Hi guys, welcome back!
Apparently, i never get bored reviewing Tegra-armed tablets on this site. I mean, besides the fact that this site is only focused for reviewing great gaming tablets for you, i also think that if tablet, any tablet, is packing a Tegra processor, either Tegra 2, 3 or Tegra 4, then it’s just no brainer that the tablet will be great for playing games, of course, depends which generation of Tegra processors that the tablets are packing, which games that are running and the graphics quality in the game itself.
Anyway, after showing you guys here a lot – i'm serious – a LOT of Tegra-powered tablets (from the 1st-gen Google Nexus 7, some of Asus tablets, Acer tablets, even the new comers, Kobo Arc 10 HD and 7 HD tablets), today, i have another Tegra-armed tablet that i believe will be great for gaming. This one is called Acer Iconia Tab A510, a 10.1-inch Android tablet that is packing Tegra 3 chipset. Interestingly, the tablet that i’m about to show you guys in a minute, actually has the similar type of specs of Acer Iconia Tab A511, which is not surprising given that Acer Iconia Tab A510 is the predecessor of Acer Iconia Tab A511.
Okay then, if you’re interested to know more about this tablet, here you go, my personal review of Acer Iconia Tab A510.
Introduction
In the tablet-making business, not many people are aware with the existence of any Acer tablets. Most of tablet consumers, especially the non-tech savvy people, are more familiar with the names like iPad, Samsung GALAXY Tab/Note, Asus Transformer, Sony Xperia or Kindle Fire. Well, there’s nothing wrong with that. Besides, Acer tablets are focused mostly in emerging markets.
However, despite being a not-so-popular tablet maker in the market, i’m personally surprised to see that this company has some great performing tablets under its sleeve, which mostly are Tegra-powered tablets. And i think it's bad that these Acer tablets didn't get many exposures around the tech world, compared to big names like iPad, Samsung Tab/Note or Kindle Fire.
Acer Iconia Tab A510 is one of the tablets from Acer that i believe should get the spotlight it deserves around tablet market. This tablet is actually the previous generation of Acer Iconia Tab A511. What makes this tablet interesting is actually its spec sheet, that matches perfectly with the ones found on the next-gen Acer Iconia Tab A511. The only thing that is different from these 2 tablets is that Acer Iconia Tab A510 doesn’t come with 3G cellular connectivity, while on the other hand, the Acer Iconia Tab A511 has it.
So if you’re still confused to pick which one of these tablets that is right for you, you just need to determine whether you need the 3G cellular support or not. So if you want to have a tablet with the 3G connectivity, then Acer Iconia Tab A511 is your choice. But if you believe that WiFi is already enough for you, then Acer Iconia Tab A510 is the one you should pick up instead.
Design
Compared to the predecessor, Acer Iconia Tab A500, the design of Acer Iconia Tab A510 looks totally different. It doesn’t have those 2 specific silver metallic bezels on the top and bottom side of the front tablet (when positioned in landscape mode). It also doesn’t have that sophisticated-looking back cover just like the one found on Acer Iconia Tab A500. However, i personally think that the design of the predecessor is still better than Acer Iconia Tab A510 given that this tablet looks too generic with other regular Android tablets out there, with standard bezels, rounded corners and back cover.
Overall, the design of this tablet is still considered as pretty good, although far from great especially compared to the high-end rivals like iPad Air, Samsung GALAXY Note 10.1 or Sony Xperia Tablet. However, given that Acer Iconia Tab A510 was released back then in April 2012 and this tablet fall in mid-end category, there is nothing wrong with the whole design of this tablet. It may not have that premium-looking design like iPad or Sony Xperia Tablet Z, but this tablet is still acceptable in the price range of mid-to-low-end market.
Overall Specs
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No SIM
Released 2012, April
10.1 inch TFT capacitive touchscreen, 1280 x 800 pixels, 256K colors, (~149 ppi pixel density)
Quad-core 1.3 GHz Cortex-A9 Nvidia Tegra 3 Chipset
ULP GeForce GPU
1 GB RAM
Android OS 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
5 MP rear-facing camera,
1 MP front-facing camera
MicroSD card slot for up to 32 GB
16/32 GB Internal storage,
No EDGE
No GPRS
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
USB
Bluetooth
No Radio
Java MIDP emulator
GPS
Non-removable Li-Po 9800 mAh battery (36 Wh)
Up to 15 h Talk time
Acer Iconia Tab A510 comes with some great specs, from a quad-core 1.3GHz Tegra 3 processor, 1GB of RAM, 12-core of GeForce ULP GPU, 10.1-inch display sporting the resolution of 1280x800 pixels, 5MP camera on the back and 1MP camera on the front, Android Ice Cream Sandwich pre-installed, a behemoth 9800mAh power battery and many more.
With this type of specs, then Acer Iconia Tab A510 will be positioned in mid-end category, especially thanks to its powerful quad-core Tegra processor, 10.1-inch 720p display, 5MP rear-facing camera and a staggering 9800mAh power battery. The overall specs of this tablet actually remind me with the same ones found on the sequel of this tablet, Acer Iconia Tab A511, although Acer Iconia Tab A510 doesn’t have 3G cellular connectivity while Acer Iconia Tab A511 has it.
Having known that, then Acer Iconia Tab A510 and Acer Iconia Tab A511 are actually the same exact tablet. The only difference is their connectivity support. So if you’re looking for a 10.1-inch tablet with 3G cellular support, then Acer Iconia Tab A511 is definitely the one you’re getting. But if you don’t really need 3G support on a tablet, then you should be buying Acer Iconia Tab A510 instead, which of course is much cheaper than Acer Iconia Tab A511.
Screen
Just like the other Acer Iconia tablets with 10.1-inch screen, Acer Iconia Tab A510 is also packing the same 720p or 1280x800 pixel display. Compared to other rivals on today’s tablet market, like iPad Air, Samsung GALAXY Note 10.1 or Sony Xperia Tablet Z, then Acer Iconia Tab A510 definitely has no chance to compete with its medium-resolution display. However, the 720p resolution on the 10.1-inch display actually already looks good and sharp for human eyes, although not as sharp and crisp as 1080p or 2.5K resolution display.
So for doing some basic media-consumption tasks like watching HD movies, reading books or magazines, browsing the web or playing games, all of these tasks can still look sharp and clear. But you will always need to do the pinch-to-zoom gesture everytime your eyes can’t read the text or see the images, especially when reading books or browsing the web in normal view.
Overall, the 720p display on this tablet already looks great as a media-consumption device. It may not be that sharp just like 1080p display tablets, let alone 2.5k display tablets, but it’s still pretty great especially considering its mid-end price range.
User Interface
Talking about the User Interface of Acer Iconia Tab A510, this tablet definitely has a winner here compared to other regular Android tablets out there, especially the ones with the stock Android UI. There are some great and cool things that you’ll get on the UI of Acer Iconia Tab A510, which is called Acer UI. Even though it still has that standard Android homescreen where you can float your favorite widgets, apps and shortcuts, Acer Iconia Tab A510 also comes pre-installed with many awesome looking visual presentation here and there on its pre-loaded apps, like music player, photo gallery, video player and many more. For example like the music player app on this tablet, which has that cool 3D-alike carousel effect.
Features
Compared to other regular Android tablets with the stock Android OS, there are many great features that you can have on Acer Iconia Tab A510, which probably can’t be found on other tablets out there, even the iPad. Some of the features of this tablet are: categorized apps, Photo Browser 3D, awesome camera UI, 3D carousel effect on music player, lockscreen with app shortcuts and many other more.
I’ve actually already explained a lot, even many many times about some of these features, especially Photo Browser 3D and the app shortcuts on lockscreen “key”. So this time, i’m just gonna share to you about categorized apps and 3D carousel effect on music player. The categorized apps is actually similar with the standard app drawer of any other Android devices out there. However, what makes this feature different is that, on this categorized app section, all of your apps along with the pre-loaded apps on this tablet will be divided in their own specific categorized, like music-related apps, games, productivity-related apps and many more.
As for the 3D-alike carousel effect on music player, this is actually not a feature, but only a visual effect or presentation on music player, similar like the old interface of music player on Apple iOS, before it got replaced on iOS 7. So on the music player of this tablet, all of your song albums will be presented in a cool 3D carousel effect in horizontal view. The great thing is, this tablet is packing a Tegra 3 quad-core processor, which is powerful, so this 3D carousel effect will perform seamlessly and smoothly without any hiccup.
Performance
When it comes to performance, Acer Iconia Tab A510 is definitely blazing fast for that matter. Thanks to its quad-core Tegra 3 processor clocked at 1.3GHz per core, 1GB of RAM and 12-core GeForce ULP GPU, all the basic tasks like watching movies, reading books or magazines, checking emails, using live wallpaper, browsing the web or even playing games, all can be executed perfectly in super fast and smooth performance.
And the fact that this tablet only uses a rather medium-resolution 720p display (instead of 1080p or 2.5k display), also makes the overall performance of this tablet much faster without draining too much power from its battery. Not to mention, thanks to the staggering 9800mAh power battery inside this tablet, you can enjoy using this tablet at the fullest in really long lasting battery life, probably could last in 2 days in heavy usage.
Gaming Performance
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In term of gaming performance, no doubt that Acer Iconia Tab A510 is superior on this sector. Having been armed with a quad-core 1.3GHz Tegra 3 processor, 1GB of RAM and 12-core of GeForce ULP GPU (which comes bundled with Tegra 3 processor), this Acer tablet is capable in handling most of the graphically demanding games released in 2013 or before it. And the fact that this tablet is only packing a 720p resolution display (1280x800 pixels just like on Google Nexus 7) also kind of helps a lot in making its performance run faster and battery life last much longer, especially for doing intense gaming without resting the screen at all.
With that type of specs, you can expect to see this tablet capable to handle games like Modern Combat (1,2,3 and 4), GTA Vice City, N.O.V.A (1,2,3), Gangstar (Miami Vindication, Rio), Dead Trigger, Need for Speed Most Wanted, Asphalt (5, 6 and 7), Horn (which is one of the best RPG-themed games out there), PES 2012 (of course), ShadowGun and other graphically demanding games released around 2013.
Even so, given that Tegra 3 was only considered as “powerful” back in the year of 2012 and early 2013, which has been taken by the latest-gen Tegra 4, then some of the latest and graphics intense games like GTA San Andreas or Asphalt 8: Airborne will suffer a lot when played on this Acer Iconia Tab A510, especially in full graphics.
GTA San Andreas is an extremely heavy game deploying some huge maps all over the gameplay, and I’ve already seen many tablets that are just way powerful than Acer Iconia Tab A510, say, the second-gen Google Nexus 7 (with Snapdragon S4 Pro), even Samsung GALAXY note 3 (with Snapdragon 800 processor), are not doing well when playing this game in full graphics.
However, i''ve also seen that there is one user that manages to play this game smoothly on the 1st-gen Google Nexus 7 in high graphics setting. I believe that user is using the mod-version of the game or probably, his Nexus 7 has already been rooted or modified with other Android custom ROM. As for Asphalt 8: Airborne, this game can only run in medium-quality graphics with Acer Iconia Tab A510, and not in smooth performance (based on what I’ve seen on other tablets with the same specs as A510, like the 1st-gen Google Nexus 7).
But still, Acer Iconia Tab A510 is a good quality gaming tablet. It has good quality display, great gaming performance (if not the best) and the most importantly, long lasting battery life, even way much stronger than its predecessor, Acer Iconia Tab A500, thanks to its 9800mAh battery capacity, which is the biggest battery capacity around the tablet market to date. This tablet may not handle many latest and heavy performing games very well, but still, with Tegra 3, 1GB of RAM, 12-core GPU, 720p display and behemoth 9800mAh battery, Acer Iconia Tab A510 is still a great quality gaming tablet.
The other good news is, given that this tablet is powered by Tegra 3 processor, then you’ll automatically get the exclusive access to Tegra Zone where you’ll find a plenty of apps designed and well-optimized for this tablet. So games on Tegra Zone will have more detailed graphics, particles and visual effects than other games on non-Tegra tablets out there. So this is one huge plus point of having Tegra-powered tablet.
Anyway guys, if you want to know more about the gaming performance of Acer Iconia Tab A510, including what games that will run on this tablet, check out my YouTube video playlist or Pinterest page. :)
Camera
Similar just like Acer Iconia Tab A500, this tablet is also packing the same 5MP camera on the back and 2MP camera on the front. In term of quality, the photos taken with this tablet may not be as great as other rivals like iPad or Samsung GALAXY Note, but still, having a rear-facing camera that is 5MP, it might come in handy if you accidentally forgot to bring your digital camera or your smartphone at your disposal. Besides, the photos taken with the camera of Acer Iconia Tab A510 are still worth showing off in front of your Instagram, Twitter or Facebook followers, which has become the main reason why you use the camera on tablet or smartphone, right?
Battery Life
If the predecessor Acer Iconia Tab A500 has already been known to have an impressive battery life, could last in 2 days in heavy usage (according to video reviews i’ve seen on YouTube by the way), then the battery life of Acer Iconia Tab A510 is no different. In fact, the battery life of this tablet is so much stronger than A500, given that Acer Iconia Tab A510 is packing a staggering 9800mAh battery, compared to the 3620mAh power battery inside the predecessor. So having known that, then the battery life of Acer Iconia Tab A510 could probably last in 2 days or even 3 days even in heavy usage, of course with mixed screen on and off.
However, for doing some heavy intense tasks without resting the screen, like say, watching HD movies in marathon or playing some games in the row, then you can see its battery life drain much faster and could probably last in 1 day of usage, which is still considered as really great for a media-consumption tablet. Overall, the battery life of this tablet is just really amazing. And the fact that it has big and sharp display, powerful hardware and great gaming performance, really makes this tablet a great media-consumption and gaming tablet.
My Personal Opinions
So in conclusion, just like my impression with the predecessor (Acer Iconia Tab A500), i personally think that Acer Iconia Tab A510 is definitely a great quality tablet. It has a big and sharp 720p display, fast and smooth performance, great gaming capability, insanely stronger battery life, a good 5MP rear-facing camera, cool design, rich-content features, awesome UI and visual presentation of its pre-loaded apps, and the most importantly, it’s great for doing any kind of media-consumption activities, like watching HD movies or TV shows, reading books or magazines, browsing the web, listening to music and even playing games.
As for playing games, i think this tablet will be a marvelous device for that matter. Thanks to its big and sharp display, powerful Tegra 3 processor and GeForce ULP graphics chipset, and the most importantly, its long lasting battery life, Acer Iconia Tab A510 will be a perfect machine for gaming. If you’re into tablet gaming, you’ll love to hear that this tablet is capable to run many awesome games like GTA Vice City, Need for Speed Most Wanted, Asphalt 7, Modern Combat 4, N.O.V.A 3, Horn, ShadowGun, Dead Trigger 1 and many other games, in smooth performance and full graphics.
Overall, Acer Iconia Tab A510 is definitely a great media-consumption tablet, especially for gaming. So if you’re still looking for a good gaming tablet with great display, powerful performance and long lasting battery life, then Acer Iconia Tab A510 must be included in your hunting list. And if you want to get the 3G-enabled version of this tablet, you can instead pick Acer Iconia Tab A511, which shares the same exact specs just like A510 but with 3G cellular support.
Disclaimer: Hi guys, bear in mind that this is not some in-depth review. So this is just like Read more...