Acer Iconia Tab A100 review

The 7-inch Android 3.2 tablet that's better than the HTC Flyer

Acer Iconia Tab A100
Android Honeycomb makes this 7-inch tablet fast and portable

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Acer iconia tab a100 review

Screen crispness isn't a major selling point of the Acer Iconia Tab A100. So when you use one as a camera, the images will look passable, but this isn't a tablet that makes you want to go around and show the masses your recently snapped photos – they just don't pop that much on the screen.

Acer iconia tab a100 review

Fortunately, the 5MP camera does take good photos, and the smaller tablet is easier to grasp without shaking and position for a good shot. The camera app has few extra settings beyond what is included with Android 3.2, including sepia and black-and-white modes.

Acer iconia tab a100 review

NORMAL: Images are clear from the main camera

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Acer iconia tab a100

SUNNY: Glare takes over here

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Acer iconia tab a100

CLOSE: We got in pretty close here with no issue

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Acer iconia tab a100

COLOURFUL: Colours are reproduced well

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Acer iconia tab a100

LIGHT: Sunlight spots take over this photo

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Acer iconia tab a100

NO BLUR: The 7-inch size of the tablet means shots are less prone to shaking and blurring than those from larger tablets

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Acer iconia tab a100

BLACK-AND-WHITE: Sepia and black-and-white options are available

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In the video camera, there are no surprises either. The tablet's easier to hold steady for shooting video than a 10-inch tablet, simply because of the smaller size. Our clips of a cat on a sunny day looked fairly smooth, although they had a very slight jittering look compared to those we captured with the Toshiba Thrive.

Acer iconia tab a100

It still feels a bit awkward shooting video – a smartphone makes more sense because you can be a bit more subtle. You can't use such a bulky device to record events such as football matches without feeling awkward and getting shaky results.

The front camera on the Acer Iconia Tab A100 is passable. We snapped a few photos and videos, and they looked predictably washed out and less clear than the rear-facing camera.

Acer iconia tab a100 review

One obvious note is that people on video chats will look smaller and maybe not even that recognisable on the smaller 7-inch screen.

John Brandon
Contributor

John Brandon has covered gadgets and cars for the past 12 years having published over 12,000 articles and tested nearly 8,000 products. He's nothing if not prolific. Before starting his writing career, he led an Information Design practice at a large consumer electronics retailer in the US. His hobbies include deep sea exploration, complaining about the weather, and engineering a vast multiverse conspiracy.