Acer Iconia B1-720 Review: Pretty good gaming tablet at low price

First of all, i want to apology to all of you here for the lack of posts in the past 2 months.

In the last 2 months, i’ve been really - actually, not that busy -, but pretty busy with the promotion for this website because, as you might know, this site is still new and it needs more promotion and stuff in order to gain presence around the net.

(Acer Iconia B1-720 Specs)


But now, i’m back guys!!

I’m so glad i finally have the motivation again to deliver some new and fresh contents again on this website.

And i truly hope i can keep this momentum going for probably the next few months because you know what, i’m planning to post a lot of new contents for this site (fingers crossed for that!).


Anyway, talking about tablets, specifically gaming tablets, there was a bunch of tablets from variety of manufacturers that i got managed to review recently on this site, from Huawei, HP, Samsung, Sony and some other brands.

And as many of you know, not all tablets are great for gaming, although they are still capable to run some simple and older games like Minion Rush, Angry Birds (Flappy bird of course.. lol) and some other games.

However, given that this site is mainly focused to share about the right gaming tablets, then i will have no compromise when it comes to the gaming performance of each tablet that gets reviewed on this site.

So if a tablet, any tablet, proved to be not so great in gaming performance (based on the specs and video reviews around YouTube), even the newest models with quad-core processor from well-known manufacturers (*cough*HP Slate 6 Voice Tab *cough*), then i will directly say it to you that the tablet is not a great gaming tablet and you should avoid of buying it if you’re looking for a gaming tablet in the first place.

Today, i will move on to the next tablet from one of my favorite manufacturers, specifically for its homemade tablets.

This one is from Acer and it is actually the cheapest tablet from this company.

In fact, in my country (in Asia), this tablet falls in the lowest-end category (below the low-end tablet market) and it’s priced at just around $100 or below it. The tablet i’m talking about is Acer Iconia B1.

However, for you information, Acer actually has some different models in this same Acer Iconia B1 series.

They are Acer Iconia B1-"A71", Acer Iconia B1-"710" and the latest-generation Acer Iconia B1-"720".

But i’ll firstly put the spotlight for Acer Iconia B1-720 because i think this tablet is probably better from all these 3 in terms of specs, especially the gaming performance.

This Acer Iconia B1-720 is a cheap low-cost 7-inch tablet and it’s probably suitable more for your kids, especially if they love playing games.

But this tablet is also perfect for you if you just want to get a cheap budget tablet with pretty good gaming performance.

Okay then, without further ado, here you go, my personal review of Acer Iconia B1-720.

Anyway, before i go straight to this review, i would really (extremely) appreciate it if you guys here could help me promote this site to your friends and family.

I mean, if you love what i’ve been posting on this site and you think that they’re really helpful for you, then please (pretty please), i’m hoping that you could share this review to Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, Pinterest or any social media platforms that you’re joining on. That would mean a lot to me. Really.


In tablet-making business, we all already know that Apple and Samsung currently have the most control over this market.

Thanks to their iPad and Samsung GALAXY family respectively, these 2 tech titans always manage to ship million units of tablets every quarter of they year.

Besides these 2 big players, there are also some other tablet manufacturers that also have big impact in this industry, like Amazon, Sony and Asus, with some pretty decent amount of tablets shipped every quarter.

However, besides all of those big tablet makers, there are some other manufacturers that also actively get involved in this business, mostly in low-end market.


They are Acer, HP and Lenovo (not to mention Xiaomi with its soon-to-be-announced tablet line with Tegra K1 guys!! Awesome!!).

Even though these tablets manufacturers are mostly active in low-end category, we shouldn’t underestimate the quality they provide on their tablets.

Some manufacturers like Acer and HP actually make some great quality tablets, based on what i’ve seen on my reviews and video reviews around the net and YouTube.

Acer for example, despite being a small player in the market, this manufacturer actually has some great quality tablets in its grasp, like the ones with Tegra processors or Mali GPU.

And coincidentally, the tablet that i’m about to show you guys here happens to be a Mali-powered tablet.

Just like i mentioned above, Acer Iconia B1 consists in 3 different model - from A71, 710 and 720.

But the tablet that i would like to bring up here first is actually the latest-gen Acer Iconia B1-720 variant, powered by Mali 400 GPU, which is one of the best mobile GPUs on the market, especially back in the days when there were no Tegra 3, Tegra 4, Snapdragon 800/600/S4 Pro or Apple’s A7 chipset.

In fact, Mali-400 is still considered as pretty good though, especially for today’s gaming - as seen on Archos GamePad 2 and Samsung GALAXY Tab 3 8-inches that still come with this same Mali-400 GPU under the hood, and they proved to have good gaming performance.

However, it’s worth noting that these Samsung tables is insanely popular all across the tablet market, compared to Acer Iconia B1-720.

Meanwhile, Archos Gamepad 2 is indeed a really serious gaming tablet - given its physical gaming controller.

So game developers are more than happier to well-optimize their games specifically for these 2 tablets, despite using that outdated Mali 400MP.

So don’t be surprised if many latest games like Asphalt 8 or Modern Combat 4 can still be played on these tablets, even in full graphics.

Anyway, talking about Acer Iconia B1, as i mentioned above, this tablet is definitely considered as cheap low-cost tablet.

In fact, this tablet is priced insanely cheap around $100 or probably below it.

So you just cannot expect this tablet to be as great as other mid-range tablets around $199.

And you cannot complain on its quality either.

But the thing that i want you guys to focus on this tablet is its gaming performance.

This tablet may be considered as cheap low-end tablet (in fact, it is a lowest-end tablet), however, given its Mali 400 GPU, then there should be something that makes this tablet special, right?

But the question is, with that pretty good quality GPU, does this Acer Iconia B1 stack up against other cheap budget tablets below $120?

Well, we’re about to find out about that in this review.


When it comes to design, Acer Iconia B1-720 definitely doesn’t have something to brag about, especially compared to its rivals.

In fact, this tablet looks really generic with most of 7-inch tablets out there on the market, with those rounded edges, thick bezels and plastic finish all over its back cover.

However, given that this tablet falls in the lowest-end category (low-end category is for tablets with around $150 or above), then this is the type of design that you’re gonna get on this tablet. I mean, with that low price tag, you cannot expect this tablet to use the same premium material just like on iPad, LG G Pad 8.3 or Sony Xperia tablet, right?

But as a cheap budget tablet, the design of this Acer Iconia B1-720 is still acceptable for that price range.

It’s not that impressive, but it’s not that bad either.

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• No SIM
• Released January2014
• TFT capacitive touchscreen 7.0 inches 600 x 1024 pixels (~170 ppi pixel density)
• Weight 315 g (11.11 oz)
• 1 GB RAM
• Dual-core 1.3 GHz Mediatek MT8111 Chipset
• Mali-400 GPU
• Android OS v4.2 Jelly Bean
• microSD memory card slot, up to 32 GB
• 16 GB Internal storage
• No GPRS
• No EDGE
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
• Bluetooth
• USB
• VGA front-facing camera
• No rear-facing camera
• Accelerometer
• HTML5
• No Radio
• GPS
• Java MIDP emulator
• Li-Po 2955 mAh Battery

For your information, Acer Iconia B1-720 is actually the third model in this same series.

Acer actually already has some 2 other different predecessors sold in the past, from Acer Iconia B1-A71 and B1-710.

But for the 2014 version, this manufacturer decides to release the refreshed model of this series, under the model name Acer Iconia B1-720.

So as you expected, this tablet brings many new goodies that can’t be seen on the predecessors.

The most prominent improvement found on this new model is definitely its processor.

If the previous generation Acer Iconia B1-710 and B1-A71 - released in January and November 2013 respectively - were both powered by Mediatek MT8317 dual-core processor and PowerVR SGX531u, then the newer Acer Iconia B1-720 is injected with Mali 400 GPU, which is better GPU than PowerVR SGX531 GPU.

So there will be a huge difference seen on the gaming performance of each model, with the latest one being the winner in gaming performance, which we’ll get more on that later.

Besides improvement in the performance sector, Acer Iconia B1-720 are also some other things that get bumped up to the higher level, from 1GB of RAM, VGA front-facing camera, bigger 2955mAh battery capacity, the latest Android Jelly Bean 4.2 and some other more.

However, despite those new improvements, this Acer Iconia B1-720 is still considered as low end budget tablet though.

So you probably could snatch this tablet for around $100, which is a decent price for a tablet with good gaming performance like this.


As a cheap budget tablet, then it’s not surprising to see a low-resolution 1024x600 pixel display found on this tablet.

Compared to other rivals in the same category (low end category of course), the display of Acer Iconia B1-720 is still considered as good though because most of cheap 7-inch tablets around $100 are still using the same low resolution display just like on this Acer’s tablet.

So everything that you throw on this tablet may not look really sharp, especially in default normal view (without zooming in).

And you’ll always need to do the pinch-to-zoom gesture everytime your eyes can’t read the text or see the images perfectly, especially when browsing the web or reading books.

The good thing, thanks to this low-resolution display, it makes the overall performance of this tablet perform really faster and smoother, even for doing some heavy tasks at once - like gaming, watching movies or browsing the web.

Not to mention, its display also gives a huge impact to the battery life of this tablet.

So despite its lack of sharpness, i think the display of this tablet is still acceptable and in fact, considered as a good match for this tablet.


As a low-end low-cost tablet, Acer Iconia B1-720 surprisingly is still pretty good quality tablet though - in terms of performance and gaming performance (which i’m about to share to you in the next section below).

Acer Iconia B1-720 is powered by Mediatek MT8111 dual-core processor clocked at 1.3GHz per core, coupled with Mali-400 GPU, not to mention 1GB of RAM under the hood.

The Mediatek processor inside this tablet may not be as powerful as the Mediatek’s latest quad-core MT8125 processor (although Mediatek quad-core processor is still not on the same level with the likes of Tegra 4, Snapdragon 600/800 or Apple’s A7 processors, in terms of performance).

The good news is, this Acer’s tablet is using Mali-400 GPU, which used to be considered as a powerful GPU in mobile/tablet space.

In fact, this GPU is still considered as pretty good though, as seen on the latest Samsung GALAXY Tab 3 8-inches that uses this same GPU inside its machine.

And this Samsung’s tablet proved to be great in handling the latest games like Asphalt 8: Airborne, Modern Combat 4, Dead Trigger 2 and even GTA San Andreas (although this latest installment GTA game doesn’t run smoothly in full high graphics on this Samsung Tab 3).

So with that being said, then you can expect the same thing on this Acer Iconia B1-720.

This Acer’s tablet will also be as great in terms of performance as that Samsung’s tablet.

As a matter of fact, given that this Acer’s tablet is not using some heavy weight Android build just like the TouchWiz UI on Samsung GALAXY Tab 3, then the performance of Acer Iconia B1-720 is probably much better and faster than Samsung GALAXY Tab 3.

Not to mention, the battery life of this Acer’s tablet could probably last much longer given its stock Android version plus the dual-core Mediatek processor, which are not power hungry.

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Just like i already mentioned above, this Acer Iconia B1-720 is powered by Mali 400 GPU, which is the same GPU found inside Samsung GALAXY Tab 3 8-inches. So when it comes to gaming performance, then you can expect this Acer’s tablet to be similar with Samsung’s tablet.

And actually, yes – this tablet indeed has a decent gaming performance just like Samsung Tab 3.

Thanks to that Mali 400 GPU, accompanied with Mediatek dual-core processor and 1GB of RAM, this Acer’s tablet is more than capable to run many Android games across the Google Play Store.

The most fantastic thing about this tablet is that, despite being a low-end low-cost tablet, Acer Iconia B1-720 is capable to run one of the latest graphically demanding games from Gameloft - Asphalt 8: Airborne.

And the more impressively, this Asphalt 8 game, as i’ve already seen on YouTube videos, can be played smoothly even in medium to full high graphics, with those asphalt and sun glare visual effects showing here and there in the gameplay.

And that’s already enough to convince me to rate this tablet as good in terms of gaming performance.

So i’m not gonna be surprised if this tablet is also capable to run other latest graphics intense games like Modern Combat 4, Dead Trigger 2, N.O.V.A 3, Need for Speed Most Wanted or GTA Vice City, all in full graphics and smooth performance.

However, for the other heavy game like GTA San Andreas, i have doubts that this Acer’s tablet is powerful enough to play this game in full high graphics, due to the heavy maps in this game.

But overall, in terms of gaming performance, i’m a bit surprised to see this tablet is really great in that sector, although not really surprised given that i already know that Mali 400 GPU inside this tablet is good in handing games.


In the sector of camera, it’s too bad that this tablet is not equipped with rear-facing camera.

You can only find the front-facing camera on this tablet, and it’s not even great quality camera either - only a VGA quality camera, which is already considered as outdated for today’s standards.

But that’s not really shocking for me given that Acer Iconia B1-720 is a cheap budget tablet.

So if you’re planning to get this tablet, then you cannot complain on its lack of rear-facing camera.

I mean, that’s the thing that comes with the low price tag.


Acer Iconia B1-720 is powered by Li-Po 2955mAh power battery. Of course, for a 7-inch tablet, this battery capacity is considered as really low especially compared to other 7-inch rivals that already adopt battery capacity more than 4000mAh.

So when it comes to battery life, this Acer’s tablet may not deliver a long lasting battery life, especially when doing some heavy intense tasks.

And if you’re gonna use this tablet for doing some basic tablet tasks like watching movies, listening to music, reading books/magazines or checking out photos, this tablet could probably last around 8 hours.

However, if you’re using this tablet to do some heavy intense tasks without resting the screen at all - like for watching movies in marathon or playing games in the row -, then its 2955mAh battery probably could only deliver around 3 to 5 hours of battery life, which is not considered as great for today’s standards.

The good thing is, this Acer’s tablet is only using a low-resolution 600x1024 pixel display and a rather less-power-hungry dual-core Mediatek processor, so this probably could really help a lot in making its battery life last much longer than i expected.

So you’re probably gonna get more than 5 hours in battery life for doing some heavy tasks without resting the screen, which is pretty good for a 7-inch tablet, if not the best.

But still, for a cheap budget tablet like this, you just cannot expect its battery life to be as longer as those 7-inch rivals, right?


So in conclusion, i think Acer Iconia B1-720 is still a pretty decent Android tablet, of course under the low budget tablet category, alongside Samsung GALAXY Tab 3 Lite or other similar devices.

The thing that really amazes me with this tablet is definitely its gaming performance.

To be honest, even though i know that the Mali 400 GPU inside this tablet is pretty powerful GPU, i’m pretty shocked to see this tablet capable to run games like Asphalt 8: Airborne even in full graphics, with those asphalt and sun glare visual effects running smoothly in the game.

Well, that’s really impressive though. I mean, for a cheap budget tablet like this one, i just didn’t expect this tablet to be that great in that sector.

So if latest graphically demanding game like Asphalt 8: Airborne can be played smoothly and in high graphics on this Acer’s tablet, then you can expect other latest games like Modern Combat 4, N.O.V.A 3, Need for Speed Most Wanted or GTA Vice City to also run smoothly and in full graphics on this tablet. No doubt about that.

I believe its low-resolution 600x1024 pixel display is one of the reasons why those heavy games aforementioned above can be played smoothly and in full graphics on Acer Iconia B1-720, of course besides its Mali 400 GPU.

I’ve seen many other Android tablets with the same level of hardware, like Asus MemoPad 7 HD for example, really suffer a lot when playing latest games like GTA Vice City, Asphalt 8, Modern Combat 4 and many more.

And that’s not so surprising given that this Asus’s tablet is sporting a higher resolution 720p (1280x800 pixels) display, despite using much more powerful Mediatek quad-core processor and PowerVR SGX544 GPU (the same GPU found inside iPhone 5), as opposed to the Mediatek dual-core processor and Mali 400 GPU inside this Acer Iconia B1-720.

So with that being said, then the gaming performance of this Acer’s tablet is still better than Asus MemoPad 7 HD.

So if you’re still looking for a cheap budget tablet around $100, with pretty great gaming performance, then make no mistake, Acer Iconia B1-720 is still one pretty good choice for you.

However, it’s worth noting that with that low price comes low quality specs.

So by paying only around $100, you’ll only get a low-resolution 1024x600 pixel display, no rear-facing camera, only VGA front-facing camera, cheap looking design and low battery capacity.

But i think, despite all of these low grade internals, the great gaming performance of this Acer’s tablet will make it up for you.

Have any question? Leave your comment here!