Acer has today announced the Australian release of the Iconia A1-810, a low-cost, 7.9in Android tablet designed to compete with Apple's iPad mini and the Google Nexus 7.
Described by Acer as the "best full-featured 8-inch Android tablet on the market", the Iconia A1-810 has a 7.9in LED-backlit IPS screen with the same 1024x768 display resolution as the iPad mini.
The Iconia A1-810's $249 asking price is significantly cheaper than the equivalent model iPad mini ($369) but it is both heavier and thicker.
Acer Australia's general manager for product marketing, Andy Chang, said in a statement that the key feature of the Iconia A1-810 is its size.
"Tablets are becoming cherished companions to many people as they stay connected and entertained throughout their day.""We want everyone to experience that so we created a tablet experience in a smaller, more portable design. Everything that makes tablets so enjoyable is even better on the perfectly-sized Acer Iconia A1-810."
The Acer Iconia A1-810 is powered by a 1.2GHz quad-core processor, has 1GB of RAM and comes with 16GB of internal memory. A microSD card slot means users can expand the memory if they wish.
The tablet has a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera that captures full HD 1080p video at 30fps, and a front facing VGA camera to handle video calls. The Iconia A1-810 is a Wi-Fi only tablet, with no 3G or 4G models available.
Acer claims the device has a "minimum seven hour battery life", though it lists up to 8.95 hours for streaming video on YouTube and up to 9.56 hours when watching a video from the 16GB of internal memory.
The Iconia A1-810 runs the 4.2 Jelly Bean version of Google's Android operating system and includes Acer's 'Touch WakeApp' feature. Pressing five fingers onto the screen unlocks the screen and opens an app of your choice, and tapping both thumbs on the screen will again unlock it and launch another app of your choice.
The Acer A1-810 is available now for $249 through Acer's online store and through selected Australian retailers.
