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At the recent CES, we had some hands on time with their new A701 Android tablet, and here
we are with one of the first pre-production models to be seen outside of that event.
If you were to look for an Android tablet with all the bells and whistles then this
Acer would meet that wish. Tegra 3 quad core processor, 1900 by 1200 capacitive screen,
the first Android high res screen we’ve really spent some time with, inbuilt 3G, stand-alone
GPS and Ice Cream Sandwich. Have we whetted your appetite yet? Let’s take a quick tour
around. The Acer A700 has shed some of its industrial
design elements we saw in the A500 series which was more angled and sharp in its edges.
Here, Acer have gone for a more rounded, softer design approach. And instead of the silver,
metallic material Acer have opted for a matte black casing with a back panel that evokes
carbon fibre styling. This has resulted in a lighter and thinner tablet from its A500
predecessor, with this model weighing in at 705 grams, and a hair under 11 millimeters
thick. So going around the A700, starting on the
left hand side we have just the headphone jack and power button. On the top frame volume
and lock switch live on the left side, and the almost invisible mic dot is over here,
supporting the cameras, which we’ll talk about a bit more in a second.
On the right hand, here we have the micro-hdmi output, and hidden behind the panel we have
a standard SIM card slot and a micro SD card slot, which is good for up to 32GB of extra
storage. Then on the bottom frame we have the micro
USB port which doubles as the charging port, and next to it is the hard reset button. One
thing I noticed that is very cool is the A701 can be charged via USB from a PC, not just
the charger. I think this is a first for large screen devices, and I hope we see more of
that. Just adds convenience. The stereo speakers sit either side down here as well.
As we mentioned, the A701 also has a built-in GPS sensor and also uses Assisted GPS. Bluetooth
2.1 comes standard as well for connection to Bluetooth keyboards and the like.
Now back to the cameras, here we have a 5 MP camera with Auto focus than can film up
to 1080p at 30 frames a second, and has an LED flash. The front camera is a smaller 1
megapixel sensor, and it can record up to 720p, also at 30 frames a second. Video is
recorded in mp4 format. Software-wise, the A701 comes with Ice Cream
Sandwich installed, including the Acer Ring, which allows quick access to commonly used
apps or functions, which can be customised to suit your needs. As you can see there are
two Acer rings, one on the lock screen, and one which comes up as an overlay on top on
any activity you’re doing. The final thing I want to talk about here
is the screen, which in this new pixel density conscious world, will likely be a passionate
discussion. This screen is 1900 x 1200, and comparing it to the A500 screen, is leaps
and bounds ahead. I can’t see pixels, it’s definitely the clearest Android screen we’ve
seen. Of course, the challenge will be for developers to produce content that can take
advantage of this screen resolution. Of course, we’ll be on the lookout for apps and content
that we can play on this to show you. The widescreen landscape position is still
the most natural position for this unit, and 1080p movies in 16:9 ratio should look pretty
spectacular, and I’m sure this is one reason Android tablets have stuck with this screen
size and shape – now that full HD screens are going to come to market, being able to
watch native 1080p content in a widescreen format without black bars will probably be
one part of the sales pitch. Well that’s our quick first look at the
Acer 701, and as we mentioned it’s a pretty comprehensive offer from Acer.
Feel free to ask us your questions in the comments below and we’ll do our best to
answer them. What’s that? You’d like us to compare it against what? Haha, until next
time.