Here at Ritchie’s Room we love creating content based on what our viewers and readers suggest. We knew even before we posted our article on the upcoming A700 Iconia Tablet from Acer that the first request would be to pit it against the new iPad – after all, this is the first Android Tablet with a Full HD display with we’ve had in our hands since the CES earlier this year. So here it is – the iPad compared to the Acer Iconia A700 video.
Knowing the A700 that Acer provided us was a pre-production model, we have stayed away from any performance-based tests that may be skewed by the fact this unit is not retail-ready, which would produce an unfair results. For this segment we kept the iPad compared to the A700 on a physical, display and connectivity level.
Still, having the iPad compared to the A700 made for interesting work as the A700 is the first model that we’ve had in studio since the release of the new iPad, and the Full HD display is a defining battleground now because of Apple’s absolutely eye-blowing display.
The iPad compared favourably against the A700 in some areas. It was lighter (642 vs 705 grams), thinner (9.4 vs 10.9), and both had a very different design. The iPad has a natural portrait holding position whereas the Acer is definitely designed to be held in landscape.
When the iPad compared to the Acer A700 in terms of display, we were in two minds about the result. Apple’s pixel density comes to an incredible 264 pixels per inch, versus the Acer’s 224 pixels per inch. But the question is, how much more does a tablet need to be, especially ones with the screen ration of the Android models. After all, at 10.1 inches the 1900 x 1200 display is already free of visible pixels. Text looks sharp, and movies, at this stage anyway, can’t look any better at their native Full HD definition.
Of course, when we looked at the iPad compared to the Acer A700 in terms of ports, the A700 was light years ahead. Direct connection to flat panel TV via Micro-HDMI, memory expansion via micro-SD card and file transfers via Micro-USB are elements of Android tablets that might not win over Apple loyalists, but are appreciated by Android users.
As we’ve said many times before though, the hardware is only part of the story, and with Apple’s closed ecosystem it needs t be a compelling argument to extract users from that environment. However innovation, open connectivity, diverse manufacturer support base and an ever growing content library may yet make products like the A700 a success in the overall tablet market.
What are your thoughts? With the iPad compared to the A700, would you switch to Acer’s latest Iconia Tablet offering?
