Acer Iconia Tab 10 A3-A20FHD Tablet Review
For the original German review, see here.
Acer continues its line of well-configured yet affordable tablets with its Iconia Tab 10. After the 8-inch Iconia Tab 8, it is now the 10-inch versions' turn. Three models are to be launched in Germany: The Iconia Tab 10 A3-A20 (NT.L5DEE.003) with 16 GB of storage capacity and HD resolution for 200 Euros (~$248) followed by the Iconia Tab A3-A20 NT.L5EEE.004 with 32 GB of capacity for roughly 230 Euros (~$285). We are reviewing the Iconia Tab 10 A3-A20 (NT.L5FEE.003) top-of-the line model also with 32 GB of storage capacity, but it has an edge on its family members with a Full HD resolution of 1920x1200 pixels, and it had a price of approximately 240 Euros (~$297) in online shops at test time.
All three Iconia Tab 10 versions use the MediaTek MT8127 quad-core processor that clocks with 1.5 GHz rather than 1.3 GHz in our Full HD review sample. This is complemented with an ARM Mali-450 MP4 graphics chip, and 2 instead of 1 GB of RAM in the larger models. All Iconia Tab 10 tablets are powered by Android 4.4, have a slim height of 8.9 millimeters, weigh 510 grams, and they sport the same interfaces. Besides a micro-HDMI and micro-USB port, it also includes a micro-SDHC card reader, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, and Bluetooth 4.0.
Case
Like the smaller Iconia Tab 8 model, Acer's tablet not only looks like an Apple iPad but also convinces with a superb build. Despite its low height of only 8.9 millimeters, the casing of the Iconia Tab 10 is very rigid and can barely be warped or depressed even under higher pressure. An eye-catcher is the aluminum back cover that reinforces the overall high-quality impression. Acer's tablet is comfortable to hold owing to its low weight of 510 grams. A look at the comparison devices proves that a lighter and thinner build is also possible, though. While the dimensions and weight of LG's G Pad 10.1 V700 hardly differ from the Iconia Tab 10, the equally-sized 10-inch Sony Xperia Z2 is not only much lighter with 425 grams but also quite a bit slimmer with a height of 6.4 millimeters.
Connectivity
An ARM-based MediaTek MT8127 quad-core SoC works in Acer's Iconia Tab 10. Its processing cores are clocked with 1.5 GHz each. The ARM Mali-450 MP4 is used as the graphics unit. 2 GB of RAM and 32 GB of storage complement that. The user has approximately 25.6 GB of storage available ex-factory. The internal storage can be expanded by up to 32 GB via the micro-SD slot.
Software
Acer preloads Android 4.4.2 on its Iconia Tab 10 and additionally ships the 10-inch tablet with an extensive collection of apps. Among them, multiple Google applications such as Maps, Drive, Google+, Chrome, and Gmail, Astro File Manager, a barcode scanner, McAfee's Mobile Security suite, Skype, and a link to Acer's cloud. Beyond that, users can select various apps and place them on the clearly arranged user interface.
Communication & GPS
Acer's Iconia Tab 10 connects to wireless networks via Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.0. That functioned in the test with the expected speed and without connection interruptions or other interference. The integrated GPS module can use an existing Wi-Fi connection for determining positions and also provides a very accurate localization of up to only a few meters. On our over 10-kilometer bike test route with the Garmin Edge 500 navigation system for comparison, Acer's tablet did the expected good job and was able to always determine the current position very accurately. Unfortunately, we cannot provide any comparison pictures here because exporting the recorded route failed, and thus readers will have to simply rely on the tester's word.
Cameras & Multimedia
According to the spec sheet of Acer's Iconia Tab 10, the primary camera shoots pictures with up to 5 megapixels and achieves a maximum webcam resolution of 2 megapixels. However, only 4 megapixels (2560x1440 pixels) and 1 megapixel (1280x720 pixels) are available in the camera menu. Neither would be a tragedy if Acer's tablet provided a decent image quality - which would actually also be expected in view of the very extensive settings. Virtually everything is installed that makes hobby photographers happy; starting with a multitude of picture modes like HDR, exposure latitude and panorama over ISO and white balance up to a timer and an integrated learn program. The settings proved to be more or less smoke and mirrors in the test. The pictures taken with the Iconia Tab 10 were downright disappointing. Both the primary camera and webcam only delivered blurry and noisy pictures even in ideal light conditions. Thus, the possibility of recording Full HD videos is not much of a comfort, either.
Accessories & Warranty
Acer's Iconia Tab 10 is shipped with a micro-USB cable, a modular power supply, and a quick-start guide. The tablet comes with a 12-month warranty. The manufacturer does not offer any accessories for the Iconia Tab 10.
Input Devices & Handling
Acer's Iconia Tab 10 convinces with very good handling. That starts with the interfaces that are all logically positioned and thus also easy to access when the 10-inch tablet is placed on a table. The tablet reaps in more handling plus points under Android 4.4.2. The review sample responded immediately to finger inputs on its 10-point LCD touchscreen directly after booting. We did not notice any delays or longer waiting times in apps or in the menu during the test. Although the Iconia Tab 10's screen surface area would be big enough, Acer omits an additional number row in the virtual QWERTY keyboard, which contributes to a clear arrangement. The keyboard takes up half of the screen in landscape mode, but the single keys have an agreeably big size that allows typing swiftly.
Display
Our review sample of Acer's Iconia Tab 10 has a screen resolution of 1920x1200 pixels, which results in a razor-sharp reproduction. However, the competition is on par - except for LG's G Pad 10.1 V700 that does not offer Full HD with 1280x800 pixels. While Sony's Xperia Z2 provides the same resolution as the Iconia Tab 10, HTC's Google Nexus 9 already features 2048x1526 pixels, and Samsung's Galaxy Tab S 10.5 even has 2560x1600 pixels.
The LCD screen in Acer's Iconia Tab 10 achieves an average brightness of 389 cd/m² that is distributed quite homogeneously over the screen (illumination: 86%). It is thus quite possible to use the tablet outdoors. The contenders reach similar rates that range from 314.0 cd/m² (Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5) up to 461.0 cd/m² (Sony Xperia Z2). The black level of 0.74 cd/m² and contrast ratio of 507:1 are also decent values.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Brightness Distribution: 86 %
Center on Battery: 375 cd/m²
Contrast: 507:1 (Black: 0.74 cd/m²)
ΔE Color 5.81 | 0.5-29.43 Ø4.91
ΔE Greyscale 5.94 | 0.5-98 Ø5.2
Gamma: 2.65
| Acer Iconia Tab 10 A3-A20FHD Mali-450 MP4, MT8127, 32 GB SSD | Google Nexus 9 GeForce ULP K1 (Tegra K1 Kepler GPU), K1 (Denver), 32 GB eMMC Flash | LG G Pad 10.1 V700 Adreno 305, 400 APQ8026, 16 GB eMMC Flash | Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 Mali-T628 MP6, 5420 Octa, 16 GB eMMC Flash | Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet Adreno 330, 801 APQ8074AB, 32 GB eMMC Flash | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Screen | 19% | 1% | 17% | 31% | |
| Brightness middle | 375 | 430 15% | 360 -4% | 290 -23% | 461 23% |
| Brightness | 357 | 411 15% | 331 -7% | 291 -18% | 437 22% |
| Brightness Distribution | 86 | 92 7% | 84 -2% | 87 1% | 89 3% |
| Black Level * | 0.74 | 0.77 -4% | 0.82 -11% | 0.59 20% | |
| Contrast | 507 | 558 10% | 439 -13% | 781 54% | |
| Colorchecker dE 2000 * | 5.81 | 3.17 45% | 5.56 4% | 2.37 59% | 3.55 39% |
| Greyscale dE 2000 * | 5.94 | 3.29 45% | 3.59 40% | 2.03 66% | 2.58 57% |
| Gamma | 2.65 83% | 2.39 92% | 2.02 109% | 2.45 90% | 2.78 79% |
| CCT | 7270 89% | 6746 96% | 6483 100% | 6521 100% | 6342 102% |
| Color Space (Percent of AdobeRGB 1998) | 62 | 100 |
* ... smaller is better
The screen of the Iconia Tab 10 exhibited minor shortcomings in the assessment using the X-spectral photometer X-Rite i1Pro 2 and CalMAN software. However, they are barely to not at all noticed subjectively. The red colors are too weak (DeltaE of 5.81), and the light gray hues are oversaturated so that image details might bloom (DeltaE of 5.94). The color temperature of 7270 K is also considerably higher than the ideal white point of 6500 K.
The average brightness of 389 cd/m² allows using Acer's Iconia Tab 10 comfortably outdoors. However, the screen's highly reflective surface might thwart unlimited outdoor use - a problem that Acer has in common with virtually every other modern tablet.
The screen's content remains perfectly legible even in extreme angles. Colors are never distorted or inverted but at most look slightly darker.
Performance
Like the other Iconia Tab 10 tablets, the A3-A20FHD top-of-the-line model also uses the MediaTek MT8127 quad-core SoC but with a slightly higher clock of 1.5 GHz. An ARM Mali-450 MP4 GPU is integrated. Although this combination is sooner located in the entry level, the CPU and graphics chip achieve an impressive performance that is marginally higher than that of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 APQ8026 in LG's G Pad 10.1 V700. The synthetic benchmarks, however, already show that the review sample cannot compete with the performance of the comparison devices. The Google Nexus 9, Samsung's Galaxy Tab S 10.5 and Sony's Xperia Z2 tablet are swifter.
| 3DMark - 1280x720 offscreen Ice Storm Unlimited Score (sort by value) | |
| Acer Iconia Tab 10 A3-A20FHD | |
| Google Nexus 9 | |
| LG G Pad 10.1 V700 | |
| Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 | |
| Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet | |
| Geekbench 3 - 32 Bit Multi-Core Score (sort by value) | |
| Acer Iconia Tab 10 A3-A20FHD | |
| Google Nexus 9 | |
| LG G Pad 10.1 V700 | |
| Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 | |
| Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet | |
| GFXBench (DX / GLBenchmark) 2.7 - 1920x1080 T-Rex Offscreen (sort by value) | |
| Acer Iconia Tab 10 A3-A20FHD | |
| Google Nexus 9 | |
| LG G Pad 10.1 V700 | |
| Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 | |
| Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet | |
| Linpack Android / IOS - Multi Thread (sort by value) | |
| Acer Iconia Tab 10 A3-A20FHD | |
| Google Nexus 9 | |
| LG G Pad 10.1 V700 | |
| Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 | |
| Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet | |
The Google Nexus 9 outruns the contenders in both the Octane V2 and WebXPRT 2013 browser benchmarks. When the Google device is bracketed out, the performance of the other tablets are quite close. Acer's Iconia Tab 10 clearly lags behind in the SunSpider benchmark, though.
| Octane V2 - Total Score (sort by value) | |
| Acer Iconia Tab 10 A3-A20FHD | |
| Google Nexus 9 | |
| LG G Pad 10.1 V700 | |
| Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 | |
| Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet | |
| Sunspider - 1.0 Total Score (sort by value) | |
| Acer Iconia Tab 10 A3-A20FHD | |
| Google Nexus 9 | |
| LG G Pad 10.1 V700 | |
| Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 | |
| Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet | |
| WebXPRT 2013 - Overall (sort by value) | |
| Acer Iconia Tab 10 A3-A20FHD | |
| Google Nexus 9 | |
| LG G Pad 10.1 V700 | |
| Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 | |
| Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet | |
* ... smaller is better
The same as in the browser benchmarks is seen in the read and write performance. The Google Nexus 9 takes the lead, and the other tablets follow all at more or less the same level. In contrast to the contenders, the Iconia Tab 10 has problems with 4 kb random write and only achieves a considerably lower data rate.
Games
Up-to-date Android games are not really a big challenge for the Iconia Tab 10. The tablet even deals with graphically more sophisticated titles like Shadowgun: Deadzone, Real Racing 3 or Asphalt 8 without problems, owing to the always immaculately functioning position and motion sensors. However, hardware-demanding games like Anomaly 2 can lead to an occasional stutter in maximum details.
Emissions
Temperature
No matter what scenario we used, Acer's Iconia Tab 10 did not go beyond lukewarm. A maximum of 38.4 °C was measured in full load and at most 37.8 °C in idle. The comparison devices remain equally cool and reach a maximum temperature of 40.0 °C (LG G Pad 10.1 V700).
(+) The maximum temperature on the upper side is 38.4 °C / 101 F, compared to the average of 33.7 °C / 93 F, ranging from 20.7 to 53.2 °C for the class Tablet.
(+) The bottom heats up to a maximum of 33.1 °C / 92 F, compared to the average of 33.2 °C / 92 F
(+) In idle usage, the average temperature for the upper side is 30.8 °C / 87 F, compared to the device average of 30 °C / 86 F.
Speakers
The stereo speakers located on the back cover's long side produce a decent sound and do not overdrive even in maximum volume. As typical for the category, they lack mids not to mention basses. However, Acer treats the Iconia Tab 10 to a Dolby sound feature that supplies an audibly better and surprisingly rich stereo sound compared with the default settings. The Iconia Tab 10 thus meets the manufacturer's entertainment system claim.
Energy Management
Power Consumption
The non-removable, 22-Wh lithium-polymer battery in the Iconia Tab 10 has a capacity of 5700 mAh. The tablet consumes a maximum of 4.7 watts when idling. Our Voltcraft measuring device recorded 6.9 watts in full load. Those are very good rates compared with the competition, and the maximum power consumption is even the lowest by far, which lets us hope for a long battery life. Only Sony's Xperia Z2 has an identically low consumption of 7.2 watts, while Samsung's Galaxy Tab S 10.5 consumes 10.4 watts during full load.
| Off / Standby |   0.2 / 0.2 Watt |
| Idle |  2.2 / 4.6 / 4.7 Watt |
| Load |
6.3 / 6.9 Watt |
    
| |
Key:
min: ,
med: ,
max: Voltcraft VC 940 | |
Battery Runtime
Despite its low power consumption, the Iconia Tab 10's battery runtimes are disappointing. The tablet only lasted for 10:59 hours in idle mode, and all comparison devices clearly outperform it. However, the real-world Wi-Fi test using a screen brightness of 150 cd/m², enabled energy-saving features, and a script that opens websites every 40 seconds looks better. The Iconia Tab 10 achieved a good battery runtime of 7:40 hours but is still defeated by its contenders. They manage a considerably longer runtime - starting with the Google Nexus 9 (9:34 hours) up to LG's G Pad 10.1 V700 (12:51 hours).
| Acer Iconia Tab 10 A3-A20FHD Mali-450 MP4, MT8127, 32 GB SSD | Google Nexus 9 GeForce ULP K1 (Tegra K1 Kepler GPU), K1 (Denver), 32 GB eMMC Flash | LG G Pad 10.1 V700 Adreno 305, 400 APQ8026, 16 GB eMMC Flash | Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 Mali-T628 MP6, 5420 Octa, 16 GB eMMC Flash | Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet Adreno 330, 801 APQ8074AB, 32 GB eMMC Flash | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Battery Runtime | 8% | 74% | 32% | 18% | |
| WiFi | 460 | 574 25% | 771 68% | 600 30% | 590 28% |
| Load | 248 | 224 -10% | 444 79% | 333 34% | 268 8% |
| H.264 | 597 | 777 | 395 | 875 |
Verdict
Although we did not discover the breathtaking entertainment qualities that Acer promises for its Iconia Tab 10 A3-A20FHD, it does not lessen the good overall impression. Equipped with a Full HD screen, Dolby sound system, and the MediaTek MT8127 quad-core SoC alongside 32 GB of storage, the tablet caters quite well to the entertainment sector and is indeed very suitable for multimedia activities. Google's relatively new Android 4.4.2 OS and a stylish appearance adorned with haptic treats, such as an aluminum back cover, complement that. The low price of approximately 240 Euros (~$297) also speaks for the Iconia Tab 10 A3-A20FHD.
However, enthusiastic gamers should avoid the tablet. Although up-to-date games run smoothly, the combination of a MediaTek and ARM Mali-450 GPU obviously finds its limits in maximum details. The performance reserves will hardly suffice for future games. The two poor cameras are a real drawback; despite the multitude of settings, they only manage a relatively feasible image quality in the best case.
