Adaiah blog

Acer 10-Inch Android Tablet: Hands On

As expected, Acer announced not one, but , though even the company's CEO, Gianfranco Lanci, admitted that the 5-incher it also unveiled is . All these devices were in scarce supply at Acer's downtown Manhattan product unveiling, but we managed to grab a few moments with the still-unnamed 10-inch Android tablet.

Roughly a half-inch think and somewhat long longer (or narrower—it has a 16:9 aspect ratio) and heavier than the , the Acer tablet runs Android, though it wasn't clear which version. Acer execs said its release schedule for these Android tablets is dependent on when the tablet version of Android (code-named Honeycomb) is ready.

The device offers no front button, but does have power and screen lock on one side, an SD slot on another, and a docking port for the optional, full-sized keyboard dock. There are two cameras, one on the back and another on the front. Acer didn't announce the resolution, though we know the camera on the 5-inch smartphone is 8 megapixels, so it might not be a stretch to assume the same about this device's primary image capture hardware. The company also left out details on the exact screen resolution, though we can report that it's bright, sharp, and highly reflective. There's also a mini HDMI port for playing back content on your . The gray, brushed metal device is easy to old and, unlike the , didn't feel as if it might slide out of your hands.

Powered by an Nvidia Tegra 2 CPU, the tablet has some serious graphics chops. We saw it play a 3D game during the on-stage demo and then watched as it effortlessly handled 1080p HD video streaming from a nearby Acer laptop. Both devices feature DLNA-enabled Clear.fi, Acer's new Wi-Fi-based content streaming and sharing technology. Acer execs said Clear.Fi. will help users create a "personal cloud."

I touched the screen to pause the movie and realized that there was no obvious way to return to the very-Android-like home-screen. Acer representative's explained that there will be a software-based home button when the product ships next year.

The few gestures we were allowed to try on the tablet worked well, but the Acer representative watching over us as we held the device seemed particularly anxious. Before we knew it, he had snatched it back and our time with the Acer 10.1-Inch Android Tablet was over.