Most tablet users use it to surf the Internet. Next come video watchers, gamers, book readers, business people (working with documents), and those communicating online (social networks).
For all these tasks (even if indirectly), an Internet connection is required. In addition, the ecosystem itself and the scenarios for using the tablet imply the presence of the Internet.
There is an opinion that tablets with a 3G module (which is how you can get Internet where there is no wi-fi) are quite expensive. Today I want to refute the myth without slipping into Chinese crafts and dancing with a tambourine.
Here is a tablet with a 3G module, 4 cores, excellent build and a reasonable price: Acer Iconia Tab A211.

Summary data

System
operating system	Android
Support	Android 4.0
Processor/chipset	Nvidia Tegra 3 1200 MHz
Number of Cores	4
RAM	1 GB
Built-in memory	16 GB
Memory card support	microSDHC, up to 32 GB
Screen
Screen	10.1", 1280x800
Screen type	TFT, glossy
Touch screen	capacitive, multi-touch
Pixels per inch (PPI)	149
Video processor	NVIDIA ULP GeForce GPU
Wireless connection
Wi-Fi support	yes, Wi-Fi 802.11n
Bluetooth support	yes, Bluetooth 2.1 EDR
Mobile Internet	3G, EDGE, HSCSD, HSDPA, HSUPA, HSPA+, GPRS, GSM900, GSM1800, GSM1900
Camera
Front-camera	yes, 2 million pixels.
Sound
Built-in speakers	yes, stereo sound
Built-in microphone	There is
Functionality
GPS	There is
GLONASS	There is
Automatic screen orientation	There is
Sensors	accelerometer, compass
Connection
Connecting to a computer via USB	There is
Connecting external devices via USB	There is
Audio/headphone output	yes, 3.5 mm
Nutrition
Working hours	8 hours
Battery capacity	3260 mAh
Dimensions and weight
Dimensions (LxWxD)	260x175x12 mm
Weight	711 g

Equipment

Inside the white box (about the size of a pack of A4 paper) you will find the tablet itself, a charger, a USB-microUSB cable, and several pieces of paper.


Everything is conveniently laid out in the box. Each compartment has its own needs. There are no piles or bunching.


The charger is the successor to the 2011 series (A500, A100). The pin is round, the wire is short (if your socket is low, this can become a problem).

Boys - left, girls - right

If you look at the connectors and ports, then the situation will be like this:
On the right side there is a connector for the charger (and that’s it!). Claims to be the word “neat” - and it is.


The back is a very nice white "golf ball" plastic. In general, the entire line of 2012 Acer tablets has this texture, but it is here, in white, that it looks best.


The perforation for the speakers is nice and fits well into the overall design. It looks even better than in top-segment models (for example A701).


Also, I really liked how the logo on the back cover looks. This is not so much a design find as simply an aesthetically and organically integrated element.


At the top end are the now classic orientation lock lever and volume rocker.
It looks the same as on older models, but in a slightly different place. There's definitely no need to get used to it again.


There is no main camera. Thanks to this, the back cover looks more organic and complete.


All connectors and ports are located on the left side.
There is a power button (with status indication), and a 3.5 mm headphone jack, and micro-USB, a full-fledged USB host, as well as a flap under which there is a slot for a SIM card (mini SIM) and a memory card (microSD).

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If suddenly some of you have no idea the size of a 10-inch tablet, then here is a comparison with the Samsung Galaxy S2 and Note 2.

Inside and system

The device is built on the nVidia Tegra 2 (T30L) platform.
Quad-core processor at 1200 MHz (four cores work under load, but there is still one core for energy saving), 1 GB of RAM, 16 GB of internal memory.
Performance is good. I didn't notice any brakes in the system anywhere. Games and programs run quickly, without stuttering. The video is played, FullHD was almost pointless to watch, but MKV 1920*1200 (BD-Rip) runs without the slightest twitch. What's simpler is that it just flies. Over a wireless network from a local server - 720p without problems, then it depends on the container and decoding (hardware works fine over the network).
There is enough RAM to run 30 tabs in Chrome (tested personally).


Synthetics produce good “parrots”.




The tablet does not get very hot under load, but it does get hot. Near the right edge.
Display - 1280*800 pixels, multi-touch for 10 touches. Matrix - TFT TN.
The highlight of the Iconia Tab A211 is the 3G module. Bands GSM (850/900/1800/1900), UMTS (850/900/1900/2100), up to 21 Mbit
with (3G, EDGE, HSCSD, HSDPA, HSUPA, HSPA+. If there is no Wi-Fi nearby (which is here, by the way, b/g/n), you will not be left without connection.
Working with a SIM card allows you to access the Internet, send and receive SMS. You can't make calls out of the box. Unfortunately, there is no way to check root (and with it it may be possible to make calls). The module shows very good speed. If your operator provides speed (up to 21 Mbit/s), A211 will take it completely. And if this is not enough for you, connect compatible modems via USB.
Battery capacity 3260 mAh. On the one hand, this is not enough. At full load it will be about 4 hours. On the other hand, it gives about 5.5 hours of Internet operation via wi-fi at full brightness. And if you turn off all sorts of goodies and just read a book, then all of 6-7 hours.

operating system for now- just Ice Cream Sandwich. 4.0.4, but the manufacturer boldly announces an upcoming update. Right in the specifications on the box it says Jelly Bean.
Acer has added the familiar Acer Ring add-ons, its own screen unlocker, as well as the Polaris Office office suite (that is, you can edit office documents out of the box).


The locker can be configured to call any program immediately from the lock screen (just pull in the desired direction).




Acer Ring allows you to call up a menu with 4 favorite programs, bookmarks and a volume control anywhere.


Also, the notifications and quick settings menu has been slightly changed.


By the way, the tablet does not have a light sensor. This means the brightness adjustment is manual.
The tablet also has one camera - only the front one. At 2 MP (720p).


The photographs turn out to be nothing. But for video calls it is more than enough.

conclusions

To put it bluntly, I will say that the tablet is a good average. Even more! Performance and autonomy are at a good level. The design is original, pleasant, the assembly is excellent. The materials are good. The filling is top-notch. The screen is ordinary.
There is a 3G module, there is everything you need, even a full-fledged USB host. There is nothing superfluous.
In addition - the price (16900 at the time of writing the review).
The device's competitors will be either more expensive counterparts or Chinese consumer goods (and this immediately means poor build quality and materials).
After such cleaning, the tablet will return to its standard form for this model, as if it were out of the box. Let's look at all the ways to reset the system. Any hard reset looks like rebooting the tablet and formatting the information in it. In each specific case, the operation can be performed differently, for example, by clearing the SD card or resetting the pattern.

Before resetting system settings don't forget to save your data located on the tablet (SMS, contacts and other records). After a reset, all user entries are erased from memory along with the settings.

Method 1 - Through the menu(if the tablet turns on) Method 2 - Digital combination(if the tablet turns on) Method 3 - Using buttons(if the tablet does not turn on)

1. Turn off the tablet. The battery must be fully charged. 2. We press two buttons at the same time: power and volume up rocker. You will see a green robot on the display - release the buttons. 3. We are waiting for the Recovery menu to open. If nothing opens, press the power button once, or the home button. 4. Navigate through the menu using the volume rocker. Select an item wipe data/factory reset. To do this, you need to press the power key, which in this case serves as the OK button. 5. Next question will appear confirm wipe of all user data, we agree by selecting the item Yes - delete all user data. 6. After this, select the item reboot system now, the tablet will reboot and clear itself.

Method 4 - Through the service center Attention! Resetting the settings will destroy all your data from the tablet, including contacts, messages, accounts, and installed software. If there is no need to reset, don't do it! In any unclear situation, it is better to contact a specialist. If you have any questions, ask them -

Introduction

Acer produces a family of Iconia Tab A tablets running Android OS. Our test laboratory received tablets of the 2012 generation: Acer Iconia Tab A211, A511 and Iconia Tab A701, which have a similar 10" screen size, but differ significantly in hardware. In the article, we will take a closer look at the three tablets and make our recommendations for different target audiences.

Acer Iconia Tab A211

Acer Iconia Tab A511

Acer Iconia Tab A701

Characteristics of Acer tablets of the Iconia Tab A line
Model	Iconia Tab A211	Iconia Tab A511	Iconia Tab A701
Official site	Acer Iconia Tab A line tablets
Retail price	From 16,200 rub. (16 GB)	From 18,600 rub. (32 GB)	From 20,000 rub. (32 GB)
Screen	Active Matrix Color LCD, capacitive multi-touch
Permission	1280x800	1280x800	1920×1200
CPU	NVIDIA Tegra 3 T30L 1.2 GHz, 4 core		NVIDIA Tegra 3 T30S 1.2 GHz, 4 core
Graphics core	NVIDIA ULP GeForce GPU
RAM	1 GB DDR3 SDRAM	1 GB LPDDR2	1 GB LPDDR2
Built-in flash memory	16 GB	16/32 GB	32/64 GB
Expansion cards	SD, SDHC
Front-camera	2 MP HD	1 MP HD	1 MP HD
Rear camera	Absent		5 MP autofocus, FullHD 30fps video
Dimensions	260 x 175 x 12.4 mm	260 x 175 x 11 mm	260 x 175 x 11 mm
Weight	711 g	675 g	680 g
Battery	3260 mAh	9800 mAh	9800 mAh
PC connection	microUSB
Wireless interfaces	GSM, EDGE, GPRS, HSDPA, HSPA+, HSUPA, UMTS/WCDMA; GPS, GLONASS; Wi-Fi 802.11 b,g,n; Bluetooth 2.1
Interfaces	Charging connector, USB, microUSB, 3.5 mm audio mini-jack, SIM card slot, microSD		microUSB, 3.5 mm audio mini-jack, SIM card slot, microSD, microHDMI
Color options	White, silver	Black, silver	Black, silver
Peculiarities	G-Sensor, digital compass		G-Sensor, digital compass, gyroscope, light sensor, two microphones, Dolby Digital Plus
OS		Android 4.0.4 (updating to version 4.1 in progress)	Android 4.1.1

Design and appearance

Acer Iconia Tab A511

Acer Iconia Tab A211

Acer Iconia Tab A701

Acer Iconia Tab tablets are made in the same style. Visually, the A511 and A701 models cannot be distinguished from each other. There are some differences with the A211, but the only noticeable ones are the presence of a camera on the two “older” tablets (at the top of the back cover in the center), the location of the speakers and different connectors.

The screens are covered with glass. If desired, the glass can be scratched, so we recommend handling the tablets carefully: the Acer Iconia Tab A701 sample arrived to us already scratched. Acer logos are located in the center below the screen and in the middle of the back cover, "Iconia Tab" is located on the right above the screen. There is also a camera peephole visible above the screen in the center. A little to the left, the A511 and A701 models have a barely noticeable light sensor (the “younger” A211 tablet does not have it). The back cover of all models is textured. It looks like the surface of a golf ball. On such a surface, which is nice, fingerprints are not noticeable. The material also has an effect: the A211 tablet has a plastic back, while the A511 and A701 use a rubber coating.

Acer Iconia Tab A701

Each of the tablets has a pair of speakers. They are located at the bottom of the case at the back.

As mentioned above, the main camera of the A511 and A701 models is located at the top of the back cover. Not far from it at the top end there is a microphone. The microphone in the A211 model is in approximately the same place. The A511 and A701 tablets also have a second microphone, which is located at the bottom of the back cover. Two microphones are used for better sound recording - a pair of microphones helps reduce extraneous noise.

Acer Iconia Tab A211

Let's move on to buttons and connectors. Let's start with the A211 model. The lock button is located on the top left side. It has a charging indicator (it lights up orange when charging, and white when fully charged). At the same end there is a 3.5 mm headphone jack, a micro-USB connector for connecting to a computer, a full-fledged USB port for connecting external devices, and a curtain behind which the slots for SD and SIM cards are closed. The volume rocker is located on the top end. One of its edges is marked with a protruding dot, the other with two, so you can find it by touch. Nearby is a button to lock the screen position. This button is rarely found on tablets, although it is very convenient. You can quickly lock the screen position in the desired orientation and, for example, perform on stage - the text on the tablet will not accidentally turn upside down when gesturing. On the right side there are only the charging connector and certification marks. There is nothing on the bottom end.

Acer Iconia Tab A511

The connector layout on the A701 and A511 models is similar to the A211. But there are some differences. There is no charging connector - charging occurs using the microUSB connector, which is located on the bottom center. The curtain with card slots has moved to the right side. A micro-HDMI output has also been added, which is also located on the right. On the left side there are only a lock button (equipped with the same charging indicator) and a headphone jack. Acer decided to remove the full-size USB port from the “older” models. To connect external devices you have to use a USB-OTG cable.

All models also have a reset button. It is recessed into the body and pressed with a needle. On the A511 and A701 models it is located next to the micro-USB connector at the bottom, and on the A211 it is hidden behind the curtain of the card slots. It is easy to miss it and accidentally find out about its availability after several years of use.

Acer Iconia Tab A511

Tablets are available in various colors. Acer Iconia Tab A211 in white and silver, Acer Iconia Tab A701 and Acer Iconia Tab A511 in black and silver. We liked the black version best. The body is all black, with silver tabs only on the sides, but they are not visible on top - there is no light edge around the screen, unlike many, if not most tablets.

Tablets are quite heavy. You can't hold it in one hand for long. But the weight is not so critical as to refuse the purchase because of this - after all, this is a 10" tablet. It is not clear why the Acer Iconia Tab A211 has more weight than its "older" brothers, although the battery in it is three times smaller in terms of capacity. Perhaps Acer chose less expensive materials with more weight for the “budget” model.

The thickness of the tablets is also not a record - this made it possible to install a full-fledged USB connector in the A211 model. It’s a pity that this connector is not available in the “older” tablets A511 and A701, although the thickness would allow it to be placed.

Screen

The A211 and A511 tablets have screens with the usual 1280 x 800 resolution, like most 10.1" inch models.

The Acer Iconia Tab A701 has a superb display with a resolution of 1920 x 1200 and a pixel density of 224 ppi (pixels per inch). The screen pleased me with its high clarity, no pixels are visible, the Retina effect is guaranteed. The text looks especially good. All letters do not have stepped borders or irregularities - we get absolutely smooth text. Two photos for comparison. One was obtained on the Acer Iconia Tab A211, the second - on the Acer Iconia Tab A701. Click on the image for a full-size version.

But all this is noticeable only at a very close distance - under normal conditions of use (at a distance of 30-40 cm from the screen, the difference in resolution is not so noticeable). But the eyes still get used to the higher resolution, and if you use a tablet with such a screen for a long time, then on tablets with a normal resolution the pixels become more noticeable than before. In addition to the higher resolution, the screen of the A701 tablet turned out to be brighter and more saturated in color reproduction than that of the A211 and A511.

The A701 and A511 tablets are equipped with a light sensor. Automatic brightness detection works, but is too slow. If you turn off the light, the brightness will decrease only after four seconds. It depends on you, but it’s more convenient for me to set the brightness myself than to use such automatic adjustment - the brightness adjustment slider is available by clicking on the clock, above the notifications.

Equipment

Tablets are delivered in similar boxes, which contain images of the tablet itself, characteristics duplicated in several languages, certification marks and main features (camera or screen resolution). Packed inside is the tablet itself, many different sheets of instructions, a power supply with wires (from it the wire goes directly to the tablet, there is no USB connector on the adapter), in the case of the Acer Iconia Tab A211 there is also a microUSB-USB cable, and in the Acer Iconia Tab A511/ 701 – USB-OTG.

The kits can be called minimal, but few people now add accessories to the package - they are all sold separately.

Software

Acer Iconia Tab tablets of the 2012 generation were initially based on Android version 4.0. Today an update to version 4.1 has already appeared for them. Acer Iconia Tab A701 arrived to us already updated. And on the other two models, the update was not available for download at the time of testing.

A211 left, A701 right

The Acer Iconia Tab system comes with some manufacturer add-ons. Many additions and improvements have been made to make the interface more intuitive and convenient. We want to describe them exactly. Everything else is pretty standard for Android.

The tablet does not come “naked”; many applications are already pre-installed. Moreover, these applications include not only programs, but also a couple of games (for example, Monopoly and Real Racing 2 on the Acer Iconia Tab A701 or Let’s Golf 3 and Fantasy Town on the Acer Iconia Tab A211), some of which are paid.

A211 left, A701 right

I remember Acer's own keyboard. The buttons are light and voluminous; when pressed, the outline turns green; there is a language change button on the keyboard itself. It's a good, comfortable and pleasant keyboard, but before you start, you need to remember to disable autocorrection in the settings - it's too intrusive. The vocabulary of words is quite extensive. Incorrectly spelled words are underlined in red. The correction is available by clicking on this word.

All Acer's own applications are designed in the same style. There are also programs from other manufacturers: 7digital, Evernote, McAfee VirusScan Mobile. I would especially like to mention the free Internet radio application AUPEO! with popular songs and the ability to choose a mood, music genre, as well as the ability to skip or “like” a song. I also remember the Zinio magazine store, where you can view some articles for free. The text of these magazines looks especially good on the high-resolution and clear screen of the Acer Iconia Tab A701.

Polaris Office is preinstalled for working with documents. Quite functional and convenient, although we had problems saving in the Office Word 2007 format, although saving in the 2003 format was successful.

The notification panel has been improved. It adds useful state switches and a button to go to the settings menu. On the lock screen, the lock ring can be moved - however, in a small range, and most importantly, four shortcuts have been added to this ring, by pulling the circle with a lock to which you can open the corresponding application. But this only works in scroll lock mode. When blocked with a pattern key or pin code, there are no such shortcuts.

Added proprietary “Acer Ring” feature. There is an icon in the center of the status bar that is always visible. When you click on it, a circle with four application shortcuts and a search button in the center, a sound adjustment slider and browser bookmarks opens on top of an open application. Some people might like this kind of quick access, but we didn’t appreciate it. When you press the home key, we go to the desktop, on which you can place a widget with bookmarks and the necessary shortcuts, and if you don’t like changing the sound volume with the key on the case, you can find a widget on the market and place it on the same screen. In general, the desktop can perform all the functions of the Acer Ring and even more. This includes placing more shortcuts and various widgets, not just those chosen by the manufacturer.

Acer Ring

I really liked one little thing that we had not seen before on any of the tested tablets. The assignments of the volume rocker buttons change depending on the orientation. Volume increase is always to the right (landscape) or up (portrait). Reducing the volume is the opposite. It is very comfortable. If you accidentally take the tablet upside down, you can change the volume just as intuitively.

A701 at work

The A701 model on Android 4.1 adds power saving modes: high performance mode, automatic mode and power saving mode. Further in the tests you can see the difference in results depending on the mode. Tests prove to us that the modes live up to their names. We recommend using automatic mode under normal circumstances, as this mode allows the system to determine when to prioritize performance. In some tests, the results in this mode are lower than in the energy-saving mode. Under heavy load, we recommend switching to high performance mode for faster operation of the tablet.

I was pleased with the software, but the tablet has its downsides. In our opinion, there are two main disadvantages of the A701: insufficient screen sensitivity and significant heating of the body during operation. The screen sensitivity can be changed in the corresponding item in the settings menu. But the available range is not always enough. Heating occurs when the load is heavy. Of course, a powerful system with passive cooling heats up, but in this case we got the most heat while simultaneously charging and downloading data from the network (about the same heating when working with Wi-Fi and 3G). The right side of the tablet is heating up. The heating is such that the wrist burns (if it is located in a “hot” area), although it does not burn the hands. The main thing is that not the entire tablet heats up, which means you can simply hold it differently and not feel the heating.

These problems occur for many users. Quite a few of them wrote to Acer support, and the company responded - these problems were corrected in the new Android 4.1 firmware version. This is confirmed by a user survey.

There are other shortcomings, but they can be solved. All three tablets froze once during two weeks of testing: the tablet did not respond to anything, neither to the screen, nor to the volume and lock buttons. It looks like the reset buttons are installed for a reason. The last software shortcoming we noticed is the lack of support for Full-HD screen resolution in the Photos application from the manufacturer. The picture is converted to 1280x800 resolution and looks terrible on the A701. There is no such thing in the standard Android gallery. Fortunately, this application is also pre-installed - you can switch to it.

There are also some shortcomings in the operation of the Google Chrome browser on the Acer Iconia Tab A701. When zooming or flipping pages, processing the image displayed on the screen takes too long, so the browser displays a gray background instead of the web page.

In other browsers (Browser, Dolphin Browser) this problem is also observed, but it does not always occur, as in Google Chrome, but only when there is a high third-party load on the tablet, moreover, these “gray areas” disappear much faster than in Chrome.

Camera

The Acer Iconia Tab A211 has a 2 MP front camera, while the Acer Iconia Tab A511 and Acer Iconia Tab A701 have a 1 MP front camera. Both cameras shoot HD video and are great for Skype video conferencing. We don’t know what matrices actually cost in the front cameras of tablets, but the picture quality of the Acer family is not much different. By the way, unlike the Google Nexus 7, the Camera application is also available in the A211 model - you can take pictures of yourself, shoot videos, or use the tablet as a mirror.

Shot with front camera A211

Shot with front camera A701

Acer Iconia Tab A511/A701 also have a 5 MP rear camera with autofocus. This camera can also shoot video in Full-HD format. The quality of photos and videos is average, but much better than the 2-megapixel matrices of budget tablets. Thanks to autofocus, which is performed when you press the shutter button, you can take photos with clearly visible text - this is really useful. Panorama shooting is available. However, we should not forget that the camera in the tablet is still intended to capture moments when nothing else is at hand. This camera copes quite well with this function.

Shot with the main camera of A701

The camera settings are interesting: it is possible to shoot video with superimposed stretching, for example, “big mouth”. The tablet itself detects faces and changes the picture, and at the same time all the faces in the frame are stretched - you can shoot funny videos with the participation of several people. True, faces are detected only from the front (front).

You can also change the background of the video - to do this, you need to stand so that there is something dark behind you, then the background will be replaced with the selected one (either one of two preset options, or a background video added by you). This feature is interesting, but, unfortunately, not properly developed - any dark objects, even your hair or clothes, are taken as the background.

Settings

Settings can be accessed not only using the program shortcut, but also using the icon in the notification panel. It is very convenient and accessible, given that the notification panel can be called up at any time by pressing the clock.

Basically the settings are standard, but there are some additions. Customizable application shortcuts on the unlock screen and Acer Ring.

Acer Ring Settings

It is possible to configure VPN networks; when you connect a SIM card or external modem, mobile network settings appear. It is worth noting the possibility of establishing an uninterrupted connection; we also recommend setting “use only 3G”, since even when 3G reception is weak, the connection speed is still higher than that of second-generation networks. Also, additional settings appear when connecting to a computer - selecting a connection method.

In the screen settings you can change the sensitivity of the touch panel.

The A511 and A711 models have a Dolby Mobile audio setting option. It is possible to select preset equalizer settings separately for music and video.

Games

NVIDIA Tegra 3 is one of the best SoC processors on the market today, it competes well with the same Qualcomm Snapdragon S4. NVIDIA-based tablets have a significant advantage over other platforms - games are optimized for NVIDIA. Google Play has a special application where you can see a list of games optimized for Tegra and get links to download or purchase games. Some games can also be downloaded to other platforms. And some are supported only by the Tegra family.

Games optimized for Tegra have additional effects: dynamic lighting, shadows, reflections, etc.

The graphics in the games are excellent. Everything cannot be expressed in words. As they say, it is better to see once than to hear a hundred times.

On the A211 and A511 models, games “fly”. The situation with the A701 tablet is more complicated. At the moment, not all games are optimized for Full-HD screen resolution. Because of this, games that are displayed at a resolution of 1280x800 are stretched, and the image is only worse than on a regular non-Full-HD screen. The same effect is observed when the graphics settings are not set to maximum in some games (Dead Trigger, Beach Buggy, GTA). Full-HD games also slow down. This is not very noticeable during a busy game, but from the outside it immediately catches the eye. It seems to us that the NVIDIA Tegra 3 graphics processor is still too weak for Full-HD games.

Low quality in game

High quality in game

Movies

For 2013, we've updated our movie testing methodology to HD resolution only. The remaining formats in the old method are no longer used much, and some have already sunk into oblivion altogether.

High Definition (HD)		Acer A701	Acer A211
Back to the Future 3/Back to the Future 3 (XVID, 720p, AVI)	XVID MPEG-4, 4495 kbps 1280×720 23.976 fps, Dolby Digital audio (AC3) 6 channels, no subtitles	Refusal	Refusal
Cruel Intentions/Cruel Games (WMV3, 720p, AVI)	VC-1 (WMV3), 5386 kbps 1280×720 23,976 fps, Dolby Digital audio (AC3) 6 channels, no subtitles	Refusal	Refusal
Mamma Mia! (AVC, 1080p, MKV)	AVC/H.264, 13 Mbps 1920×800 23,976 fps, sound 6 channels Dolby Digital (AC3), DTS, subtitles	Success	Success
Inglourious Basterds (AVC, 1080p, MKV)	AVC/H.264, 9759 kbps 1920×800 23,976 fps, sound 6 channels Dolby Digital (AC3), DTS, subtitles	Success	Refusal
Book of Masters/ Book of Masters (Blu-ray AVC/H.264)	0005.m2ts, AVC/H.264 26.2 Mbps 23.976 fps, DTS MA audio, Dolby Digital (AC3)	Success	Refusal
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (Blu-ray, VC-1)	0000.m2ts, VC-1 15.1 Mbps, Dolby Digital (AC3), DTS, subtitles	Success	Refusal
Sky Captain / Sky Captain (Blu-ray, MPEG2)	00002.m2ts, MPEG2 18.9 Mbit/s, Dolby Digital, DTS, subtitles	Refusal	Refusal
The Resident/ Trap (AVC, 720p, MKV)	AVC/H.264, 6.9 Mbit/s 1280×544 23,976 fps, 6-channel Dolby Digital (AC3) sound, subtitles. Checking header compression (Header Stripping). High Level Check ReFrames (12)	Refusal	Refusal
Video from Sanyo HD2000 camera (1080p 60fps)	SANY0377.MP4, 24.3 Mbps 1920×1080 59.94 fps, AAC audio. Checking the playback of 1080p 60fps videos	Success	Success
The Avatar/ Avatar (excerpt) (AVC, 1080p 60 fps)	AVC/H.264, 46.6 Mbps 1920×1080 59.94 fps, 6-channel DTS audio, subtitles. Checking the playback of 1080p 60fps videos	Refusal	Success

All tablets have the same branded built-in player. It's called "Video". With the same player and essentially the same hardware (NVIDIA Tegra 3), the tablets show different results. Perhaps it's a matter of firmware or some kind of optimization. In any case, compatibility issues can be resolved by installing another player of your choice.

On the Acer Iconia Tab A701, thanks to the high screen resolution, it makes sense to watch Full-HD movies - a large number of small details are clearly visible.

The A511 and A701 also support Dolby Digital audio decoding. They don't have the same problems with sound reproduction as .

Performance

The Android 4.1 firmware on the Acer Iconia Tab A701 has power saving modes. We conducted tests in all three modes, which are called: power saving mode, automatic mode and high performance mode. In order not to take up space on the diagrams, the modes are named min, auto, max.

CPU performance

We tested the performance of 4-core SoC NVIDIA Tegra 3 T30L/T30S Acer Iconia Tab tablets using Linpack. Results are in millions of floating point operations per second (MFLOPS).

NVIDIA Tegra 3 provides high performance. Acer tablets set new records in this test among the tablets that visited our laboratory.

Overall system performance

We used Smartbench 2012 1.0 to evaluate overall system performance. This test is very similar to the 3DMark and SysMark suites in that it provides a simple and easy-to-use performance index for two categories: productivity applications and games. On the other hand, a synthetic test may not accurately reflect the actual performance of applications and games.

You can compare the tablet's results with other smartphones and tablets at http://smartphonebenchmarks.com/.

In terms of productivity application performance, the 4-core Tegra 3 system-on-a-chip has left its competitors far behind. Gaming performance turned out to be higher than inexpensive tablets previously tested in our laboratory. The A701's gaming performance was noticeably lower due to the higher resolution of the Full-HD screen. In addition, Tegra 3 supports some graphics functions (dynamic lighting, shadows, reflections, etc.), which are not taken into account by the SmartBench test, but manifest themselves in optimized games.

JavaScript Performance

SunSpider is a JavaScript benchmark that demonstrates both the performance of the tablet's JavaScript engine and the processing power (to a lesser extent) of the hardware. A poor implementation of JavaScript on a very fast tablet can ruin the overall performance of the platform. And at the same time, an excellent implementation of JavaScript will allow you to effectively use even slow systems. However, today the main implementations of JavaScript engines are becoming closer to each other, and developers are borrowing all the best ideas. JavaScript tests are single threaded due to the nature of browsers. The SunSpider benchmark avoids many of the micro-benchmarks we see in apps like GeekBench, yet the benchmark attempts to evaluate CPU-sensitive tasks found in real-world web applications.

Below are the results of SunSpider 0.9.1 on Android tablets and phones. Android devices use Google's V8 JavaScript engine.

The smaller the result, the better. Performance is quite normal for modern tablets. In the browser you can comfortably view even “heavy” pages.

AnTuTu

Results of the popular AnTuTu test.

	CPU	GPU	RAM	I/O	General
	6633	2370	2065	719	11 787
	6286	2256	1952	749	11 243
	6281	2195	1920	733	11 129
	6832	3260	2108	579	12 779
	6284	3810	2055	678	12 827
	3978	4789	1916	801	11 484
	4546	3810	1785	875	11 016
ASUS Nexus 7" An 4.2.1	6316	3674	1874	897	12 761
	3944	5015	1851	829	11 639

The results are decent, the 4-core SoC Tegra 3 shows its full potential. On the older A701 tablet, we see lower overall results due to the higher display resolution, which reduces GPU performance. So decide for yourself what is more important to you: high frame rates in games or higher screen resolution.

Quadrant

Below are the test results for the Quadrant package.

	CPU	Memory	I/O	2D	3D	General
Acer Iconia Tab A701 (max) An 4.1.1	11 311	2630	3647	590	2013	4038
Acer Iconia Tab A701 (auto) An 4.1.1	10 338	2798	3431	595	2042	3841
Acer Iconia Tab A701 (min) An 4.1.1	10 633	2871	3235	647	1363	3750
Acer Iconia Tab A511 An 4.0.4	11 865	2916	1037	317	2614	3750
Acer Iconia Tab A211 An 4.0.4	11 137	3003	1511	287	2528	3693
DNS AirTab M972w 9.7" An 4.0.4	6995	4128	5724	1000	2294	4032
IconBIT NetTAB Matrix II 7" An 4.0.3 (high)	5694	3008	5902	840	2175	3524
ASUS Nexus 7" An 4.2.1	11179	2548		235	2391	3621
IconBIT NetTAB SP2 9.7" An 4.0.4	7380	4538	5912	317	2307	4091
IconBIT NetTAB THOR 10.1" An 4.1	7517	4452	5886	862	2129	4169

The results in the Quadrant test were excellent.

Game tests (update 03/30/2013)

Test results do not always correspond to real performance, so we decided to conduct tests in real conditions.

Three applications were selected for this purpose:

• Cut The Rope is a casual game with simple and beautiful animations
• Epic Citadel – demo of the Unreal engine with built-in benchmark
• NFS Most Wanted – a modern game with “powerful” graphics

These tests test performance under a variety of conditions and measure real-world performance.

In games, frames per second (fps) is an important factor. The higher it is, the smoother the game feels. Frame rates below 30 fps can lead to stuttering and other unpleasant consequences. Frame rates below 15 fps turn the game into a slideshow and you'll hardly be able to enjoy it. We took the average frame rate throughout the test run in the selected game.

Cut the Rope

We decided to test the tablet on ordinary casual games that many people play to have a good time. Since the user can play them for hours, a good frame rate per second (fps) is an important indicator, because not everyone can watch a jerky picture for many hours. We tested the tablet's performance on the game Cut the Rope HD.

Fps more than 30 – you can play. There are no twitches. But the result is not a record, we expected more from Tegra 3, since some “budget” tablets show better results. But don't forget that with the A701 we get a high resolution of 1920x1200. Comparable "budget" Retina tablets ( and ) give lower frame rates.

Epic Citadel

We have added the Epic Citadel gaming test, which is a demonstration of the capabilities of the Unreal engine from Infinity Blade for Android OS. The test has different .apk and cache for different GPUs, so you need to take your versions for the test. We used the latest version 1.05 for Tegra 3. The test was carried out in both High Performance and High Quality modes. You can see the results below.

The results here are above 30FPS. A beautiful picture is displayed smoothly under a fairly intense application load on the Unreal engine. But the tablet did not break any records, although it showed a 50% higher result compared to other Retina tablets.

Need for Speed: Most Wanted

To test the performance of heavy and demanding games, we chose NFS: Most Wanted. To install this game, you have to download the cache for each device separately, it was not possible to find something common for devices even with the same GPU, and the cache itself “weighs” 2 GB, an archive of 600 MB is downloaded. Therefore, get ready for the fact that you won’t be able to play immediately after installation; you’ll have to pump out the cache.

For Tegra 3, a “heavy” cache is downloaded with maximum settings, as for other tested tablets. The game is running at maximum speed. Everything is beautiful, there are a lot of effects, they are well drawn, but... the game slows down. 16-18 fps cannot be called a comfortable level, and the A701 tablet in NFS is inferior in speed to two other Retina models - Beholder 1042 and iconBIT Space III.

Overall the results were good, but we expected more from Tegra 3. Perhaps this is due to problems with the current firmware, perhaps the Tegra 3 GPU power is simply not enough for normal Full-HD image processing. Let's hope that performance will improve with the new firmware version.

Network Bandwidth

We tested network performance using the IxChariot benchmark. We used an 802.11 b/g/n router with 1 Gbps ports. The tablet was located about 1 meter from the access point. We tested the maximum available network mode (802.11g or 802.11n), at this time there were no other active transmissions, and no interference was detected in the network coverage area.

Acer A211

Acer A701

Bandwidth is quite adequate for the level of modern tablets, although the results of the “budget” A211 were about 10 Mbps higher than those of the top-end A701.

Battery life

We conducted these tests only for two models (A211 and A701), since we received the Acer Iconia Tab A511 for only one day for comparison.

Acer A211

Acer A701

The tablets charge fairly quickly, although the A701 model uses a micro-USB connector for charging. The battery of the A701 model is much larger in capacity than the A211, but both tablets charge in about the same time. But in terms of battery life, a large capacity has an impact. Despite the large Full-HD screen resolution, the A701 tablet lasted quite a long time. What is the 511 model of the A511? The A701 tablet's screen has more than twice as many pixels (2.25 times) as the A511. Such a screen also requires much more energy to operate. If we extrapolate the battery life results of the A701 to the A511, we should get 1.5-2 times longer battery life. Very good result.

The battery life in the tests is given for the maximum brightness mode. In most cases, the maximum brightness is excessive; by setting the brightness to the optimal level, you can achieve longer battery life.

Conclusion

The 2012 line of Acer Iconia Tab tablets left a rather pleasant impression. High-quality assembly and materials, unique design, many system improvements from the manufacturer. In addition, not just one model was released, but several to cover different market segments.

Acer Iconia Tab A211 is suitable for those who want to get a good, powerful tablet from a well-known company with manufacturer support and a built-in 3G module (which is not found in most “budget” tablets). Only this tablet is heavier and thicker than other models in the line, despite the fact that it has a battery three times smaller in capacity.

Of course, you will have to pay for the A211 from 16.2 thousand rubles in Russia.

Advantages of Acer Iconia Tab A211

• Build quality
• Famous manufacturer
• Powerful hardware NVIDIA Tegra 3 T30L
• Availability of a full USB connector
• Built-in 3G module
• TF card slot
• Manufacturer support

Disadvantages of Acer Iconia Tab A211

• Small capacity battery
• Heavy weight and rather thick
• High price

The Acer Iconia Tab A511 adds to its advantageous list of features a larger battery (9800 mAh instead of 3260 mAh), lighter weight and thickness, a rear camera and speakers that support Dolby Digital Plus surround sound technology.

The 16 GB model will cost from 17.5 thousand rubles in Russia, which seems to us a quite adequate surcharge compared to the A211. The 32 GB model can be purchased at a price starting from 18.6 thousand rubles.

Advantages of Acer Iconia Tab A511

• Build quality
• Famous manufacturer
• A large number of optimizations, additions and pre-installed applications in the firmware
• Built-in 3G module
• TF card slot
• Manufacturer support
• Capacious battery, long battery life
• Dolby Digital Plus support
• micro-HDMI

Disadvantages of Acer Iconia Tab A511

• High price
• No full-size USB port (unlike A211)

The Acer Iconia Tab A701 adds a gorgeous Full-HD screen to the A511. A very beautiful high-resolution picture, coupled with a high-quality matrix with rich and bright colors, is memorable. Viewing photos and videos, reading text are great pleasures.

Unlike the two previous models, this model has not been fully developed; the main complaints arose about the “dampness” of the firmware. It is not fully optimized for high resolution. Both in the browser and in the standard application for viewing photos there are shortcomings. Just putting a high-resolution screen on a tablet and releasing a new model is not enough. Without updating the software, this makes no sense.

Most games slow down and the system can't handle the load. Let's hope that the manufacturer will release updates that will correct current errors, just as the current update corrects past errors (insufficient sensitivity of the touch panel and heating of the tablet body).

Advantages of Acer Iconia Tab A701

• Build quality
• Full-HD screen resolution
• Matrix with rich and bright colors
• Famous manufacturer
• Powerful hardware NVIDIA Tegra 3 T30S
• A large number of optimizations, additions and pre-installed applications in the firmware
• Built-in 3G module
• TF card slot
• Manufacturer support
• Capacious battery
• Long battery life
• Dolby Digital Plus support
• Rear camera 5 MP with autofocus and the ability to shoot Full-HD video (+ video effects)
• micro-HDMI

Disadvantages of Acer Iconia Tab A701

• High price
• "Brakes" in games
• Unfinished firmware for Full-HD resolution

We reviewed the Acer A211, A511 and A701. These are not all models in the line. There are also tablets A210, A510 and A700, which differ from the previous ones only in the absence of a 3G module. All tablets are good, but the main thing that stops you from buying is the price. Many tablets from other manufacturers with similar characteristics are cheaper than tablets from Acer. A striking example of this is the Huawei MediaPad 10FHD (test and review) - a direct competitor to the Acer Iconia Tab A701.