Acer's new gaming tablet is light, feature packed, and offers a great looking display. It also looks like a gaming device, with stylings you might expect to find on a gaming notebook. Read on for Gizmag's thoughts on the new tablet from IFA 2015.
Acer's latest tablet is immediately striking. Instead of a nondescript rectangle, the Predator 8 offers an over-the-top, eye-catching design that you'll either love or hate. Either way, it's clear that the tablet is targeted at one particular type of consumer – the gamer.
The first thing we noticed about the 8.7 mm (0.34 in) thick, 350 g (0.77 lbs) tablet was how light it felt in the hand. There's only an 8-inch screen on board here, so you wouldn't expect it to be particularly hefty, but the look of the hardware and the extra features included (there are quad front-facing speakers up front and haptic feedback motors inside) give the device some real visual weight.
We tried out racing title Asphalt 8 and performance was smooth and the visuals popped on the 1,920 x 1,200 panel, with vivid colors and deep blacks. The IFA show floor isn't the best place to judge the quality of the quad speaker set up, but the haptic feedback added an extra dimension to the gaming experience, upping immersion just that little bit.
The brushed aluminum finish that has a solid feel and while the back of the tablet felt a little warm during our testing, this wasn't so much as to be uncomfortable.
The tablet is powered by an Intel Atom chip, and performed well during gaming and general use. We zipped through Android 5.1 Lollipop (which looks close to stock), opening numerous apps and switching between them with no lag.
First impressions suggest that Acer's new tablet could be a good options for gamers looking for an Android slate.
The Acer Predator 8 will ship in North American for US$300 starting November 6.
Source: Acer
If not, I'll stick with the infinitely more mature looking Shield...which can stream PC games straight from a GTX equipped PC (or cloud)...and costs the same.
What we got here is a cool looking monstrosity that may be less powerful, and have less features than its direct competition.
Just an observation.