Review and testing of the Acer Iconia Tab A200 tablet. Review and testing of the Acer Iconia Tab A200 tablet Information about other important connection technologies supported by the device
Find your consumers, lovers, critics. There's no denying that tablets are convenient, mobile, and productive. They are used for both entertainment and work. And while the market leaders (Apple and Samsung) are fighting over patents, manufacturers of other brands are releasing really good things. Let's take a look at the ASUS trend with their ASUS Transformer- a tablet-laptop is doubly convenient to use, although it turned out to be a little expensive, but there is an answer to this: they made a cheaper ASUS TF300 (changed the body material, reduced the price - that’s all, new model). And, it seems to me, it is now almost impossible to have a relevant and adequate understanding of the market. However, there are manufacturers who do not produce clones, but do something on their own wavelength. And this wave is successful.
Acer Iconia Tab A200 - continues the line of models A500, A100, but at the same time opens new line. And for good reason. In my opinion, a line of high-quality, inexpensive, no-frills devices is always needed. It is needed by those who strictly know what they want.
Appearance
The tablet comes in a green and white box, inside which is the tablet itself, some waste paper, a USB-Micro-USB cable, a charger, and three replacement plugs for charger. Nothing extra.
We have a 10.1 inch tablet in front of us. Back cover— plastic, side faces — plastic. On the front side there is glass. Ordinary despondency? But no. The back cover is textured (almost like pores) red soft-touch plastic, it’s really pleasant to hold in your hands. The first feeling is that it is rubber. The case does not slip at all, it is pleasant for your hands to hold it. Even nicer than slippery aluminum. It’s not immediately obvious, but the tablet does not have a main camera. There is nothing on the back panel except the Acer logo, as well as the holes for the speakers and microphone. And that's great!
The body is tightly assembled, no creaks or backlashes. Almost a monolith. On the right side there is a connector for a charger (unfortunately, charging only from a socket and a proprietary charger), 12V/1.5A. Charging, by the way, is a minus. Firstly, as mentioned above, it’s proprietary, and secondly, the standard length of the charger wire is 90 cm. This is a mockery. When the device is charging, you either have to sit near the outlet or not use the tablet at all.
On the left side there is a power button with an indication (white when there is an event or the tablet is charged, orange when charging); headphone (or headset) jack; micro-USB; USB-host; as well as a flap under which the slot for MicroSD and SIM is hidden (in the version with a 3G module).
The plug fits quite tightly, you can open it either with a fingernail or with something thin.
There is nothing on the bottom edge, and a microphone slot on the top. This is a good solution, the microphone is close to the camera. In addition, on the top edge there are: an orientation lock lever and a volume rocker. There are some cool little bumps on the rocker, two on the left and one on the right. Easy to feel and press.
The front side is 95% glass, 85% display. In addition to the display, there is a 2MP camera. The camera quality is quite good. In video mode - 720p (focus on infinity).
There is a rubber edging around the display. It feels cool to the touch, and it doesn’t allow the screen to be scratched when lying face down on the table. The glass is easily soiled, there is no oleophobic coating. Without a rag, perfectionists can immediately hang themselves or gouge out their eyes. The display itself is a TN matrix with a resolution of 1280x800 pixels. Viewing angles are sufficient for everyday tasks. Not maximum, but not as bad as the A100 (there was a dead zone when tilting away from you). The display brightness is sufficient. By the way, the tablet does not have a light sensor. Therefore, there is no automatic brightness adjustment. On the one hand, this is a minus. You'll have to go into the settings yourself and turn up the brightness. But on the other hand, this has a positive effect on operating time.
The thickness of the tablet is 12.4 mm at its thickest point. Towards the edges it is about 10 mm. The weight of the tablet is 720 grams. Slightly less than the Acer A500 (763 g), more than the iPad (652 g). IN real life I will say one thing - buy a case with a stand. Without this, your hands get tired very quickly. Although, thanks to the frame around the display, it is possible to grasp it comfortably from any side.
Entrails
Inside the tablet is last year's stuffing. Nvidia Tegra 2 (Cortex A9 1GHz, 2 cores), 1 GB RAM, up to 32 GB internal memory. The operating system at the time of writing this review is Android 4.0.3. (Ice Cream Sandwitch). To Acer's credit, I can say that both of my A100 tablets received an update to ICS back in January. The performance is slightly higher than that of the A500 (according to Quadrant). Perhaps it's just a matter of the operating system.
Android here comes with almost no add-ons from Acer. Add-ons affected widgets, lock screen and Acer Ring. Everything is clear with the first two. Acer Ring is a feature that is called up by clicking on the green-yellow circle in the control panel. A “ring” appears, in the center of which is the search button, in four directions - application shortcuts, on the left - volume control, on the right - visual bookmarks standard browser. Only program shortcuts can be customized. Why the rest - I can’t imagine. But you can make screenshots with this thing. I think I saw something similar with Samsung, but there the menu was at the bottom of the screen.
It is also important that the battery of the tablet is truly good. Under standard operating mode: at work, watch YouTube at lunch, communicate on Skype and Google Talk (mostly text chat) throughout the day, in the evening - read the entire Twitter feed, Google Reader, sometimes read Wikipedia, open cards a couple of times to help mom travel to your destination - three days. THREE days of work! And if you load it well - 8 hours. On the weekend I played for 2-3 hours, on Monday, without charging, I took the tablet with me - it still had 70% charge. It's powerful, let me tell you. On the same Acer A100, I charge the tablet in the evening (although 30% of the charge remains, but I’m a realist, I understand that it won’t work with this).
By connecting the receiver to the USB host wireless keyboard and mouse, I was able to immediately open Google Docs, edit documents, draw in Photoshop Touch, play Max Payne Mobile, surf, etc. That is, to fully replace a laptop in any area that I use every day.
Conclusion
Based on the results of communication with the tablet, I will confidently recommend it to those people for whom a camera on their phone is enough, they need a long operating time, a USB host, but at the same time they do not want a creaky craft without support (I’m talking about firmware and warranty obligations).
- Platform: nVidia Tegra 2 (Cortex A9)
- RAM: 1 GB
- Built-in memory: 8/16/32 GB
- Display: 10.1” WXGA (1280x800) TN 262K
- Front-camera: 2 MP
- Wireless interfaces: Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR
- Battery: 3260x2 mAh
- Dimensions: 260x175x12.4 mm
- Connectors: USB-host, Micro USB, MicroSD, Audio Jack (3.5 mm), 12 V charger (1.5 A)
The review was prepared by cedar tree grower Anton Egorushkov, for which many thanks to him!
Last year, Acer became one of the first manufacturers to enter the market with a tablet under Android control Honeycomb, and right away - very successful (unlike Motorola). Model Iconia Tab A500 thanks to functional design and low price became one of the hits of 2011. In the fall, Acer strengthened its position by releasing a 3G version of this model (A501), as well as a seven-inch tablet, but also with Android Honeycomb (A100).
In 2012 year Acer continues the same strategy (which could be roughly called “faster and cheaper”) and releases the first tablet on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich - Iconia Tab A200. Today we will meet him.
But first, our already traditional plate with the characteristics of the hero of the article and its closest competitors. In addition to the two most attractive tablets of the new year - Apple iPad And ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime - we decided to include Acer's future flagship - Iconia Tab A510 - in the table. It has already gone on sale in North America, and is about to be released here.
| Acer Iconia Tab A200 | ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime | The New iPad | Acer Iconia Tab A510 | |
| Screen | 10.1″, *VA, 1280×800 | 10.1″, Super IPS+, 1280×800 | IPS, 9.7″, 2048×1536 | 10.1″; 1280×800 |
| SoC (processor) | NVIDIA Tegra 2 @1 GHz (2 cores, ARM Cortex-A9 | Apple A5X @1 GHz (2 cores, ARM Cortex-A9) | NVIDIA Tegra 3 @1.4 GHz (4 cores + 1 auxiliary, ARM Cortex-A9 | |
| GPU | GeForce GPU | GeForce ULP | PowerVR SGX543MP4 | GeForce ULP |
| Flash memory | from 8 to 32 GB | 32 or 64 GB | from 16 to 64 GB | 32 GB |
| Connectors | USB (host), Micro-USB, 3.5 mm headphone jack | Micro-HDMI, Dock Connector, 3.5mm Headphone Jack | dock connector, 3.5 mm headphone jack | Micro-USB, Micro-HDMI, 3.5 mm headphone jack |
| Memory card support | microSD (up to 32 GB) | microSD (up to 32 GB) | No | microSD (up to 32 GB) |
| RAM | 1 GB | 1 GB | 1 GB | 1 GB |
| Cameras | front (2 MP) | front (8 MP) and rear (2 MP) | rear (5 MP; video shooting - 1920×1080), front (0.3 MP) | front (1 MP) |
| Internet | WiFi | WiFi | Wi-Fi (optional - 3G and 4G LTE) | WiFi |
| operating system | Google Android 4.0 | Google Android 3.2 (upgrade to Android 4.0 available) | Apple iOS 5.1 | Google Android 4.0 |
| Dimensions (mm)* | 260×175×12.4 | 263×180.8×8.3 | 241.2×185.7×9.4 | 259×175×10.5 |
| Weight (g) | 703 | 586 | 652 | 698* |
| Price** | N/A(0) | N/A(0) | $599 (US) | 17990 rubles |
* - according to the manufacturer
** - for Acer Iconia Tab A200 tablets (maximum amount of flash memory) and ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime (32 GB of flash memory) the current average price in Moscow is indicated (dynamically updated); The New iPad (32GB storage capacity) and Acer Iconia Tab A510 are listed at MSRP.
Well, several conclusions can be drawn from comparing the characteristics. Firstly, it is obvious that the Iconia Tab A200 belongs to a lower price segment than flagship models ASUS and Apple. Secondly, it's certainly less attractive than the Iconia Tab A510 (due to the fact that it runs on Tegra 2 rather than Tegra 3, and also because it lacks an HDMI output). But this must be compensated by the price.
Thirdly, the Iconia Tab A200 retains the main features of the A500, but there are some differences. The main positive difference is Android 4.0 instead of Android 3.0. And the main negatives are the lack of an HDMI output and a rear camera. Well, we’ll find out the details upon closer examination of the device, which is what we’ll proceed to.
Packaging and equipment
Acer loves big boxes. In this case, the packaging really impresses with its size.
Inside we find the tablet itself, a fold-out (card-like) user manual, a charger, a Micro-USB - USB cable, an international device passport (for travelers), as well as booklets about safety precautions and warranty conditions.
Design
The tablet is massive and heavy. This is, without a doubt, a “male” model. And although it is a little lighter than the Acer Iconia Tab A500, the first thought when you pick up the A200 is still “it’s heavy!” Although, objectively speaking, it is not that much heavier than its competitors (the same The New iPad).
The general contours and main design elements are clearly taken from the Iconia Tab A500: rounded corners, tapering top and bottom edges, speakers at the bottom of the back cover.
However, the case material is different from that of the A500. This is rubberized soft-touch plastic, very pleasant to the touch, and in addition, does not collect fingerprints and micro-scratches.
The placement of the connectors is different from the A500. The charger connector is located on the right side.
There are no connectors on the bottom and top edges, but on top there is a volume rocker and a screen lock lever.
The main set of connectors and slots is located on the left side. This is a 3.5 mm headphone jack, a full-fledged USB-host for connecting peripherals and external drives, Micro-USB for connecting the tablet to a computer. In addition, on the left side we see the Power button and a lid under which there is a card slot microSD memory and the Reset hole.
Please note that the lid is very difficult to open. Even if you pry it with your fingernail, you won’t be able to open it - you need to use improvised means such as a knife, paper clip, etc.
It is worth noting that the tablet does not have a dock connector (which was present in the A500) and an HDMI output. The last one is really sad.
Screen
The actual size of the sides of the usable screen area is 21.7 cm and 13.6 cm. The diagonal is 25.6 cm (10 inches).
Detailed examination of the screen using measuring instruments conducted by the editor of the “Monitors” and “Projectors and TV” sections Alexey Kudryavtsev. Here is his conclusion.
The tablet's screen is covered with a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface, and, judging by the reflection of bright light sources in it, it does not have an anti-glare filter. There is no special oleophobic coating on the outer surface of the screen, so fingerprints are relatively difficult to remove.
With manual brightness control, its maximum value was 222 cd/m2, minimum - 27 cd/m2. As a result, at maximum brightness in bright daylight it will be possible to see something on the screen, but not without some strain, and minimum brightness will allow you to comfortably use the tablet even in complete darkness. There is no automatic brightness adjustment. The brightness is changed using pulse width modulation with high frequency- 990 Hz, - so the flickering of the backlight at reduced brightness is not visible.
This tablet uses a *VA type matrix, as a result the screen has very good viewing angles without inverting shades, even with large deviations of the view from perpendicular to the screen. True, there is a color shift; for example, with a not very large deviation, pure red color becomes noticeably closer to orange. When deviated diagonally, the black field is lightened slightly and does not acquire a noticeable color tint. When viewed perpendicularly, the uniformity of the black field is very good. Due to the fact that even at maximum brightness the backlight is modulated, it is not possible to accurately determine the response time. The gamma curve constructed using 32 points did not reveal a significant roll in either the highlights or the shadows, and the index of the approximating power function turned out to be 2.32, which is quite close to the standard value of 2.2, while the real gamma curve coincides well with the power function addiction.
The contrast is very high - 1600:1. The color gamut is noticeably narrower than sRGB:
The spectra confirm this:
Apparently, the matrix filters slightly mix the components with each other. This technique allows you to increase the brightness of the screen with the same energy consumption for backlighting. The balance in color temperature is not outstanding - shades of gray have a color temperature above 6500 K, which also changes noticeably when moving from white to dark shades of gray. However, the deviation from the blackbody spectrum (delta E) is relatively small.
The screen is not very bright, which may prevent you from using the tablet outdoors during the day, but the tablet is perfect for watching movies, since the type of matrix used differs from any, even the most advanced IPS, in that it has a slight diagonal highlighting of the black field and high contrast.
We also note that the screen sometimes reacts quite strangely to touch. In particular, it was very difficult to play Shadowgun: you click to shoot, but for some reason the camera position changes... or you make some touches, but the tablet does not react... Perhaps this is a software problem, but maybe it’s the screen not very responsive.
Platform
The tablet runs on the good old NVIDIA Tegra 2. In principle, the performance and functionality of this system on a chip is well known to us. But, nevertheless, we will perform a set of our standard tests.
In Quadrant Standard, the tablet demonstrated a normal “average” result - 1974 points. At the same time, we note that many Tegra 2 tablets are left a little behind (for example, Sony Tablet S and Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet).
The result in SunSpider 0.9.1 is also without any surprises: 2160 ms.
* Here and below for ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime are the test results on the latest firmware version (the operating system has been updated to Android ICS). The results of this tablet in SunSpider 0.9.1 on the original firmware with Android 3.2 were better.
In the processor test, the Super Pi performed better than the ASUS Eee Pad Slider on the same SoC, but it is still far from the Tegra 3 results.
The table below shows the results of all three tablets, rounded to the nearest 1 second.
In the comprehensive AnTuTu Benchmark 2.7.3, the tablet scored 4927 points, which is close to the results of other Tegra 2 tablets.
The result in the multi-platform GeekBench, which measures CPU and RAM performance, is again predictable.
And finally, the results of the graphics subsystem performance in NenaMark2 (v2.2).
Of course, at the moment the performance of Tegra 2 seems to be insufficient. In particular, this tablet Even with hardware acceleration enabled (in Dice Player), I was unable to play a 720p MKV file without stuttering. But, however, for smooth operation Android interface 4.0 is quite enough, as well as for games of last year.
Operating system and applications
The tablet comes with Android 4.0 OS pre-installed. However, Acer made its own shell. More precisely, not even a full-fledged shell, but additional widgets.
Firstly, it is a widget that shows time, date and weather. Secondly, a special widget called by the round yellow-green button in the center of the bottom bar. The widget is a translucent ball with right side which displays thumbnails of sites added to favorites, and on the left side is a volume control scale. In the center of the circle itself there is a button that causes a search on the tablet, and next to it there are icons for taking a screenshot, Gallery, Settings and Browser.
Apparently, this set of icons cannot be changed. As for this widget as a whole, I would not call it very useful, although some users may think otherwise.
Of the pre-installed programs, Astro is worth noting. It includes a file manager, backup tool, dispatcher running applications(task killer).
There is also a SoundHound service for streaming music, Internet radio AUPEO!, HW Solitaire SE (Solitaire game), LumiRead reader, McAfee VirusScan Mobile antivirus and Acer's proprietary utility for organizing media files - clear.fi. There is also office suite Documents To Go, but, alas, only in the trial version (more precisely, free version, which allows you to only view, but not create or edit documents). And here we saved...
The general impression of the software is this: they paid attention to this, tried to make it convenient for the user, but did not provide anything really valuable (such as a full-featured office suite).
Autonomous operation
Unfortunately, AnTuTu Tester was not installed on the tablet (for some reason it does not work on tablets with Android 4), so there will be no synthetic tests of battery life. But there will be practical tests.
First, video playback. True, again, not quite according to our method, since the 720p video that we have been using lately was very slow on the tablet. Therefore, I had to put the video at 480p. With the screen brightness set to maximum (the only comfortable mode, in our opinion) and the sound volume sufficient to watch a movie with headphones, the tablet worked for about 7 hours. Wi-Fi was turned off. The result is not bad, but not outstanding either.
As for games, you can play Angry Birds Space (the screen brightness is again at maximum, but Wi-Fi is on and the sound is off) for about four and a half hours - five hours. Not brilliant either, although quite acceptable.
Camera
Unlike its predecessor - the Iconia Tab A500 - the new product has only one camera: the front one. There is no rear camera.
The front camera has a resolution of 2 megapixels and is designed for video communication.
conclusions
Acer Iconia Tab A200 is a solid, but slightly outdated tablet. Even the latest Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich OS doesn't save you from the feeling that this device should have come out last year. True, last year there wouldn’t have been much sense from the A200, because if not for Android 4, this A200 could have been called just a slightly tuned version of the Iconia Tab A500. Although... even with Android 4.0 it is still a slightly tuned A500, not functionally superior to it in any way, since A500 owners have already had the opportunity to upgrade to Android 4.0.
In all the main parameters, we have a typical average: a system on the NVIDIA Tegra 2 chip (no longer a leader, but not a complete outsider), average battery life, average screen (not IPS, but not TN, with good viewing angles, but with not the most saturated colors and not the highest resolution). I liked the design, which differs from the A500, although it is also not for everyone: the tablet is heavy (by today's standards) and not at all thin.
Perhaps, if such a tablet had been released by a lesser-known company, it would have been completely lost against the background of more ambitious competitors. But Acer has a name and reputation, including in the young tablet market - the company performed very well last year. Therefore, the successor to the popular A500 will certainly not go unnoticed. But in order for people not only to look at it, but also to buy it, the main thing is required: an adequate price. The price declared by the manufacturer of 14,990 rubles for the 16 GB model seems to us too high and not conducive to good sales. Let me explain why. The Acer Iconia Tab A500 had the same price at launch (later it even dropped a little). But at that time, Tegra 2 and a 10-inch screen with a resolution of 1280x800 were the top level. In addition, it was the first tablet to run Android 3.0. Therefore, this price looked extremely attractive. Today Tegra 2 and a resolution of 1280x800 are by no means a top level. Therefore, asking for the same money for a middling model as for a flagship a year ago is at least strange. However, something tells us that soon this price will drop significantly, since it will go on sale Acer model Iconia Tab A510. Let us remind you that it will have three significant advantages: firstly, Tegra 3 instead of Tegra 2, secondly, an HDMI output, and thirdly, a significantly larger battery (9800 mAh instead of 3260 mAh). At the same time, the recommended price for the version with 32 GB of flash memory will be only 2,000 rubles higher than for the A200 with the same amount of memory. We will definitely test this model, and we cannot yet evaluate it, but judging by the characteristics, with a price difference of 2000 rubles, I would definitely recommend the A510. Most likely, Acer understands this, so with a high probability we can predict that immediately after the release of the A510, the price of the A200 will be reduced so that the difference with the A510 is at least 5-6 thousand. And then this model will really be attractive.
Design, control elements
The tablet is calm appearance, at the same time, it is immediately recognizable as an Acer device, it is a bit similar to the Iconia A500.
On the left side there is a 3.5 mm headphone jack, microUSB, a full-fledged USB port (a separate section will be devoted to it) and a power button. You have to get used to its location, because it is usually located on the upper end. By the way, there is a light indicator on the power button; it lights up red while charging, white when the tablet is charged, and blinks when new notifications appear.
Hidden under the flap is a slot for a microSD memory card and a Reset hole. Thanks to the plug, the slot is protected from accidental clicks (users of many other tablets that do not have a plug complain that sometimes they accidentally click on the card and it gets pulled out).
At the top end you can see a volume rocker, an automatic screen orientation switch and a microphone hole. The rocker has a short stroke and is not very convenient to press. At the same time, there are small protrusions on it, making it easy to feel in the dark.
On the right there is space for its own connector for the charger.
The back is made of rubberized plastic. It is matte and practically does not show fingerprints. Due to this material, the tablet is comfortable to hold in your hands and does not slip. There are also two speakers on the back, their volume level is above average, but the location is unfortunate; when you hold the tablet in your hands, you involuntarily cover them with your fingers. But if you hold it upside down, then there is no such problem; it’s a pity that the manufacturer did not install speakers on the upper part of the backrest.
There are no complaints about the assembly, the tablet is assembled perfectly, there are no creaks or backlashes.
Dimensions
Acer did not strive for body thickness and light weight; the A200 has impressive dimensions, judge for yourself:
- Acer A200 Dimensions (LxWxD) 259x175x13 mm, weight 720 g
- Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 Dimensions (LxWxD) 257x175x10 mm, weight 588 g
- Archos 101 G9 Turbo Dimensions (LxWxD) 276x167x13 mm, weight 649 g
As you can see, the Acer A200 is heavier than its competitors, I gave the tablet to several friends to use, they noted this heaviness as an advantage (you feel that you are holding a thing in your hand, and not a plastic toy), but I prefer lighter devices.
Display
The tablet uses a regular 10” TN matrix with a resolution of 1280x800 pixels. However (I don’t know what this is connected with), the quality of the screen is significantly better than that of competitors with the same TN matrices. Firstly, the A200 has good viewing angles. Secondly, the image looks sharper and brighter than on the same Archos 101 G9. In the sun, the screen almost completely fades, making it very difficult to read anything from it. The screen is covered with Gorilla Glass; attempts to scratch it with keys were unsuccessful.
Autonomous operation
The A200 has a 3260 mAh battery. A very small capacity for modern tablets, but let's look at the operating time in various modes.
In reading mode (screen brightness 10%, auto-scrolling enabled in the Moon+ Reader program), the tablet lasted exactly 13 hours.
In HD video viewing mode at maximum brightness using the software decoder in MX player, the tablet worked for 6 hours.
In HD video viewing mode at maximum brightness using the hardware decoder in MX player, the tablet worked for 7 hours 30 minutes.
When used in quiet mode (an hour of web surfing and Twitter and half an hour of reading), the tablet charge lasted for 3-4 days. Despite the small battery capacity by modern standards, the A200 produces good results in terms of battery life.
Operating system and add-ons from Acer
The tablet has latest version Android 4.0. You can read more about it in a separate article.
Lock screen. To unlock your device, you need to swipe the lock icon to the right. And on the left side there are four customizable shortcuts; to open the application, just “swipe” in its direction.
Acer Ring. There is a green dot in the center of the notification panel. When you tap on it, a ring with settings opens. There are four shortcuts around it, by default they are Browser, Gallery, Quick Screenshot and Settings, but you can easily change them in the same settings. The standard combination of the on + volume down buttons for screenshots also works. Something interesting: screenshots taken using the ring are saved to dcim/screenshots, and using the standard combination - to pictures/screenshots. To the right of the ring is a volume slider, and to the left is quick access to your bookmarks. A beautiful and functional addition, and most importantly, you can disable it if desired.
Weather and clock widgets. Two beautiful widgets from Acer.
Paid version of Astro File Manager. Acer has pre-installed a paid version of Astro, its interface is optimized for tablets, and it works correctly with external drives.
Performance
The model is based on the NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor. Volume random access memory- 1 GB, internal memory capacity varies depending on model, available in 8 GB, 16 GB and 32 GB options. The tablet already has a game store from NVIDIA – Tegra Zone.
In fact, there are slowdowns when scrolling through desktops and periodic browser crashes. Both can be solved by installing third-party software (for example, Yandex.Shell and Dolphin Browser HD). Apart from the tables and the browser, there are no complaints about the speed of operation, the video plays without any problems, and programs start without any hitches.
Reading
The tablet has a very nice screen. At minimum brightness it is comfortable to read in the dark, the eyes do not get tired at all. The maximum is suitable for reading on public transport. And, as I already said, the quality of the screen is higher than that of other TN matrices, the letters themselves look clearer and neater. Initially, a simple reading program LumiRead was installed.
Video
The situation with video is almost the same as in most Tegra 2 tablets. The tablet perfectly plays video in resolutions up to 720p, mp4 and mkv containers are supported. But you can watch divx/xvid in an avi container only by installing a third-party player. Thanks to good screen, with the A200 it is comfortable to watch videos both while lying on the bed and in public transport. Let me remind you that NVIDIA recommends Dice Player for watching videos.
Interfaces
WiFi. b/g/n standards are supported. The tablet connects quickly and holds the signal well. There are no complaints about the module.
GPS. The tablet has a full-fledged GPS module; Google Maps is used for navigation. A cold start takes about two minutes, then the location is determined fairly quickly (about 10 seconds).
Bluetooth 2.1 EDR. All standard profiles are supported, including A2DP.
Only the Wi-Fi version of the device will be on sale.
Operation of a full-fledged USB port
One of the main advantages of the tablet is the presence of a full USB port, which is so rare. After two weeks of use, I appreciated the convenience of this solution. It’s great when you can immediately plug a flash drive into your tablet or connect a keyboard without using any adapters. The external keyboard works correctly, but before using it, I recommend downloading the rukeyboard application and enabling external keyboard support in it.
Camera
The manufacturer decided to abandon the rear camera. I completely agree with this decision, only a few people use it, and the price decreases at least a little. The front camera remains, the device is not yet certified with Skype, but you can already make calls and the caller will see you. The camera quality is average, the image looks blurry, however, the picture quality is at the usual level for such cameras.
Conclusion
The average cost of the A200 is 13,500 rubles for the version with 16 GB of memory and 14,500 for the version with 32 GB. For this money you get an excellent tablet with good assembly, a full USB port, fresh Android version, several nice additions from Acer and a high-quality screen.
I liked the A200, I just want to say “a good tablet” about it. In two weeks it only rebooted spontaneously once, otherwise it worked quickly and stably. The company has chosen the right positioning; the A200 is really suitable for those who are looking for a tablet, but do not yet know why they need it and are not ready to pay a lot of money for it. In addition, it is perfect for users who need a full USB port.
Information about the make, model, and alternative names of the specific device, if available.
Design
Information about the dimensions and weight of the device, presented in different units of measurement. Materials used, colors offered, certificates.
| Width Width information - refers to the horizontal side of the device in its standard orientation during use. | 260 mm (millimeters) 26 cm (centimeters) 0.85 ft (feet) 10.24 in (inches) |
| Height Height information - refers to the vertical side of the device in its standard orientation during use. | 175 mm (millimeters) 17.5 cm (centimeters) 0.57 ft (feet) 6.89 in (inches) |
| Thickness Information about the thickness of the device in different units measurements. | 12.4 mm (millimeters) 1.24 cm (centimeters) 0.04 ft (feet) 0.49 in (inches) |
| Weight Information about the weight of the device in different units of measurement. | 700 g (grams) 1.54 lbs 24.69 oz (ounces) |
| Volume The approximate volume of the device, calculated based on the dimensions provided by the manufacturer. Refers to devices with the shape of a rectangular parallelepiped. | 564.2 cm³ (cubic centimeters) 34.26 in³ (cubic inches) |
| Colors Information about the colors in which this device is offered for sale. | Black |
Operating system
An operating system is a system software that manages and coordinates the operation of hardware components in a device.
SoC (System on Chip)
A system on a chip (SoC) includes all the most important hardware components of a mobile device on one chip.
| SoC (System on Chip) A system on a chip (SoC) integrates various hardware components, such as a processor, graphics processor, memory, peripherals, interfaces, etc., as well as the software necessary for their operation. | Nvidia Tegra 2 250 T20 |
| Technological process Information about the technological process by which the chip is manufactured. Nanometers measure half the distance between elements in the processor. | 40 nm (nanometers) |
| Processor (CPU) The primary function of a mobile device's processor (CPU) is to interpret and execute instructions contained in software applications. | ARM Cortex-A9 |
| Processor size The size (in bits) of a processor is determined by the size (in bits) of the registers, address buses, and data buses. 64-bit processors have more high performance compared to 32-bit processors, which for their part are more productive than 16-bit processors. | 32 bit |
| Instruction Set Architecture Instructions are commands with which the software sets/controls the operation of the processor. Information about the instruction set (ISA) that the processor can execute. | ARMv7 |
| Level 1 cache (L1) Cache memory is used by the processor to reduce access time to more frequently used data and instructions. L1 (level 1) cache is small in size and works much faster than both system memory and other cache levels. If the processor does not find the requested data in L1, it continues to look for it in the L2 cache. On some processors, this search is performed simultaneously in L1 and L2. | 32 kB + 32 kB (kilobytes) |
| Level 2 cache (L2) L2 (level 2) cache is slower than L1, but in return it has a larger capacity that allows caching more data. It, like L1, is much faster than system memory (RAM). If the processor does not find the requested data in L2, it continues to look for it in the L3 cache (if available) or in RAM memory. | 1024 kB (kilobytes) 1 MB (megabytes) |
| Number of processor cores The processor core executes software instructions. There are processors with one, two or more cores. Having more cores increases performance by allowing multiple instructions to be executed in parallel. | 2 |
| CPU clock speed The clock speed of a processor describes its speed in terms of cycles per second. It is measured in megahertz (MHz) or gigahertz (GHz). | 1000 MHz (megahertz) |
| Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) Graphics processing unit (GPU) handles calculations for various 2D/3D graphic applications. IN mobile devices it is used most often by games, consumer interface, video applications, etc. | ULP GeForce |
| Number of cores GPU Like a CPU, a GPU is made up of several working parts called cores. They handle graphics calculations for various applications. | 8 |
| GPU clock speed Speed of work is clock frequency GPU speed, which is measured in megahertz (MHz) or gigahertz (GHz). | 333 MHz (megahertz) |
| Amount of random access memory (RAM) Random Access Memory (RAM) in use operating system and all installed applications. Data stored in RAM is lost after the device is turned off or restarted. | 1 GB (gigabytes) |
| Type of random access memory (RAM) Information about the type of random access memory (RAM) used by the device. | LPDDR2 |
| Number of RAM channels Information about the number of RAM channels that are integrated into the SoC. More channels means more high speeds data transmission. | Single channel |
| RAM frequency The frequency of RAM determines its operating speed, more specifically, the speed of reading/writing data. | 300 MHz (megahertz) |
| 4 pixel shaders 4 vertex shaders |
Built-in memory
Each mobile device has built-in (non-removable) memory with a fixed capacity.
Memory cards
Memory cards are used in mobile devices to increase the storage capacity for storing data.
Screen
The screen of a mobile device is characterized by its technology, resolution, pixel density, diagonal length, color depth, etc.
| Type/technology One of the main characteristics of the screen is the technology by which it is made and on which the quality of the information image directly depends. | LCD |
| Diagonal For mobile devices, screen size is expressed by the length of its diagonal, measured in inches. | 10.1 in (inches) 256.54 mm (millimeters) 25.65 cm (centimeters) |
| Width Approximate screen width | 8.56 in (inches) 217.55 mm (millimeters) 21.75 cm (centimeters) |
| Height Approximate screen height | 5.35 in (inches) 135.97 mm (millimeters) 13.6 cm (centimeters) |
| Aspect Ratio The ratio of the dimensions of the long side of the screen to its short side | 1.6:1 16:10 |
| Permission Screen resolution shows the number of pixels vertically and horizontally on the screen. Higher resolution means clearer image detail. | 1280 x 800 pixels |
| Pixel Density Information about the number of pixels per centimeter or inch of the screen. Higher density allows information to be displayed on the screen with clearer detail. | 149 ppi (pixels per inch) 58ppcm (pixels per centimeter) |
| Color depth Screen color depth reflects the total number of bits used for color components in one pixel. Information about maximum quantity colors that the screen can show. | 24 bit 16777216 flowers |
| Screen area Approximate percentage of screen area occupied by the screen on the front of the device. | 65.22% (percentage) |
| Other characteristics Information about other screen features and characteristics. | Capacitive Multi-touch |
Sensors
Different sensors perform different quantitative measurements and convert physical indicators into signals that a mobile device can recognize.
Rear camera
The main camera of a mobile device is usually located on its back panel and may be combined with one or more secondary cameras.
| Image Resolution One of the main characteristics of cameras is resolution. It represents the number of horizontal and vertical pixels in an image. For convenience, smartphone manufacturers often list resolution in megapixels, indicating the approximate number of pixels in millions. | 1600 x 1200 pixels 1.92 MP (megapixels) |
| Video resolution Information about the maximum video resolution that the camera can record. | 1280 x 720 pixels 0.92 MP (megapixels) |
| Characteristics Information about additional software and hardware features of the rear (rear) camera. | Digital zoom White Balance Adjustment Exposure compensation Scene Selection Mode |