It’s not just Chinese iPad Mini clones here.
Before they came along, I was looking at the Archos 80 Titanium and Archos 80 Platinum (the former in short supply, the latter still MIA just about everywhere) — which aren’t iPad Mini clones, just eight-inch tablets.
And now there’s the Acer Iconia A1 to consider.
The thing to notice in the unboxing video after the break: How freakin fast that complex web page renders. I really want to see the AnTuTu score for it and more web page examples.
Why would I consider this over a Chinese iPad Mini clone? Let me quote from the Slatedroid forum:
In it’s favor that no Chinese tablet can match in all:
1) Ships with android 4.2
2) GPS and Bluetooth
3) You can return it to Amazon or Best Buy if you don’t like it
4) You can buy a cheap Sguare Trade warranty and probably cover the thing long after you’ve passed it on to your youngest kid.
5) It may sell well enough so that XDA and Cyanogenmod are all over the thing. Name one Chinese tablet for which that is true. This has been the one reason I’m happy with my Nook HD+. CM10 is way more mature than the ROM available for the Chuwi.
Those are damn good reasons!
As for the lack of 2GBs of RAM, well, I could deal with that if I had to. It might not be fun, but still.
A hands on review of the Acer Iconia A1
It’s almost as if Acer has transferred some of “feel good” vibe from the back of the tablet to the front. It should just be a 1,024 x 768 screen but I think it looks better than that. This is certainly a tablet you’d be comfortable watching hours of YouTube or Crunchyroll on.
In this review of the Iconia A1 I’m painfully aware that for every positive point about the device I can find a niggle to contradict it. So it is for the screen. It looks great and is the perfect size for lazy browsing in bed but we’ve found the touchscreen to be a little slow. Sometimes you need to stab twice in order to successfully press an on-screen button.
I hope that was a flaw only in his early unit. We’ll see as more people get it and review it.
Previously here:
Video: Acer’s New 7.9-Inch Tablet
Acer Sneaks Out A 7.9″ Tablet