Design and Features
Measuring in at 8.46 by 5.12 by 0.33 inches (HWD) and weighing 12.70 ounces, the Acer Iconia Tab 8 is similar in size to the Dell Venue 8 (2014)$149.99 at Dell, but it weighs almost an ounce more. It's only available in white with an aluminum-clad body that looks and feels premium.
The Iconia Tab 8 differentiates itself by hosting a micro HDMI port for HDTV connection along its top edge, where you'll also find a microphone hole, a micro USB port, and a 3.5mm audio jack. An uncovered microSD card slot interrupts the tablet's smooth surface on the left edge, but at least it makes for easy access. The Power button and volume rocker are found on the right edge. A speaker grille occupies the very bottom of the tablet's aluminum back, and a protruding camera towards the top is surrounded by a chrome ring. There's a 2-megapixel, front-facing camera slightly off-center at the top right of the front surface.
While the Venue 8 features more future-proof 802.11ac Wi-Fi, the Iconia Tab 8 supports 802.11a/b/g/n. It's not a dealbreaker, as the 802.11n Wi-Fi standard is still very much relevant and perfectly sufficient for streaming and browsing. You also get Bluetooth 4.0 and GPS connectivity.
The Iconia Tab 8 is one of the few tablets we've tested to sport an 8-inch full HD, 1,920-by-1,200-pixel display. It's just as sharp as the Dell Venue 8's panel; both squeeze 275ppi into an 8-inch screen, but video appeared slightly washed-out on the Tab 8, even when I reduced the brightness to the lowest acceptable level. Side viewing angles were good, and actually helped add some depth to the colors I experienced when directly facing the display. The Iconia Tab 8's display is brighter than the Dell Venue 8's.
There were some issues with touch-screen responsiveness in my tests. I occasionally had to press on-screen items harder than I normally do with other touch-screen devices in order for the input to register. This was especially frustrating for typing with the on-screen keyboard or when using swiping gestures for video timeline navigation. I also noticed the screen bending under my finger's pressure at times because I had to press so hard.
Android and Performance
The tablet's storage capacity stays true to Acer's 16GB claim, but only 8.79GB are available, as Android 4.4 and Acer's own UI layer takes up 6.40GB. There is also a considerable amount of non-removable bloatware that occupies about 770MB of the already-limited storage. You can add up to 64GB of storage with a microSD card for your files and media, but don't count on using it for installing apps.
See How We Test TabletsA quad-core 1.33GHz Intel Atom Z3745 processor runs the show along with 2GB RAM. Benchmarking results were superior to those from other low-cost 8-inch tablets we've tested. Asphalt 8: Airborne ran without any indication of slowing down or frame dropping, and the tablet was generally snappy when performing tasks and jumping between apps.
During a Netflix streaming test, I experienced some buggy behavior when scrolling a movie's timeline backwards and forwards; a smaller window would sometimes appear that played the movie from the new timeline position while the movie would continue playing from the original position in the background.
Unfortunately, I noticed more buggy behavior within apps, as the Android on-screen navigation bar (with the Home, Back, and Recent Apps buttons) wouldn't disappear in a full-screen app when it normally should. The touch-input issues also negatively impacted the Tab 8's overall performance, as light finger taps wouldn't register sometimes, slowing down whatever you're doing.
The 5-megapixel camera delivered superior detail to Dell's Venue 8, but it isn't really suitable for anything more than capturing a fleeting moment while you happen to be using the tablet. The front-facing 2-megapixel camera is fine for video calls.
View all For our battery test, we streamed a video over Wi-Fi with Bluetooth turned off and the screen brightness set to maximum. The Iconia Tab 8's 4,600mAh battery lasted a relatively short 4 hours, 37 minutes. To compare, the Dell Venue 8 (2014) lasted exactly one hour longer at 5 hours, 37 minutes, the Asus MeMO Pad ME181C lasted just under 7 hours, and the Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 8.0$239.99 at Amazon lasted for 5 hours, 51 minutes.
Conclusion
It seems like you can't have it all when it comes to inexpensive full HD 8-inch tablets. The Acer Iconia Tab 8 has impressive multitasking performance for its $200 price, and its premium looks and feel sets it apart from the generic plastic exteriors that dress countless inexpensive tablets on the market. But we still recommend Dell's Venue 8 (2014)$149.99 at Dell for its better display and more reliable performance. If you're looking for a tablet that does have it all and more, including a high-resolution screen and excellent performance, you can't go wrong with the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4Best Price at Amazon, our current Editors' Choice. Just brace yourself for its $400 price tag.
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