with a less capacious battery, for example, 3250 mAh, and someone pulled out a lucky ticket, as they say, - the inscription 5020 mAh flaunts on the battery. What this is connected with is not entirely clear. Maybe the manufacturer equipped some of its models with a good battery for âseedâ, and installed a battery average in terms of performance, but maybe there is some other reason that Asus representatives do not want to call for some reason.
In any case, before you give your hard-earned money to the cash register of a mobile technology store, it is clearly not superfluous to look under the cover of the device and take an interest in the battery capacity. If the figure does not suit you, then such points of sale, thank God, are in abundance, so let the seeker find.
GPS protocols
Field tests were conducted in urban areas in the fresh air. GPS satellites were found immediately, when you first turn on the gadget. If there is such a need, then you can install some additional mapping applications and use the tablet as a navigator.
The basic set of programs and utilities includes âGoogleâ navigation applications and standard maps. For everyday life, they may also fit, but for car navigation you need to look for something more serious.
Summarizing
The brand decided to bypass the main competitors with a new gadget. A very comfortable eight-inch model with a powerful filling and a very aggressive price tag was able to outsell the now-popular Nexus of the seventh series and almost caught up with the "apple" mini iPad. A set of chipsets easily allows you to run even the most "heavy" gaming applications, albeit at medium settings, but without any lags, FPS subsidence and other brakes. The interface also does not cause any complaints: desktops respond smoothly, beautifully and without jerking.
In addition, for fans to chat everywhere, there is always a front-facing camera that has shown itself well in many instant messengers, including Skype. Therefore, users should not have communication problems. The capabilities of the rear camera are more modest than most venerable phablets, but for creating simple panoramas and ordinary photo and video materials it will do.
In general, the company turned out to be a very good device with attractive external and internal characteristics, as well as excellent battery life. The closest competitors of our respondent are the iPad mini from Apple and the seventh Nexus. The first is lighter and thinner than Acer, and the rest of the characteristics like the platform and the filling are comparable only speculatively. As for the Nexus, it slightly wins the screen layout - 1280 by 800 pixels, but loses in the diagonal (7 to 8 inches), so itâs also a matter of taste.
Naturally, with all its advantages, the Acer Iconia Tab A1-810 model has some disadvantages. The weakest point of the device is the display. A modest, by modern standards, resolution of 1024 by 768 pixels may scare potential buyers. In addition, the maximum brightness of the display could be higher, which means that working comfortably on a bright sunny day will not work. Despite the modest characteristics of the screen, this even more positively affects the battery life, because a small sweep and average brightness require much less energy.
As for the price, a model with 8 GB of internal memory will cost you about 7000 rubles, and a variable device with 16 GB will be a thousand more expensive. The same âNexusâ costs a little cheaper, but many users complain about some platform buggy, while the âappleâ mini-representative has no problems with this, but the price bites (10-13 thousand rubles).
Advantages of the model:
- a powerful set of chipsets in comparison with similar devices in this segment;
- a successful version of the Android platform without unnecessary advertising âgarbageâ;
- the ability to work with external SD media up to 64 GB;
- the presence of a modern micro-HDMI output;
- excellent battery life;
- the presence of the front and rear cameras;
- work on 3G protocols (optional).
Disadvantages:
- for some, insufficient screen resolution (1024 by 768 pixels);
- low indicator of maximum brightness;
- too heavy and fat for its diagonal;
- mediocre speakers, so the only way to spend leisure time comfortably is a third-party headset.
If you are ready to put up with a low screen resolution, you will get a device that is beautiful in many respects on the Android platform. If you add a very affordable price tag to all its advantages, you get a great tablet with an almost perfect price-quality ratio.
Verdict - recommended for purchase.
Estimated price on popular Internet sites - about 7000 rubles for the base model.