Acer Group Inc., the Taiwanese firm known for the Aspire desktops and laptops, is joining the tablet war with its the 7-inch Acer Iconia Tab and is hoping to cash in the surging demand for smartphones with the wild looking Acer Iconia Smart.

Set to be (finally) released next month, the Acer Iconia Smart has a fantastic 21:9 aspect ratio, 4.8-inch capacitive touch screen with 1024 x 480 resolution.

"With the same user experience as using a traditional PC, websites don't need to be resized and adjusted thanks to its exceptional resolution of 1024 x 480. And a very large 4.8" screen means there is no need to zoom in on web pages, or to scroll left and right. The only thing you need to do is scroll up and down, just like on your PC," Acer says, boasting of its first '100% smartphone, 100% tablet' device.

Do we now have an out of the box device that can rival Apple's iPhone?

Sadly no, as the other specifications are hardly impressive. Among others, the device comes only with 1 GHz Qualcomm manufactured Snapdragon processor and a 512 MB RAM.

Chris Burns at Slash Gear notes that while the device's "monstrously long display" stands out, the hardware is out-dated. He notes that using a single processor for a giant display just doesn't add up. The device was announced way back January when there were very few smartphones with dual processors then.

This same processor was put by Sony Ericsson in one of its affordable handsets, the Xperia mini, VR-Zone notes.

As for the other features, the Acer Iconia sports an 8 megapixel back facing camera and 2 megapixel front facing camera. The device weighs only 185 grams, and has 8 GB storage (upgradeable to 32 GB using a microSD card). The Acer Iconia runs on Android Gingerbread and has an Adobe Flash Player 1.1. The device comes with HSDPA, Wi-Fi b/g/n, and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR. It features a 1500 mAh battery.

Iconia Tab A100

Acer is also trying out the market where device makers are having little success in competing with Apple: tablets.
Acer Group has introduced the 7-inch Acer Iconia Tab A100.

The new A100 is the very first 7-inch Android 3.2 Honeycomb tablet on the market.

The device was unveiled in fall last year but is being released now, almost a year late, because of compatibility issues with Honeycomb, according to Tom's Guide US.

Unlike Apple's iPad, the Acer comes pre-installed wtih Adobe Flash Player 10.3, so Adobe Flash games and websites can be enjoyed right out of the box. Android 3.2 allows users to manage web pages by tabs, has more advanced privacy settings, and has proper sizing of apps and web pages for the 7-inch display. The tablet also comes pre-installed with Google Books eReading app for enjoying e-books. It also has Acer's Social Jogger, which puts Facebook and Twitter in one place for quick and easy reading and updates.

The A100 is currently available in Wi-Fi only configurations with two storage capacity options: 8GB and 16GB built-in flash memory storage. The main features for the A100 tablet include a 7-inch WSVGA (1024 x 600) capacitive multi-touch LCD. It sports a 1 GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual-core processor and 512MB RAM. It has a microSD card slot (up to 32GB supported), micro USB 2.0, HDMI port, 3.5mm audio jack. The device comes with a 2-MP front facing camera, 5-MP rear facing camera with LED Flash and Auto Focus. It has Bluetooth 2.1 and 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi connectivity. The device weighs 470 grams. It has a Li-Po 1530mAh standard battery

The 8GB Acer Iconia Tab A100 is priced at US$329.99 and the 16GB Acer Iconia Tab A100 is at US$349.99. The Acer Iconia Tab is cheaper than the iPad 2, which starts at US$499 and the Hewlett-Packard TouchPad, which has been given a $100 price cut to $399 just a month after the release.

Aside from pricing, reviews on the form factor have been impressive. "It's slightly thinner than the Flyer and its curved edges make it comfortable to grasp and thumb type," says Joanna Stern in a review published by the Washington Post.

"You get to have a compact design but the tablet's battery is weak. You get a low price but the tablet isn't using the best materials (all plastic design) and the LCD isn't the greatest," according to Tablets Planet. Reviews from Engadget and LaptopMag say the A100′s 1530mAh battery offers around five hours of operating life.

As to the software, Acer hasn't done anything too drastic on top of Honeycomb 3.2 (there are a few added widgets and apps), but the tablet seems a tad sluggish when navigating in portrait mode and a number of apps keep crashing, says Stern in her WP review.
Acer is not advertising the Tab A100 as the iPad killer. It's advertising the device to... moms.

"Acer says in its Web site that the Tab A100 is "the ultimate companion for mobile consumers such as moms and families who want a single device for gaming, fun, entertainment and staying in touch on the go."

Moms can keep their family schedule organized with the easy-to-use Acer "Day Planner" application that gives an easy-to-view list of upcoming activities."

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