Acer Iconia One 7 B1-730 Tablet Review

[Redaktion]

Seven birds with one stone. The time has come for Acer to update their Iconia One 7 budget tablet with new technology. The new machine once again runs on an Intel Atom processor, and the 7-inch IPS display offers HD resolution. Beyond that, the tablet also houses 8 GB of flash memory, a microSD slot and WLAN b/g/n. At a price of about 100 Euros (~135 USD), Acer's new Iconia One is a good deal.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Acer-Iconia-One-7-B1-730-Tablet-Review.123474.0.html

[strongking18]

Very nice tablet with affordable price. Mine can handle Asphalt 8 without lags though.

[nilobee]

Bought one yesterday because of this review. Pleasantly surprised that it measured 22010 on Antutu right out of the box as opposed to the published 18000 Antutu score on this review.

[nilobee]

I ran a stability test on my unit and it's barely reaching 1H 30 mins. on full load, full bright. Is this defective? Should I have it replaced?

Also, on the stability test, how come there are 4 cores? I thought this was a dual core unit?

[Zavichij]

The CPU dont have 4 cores, what it has is 2 cores and 2 threads on each core, that make some testprograms read it as it had 4 cores.

[CHook]

Bought one yesterday from Costco for 99 dollars Canadian. It also has Bluetooth.

[John]

I've had mine for over a year now. As a first time tablet owner, I wanted a tablet that would introduce me to the tablet experience, as inexpensive as possible, just good enough that I didn't hate it.  This tablet delivers just that, with the camera being the one notable failing. 

The rear camera works in stong indoor lighting conditions at s distance of a few feet from the subject. The only purpose I find is taking pictures of the products and pricing when shopping.  Beypnd this, the camera is useless.  The resolution doesn't allow for UPC scanning.  Photos of documents are at the edge of readability.  Outdoor photos are not entirely impossible but there is nothing approaching quality.The front camera is worse, though I did manage to get a headshot for my online profile.

I opted for the lesser priced 16GB and later added a 16GB SD card.  For the price of the external SD, I should have just purchased the larger internal storage.  Had I done so, I would be enjoying the benefit of the integrated memory for the same cost. One oddity is that the external SD cannot be removed once installed.  I got around this by making a pull tab from packaging tape though I have yet to find any reason to remove or replace it.

As far as internal storage of 16GB goes, it is just adequate enough.  Recently, I ran up against the limit.  It manifested in a constant barrage of "......application has stopped" messages which was easily fixed by removing app that I didn't use anyways.  I am now just conservative about what I keep.

I had to read the specs to be sure it has a GPS.  Location services works fine.  Otherwise, it acts like there isn't one.  GPS Test has once indicated that it is there.  Still, I have yet to find it functional in any utility software, like compass apps. Again, for all practical purposes, it might just as well not be there.

Whether a common failing of tablets, or insufficient memory, when switching between webpages or a webpage and another app, the pages are not persistent and get refreshed.  This creates a problem when looking up something then returning to comment.  If I'm well into creating a comment, it will get erased.

It came with pre-installed software, most of which I don't use.  Unfortunately, the cannot be uninstalled.  Attempting to gives returning them to the factory preset as the only option. The one missing piece of software is the Adobe Flash Player, a version no longer supported by Adobe.  Acer tech support pointed me to their webpage.

As noted in the article, the keyboard is cramped, but then, it is a 7" tablet. I can type on it.

With these exceptions, it performs well enough.  I get all the internet access, including video, with no issues. I can get thge news, view satellite imagery, store documents for offline reading, play games, chat online, join in on forum discussions, email, store contacts, keep my grocery list, shop online, and maintain a personal calendar. 

Truely, while it's failings are definitive, they are really just the two functionalities that are task specific.  If you can do without the camera and GPS, and if purchase with the larger installed memory, then the device performance it good enough. 

Like I said, I wanted the least expensive device that I wouldn't hate. And I don't. Indeed, I use it everyday.  Drafting, drawing, and functional spreadsheets are out of the question.  But then, it isn't a laptop or PC. It is just a 7" tablet.