Acer Iconia Tab 10 A3-A30 Tablet Review
For the original German review, see here.
We tested Acer's Iconia Tab 10 A3-A20FHD last December and the Iconia Tab A3-A20 in February 2015. Acer's Iconia Tab 10 A3-A30 belongs to the new generation of mid-range priced multimedia tablets. Although it no longer needs tags like "FHD", it still has a Full HD screen. Furthermore, it comes with new looks, an Intel SoC, plenty of storage, and better cameras than before. Initially all this sounds quite promising.
However, the competition has not been idle, and reasonably priced high-quality multimedia tablets are also found among other manufacturers. We use HP's Pavilion 10, LG's G Pad 10, Lenovo's Yoga Tablet 2, and Samsung's Galaxy Tab A 9.7 for comparison.
Case
The casing of the Iconia Tab 10 A3-A30 has been revamped: Unlike the Iconia Tab 10 A3-A2, the chassis is now made entirely of plastic, and features a high-quality, embossed diamond pattern on the back. This gives the tablet good grip, and at least its back is not susceptible to fingerprints. The front features Gorilla Glass 4, which is supposedly particularly shock resistant. According to Acer, the front has been treated with a grease-repelling finish, but fingerprints are visible on the screen anyway.
We would have hoped for more in terms of stability. The casing can be warped to quite some extent, and the liquid crystals in the screen shimmer like a rainbow and form waves under the lightest pressure.
With a weight of 540 grams (~1.2 lb), the tablet is a middleweight compared with the other comparison devices. It is not quite as light as Samsung's Galaxy Tab A 9.7 but not as heavy as the Yoga Tablet 2 from Lenovo.
Connectivity
According to the manufacturer, the Iconia Tab 10 A3-30 will be launched to the market in 16, 32, and 64 GB variants. Only the medium model is currently available. The storage can be expanded by up to 32 GB via a micro-SD card, and it is possible to move apps to the micro-SD. In addition to the 2 GB of working memory, NFC is also installed for communicating with other devices at a close range.
Software
Acer uses a barely modified version of Google's Android. Our review sample features the 5.0.2 version. Although it is not the latest, it is Android Lollipop, which offers many new functions and a reworked design compared to Android 4.4.
We appreciate that Acer does not preload any annoying adware links. The included apps are largely limited to Acer's "EZ Suite" that extends the functionality of the tablet slightly. For example, screenshot can be quickly made via "EZ Snap", gestures wake up the device via "EZ WakeUP", and handwritten notes or sketches can be created via "EZ Note". As convenient as these programs are, customers will hardly opt for Acer's tablet just based on the software.
Communication & GPS
The integrated Wi-Fi modem supports high-speed Wi-Fi networks up to the 802.11 ac standard and the 5 GHz band. The reception was good. We still had 3/4 of the signal on Acer's Iconia Tab 10 at a distance of ten meters (~33 ft) to the router and through three walls, and pages opened relatively quickly. We could not complain about half the signal strength and slightly slower page build up even two further meters (~6.5 ft) and another wall away. In addition to Wi-Fi, it is also possible to communicate with other devices via Bluetooth 4.0 or NFC.
The tablet can track its position via GPS. However, this was not possible indoors, and even outdoors, we had difficulties finding a sufficiently strong signal near buildings.
We took Acer's Iconia Tab 10 A3-A30 along on a bike ride for more detailed results. The Garmin Edge 500 navigation system served as a reference device. Acer's Iconia Tab 10 was not a particularly reliable navigation system. It lost our position completely in both the woods and at a crossing, and simply pulled beelines to the next target over relatively long distances. Thus, it is rather surprising that the measured route deviated by only 250 meters (~820 ft) compared with Garmin's system. The accuracy of our review sample is considerably lower in detail. Consequently, it is only conditionally suitable for navigation.
Cameras & Multimedia
Compared with the Iconia Tab 10 A3-A20, Acer has upgraded the cameras considerably. A 5-megapixel camera with auto focus is now installed on the rear, and 2-megapixel camera is installed on the front. There is no LED flash.
The rear-facing camera shoots somewhat grainy pictures, and image noise develops quite quickly. Color fringes around objects and a light bluish tint will not make the camera the first choice for taking vacation photos. However, it is sufficient for spontaneous snapshots. Videos can be recorded in Full HD at a maximum of 30 frames per second. The quality is satisfactory, but like the photos, losses in image quality will have to be accepted.
The front-facing 2-megapixel camera has some issues with bright backgrounds. Color fringes develop quickly around objects, and its image sharpness and color reproduction are not entirely satisfactory. However, the camera will be enough for a quick selfie.
Accessories
Apart from a charger and USB cable, there are no other accessories in the box. Acer's website does not list any product-specific accessories tailored for the Iconia Tab 10 A3-A30.
Warranty
The purchase price includes a two-year warranty. An upgrade to three years plus one-year international warranty costs 45 Euros (~$50) extra and a three-year international warranty 60 Euros (~$66) more.
Input Devices & Handling
"No experiments" seems to apply to Acer’s virtual keyboard. The manufacturer relies on Google's standard keyboard, which is absolutely okay as the keys of Google's keyboard are very big on the relatively large 10.1-inch screen, have a clearly arranged layout, and its handling is fast and reliable using both hands.
The touchscreen is very accurate up to its corners. In addition, Acer's "Precision Plus" technology improves the accuracy, which is, for example, noticed when drawing something with a finger in "EZ Note" and even small lines are quite precise. The tablet can also be used with a pencil or any other metal object. However, very hard, pointed objects should be avoided as they might scratch the screen.
There are no touch buttons not to mention a "Home" hardware button. Acer's Iconia Tab 10 A3-A30 fades in the Android menu bar on the screen, which is acceptable in the large 10.1-inch screen. The standby and volume keys on the right long side are good to use, but their pressure point could be more accurate.
Display
A Full HD screen is still a unique selling point in this price range, as the comparison devices prove. Only Lenovo's Yoga Tablet 2 also offers a 16:10 screen with Full HD. All other devices have only 1280x800 pixels or less. Consequently, the reproduction on Acer's Iconia Tab 10 A3-A10 looks quite crisp.
Although brighter screens certainly exist, the Iconia Tab 10 is still within an acceptable range with 328.4 cd/m². The illumination of 88% is not as homogeneous as in other devices. Minor brightness differences are visible on large color surfaces.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Brightness Distribution: 88 %
Center on Battery: 343 cd/m²
Contrast: 903:1 (Black: 0.38 cd/m²)
ΔE Color 6.86 | 0.5-29.43 Ø4.86
ΔE Greyscale 6.95 | 0.09-98 Ø5.1
Gamma: 2.32
| Acer Iconia Tab 10 A3-A30 HD Graphics (Bay Trail), Z3735F, 32 GB eMMC Flash | Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 1050F HD Graphics (Bay Trail), Z3745, 16 GB eMMC Flash | Samsung Galaxy Tab A 9.7 SM-T555 Adreno 306, 410 APQ8016, 16 GB eMMC Flash | HP Pavilion 10-k000ng x2 HD Graphics (Bay Trail), Z3736F, 32 GB eMMC Flash | LG G Pad 10.1 V700 Adreno 305, 400 APQ8026, 16 GB eMMC Flash | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Screen | 11% | 9% | 21% | -14% | |
| Brightness middle | 343 | 424 24% | 394 15% | 329 -4% | 360 5% |
| Brightness | 328 | 399 22% | 392 20% | 302 -8% | 331 1% |
| Brightness Distribution | 88 | 88 0% | 80 -9% | 88 0% | 84 -5% |
| Black Level * | 0.38 | 0.43 -13% | 0.51 -34% | 0.27 29% | 0.82 -116% |
| Contrast | 903 | 986 9% | 773 -14% | 1219 35% | 439 -51% |
| Colorchecker dE 2000 * | 6.86 | 5.42 21% | 3.59 48% | 3.93 43% | 5.56 19% |
| Greyscale dE 2000 * | 6.95 | 6.04 13% | 4.25 39% | 3.42 51% | 3.59 48% |
| Gamma | 2.32 95% | 2.6 85% | 2.56 86% | 2.36 93% | 2.02 109% |
| CCT | 7249 90% | 6740 96% | 7148 91% | 6982 93% | 6483 100% |
| Color Space (Percent of AdobeRGB 1998) | 41 |
* ... smaller is better
Acer's Iconia Tab 10 has to be praised for its low black level of 0.38 cd/m². However, due to the low brightness, the contrast of 903:1 is only average. Colors sometimes look rather pale, black areas are quite dark and have an almost unnoticeable grayish tint at most.
The analysis using the CalMAN software and the spectrophotometer provide more details about image reproduction. A clear color tint toward teal is visible in the grayscale levels, and primarily bright grayscale levels and white deviate quite strongly from the ideal rate of the sRGB color space. Colors are too pale with a too high green part on the screen, and skin tones in particular look unnatural.
The screen's content is still fairly legible in slightly brighter light outdoors. However, it gets difficult to recognize things in full sunlight. The resulting reflections are also very straining on the eyes. It is best to use the tablet in the shade or indoors.
The installed IPS screen ensures a stable image even from very flat viewing angles.
Performance
Acer has selected a thoroughly potent SoC for its tablet. Intel's Atom Z3735F has four cores and clocks at up to 1.83 GHz. Since the SoC does not support Hyperthreading, the cores can only process one core at a time. Acer's Iconia Tab 10 A3-A30 ascends to the top in terms of performance among the comparison devices. However, its edge on Lenovo's Yoga Tablet 2 is not that great. HP's Pavilion 10 can also keep up quite well in some benchmarks. Experience shows that the SoC has more than enough power for Android apps.
| PCMark for Android - Work performance score (sort by value) | |
| Acer Iconia Tab 10 A3-A30 | |
| AnTuTu v5 - Total Score (sort by value) | |
| Acer Iconia Tab 10 A3-A30 | |
| LG G Pad 10.1 V700 | |
| Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 1050F | |
| Samsung Galaxy Tab A 9.7 SM-T555 | |
The tablet has to cope with HTML5 elements, such as animations and videos, on modern websites. The Iconia Tab 10, however, renders web contents very well in the Chrome browser, and takes the first place in almost all benchmarks.
| Octane V2 - Total Score (sort by value) | |
| Acer Iconia Tab 10 A3-A30 | |
| HP Pavilion 10-k000ng x2 | |
| LG G Pad 10.1 V700 | |
| Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 1050F | |
| Samsung Galaxy Tab A 9.7 SM-T555 | |
| Google V8 Ver. 7 - Google V8 Ver. 7 Score (sort by value) | |
| Acer Iconia Tab 10 A3-A30 | |
| LG G Pad 10.1 V700 | |
| Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 1050F | |
| Samsung Galaxy Tab A 9.7 SM-T555 | |
| WebXPRT 2015 - Overall (sort by value) | |
| Acer Iconia Tab 10 A3-A30 | |
| Samsung Galaxy Tab A 9.7 SM-T555 | |
| Mozilla Kraken 1.1 - Total (sort by value) | |
| Acer Iconia Tab 10 A3-A30 | |
| HP Pavilion 10-k000ng x2 | |
| LG G Pad 10.1 V700 | |
| Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 1050F | |
| Samsung Galaxy Tab A 9.7 SM-T555 | |
| Sunspider - 1.0 Total Score (sort by value) | |
| Acer Iconia Tab 10 A3-A30 | |
| HP Pavilion 10-k000ng x2 | |
| LG G Pad 10.1 V700 | |
| Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 1050F | |
| Samsung Galaxy Tab A 9.7 SM-T555 | |
* ... smaller is better
The storage in Acer's Iconia Tab 10 A3-A30 is very fast, and outruns the comparison tablets. The 32 GB capacity can be expanded via a micro-SD card.
Intel's HD Graphics (Bay Trail) is a very fast graphics card for Android devices. Thus, it is not surprising that Acer's Iconia Tab 10 leaves virtually all comparison devices behind. Only Lenovo's Yoga Tablet 2 based on the same graphics card can keep up here.
| 3DMark | |
| 1920x1080 Ice Storm Extreme Score (sort by value) | |
| Acer Iconia Tab 10 A3-A30 | |
| LG G Pad 10.1 V700 | |
| Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 1050F | |
| Samsung Galaxy Tab A 9.7 SM-T555 | |
| 1920x1080 Ice Storm Extreme Graphics (sort by value) | |
| Acer Iconia Tab 10 A3-A30 | |
| LG G Pad 10.1 V700 | |
| Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 1050F | |
| Samsung Galaxy Tab A 9.7 SM-T555 | |
| 1920x1080 Ice Storm Extreme Physics (sort by value) | |
| Acer Iconia Tab 10 A3-A30 | |
| LG G Pad 10.1 V700 | |
| Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 1050F | |
| Samsung Galaxy Tab A 9.7 SM-T555 | |
| 1280x720 offscreen Ice Storm Unlimited Score (sort by value) | |
| Acer Iconia Tab 10 A3-A30 | |
| LG G Pad 10.1 V700 | |
| Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 1050F | |
| Samsung Galaxy Tab A 9.7 SM-T555 | |
| 1280x720 offscreen Ice Storm Unlimited Graphics Score (sort by value) | |
| Acer Iconia Tab 10 A3-A30 | |
| LG G Pad 10.1 V700 | |
| Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 1050F | |
| Samsung Galaxy Tab A 9.7 SM-T555 | |
| 1280x720 offscreen Ice Storm Unlimited Physics (sort by value) | |
| Acer Iconia Tab 10 A3-A30 | |
| LG G Pad 10.1 V700 | |
| Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 1050F | |
| Samsung Galaxy Tab A 9.7 SM-T555 | |
| GFXBench 3.0 | |
| on screen Manhattan Onscreen OGL (sort by value) | |
| Acer Iconia Tab 10 A3-A30 | |
| HP Pavilion 10-k000ng x2 | |
| LG G Pad 10.1 V700 | |
| Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 1050F | |
| Samsung Galaxy Tab A 9.7 SM-T555 | |
| 1920x1080 1080p Manhattan Offscreen (sort by value) | |
| Acer Iconia Tab 10 A3-A30 | |
| HP Pavilion 10-k000ng x2 | |
| Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 1050F | |
| Samsung Galaxy Tab A 9.7 SM-T555 | |
| GFXBench 3.1 | |
| on screen Manhattan ES 3.1 Onscreen (sort by value) | |
| Acer Iconia Tab 10 A3-A30 | |
| 1920x1080 Manhattan ES 3.1 Offscreen (sort by value) | |
| Acer Iconia Tab 10 A3-A30 | |
| GFXBench (DX / GLBenchmark) 2.7 | |
| T-Rex Onscreen (sort by value) | |
| Acer Iconia Tab 10 A3-A30 | |
| LG G Pad 10.1 V700 | |
| Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 1050F | |
| Samsung Galaxy Tab A 9.7 SM-T555 | |
| 1920x1080 T-Rex Offscreen (sort by value) | |
| Acer Iconia Tab 10 A3-A30 | |
| LG G Pad 10.1 V700 | |
| Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 1050F | |
| Samsung Galaxy Tab A 9.7 SM-T555 | |
Games
The tower defense game "Plants vs. Zombies 2" with relatively low graphic requirements ran smoothly and without any issues. Even more demanding games like the drag-racing simulation "CSR Classics" are apparently no challenge for the graphics card - it ran without stutters at all times.
Emissions
Temperature
Acer has done a good job with its Iconia Tab 10 in terms of temperature management. The maximum temperature on the upper side was only 34.7 degrees Celsius (~94 degrees Fahrenheit) even under full load. The rear was even slightly cooler. The temperature increase is also very limited to one area - the right front, for example, did not heat up at all. A temperature increase was not at all noticed in idle mode with a maximum of 28.6 degrees Celsius (~83 degrees Fahrenheit).
Temperature development is apparently not an issue, but perhaps the SoC throttles after prolonged periods of load? We check this with the battery test of GFXBench, which runs the same benchmark 30 times in succession and records the performance. A drop in performance during the course of the test will indicate that the SoC has throttled. This is the case in Acer's Iconia Tab 10. The SoC delivers fewer frames at the end than at the beginning of the test.
(+) The maximum temperature on the upper side is 34.7 °C / 94 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 34.6 °C / 94 F, compared to the average of 33.2 °C / 92 F
(+) In idle usage, the average temperature for the upper side is 25.8 °C / 78 F, compared to the device average of 30 °C / 86 F.
Speakers
The speakers in Acer's Iconia Tab 10 A3-A30 are located on the front left and right of the screen - another difference compared to Acer's Iconia Tab 10 A3-A20. Thanks to their convenient positioning, the speakers reproduce sounds well. They are quite loud and produce a rich sound that even has audible signs of bass. Of course, they cannot match good laptop speakers, but Acer's Iconia Tab 10 A3-A20 sounds very good for a reasonably priced 10-inch tablet.
The incorporated 3.5-mm headset jack also transmits audio signals clearly and without interference to external speakers or headphones.
Energy Management
Power Consumption
The relatively high standby consumption perplexed us slightly: Our measuring device displayed 0.5 watts here. The charger could cause the increased power consumption that we measured, but we remained skeptical and continued to observe the tablet's consumption while in standby on a table overnight. The outcome: The battery in fact depleted at an above average speed, which might be due to the "EZ WakeUp" app that monitors whether the screen is touched and wakes up the device.
The consumption is higher than that of the comparison devices, particularly in idle mode with 1.6 to 4.9 watts. Only HP's Pavilion 10 consumes even more power.
| Off / Standby |   0 / 0.5 Watt |
| Idle |  1.6 / 4.8 / 4.9 Watt |
| Load |
6.8 / 8.4 Watt |
    
| |
Key:
min: ,
med: ,
max: Voltcraft VC 940 | |
Battery Runtime
The battery life of Acer's Iconia Tab 10 A3-A30 is not very impressive. One reason might be that the battery delivers only 22.5 Wh, which is slightly less than most comparison devices. Wi-Fi browsing is possible for approximately 8 hours on the Iconia Tab 10. The user can watch movies from the internal storage for about an hour more. The tablet shuts down after 3:41 hours of full load. Although the tablet does not have to be permanently connected to the outlet, the Wi-Fi runtimes are particularly disappointing. Compared with Samsung's Galaxy Tab A 9.7 or LG's G Pad 10.1, the battery life of Acer's Iconia Tab 10 is quite short.
| Acer Iconia Tab 10 A3-A30 HD Graphics (Bay Trail), Z3735F, 32 GB eMMC Flash | Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 1050F HD Graphics (Bay Trail), Z3745, 16 GB eMMC Flash | Samsung Galaxy Tab A 9.7 SM-T555 Adreno 306, 410 APQ8016, 16 GB eMMC Flash | HP Pavilion 10-k000ng x2 HD Graphics (Bay Trail), Z3736F, 32 GB eMMC Flash | LG G Pad 10.1 V700 Adreno 305, 400 APQ8026, 16 GB eMMC Flash | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Battery Runtime | 33% | 67% | -18% | 52% | |
| Reader / Idle | 1564 | 1391 -11% | 2950 89% | 755 -52% | 1696 8% |
| H.264 | 532 | 471 -11% | 777 46% | ||
| WiFi v1.3 | 485 | 862 78% | |||
| Load | 221 | 390 76% | 297 34% | 244 10% | 444 101% |
| WiFi | 751 | 468 | 771 |
Pros
Cons
Verdict
Acer's Iconia Tab 10 A3-A30 gives a good presentation, and shows clear improvements over former models. However, it messes up in some details. For example, the casing could have been more stable, the battery life could have been longer, and if the manufacturer installs a GPS module, it should have enough reception.
Nevertheless, buyers get quite a lot for their money: A Full HD screen, decent front-sided speakers, and so much power for apps and games are definitely not common in this price range. It is even possible to write on the tablet with a pencil, high-speed 802.11 ac is on-board, and the cameras have a slightly higher resolution than those of the competition. However, users should not expect the photo quality of a premium-range smartphone from the Iconia tablet.
Overall, a very rounded bundle that still has room for improvement. In any case, we find the price-performance ratio very good.
Acer Iconia Tab 10 A3-A30
- 07/07/2015 v4 (old)
Florian Wimmer
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