Acer Iconia A1-830

Acer produces yet another budget tablet in the A1-830, a device apparently designed to compete with the Google Nexus and its ilk, though physically the white bezel and aluminum build bring to mind the inaugural Apple iPad Mini.

The A1-830 stands out from the typical 7” tablet lot with a surprisingly expansive 7.9” backlit touchscreen – certainly an attention-grabber – but disappoints with the mundane (and admittedly typical for budget tablets circa 2014) resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels. Making this scrimping a bit stranger is the fact that Acer has equipped the Iconia A1-830 with a super-quick Intel ARM Cortex-A9 processor. One supposes this inclusion is about running the Android 4.2 OS, which we can give high marks for performance.

Notable as well in this Iconia tablet is the impressive rear-facing camera. While the front camera feels like a throw-in with just 720px resolution, the rear snapper is set for full high-definition video of 1080 pixels and a nice 2560 x 1920 resolution on still shots. (Ironically, with this screen, the best results will be enjoyed by a recipient of said image.)

Other specs include 1 GB of RAM with 16 GB of internal memory. A micro SD card slot can take memory cards of up to 32 GB in addition. WiFi and Bluetooth support are also here, but the latter is limited to the 3.0 version. Some accessories (sold separately) can help build up the Iconia A1-830; the rechargeable foldout “Crunch Keyboard” is a great addon, but a user would truly have to be enamored with his/her A1-830 to want to nearly double the price for this accessory when several devices by, say, Asus pack more punch, include the keyboard and are just a few dollars more.

In the end, the Acer Iconia A1-830 may be considered well competitive against the budget tablet competition, but remember: It’s still a budget tablet.