Acer Iconia Tab 8 Review

The local tablet scene is already flooded with Android tablets. There are those with very low price tags but with mediocre build, specs and performance, and there are those good-looking and powerful ones but are heavy in the pockets. The Acer Iconia Tab 8 (A1-840FHD), on the other hand, is a kind of slate that strikes a balance between affordability and performance.

Design and Construction

The Iconia Tab 8 is a simple-looking slate that doesn’t boast much in terms of design. It actually looks generic but not the type that seems poorly built. On the front you’ll see the 8-inch display surrounded by thick bezels, the 2 megapixel front camera, and Acer branding.

On the right is the volume rocker and the power/lock button, while on the left is the microSD card. Right on top is the micro USB port, HDMI, microphone, and headset jack. Flip it on its back and you’ll see the 5 megapixel camera, Acer logo, and the speaker down below.

Despite its tall frame, the Iconia Tab 8 is easy to handle. Although some might find the thick bezels as a turn off, it actually makes the device more comfortable to use like when watching a movie or reading an E-book as your thumbs has sufficient space to rest on.

Another nice physical aspect of the device is the slim aluminum body that curves at the sides. So although it offers nothing groundbreaking in terms of design, it somehow gives off a certain feel that is similar to that of an iPad.

Display and Multimedia

The Iconia Tab 8 (A1-840FHD) sports an 8-inch IPS display with WUXGA (1920 x 1200) resolution or equal to 283ppi. It has good viewing angles while the images, videos, and text appear clear and sharp. Colors, on the other hand, are vivid and punchy. Acer also claims that the display uses an advanced anti-fingerprint coating, however, we don’t think it’s that effective as the display still attracts a lot of smudges.

With this kind of screen size and quality, the Iconia Tab 8 makes a great multimedia device to handle videos and images. The speaker is decent and can produce crisp sounds. However, it’s somewhat lacking when it comes to bass and the loudness could use some boost.

Camera

Those who feel comfortable taking photos with tablets will be glad with the Iconia Tab 8’s 5 megapixel rear shooter and 2 megapixel front. The main camera is not much when it comes to resolution but it shoots quick and capable of producing very decent photos and can record Full HD videos.

For those who want to be artsy, the camera comes with a lot of software features like Collage Picture, multiple capture modes, effects, filters, and manual controls. Take a look at the samples below.

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Software and Apps

The Iconia Tab 8 comes with Android 4.4.2 KitKat right out of the box. The interface looks stock but some icons are skinned to match Acer’s theme like the Photo, Video, and Camera. Additional features from Acer and Intel were also included like Acer Touch WakeApp, Acer IntelliSpin, and Intel Smart Video.

The tablet comes with a lot of pre-installed apps like like Zinio, Audible, AccuWeather, iStoryTime, Booking, McAfee, TuneIn Radio, and Evernote along with Acer’s own apps like the Acer Cloud and Acer Store.

Unfortunately, this apps cannot be uninstalled and takes up a lot of storage space. Out of the total 16GB, only 9.59GB is usable. There’s support for up to 32GB microSD cards but moving apps to SD cards is not supported.

Performance and Benchmarks

Powering the the Iconia Tab 8 is Intel’s Atom Z3745 quad-core CPU and 2GB of RAM. It was able to breeze through tasks without any problems. UI transitions and animations are smooth and there were no lags or random crashes with the apps we used.

• AnTuTu – 32,728
• Quadrant Standard – 15,657
• NenaMark2 – 58.8 fps
• Vellamo – 2,051 (Browser), 1,572 (Multicore), 938 (Metal)

Battery Life

Providing juice for the Iconia Tab 8 is a large 4,600mAh battery. It can last a whole day if you’re just using it for WiFi browsing and social media apps. We ran our usual battery test (playing a full HD video in Airplane mode at 50% brightness and volume with headset plugged in) and the result is 7.7 hours worth of playback.

Conclusion

The Acer Iconia Tab 8 was able to achieve the balance between performance and affordable price. It has a slim metallic body, great display, expandable storage, decent battery life, good camera, and it performs well. There are trade-offs, of course, like the small usable internal storage, lots of uninstallable apps, and below average speakers. The good news is, it is priced at just under Php11k which won’t break the bank.

Acer Iconia Tab 8 (A1-840FHD) specs:
8-inch WUXGA (1920 x 1200) IPS display, 283ppi
1.86GHz Intel Atom Z3745 quad-core CPU
2GB RAM
16GB internal storage
upto 32GB via microSD
5 megapixel rear camera
2 megapixel front camera
WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n
Bluetooth 4.0
GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS
Android 4.4.2 KitKat
4,600mAh Li-Ion battery
215 x 130 x 8.5 mm
360g
SRP: Php10,990USD 187INR 15,876EUR 178CNY 1,364

What we liked:
* Nice metallic build
* Slim body
* Great display
* Good camera
* Respectable performance
* Decent battery life
* Expandable storage
* Low price tag

What we didn’t like:
* Small internal storage
* Lots of uninstallable apps
* Below average speakers
* Display is fingerprint magnet