14 DAY TRIAL // The Iconia W3 tablet was supposed to be Acer's wonder child, in a sense. Despite being a Windows 8 device, it had the form factor of a small Android tablet and Acer's reputation backing it up.
The W3 tablet was revealed all the way back at Computex 2013 last month in Taipei, Taiwan, and it looked good in the pictures.
But that doesn't mean much, since pretty much every device is made to look good in press shots. Ultimately, reviews are what everyone should look for.
The W3 has finally been analyzed by someone, namely Brian Fagioli from BetaNews.
The man didn't post a review, exactly, but the short analysis might be enough to make some rethink their passive endorsement of the tablet.
It turns out that the 8-inch W3 slate is encased in cheap plastic but is very heavy despite that (1.1 pounds / 498 grams), more than other 8-inch slates.
That's enough to cause hand and wrist pains when holding it in a single hand. It kind of defeats the purpose of the size really.
The only upside to this, if it can even be called that, is that the weight will act as incentive to buy and use a keyboard dock, but that's assuming prospective buyers take the leap of faith and buy it in the first place.
Besides the poor size-weight ratio, Fagioli was also rather unimpressed by the unnecessary "Windows 8" and "Intel Inside" stickers on the back, and the quality of the screen (or lack thereof).
It is described as a washed-out, pixelated, yellowing display that looks dirty and smudged all the time. It is also, supposedly, impossible to see unless you're looking straight at it. Which is to say, the viewing angles are atrocious. The screen also lacks a protection glass layer.
That said, beneath the display there is a dual-core Atom x86 processor (Z2760) and 2 GB of RAM. This is the only silver lining really, since it means that all x86 programs run well. Even Office 2013 is included.
All in all, if we're reading things right, even the price of $379 / €379 might seem too high for this item. Then again, maybe the reviewer was just unlucky, unlikely as it is.