Acer Iconia B1 review

One trait that has been carried from the A1 is the lack of pre-loaded apps. All you get are AccuWeather, Zinio, 7digital and AcerCloud, which is Acer’s own cloud storage service that lets you share documents and media files between different devices. You’ll need to install the AcerCloud portal app on your PC or phone to complete the process, but we found it was very easy to use and set up despite frequent messages telling us that it wasn’t able to connect to our PC. We had no problem transferring photos and videos from the B1 to our PC and vice-versa, but you’ll need to download a separate office suite app to view or edit your PC’s documents on the B1.

CONCLUSION

We originally reviewed the Acer Iconia B1 just over seven months ago, but things are moving very quickly at present for mobile devices, including budget tablets. The B1 can now be bought for as little as £90 online (from Argos) and that price drop has reignited interest in the device, so is it now good value for money, or has it simply been left behind by the competition.

Now £90 is a good price for even a basic Android tablet, but even the last seven months haven’t been kind to the B1’s already limited specification. Its screen only has a 1,024×600 resolution, something you don’t see on modern devices. The chipset inside copes OK with day-to-day tasks, but is incapable of completing our 3D Mark benchmark, so gaming is pretty much out. It also comes with all the ports and slots you’ll need including a micro SD slot to expand the memory if required.

However, you can now get so much more from a budget tablet. The Advent Vega Tegra Note costs £40 more, which is a chunk more cash admittedly but it’s money very well spent, especially on a device you’re likely to use everyday for the next couple of years at least.

The Tegra Note has the latest Nvidia Tegra 4 chipset, it’s not just quick, it’s quicker than practically any device we’ve seen, even at many times its price. It also blasts through 3D games, with smooth frame rates on anything the Play Store can currently throw at it. There’s a stylus built-in for more precise inputs, say if you want to do a bit of sketching or quickly draw a diagram or map. The 11 and-a-half hour battery life is almost double that of the Iconia B1 too.

It’s a great device then, and one that makes even the seven-month-old B1 look like a bit of a relic