Acer a110, a decent choice for playing HD games

Another great gaming tablet is coming from Acer. And it is Acer a110, a Tegra 3 tablet capable of running some HD games on Android. But the question is, is this tablet still that great for gaming?

Hi tablet gamers, welcome back guys!

In the past few months, i’ve been showing you guys here some of the tablets that i considered as great gaming tablets.


Today, i want to show you one other tablet, of course, powered by Tegra processor, which i think can also be a good gaming tablet, if not great.

This one is made by Acer, the company known for its laptop and computer-related products. Okay then, without further ado, here is Acer a110, a 7-inch Android tablet sporting the Tegra 3 processor.

Well, if you’re interested to know more about this tablet, especially its gaming performance, then here you go, my personal review of Acer a110.

But first, let me give you the brief introduction of this tablet.


Having been armed with NVIDIA’s homemade Tegra 3 processor, then it means Acer a110 will be a good gaming tablet, if not great.

However, the question is, can this tablet stack up against other budget mid-end tablets on the market, especially today’s tablet market?

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


In terms of design, Acer a110 definitely looks like a cheap tablet. No wonder because this tablet is indeed priced at cheap price point given that Acer Iconia Tab A110 is packing some last year’s hardware.

In fact, you can actually get this tablet now at low price around the tablet stores.

However, as a cheap looking tablet, Acer a110 actually doesn’t look that cheap, especially compared to other old-gen tablets like Samsung GALAXY Tab or Asus Memo Pad 7 HD, which both use plastic material and cheap looking design.


On the front of the tablet, we can see how this tablet has that generic looking design just like other competing low-end Android tablets around the market.

It has the standard rounded corners, which are not fully rounded, plus some huge bezels here and there around the side of the screen.

The good news is, when you flip the tablet to the other side, you will see how Acer a110 has some good looking brushed aluminum finish on the back, which kind of reminds me with the cool back cover of Acer netbooks and laptops.

On the side angle, Acer a110 looks and feels chubby and heavy, especially with its thick body all over it, making it look cheap or low-end as a 7-inch tablet.

As a matter of fact, according to reviews, this tablet indeed feels a little bit hefty when held in hands, but not too heavy thank God, so this tablet can still be a great one-handed tablet overall.

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• No SIM
• Released 2012, October
• 7.0 inch TFT capacitive touchscreen, 600 x 1024 pixels, (~170 ppi pixel density)
• Android OS 4.1 Jelly Bean
• Quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 T30L 1.2 GHz CPU
• ULP GeForce GPU
• 1 GB RAM
• microSD card slot for up to 32 GB
• 8 GB Internal storage
• No rear-facing camera
• 2 MP front-facing camera
• No GPRS
• No EDGE
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
• Bluetooth
• USB
• HDMI port
• No Radio
• GPS
• Java
• Non-removable Li-Po 3420 mAh battery (12.7 Wh)
• Up to 270 h Stand-by
• Up to 7 h 30 min (multimedia) Talk time

Acer a110 comes with a quad-core Tegra 3 chipset, accompanied with 1GB of RAM and 12-core GeForce ULP GPU (which comes bundled on Tegra 3 chipset).

These specs are actually the same ones found on the first-gen Google Nexus 7 tablet.

So practically, given that Google Nexus 7 has been known as good, in handling games, but not great, then you can also expect the same thing on this Acer’s tablet.

Besides the similar Tegra 3 chipset, inside this Acer’s tablet, you’ll also find other things like:

• a 7-inch display sporting the resolution of 600x1024 pixels,
• microSD card slot for up to 32GB,
• 2MP front-facing camera without rear-facing camera,
• 3420mAh power battery,
• Android 4.1 Jelly Bean out of the box
• and some other more.

With all of these goodies, then yeah, Acer a110 should now be considered as a low-end cheap tablet on today’s tablet market.

So if you can get it at low price point, then you sure just made a good purchase.


When it comes to display, there is nothing to write home about on this tablet.

Its 1024x600 pixel display is already left way behind by other competing 7-inch rivals, even by other mid-end tablets like Tegra Note, Google Nexus 7 (2012), HP Slate 7 Plus or Kindle Fire 7 HD that already pack 720p display (1280x800 pixels).

However, despite using a mediocre low-resolution display, this tablet is still one of the best cheap tablets out there, of course in around $120 price range.

Besides, thanks to its low-resolution screen, the Tegra 3 processor inside this tablet can perform much even faster and smoother than any other Tegra 3 tablets out there.

Plus this mediocre quality display also makes the battery life last much longer because its hardware are only required to deliver the power to the low-resolution display, which has less pixels than other Tegra 3 tablets with 720p display.

The good news is, even today’s mid-end tablets like Samsung GALAXY Tab 3 is still using the same exact display just like on Acer a110, a 1024x600 pixel display, so this Acer’s tablet still deserves to be positioned on today’s tablet market.

However, given that Samsung GALAXY Tab 3 has more features than Acer’s tablet, plus it's more popular, then it’s not surprising if Samsung’s tablet is priced higher than Acer a110, even though Acer’s tablet has more powerful hardware than Samsung’s slate.


In terms of features, Acer Iconia Tab A110 comes with some awesome and cool ones that probably can’t be found on other Android tablets out there.

One of them is the shortcut apps on the lockscreen. As you probably know, on the lockscreen of any Android tablets out there, there are some special homescreens where you’re able to put your favorite shortcut apps on the lockscreen.

This feature actually comes pre-installed on any Android tablets with Jelly Bean installed.

However, on Acer a110, besides those shortcut homescreens on the lockscreen, there is also the feature that allows you to put your favorite apps or shortcuts right on the lockscreen key.

So to illustrate this feature, if this tablet is locked and you want to unlock it, as you all know, you must firstly press on-screen key on the bottom and move it to the “unlock area” in order to unlock the screen.

Well, on this Acer’s tablet, on the lockscreen “key” on this tablet, you can customize it and add it with some of your favorite shortcuts.

So if you press and hold the lockscreen “key”, you’ll be displayed with some shortcut apps (like camera app, gmail app, web browser app, etc), in the form of solid circle area, which you can activate after the screen is unlocked.

I think this feature is really cool.

Actually, you can also find this feature on any Android tablets with CyanogenMod-installed, like Oppo N1 and many more.

As for other features, there are also some other cool features besides the feature i've mentioned above, like 3D)alike carousel effect on music player, photo browser 3D, cool camera UI, categorized apps and many more.

Overall, Acer a110 comes with some standard features that pretty much the same and can also be found on any other Android tablets out there, especially the ones with the vanilla stock Android OS pre-installed.


In terms of User Interface or UI, the one on Acer a110 also pretty much looks the same with other Android tablets that use stock UI, where you’re able to insert your favorite apps, widgets or shortcuts of contents around the homecreen.

So if you’re already in love with the stock UI of Android OS, with no bloatwares or pre-loaded unnecessary apps, then you’re in good hands with Acer Iconia Tab A110.

But the good news is, the UI of this tablet actually, in my opinion, is still a bit better than the stock UI of Android OS like on Nexus devices because on this Acer’s tablet, you’ll find some useful and awesome additions of features that you’re probably not gonna get on any Nexus devices.


It’s good to hear that Acer decides to shake hands with NVIDIA to bring its homemade powerful Tegra 3 inside this Acer Iconia Tab A110.

Accompanied with 1GB of RAM and 12-core GeForce ULP GPU, this tablet can be considered as a beast, of course in its class, not to mention, in its low-end price range.

So the overall performance of this tablet is pretty much the same with the first-gen Google Nexus 7, which we all know already as a fast and smooth performing tablet on the market.

The good news, Acer a110 is only packing a low-resolution 1024x600 pixel display, compared to the first-gen Google Nexus 7 with 720p display (1280x800).

So that means, the performance of this Acer’s tablet will be so much faster and smoother given that its hardware (Tegra 3) is only tasked to deliver its power to the low-resolution display, compared to Nexus 7 that requires its hardware to bring more pixels to the screen.

So if you love watching movies, reading books or magazines, browsing the web or playing games, you will feel at home on this tablet because the whole performance and experience of this tablet is just so fast and smooth with no lag whatsoever.

And thanks to the 1GB of RAM that Acer has provided on this tablet, you’re allowed to open many apps or multitask many apps at the same time without decreasing the overall performance of this tablet.

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As i mentioned above, if a tablet, any tablet is powered by NVIDIA’s Tegra processor, then it means that tablet will be a good gaming tablet, if not the best. Well, Acer a110 is no exception.

Having been armed with Tegra 3 processor, 1GB of RAM and 12-core GeForce ULP GPU, which comes bundled on Tegra 3, this Acer’s tablet can be a good choice if you’re looking for a gaming tablet.

With that kind of specs, you can expect this tablet to be capable to handle any games, even the most graphically demanding ones, on Google Play Store very smoothly in full graphics.

So if you’re a big fan of tablet games and wanting to play the popular titles like, Modern Combat 4, GTA Vice City, Horn, Dead Trigger, ShadowGun, Need for Speed Most Wanted or Asphalt 7: Heat, then you’re in good hands with Acer a110 because this tablet can handle this high-performing games in buttery smooth performance and in full graphics.

However, as a Tegra 3 tablet, Acer a110 will struggle in performance when faced with the latest graphics intense games like Asphalt 8: Airborne, GTA San Andreas or Dead Trigger 2.

These games might run on this Acer’s tablet, but only in medium or even low graphics setting, not in full graphics.

I’ve actually already seen the second-gen Google Nexus 7 (the one with Snapdragon S4 Pro chipset) run Asphalt 8.

Yes, this game can be played on that Google’s tablet but it only runs in medium graphics setting, and still not in buttery smooth performance.

So we can take conclusion that Acer’s tablet will also be able to play that arcade racing game, but not in full graphics.

Meanwhile, as for the GTA San Andreas, i don’t think Acer a110 is capable to run this game, even in the low graphics setting given that this game is really heavy and deploys some huge maps here and there in the game.

The second-gen Google Nexus 7 (the one with Snapdragon S4 Pro and Adreno 320 GPU) is capable to run this game, but only in medium to low graphics setting.

So with that being said, then it’s a really easy guess that if you want to play this game on Acer’s tablet, you’re probably in luck if you set the graphics of this game on the lowest level.

But i’m not sure if it’s going to work given that GTA San Andreas is one heavy game.

So overall, Acer a110 is a good gaming tablet, but not great, let alone the best.

However, this tablet is still capable to play many games released in 2012, even the most graphically demanding ones, all in buttery smooth performance and in full graphics.

But for 2013-released games, i don’t think this tablet is capable enough to run the most graphically demanding games in full graphics, unless the games don’t use 3D high graphics, like Minion Rush or Temple Run 2.

The good news is, thanks to its Tegra 3 processor, as the owner of Acer Iconia Tab A110, you’ll be able to gain the exclusive access to Tegra Zone, where you can find plenty of games that are well-optimized for Tegra tablets.

So games on Tegra Zone will have more detailed graphics, more particles and more visual effects than other games on non-Tegra tablets.

So this is definitely one huge plus point for this tablet.

But then again, even though this tablet is a Tegra tablet, i don't think you can find all the latest games on Tegra Zone given that the Tegra 3 inside this tablet is not as powerful as the Tegra 4 tablets, which has more access to all the latest games on Tegra Zone.


It’s too bad that this tablet is not packing a rear-facing camera, meaning that you must always bring your smartphone (with rear-facing camera of course, duh!) or digital camera at your disposal if you don’t want to miss any moment in your life that you want to capture.

Luckily, there is a 2MP front-facing camera on this tablet, meaning that you can still do the selfies or video calls by using this tablet.


Acer a110 comes with a small 3420mAh power battery inside. This battery capacity may not be as big as other 7-inch tablets out there.

However, given that this tablet is only packing a low-resolution 1024x600 pixel display, then you can expect to see this tablet last around 10 hours in mixed usage.

As a matter of fact, according to video reviews on YouTube, in one full charge, this Acer’s tablet could only last around 12 hours in mixed usage or a half of day, which is not that great given that other 7-inch tablets out there mostly could last in 1 solid day in one solid charge.

And the battery life would be much even shorter if you’re gonna use this tablet for doing some heavy intense tasks, like watching movies in marathon or playing games in the row, which probably could only last in 4 to 6 hours of intense usage.

This Acer’s tablet may be a good gaming tablet and can handle most of the games released in 2012, but if its battery life is too short, then i suggest you to find other alternatives if you’re looking for a more solid gaming tablet, which i’m gonna show you at the last part of this review.


So yeah, overall, i pretty much like the whole thing about this tablet.

I really like the fact that Acer a110 is packing the Tegra 3 processor, meaning that it’s gonna be a good gaming tablet, if not great, and can handle even the most graphically demanding games released in 2012, like Modern Combat 4, N.O.V.A 3, Dead Trigger 1, ShadowGun, Need for Speed Most Wanted, GTA Vice City or Horn.

I also like that this tablet is now really cheap to buy.

So if you can snatch this tablet around $120 or even below $100, then you’re definitely a smart customer.

Not to mention, i like its design (but not its bulky body), its performance, its lockscreen’s feature, its gaming performance and its exclusive access to Tegra Zone, which has plenty of games designed for this Tegra tablets.

However, there are some parts that keep bugging me about this tablet. And they are the lack of rear-facing camera and weak battery life.

Yes - Acer a110 may have the microSD card slot and HDMI port, where its closest rival, the first-gen Google Nexus 7 doesn’t have them.

But still, if this tablet is priced in $150 price range, then it’s just not worth it, especially when other competing tablets in that price range, like HP Slate 7 Plus, Amazon Kindle Fire HD or Asus Memo Pad 7HD, have so much better specs than Acer’s tablet.

This tablet may be a good tablet, but only if you can get it around $100 - $120.

Other than that, you can find other alternatives that are just way much better than this Acer’s tablet.

For example, if you can put more cash in your budget, you can steer your target to either Tegra Note 7, HP Slate 7 Extreme, the second-gen Google Nexus 7 or Kindle Fire 7 HDX.

These tablets are more expensive than Acer a110, but they have way higher quality specs than Acer’s tablet.

Tegra Note 7 and HP Slate 7 Extreme can be had for only $199, while the second-gen Google Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire 7 HDX can be bought for $229.

Tegra Note 7 and HP Slate 7 Extreme have more powerful gaming performance (thanks to the Tegra 4), have 5MP rear-facing camera and also come bundled with the stylus that almost matches the quality of S-Pen on Samsung GALAXY Note 8. Meanwhile, Google Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire HDX 7, both have the best gaming performance on the market, Google Nexus 7 has 5MP rear-facing camera (while Kindle Fire 7 HDX don’t) and they have full HD display (1920x1200 pixels).

Well, the choice is yours now.

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