Acer - Iconia One - 8" Tablet - 16GB - Wi-Fi - White
Model: B1-850-K3SX
SKU: 4856800
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Thumbs up: A positive user experience that’s also easy on the checkbook. Thumbs down: The battery life is a bit disappointing with casual use. A column of stuck pixels appeared after the first 5 minutes of use and never left. Who's it for: “Ultra-affordable” entry-level 8-inch tablet is great for non-demanding users. Setup: Mine came pre-charged from the factory. Peeled off some plastic protectors, powered on the unit, selected my wifi from the drop down list, and I was online within 10 mins. The tablet connects to both 2.4 and 5.0 ghz wifi. You do need a google/gmail account as this is an android operating system. You can easily create an account if you don’t already have one. In the box: Tablet, wall charger and mini USB charging cable. Form Factor: The tablet has a medium sized bezel for the IPS 8-inch screen. It also has a micro USB charging port and a micro SD card slot. The camera on the back slightly protrudes out of the back of the case. Overall impression: Coming from an avid iPad user, I was quite skeptical when this Acer tablet arrived. I kept asking myself how a tablet that costs 5 times less than my iPad be any good. I was pleasantly surprised on how well it performed. Besides learning an android operating system, the tablet was fairly easy to use from the start. There is a bit of “bloatware” that Acer comes preinstalled on the tablet but it doesn’t take away from the overall experience. *I will use the iPad as a model for comparison as the iPad pioneered the tablet genre. FEEL: Upon first picking it up, the weight feels good in the hand, but the plastic back is less desirable when compared to the metal backs of iPads. Mine came in white with a great texture that feels good to hold. There is a slight bulge where the camera is so it doesn’t sit flat on its back. SCREEN: The IPS screen is not bad considering the price point. IPS allows for some extreme viewing angles. The resolution is 1280x800 so its not near Apple’s Retina resolution but good enough where you wouldn’t even notice unless they are side-by-side. The screen doesn’t quite have the super glossy feel of an Apple but its close. The 8” screen size is just the right size to use on the couch and while in bed. Opt for the 10” version if you primarily do video streaming with more than one viewer. I did receive a unit that had a row of stuck pixels so make sure to fully test yours before leaving on a trip with it where it would be hard to exchange for a replacement. SPEED: Switching between apps and web browsing is great for this entry level tablet. The quad core processor and 1gb of ram helps with the zippy feel. The processor is important as this directly relates to how well web pages are loaded and processed. Web pages with a lot of flash can really tax the tablet down. General surfing, facebook, etc is where this tablet works great in. Starting the camera app is usually a good test to its performance. The camera app started in a respectable amount of time where I wouldn’t feel like I missed the photo opp. It's not as instantaneous as an iPhone but it's close. CAMERA: The 5MP camera and 2MP camera is standard these days when it comes to tablets. The camera takes decent photos. The camera works best in bright light situations and not so well in low light. Have a very steady hand when you’re in your home. Keep in mind that this built-in camera isn’t meant to replace your stand-alone camera, but it works for easy sharing of moments onto social media. There also isn’t a flash. STORAGE: The 16gb internal storage is big enough for most music collections but do know that you have the ability to add an additional 128gb by the way of micro SD. This is something I wish iPads had the option to do. BATTERY: It claims a 9-hour battery life. As with all battery ratings, it really depends on how you use it. I haven’t been able to test this 9 hour battery life but I do notice that it drains at a faster pace than my iPad mini. There is also some drain from not using it. I left it at 100% charge before I left for work, and I came back to the device with some drain. There are probably some settings that I could change to prevent additional draining as it's probably constantly refreshing my apps even when I'm not using it. This tablet does not have a removable battery. SPEAKER: It’s very tiny and the sound at full volume is mediocre at best. It’s the most disappointing thing on this tablet. I would invest in some Bluetooth speakers if you were to stream videos or use the headphone jack. Bottom line: This price conscious tablet is great for families who casually play games, stream video and do general web browsing. This tablet does offer a lot of performance for the money. Don’t expect Apple-like smoothness in the user interface,but you wouldn’t be disappointed to use one while sitting on the couch either. I hope you found this review helpful!
Posted by TonyMSP
Let me preface this with there being two of these in my household, mine (review unit) and my sons. At points in this review i will reference the other tablet as a comparison for flaws i detect in the tablet I am reviewing. This may be more a flaw of the Acer QA process, or may just be a one off issue. My issues may also be corrected with a system reset, but they are not bad enough to go that drastic. Screen: As with any tablet, the screen is the main component. Color accuracy is quite nice and can be adjusted with Acer included application MiraVision. I can not speak to the quality of Miravision on this tablet as none of my display adjustments take. I can not dim the screen outside of MiraVision and the contrast and other settings fail inside the app. As comparison, my sons tablet works flawlessly and he likes the Vivid option on his tablet. Essentially, with my tablet, I have no control over the display properties. This is the reason for the first star docked. Overall viewing angles are very good, and the picture is sharp. 1280x800 resolution. Apps/BloatWare: Acer did a fine job not adding unneeded applications and only enhanced the stock Android experience. The only real exception to this is something Acer calls LeftSwipe (I think, I can't find the name after the initial setup). This is basically a Google Now styles social media hub. I don't use it. There is a set of tools called Acer BYOC. I assume BYOC means Bring Your Own Content. All the apps seem to connect to your PC as your personal cloud. Nothing really earth shattering. The applications under the group are abPhoto, abMusic, abFiles. All three connect to your PC to access the data. There is also Acer portal, kind of a manager of all the ab products. This does involve setting up your PC. I use none of them, but I can see someone finding them useful. Then there is the Iconia Suite. You have Pocket preloaded and can not be uninstalled. You also have EZ Snap, a screen shot tool. And last, but not least, EZ Wakeup. This allows double tap to wake the tablet, two thumb wake, five finger wake, etc. There is also a Kids Center and Kids Center Painter. Both are somewhat self explanatory. Kid center sets up a kid friendly desktop. It is easy to exit, but may be useful for smaller children. The last App preinstalled is System Doctor. Not much of a doctor, but it will show resource usage and give the option to "Optimize" the system. It kills background apps and frees up memory. It also gives you options to clean up cache, history, files, etc. It is a decent tool to be added, but I have others I have used for years. It isn't good enough to make me switch, but a nice add other manufacturers don't include. Hardware: Hardware, without geeking it up too much, I'll hit the important stuff. Expandable storage, very important as there is only 16 GB of space on the tablet. Why manufacturers only give 16 GB of storage on a media consumption device like a tablet boggles the mind. After the OS is loaded, there is minimal storage for apps and media. There is 1 GB of memory, this is something I have never understood with most tablets. Why only 1 GB while so many phones now have up to 6 GB. Yes this is a budget tablet, but many performance quirks could be resolved with just 1 GB more memory. I don't ding a star for the storage/memory, 16 GB is laughable on any tablet, nor the lack of memory as most manufacturers don't offer anything more. Just a pet peeve if you will. Sound: Here is a docked star, of all my media consumption device gripes...placing speakers/speaker on the back of the device is NUMBER 1. Sound is OK at best, but you have to cup your hand around the speaker to redirect the sound for better audio quality. Look and Feel: I like that they leave enough space on the bezel to hold the tablet without registering a touch. The back panel is very plasticy and does not give a quality feel, but it is textured so it has some grip. If you add a case designed for the tablet, hard to find but worth the web search, the tablet looks much higher quality than without a case. Button placement is comfortable and where you would expect it to be. I do have issues in landscape mode where volume up and down seem to be reversed. Camera: Have used once, decent picture for a tablet. Some neat options in the camera to play with. Lasts about 10 minutes, I have not used them since. Performance: The only app I use to test performance is Quadrant. It seems to run on anything I have ver tried it on. This tablet scored a more than respectable 12400-12800 consistently. For reference, my stock Nexus 6P scores over 18000. The only real difference between the two is I/O and cpu scores. i don't hold much faith in performance apps, as the hardware can be tweaked to fudge the scores. But it is a good reference point. Conclusion: For a budget tablet, this is a very solid offering. Don't expect to beat the feel and quality of higher priced tablets, but this tablet will suite the most basic needs and handle some gaming better than I anticipated. I think the 1280x800 resolution allows this tablet to perform better than other tablets with higher resolution because the processor and memory is not as taxed pushing pixels. More memory and storage and this would be a must buy. As it stands, this is a solid budget tablet worth a look especially if on sale. If my display brightness could be adjusted, this would have been a 4 star tablet. My sons i did rate at 4 stars, so Acer QA cost half a star overall. Some day I hope to see budget tablets with 4 GB of memory and 64 GB of storage as standard fare. If companies started rolling out something like that, the tablet market might start growing again. As it stands, not much sets one tablet apart from another. Pros: Good size, easy to handle, good grip. Excellent screen and color reproduction. Not a fingerprint magnet. External storage. No excessive bloatware, the preloaded apps could be considered useful. Cons: Rear facing speaker. Feels plasticy. Acer QA process may not be the best, brightness not adjustable on this tablet. (My sons tablet adjusts just fine) Memory and storage are minimal. TBD: I am not sure if Acer will give much upgrade love to this tablet. Only time will tell on this.
Posted by dharr18
Product Model Description: Iconia One 8 B1-850 Wi-Fi Tablet (White) Features: -OS (Operating System): Android 5.1 Lollipop -CPU (Central Processing Unit): MediaTek Cortex A53 MTK MT8163 SoC Quad-Core: 1.3GHz, 64 bit -GPU (Graphical Processing Unit): ARM Mali-T720 MP2, 2 Cores: 520MHz -Storage: 16GB -Supplemental Storage: MicroSD (Secure Digital) Slot -RAM (Random Access Memory): 1GB, 800MHz, LPDDR3, Single Channel -Size: 8.4”w x 5”h x .4”d; Weight: 12.7oz -Display: 8” IPS (In-Plane Switching) 1280x800 pixels, 24 bit -Camera: Front: 2MP/Rear: 5MP -Power: Lithium-Polymer: 4600 mAh (milliampere-hrs.)/17.5Wh (Watt-hrs.) -Connectivity: Wi-Fi (Wireless-Fidelity) 802.11 a/b/g/n; Bluetooth 4.0 w/A2DP, Micro USB 2.0 -GPS (Global Positioning System) Overall: Good low-end budget/starter tablet for kids, sr. citizens, & light users: email, web browsing, light gaming, videos, music, podcasts, & Facebook, etc. Poor audio/volume is the only FAIL. Use Gmail acct. to fully utilize features. Price: You get what you pay for, & you don’t pay much for this; so you don’t get a lot of bells & whistles. This tablet isn’t designed to compete w/hi-end Samsung Galaxy Tabs or Apple iPads. It’s not a laptop substitute or a tablet for getting serious work done. Maybe not worth $99.99 retail price, but definitely worth recent $69.99 sale price. Pros: -Packaging: appealing, simple, & minimalist -OS: Android 5.1 makes transferring files (music, photos, etc.) to/from computer a breeze -Storage: limited internal 16MB memory, but micro SD card slot allows for plenty of memory expansion -Display: not a sharp hi-res 8” screen at 1280x800, but videos & colors look good, though black levels are poor -Battery: good standby time; good for light use, incl. email & web browsing, but not for watching videos or gaming -Browser: Chrome works fine for web browsing -Keyboard: onscreen keyboard large enough & easy to use -Startup: boots slow, but nice sleep/wake function, including EZ Wake-Up 5-finger tap feature -System Doc feature: optimizes memory storage -Kids Center app w/parental control: nice feature -Acer Iconia Suite: not a bad add-on; especially useful is EZ Snap screenshot app Cons: -Setup: limited instruction booklet is fine for avg. user w/smartphone/tablet experience. But if I gave this to my mom, who’s still acclimating to mobile technology, she’d be lost. As this tablet is targeted towards children, beginners, & seniors, better basic instructions would be helpful for novices. -Charging: Micro USB port awkwardly located at top of tablet making tablet use difficult while charging. Power cord is only 31” long, which is TOO SHORT to stretch from an AC outlet to even a low nearby platform. -Audio/speaker: total FAIL! Rear single speaker produces tinny, muffled, distorted sound. No bass. Bottom edge rear speaker location means weak audio further muffled by user’s hand when holding in portrait or landscape mode. Even w/good headphones (std. 3.5mm jack located atop unit), audio is muted, even at max volume. -Cameras: 5MP rear camera & especially 2MP front camera are abysmal. Terrible image quality. Front camera photos: heavy pixilation. Rear camera protrudes noticeably rather than being flush w/back. -Form Factor: lightweight all-plastic case looks/feels cheap; notice some cracking/creaking noise in handling, though textured back provides handy non-slip grip -Display: no ambient light sensor; so e-book reading at night in bed is too bright -Connectivity: Wi-Fi spotty at times (on both 2.4GHz & 5GHz bands) even w/our new Linksys tri-band router. -Bloatware: Acer should reduce bloatware: I was able to delete some, not all. -Speed: full websites can be slow to load (not mobile-optimized sites) w/some stutter/judder during scrolling. Switching between apps & browser tabs may force content to reload. Sometimes noticeable lag between tapping screen item & tablet response. Larger apps like MS Word can take time to launch.
Posted by CriticalEye
Customers often highlight the positive aspects of the Iconia One 8" tablet, including its screen size, battery life, and ease of use. Many also appreciate its price and performance, especially considering its lightweight design. However, some users express concerns regarding the camera quality and limited RAM, which can affect multitasking capabilities. A few also mention pre-installed applications as a minor drawback.
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