Acer Iconia Tab 10 A3-A40-N68R

Acer Iconia Tab 10 A3-A40-N68R

With the android budget tablet market bursting at its seams it isn't surprising that Acer has decided to chip in with its own take with the Acer Iconia Tab 10 A3-A40-N68R. First and foremost is its screen resolution at 1920x1200 pixels for a 10-inch tablet with its price is unheard of, although there are some problems with that as it becomes apparent. While having a larger resolution is certainly good in anyone's books the processor and graphics that Acer decided to bake in certainly do not. Although general usage proves usability to be somewhat smooth when it comes to actually gaming on this tablet it starts to show sluggishness especially with its weak MediaTek MT8163 processor. Moreover, its integrated graphics is of the dual-core variant of the Mali-T720 which is usually much more suited for 800p tablets which goes to show the GPU is being stretched to its limits. The Iconia Tab 10 A3 operates on Android 6.0 which has some Acer software customizations but generally operates quite similarly to stock Android. One of the main features of the Acer altered Android is it features an extra custom home screen on the left of the default, aptly named Left Page. It's generally a newsfeed page with your standard social media updates such as Facebook or Twitter. Although it is a welcomed feature it generally tends to be sluggish. Being a budget tablet it remains generally bloat free although some bloat does exist.

The Acer Iconia Tab 10 A3 has 2 cameras with 1 on the rear and front, but both are neither impressive or worth a hoot about. The rear camera is a 5 MP sensor with no flash which is amusing because it feels like it was included for the sake of it. Image quality is somewhat average but better than nothing, however it should be noted that actual images might vary slightly from what is displayed. Additionally, users should note that the Acer Iconia Tab 10 A3 isn't a fast shooter with at least a half second delay in between shots. Finally, it's usually common to see budget tablets sip power which helps to boost battery life, such is not the case for the Acer Iconia Tab 10 A3 with its higher resolution display its battery does take a nosedive relatively fast with 5 hours while Wi-Fi and about 4 hours while gaming. In terms of audio quality, the Acer Iconia Tab 10 A3 has a 4-speaker array which somewhat gives a solid listening experience although tuning the EQ setting may help a little more. The only downside is the sound lacks the bass it needs to drive a much more pleasant listening experience. Overall because this is a budget orientated tablet one should not expect too much, but if you're just someone who wants a budget tablet with a somewhat better viewing experience the Acer Iconia Tab 10 A3-A40-N68R might not be that bad after all.

Hands-on article by Jagadisa Rajarathnam