SPLICED Magazine Issue 01 Oct/Nov 2013 | Page 14

SPLICED TECH / ISSUE 01 REVIEW / Acer Iconia A1 by Amanda Stone Acer Iconia A1 We review Acers latest little tablet and see what the fuss is all about. RRP / R3,499 – R3,999? ONLINE / www.acer.co.za A cer’s latest tiny tablet, the Iconia A1, has been giving both the iPad Mini and the Nexus 7 a serious run for their money. Off the bat, the Iconia has a wonderfully solid feel to it. While it sports a plastic back, it does a great job of maintaining a sturdy, quality feel. Shape wise, the squarer 4:3 ratio makes both vertical and horizontal use of the tablet pretty hassle free, which is great for web browsing and reading. An impressive selection of ports offered by this little guy certainly sets it apart from many of the other minitablets on the market at the moment. It features a MicroSD card slot for users who may need additional storage capacity, as well as a micro HDMI output which allows users 14 to connect the tablet to an external display, which means plugging it into your TV (or other screens) to watch movies is no fuss. Ten points. One of Android’s latest tablets, the Iconia runs Jelly Bean (4.2.2), and with the help of a quad core 1.2 Ghz processor, it does so pretty smoothly. None of that jerky business here! It also doesn’t come with many preinstalled apps, which is great for those who appreciate simplicity, and it’s also relatively easy to navigate (even for a non-Android native). The screen, while being a bit of a finger print magnet, does offer a decent resolution, impressive brightness and contrast levels, but don’t expect to be able to see much of what’s happening on the screen