Acer on Tuesday released an entire blitz of new Android devices, among other goodies like its own app store and media-streaming service. The new Android wares are due out by April, 2011. Here's a rundown.
The 4.8-inch Acer smartphone, which apparently has no other name yet (least not one mentioned in the press materials), has the "soul of a tablet" the company says. The large touch screen has a 21:9 aspect ratio, so it's long and thin with a large screen. It runs a 1GHz Snapdragon processor and includes all the fancy high-end features you would expect from a 3G device trying to bridge the gap between phone and tablet: 6-axis motion sensing (Gyroscope + accelerometer), two cameras 8MP camera for photos and 2MP front camera for video calling. Also: HDMI output, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0 and HSDPA 3G.
Acer Android smartphone
It is due out in February and there's no word yet if it will be unlocked and/or be carried by a specific carrier. Its main rival in the smartphone-tablet-wanna-be market is the Dell Streak, with its 5-inch screen, available from AT&T and T-Mobile.
But if you want a tablet, Acer will have two new Android versions and one new Windows tablets to choose from. Android tablets are due in April and will come in a 7-inch and a 10.1-inch variety, and the Windows tablet will be 10.1 inches, too. Both tablets will run on dual-core processors (though Acer doesn't specify if these will be Intel or AMD), have high-resolution screens, Dolby Mobile Technology. Wi-Fi and 3G, DLNA support and can run Flash right out of the box. The 10-inch Android will be full HD with 1080p, 6-axis motion sensing. Acer says its built for gaming in 3D and videos.
Acer Android tablets come in two sizes.
The Windows tablet is expected in February and is equally interesting if you are a Windows user. It will run on the "the next-generation AMD platform" which we assume means the Fusion chip, with its integrated CPU and graphics.
The Fusion chip code named Zacate is the direct competitor to Intel's Atom. Among its features will be two 1.3MP cameras, one rear and one front-facing, allowing you to take pictures, record video, chat and videoconference. Plus Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity.
It will sport both a touch screen and a physical keyboard -- making it a competitor to the HP TouchSmart tm2t series, priced at a hefty $800. But this is Acer, so we know it will compete on price -- they are expected to be priced at $299 to $699.
But wait, there's more. Acer also announced the ICONIA Windows 7 tablet it calls a touchbook. Acer claims it to be the world’s first 10 finger multi-touch dual-screen notebook, and it will be powered by the Intel Core i5 processor (read more about it here).
To top all off all of these new touch products will be its own app store, dubbed "alive". The world hardly needs yet another app store but if every Linux distro maker could essentially function as as an app store, why can't the device manufacturer? So it will. Acer's alive store is already stocked with thousands of movies, books, games, audio books/radio content, photography, magazines and so on.
At the same time, Acer introduced Clear.fi, a streaming service that lets users share media and sync their media across multiple devices.