Acer Iconia Tab 8 Unboxing, First Impressions

As part of our big weekend trip to Edinburgh with the folks at Acer UK, we spent a weekend using some of Acer’s new technology and one of these devices returned back to HQ with us. Dubbed the Iconia Tab 8, this device is Acer’s latest tablet and comes with a Full HD display, quad-core processor and vibrant 8 inch IPS display. Let’s take a closer look at Acer’s portable tablet.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6Un-LnzMs8

The Iconia Tab 8 runs on the Android 4.4.2 KitKat OS and comes with 16/32GB internal storage and 2GB RAM. It’s powered by a quad-core 1.86GHz Intel Atom Z3745 processor and the most surprising thing about this tablet is Acer’s interface; unlike some of its rivals, the Iconia Tab 8 has a minimalistic skin and is quite close to stock Android in appearance.

Like many manufacturers, Acer has realised that despite most geeks cringing at the very thought, consumers love to take photos and videos using their tablet; with the display being larger, customers often feel that the camera is better and to take advantage of this trend, Acer have equipped the Iconia Tab 8 with a 5MP rear camera and a 2MP front-facing camera. Naturally these images won’t beat those produced by most smartphones (mainly as the rear camera is bereft of software extras) but for general consumer the 2MP/5MP camera sensors should suffice.

One standout feature on the Iconia Tab 8 has to be the in-built Micro-HDMI port which allows you to connect a HDMI cable and use the HDMI-out feature to share content on a larger display such as your television. Like other devices, the Iconia Tab 8 does have wireless sharing capabilities but the inclusive micro-HDMI port means that you are not reliant on sharing wirelessly.

The Iconia Tab 8 features an aluminium build and a rear finish that looks similar to the iPad Mini range but the feel of the rear panel isn’t like the iPad Mini; instead it features a grippy finish despite appearing to be smooth. The rear actually makes the Iconia Tab 8 very pleasant to hold and reduces the risk of it slipping from your hands.

Overall, the Iconia Tab 8 is a very nice tablet and has a rather impressive display that wasn’t expected. Too often we see manufacturers add a large specs list to a device such as a Full HD display but actual performance doesn’t live up to the specs but the Iconia Tab 8 doesn’t suffer from this. Instead, Acer have created a tablet that not only has an impressive specs list but also boasts great performance; we’ll reserve our final judgement for the upcoming review but our first impressions are definitely positive.