The Acer Iconia Tab A700 is, in a lot of ways, kind of like a big brother to the old Acer Iconia Tab A510. If you put both of these devices side by side, you’d probably find it extremely difficult to spot the differences between the two—because there are hardly any. In fact, the A700 carries over much of the same hardware found in the Acer Iconia Tab A510. Like the A510 before it, it boasts dual cameras, built-in Dolby Mobile audio tech, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, optional 3G, andGPS. The biggest differences between the two lie in the maximum amount of user available storage space, native screen resolution, and the type of supported SIM card for the 3G models.
A quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor and 1GB of RAM makes quick work of the pre-loaded Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich software. On the A510, this translated to speedy menu navigation and excellent graphics performance for most 3D games. The sad truth for the A700, however, is that its higher screen resolution has resulted in overall slowness and a decrease in the level of overall performance.
The 10.1-inch touchscreen display on this tablet boasts a native resolution of 1920x1200. According to most reviewers, that may be what is primarily causing a lag in the device’s performance especially when compared with its predecessor. There’s nothing wrong with the display itself; it shows richer colors and better quality graphics. But it seems that even the mighty Tegra 3, with its 12-core graphics chip, is not quite built to handle a 16:10 Full HD resolution 10.1-inch screen.
With all of that said, Acer's Tab A700 still performs quite well in terms of sound quality, battery life, and display quality as mentioned above. But even with its Dolby audio enhancements, consistent 10+ hour battery life, and high quality high-resolution screen, it’s getting increasingly harder to recommend as a tablet especially since devices like the Google Nexus 7 are starting to hit the market. Not to mention the fact Acer’s very own A510, which offers much better overall performance at a lower price point, can still be purchased. Still, if all you require in your Android tablet is a nice high-resolution screen and plenty of battery life, then this tablet might be right up your alley.
Need to Know: Acer Iconia Tab A700
1. Built-in 10.1-inch 1920x1200 LCD screen offers rich colors and superb graphics quality. (The Good)
2. Battery life lasts longer than ever at more than 10 hours of heavy use per charge. (The Good)
3. 16:10 Full HD native resolution causes device performance to lag during certain tasks like navigating menus and playing games. (The Bad)
4. Doesn’t offer many changes over Acer Iconia Tab A510 which came before it in the same product line. (The Bad)
What the Critics Are Saying...
- Jennifer Johnson, HothardwareAll in all, we enjoyed our time with the Acer Iconia Tab A700. Although it's not a tablet that really stands out in terms of performance, it still offered a very enjoyable user experience.
- Dan Seifert, MobileBurnThe Acer Iconia Tab A700 is an appropriate upgrade to Acer's earlier efforts, but it doesn't really go far enough to make it a viable choice for new tablet buyers. Its sluggish performance and cheap feel make it hard to recommend against the ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity or the Apple iPad. Acer is s...
- Mike Jennings, PC ProIt’s a little behind its rivals when it comes to performance and battery life, but the Iconia Tab A700 is a cracking all-round package. The display is gorgeous, there's enough power for games and apps, and it’s vastly cheaper than the only other Full HD tablet on the market, Asus’...
- Brent Rose, GizmodoShould You Buy It? Probably a pass. What the A700 gained in screen quality it seems to have lost in performance, keeping it right at the three star ranking. At $450, it's certainly not the worst deal out there, but the Nexus 7 is only $200—and buttery smooth by comparison.
- Anndrew Vacca , Android CentralDespite its young age and bleeding edge specs, the Iconia Tab A700 is already last generation’s news. Call it bad timing, call it lack of innovation, or call it the victim of the Nexus 7, but whatever way you cut it, the A700 is already a dated piece of technology. Even in Android terms, that...
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