Barcelona–Computer maker Acer launched a slew of products at this year’s Mobile World Congress (MWC), including the Iconia smart, which the company is billing as a 100 percent smartphone, 100 percent tablet device. Along with the smart, Acer showcased the Iconia Tab A100, A500 and W500 tablets, which run either a version of Google’s Android operating system (the A100 and A500) or Windows 7 (the W500).
The W500 is a 10.1-inch multi-touch screen tablet that is complemented by a full-size docking keyboard and sporting a high-resolution screen together with Dolby optimized audio. The keyboard features the company’s FineTrack pointing device with two buttons for navigation, an Ethernet port for Internet connections, and a USB port for external devices.
Running on Windows 7 OS, the W500 is equipped with an AMD C-50 processor and AMD Radeon HD6250 graphics, and offers multiple connectivity options including Wi-Fi, 3G (on selected models) or Bluetooth 3.0, as well as a 1.3MP Web cam to enable video chats or video calls or record HD videos and share them on Facebook or YouTube.
The starting point of the W500 touch experience is the Acer Ring, which provides access to the special features and touch application pre-loaded on the tablet. Utilities in Acer Ring include Clean Disk, to manage and optimize disk space, Snipping Tool, to select, tag and clip screen images, Device Control, to fine tune the tablet settings, Camera, to launch the Acer Crystal Eye Webcam and Calculator and Game, to reach the games stored on the W500.
The Acer Ring also features a series of AppCards to browse through and launch touch applications such as TouchBrowser, which lets users search, open, resize, select content from the Web with their fingertips, My Journal, where users can collect Web clips that are dynamically updated to keep them posted on any news in the Web sites found interesting and clear.fi to search, share, and playback favorite music, photo, and video.
The 10.1-inch A500 tablet is equipped with Google Android’s latest operating system, Honeycomb, designed specifically for tablet computing. Complete with a built-in HDMI port and 1080p output, it can also be used to display HD content. The A500 is equipped with the dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 processor, 5-megapixel rear-facing camera and HD front-facing camera. The company said the A500 would be available in April 2011.
The A500’s cousin, the 7-in. A100, also runs Honeycomb and groups resources into four main content usages, including Games Zone, eReading, a multimedia group, and a social media group. The A100 is also powered by the Tegra 2 processor, and offers the majority of features found on the A500, including Dolby Surround Sound, multiple wireless connectivity options and two cameras.
In an effort to combine the best of the tablet world with the form factor advantages of the smartphone, the Iconia Smart features a generous 4.8-in. widescreen display with a 21:9 aspect ratio and four keys: Home, Search, Back and Menu. The Smart is also equipped with an 8-megapixel camera and LED flash, and a 2-megapixel front camera for video calling, and a 1GHz Snapdragon processor.