Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71: entry level tab, pocket friendly price - Northern Voices Online

'A real bargain', is what the latest entry level Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71, is being termed as by the tech experts. The recently launched 7-inch tablet is available at a pocket friendly price of Rs 7,999, says Parwinder Sandhu The light-weight tablet measuring 197.4 and 128.5 millimeters and weighing only 320g, is made up of plastic sporting a big black bezel on its front though which the screen is visible, giving the impression of a digital photo-frame. The top sports the Acer branding in the middle and right side has 0.3-megapixel front-facing camera. The camera, though usable for making video calls, does not produce effective results when it comes to clicking the pictures or taking videos. The back of the tablet is done up with black coloured plastic. The back, apart from the Acer branding, is equipped with a small speaker grill and certification labels. A Micro-USB port is located at the bottom with a slot for a micro-SD card that is covered with an insert, while the 3.5 mm headset jack sits at the top of the device. The volume rocker and the power/sleep button, also done in black plastic material, have been placed at the right side of the tablet. As far as the display is concerned, the tablet sports a 7-inch (diagonal) WSVGA capacitive multi-touch screen having a resolution of 1024×600 pixels have a density of about 170 ppi. Though the screen is quite bright but is reflective at the same time there hampering the visibility under sunlight. Even as the text do not appear to be very sharp, the screen is good enough to read the e-books and magazines. The tablet provides a excellent touch sensitivity to its users. The current offering from Acer runs on Google's Android 4.1.2 or Jelly Bean. As compared to the Ice Cream Sandwich version that is usually available for the lower priced devices, Jelly Bean is a much more polished thereby enabling a smooth work. The menu responds quickly and reliably and jerks while scrolling through long lists are rare. Apps also open agreeably fast although more sophisticated apps like games need a bit longer to load. Though internet browsing migh be bit slow as opening websites take slightly longer. The Iconia B1-A71onscreen controls (for Home, Back and App Switching) are at the centre, and the notification tray and quick access settings (for brightness, screen timeout, Wi-Fi, Screen rotation, Bluetooth, GPS, Airplane mode and shortcut to Settings) are located at the top area in the notification tray. The gadget sports five customisable home screens that can be filled with app shortcuts and widgets. The standard app-launcher and dock that allows users to place six of their preferred apps are omnipresent across all home-screens. The standard lockscreen allows users to either unlock the device or go straight into the camera. It also has t he options of Face Unlock, Pattern, PIN or Password lock. The tablet is powered by a 1.2 GHz dual-core CPU with Cortex A9 cores from MediaTek, supported by a PowerVR SX531 graphics chip from Imagination. Even as the working memory is 512 MB, the 8 GB internal memory can be expanded with a microSD card. Even as the tablet does not have voice calling or support for 3G data via SIM card or dongles, connection to internet can be sought via Wi-Fi. The tablet also features a GPS module but without 3G or data connectivity, it would be risky relying  on the offline navigation. The Iconia B1 comes with a 2710mAh battery which is fully charged in about 3 hours. We were able to get around 4 hours of video playback, with the display on full brightness levels. The standby time with push notifications and e-mails, and intermediate usage, was about a day. The tablet gives between 5-6 hours of continuous usage on a single charge. Bottomline: Even as the prime USP of the Acer Iconia B1-A71 is the low price at Rs. 7,999, the tablet has a lot of features to boast about. Even as the major drawback remains the absence of 3G connectivity, for those who prefer to work on offline mode or have internet access via Wi-Fi, the tablet is a perfect deal. Further, even as  the hardware does not give a very durable look, the presence of Jelly Bean is an added advantage. In short, the Acer Iconia B1 is a great option if one is looking for a tablet for casual web browsing, reading e-books and playing casual game. Shortlink: Posted by admin on May 2, 2013. Filed under Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed. via Technology - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNGVM1WEpFmx3cr5KskXUVE5xf5dSQ&url=http://nvonews.com/2013/05/02/acer-iconia-tab-b1-a71-entry-level-tab-pocket-friendly-price/

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