Acer join the tablets war with its 4.8″, 7″ and 10″ Android models

Posted on November 24, 2010

At the ACER Press Event in New York on 23 November, Acer announced and shown its tablets which is expected to be available by April 2011. It is still 5 months away and I would think by the time it is released , at least the software /firmware would be a upgraded version of what is demoed.

Like the Samsung Galaxy Tab, Acer’s alternative is in the 7″ touchscreen, but it’s at a higher resolution at 1280 x 800 versus the Galaxy Tab’s 1024 x 600. It comes with a 1.2 GHz dual core Qualcomm processor with support for Flash 10.1 and HDMI output with Dolby Mobile audio, a 5 megapixel camera and front-facing video camera. It will offer both Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity . I must say the hardware specs is indeed impressive.

Acer 10" Android tablet

The 10.1″ tablet is similar to the 7″ version, but is built in an aluminum case like Apple’s iPad. It is slightly thinner than the iPad at just 13.3mm thick. It features a multitouch screen capable of 10 points of contact, and gyroscope sensors for video game control. This tablet will be using a 1 Ghz NVidia’s Tegra2 processor, a 5 megapixel camera and a front 1.3 Megapixel cameras, and Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity. It’s slightly thicker than its Android-based counterpart at 15mm, and will weigh around 2 pounds. It is assumed that the Tegra platform offered better performance at reduced power for the larger display.

Both tablets will run Acer User Interface ver 4.5 on top of Android ver 3.0 ( Honeycomb ).

Acer also announced a plan to integrate a music and apps store called Alive into future Acer products. The store will also include apps, games, movies, music, and books. Content providers will update the store with their own real-time Web feeds, and content will be backed up in the cloud so you don’t lose everything if you misplace your device. Alive will launch in December on Windows 7 only, then move cross-platform to Android some time next year around Q2 2011.

This news is indeed surprising as I don’t see how Acer will compete since there is already in existence apps stores . Apple has its iTunes store, Android has its Market while Windows has its Marketplace . And there are plenty of Web sites that sell music and e books.

Acer revealed a new Android phone featuring a 4.8″ display with 1024 x 480 resolution. It features a 1 GHz Snapdragon processor, 8 megapixel camera with LED flash, HD 720p video recording, 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera, 6-axis motion sensing, HDMI out, and “LED edge lighting”. Its firmware is expected to be on either Android 2.3 Gingerbread or 3.0 Honeycomb. This will be a close competitor to the 5″ Dell Streak.