Acer Iconia W4 review

The Acer Iconia W4 keeps the same basic port selection as the Iconia W3, offering a solitary micro-USB connection for peripherals (you'll need a converter to hand), microSD slot, micro-HDMI port and headphone jack.

It means you'll have to pair a couple of Bluetooth peripherals to use with the device if you're not keen on using its touchscreen or on-screen keyboard.

Until Acer and other manufacturers go the whole hog and start to bake full-sized USB ports into eight-inch Windows tablets, you could go down the slightly unconventional route of using an external keyboard with built-in USB ports.

I hooked up Apple's full-sized QWERTY iMac keyboard using a micro-USB converter, which gave me two extra USB ports for connecting a USB mouse and headphones - even if the pairing looked more than a little bit odd.

Another option is to use Acer's Crunch Keyboard, the Iconia W4's official accessory. Made from leather, it measures 5.33mm and folds out to be used as a stand. It connects to the device using Bluetooth 3.0 and is rechargeable via micro-USB. There's also a Crunch Cover that folds into multiple angles, in addition to a Power Bank that can add up to four hours of battery life.

Unfortunately we couldn't get our hands on those accessories, but we managed to successfully pair the Iconia W3's Bluetooth keyboard, which fits the Iconia W4's dimensions and worked perfectly.

Along the device's top ridge is a micro-HDMI port for hooking the Iconia W4 up to larger displays using an appropriate cable or convertor. We had no problems connecting the device up to a 1080p monitor to view websites and play back full-HD video on YouTube, which streamed with no noticeable stutter.