Acer replaces the rear camera and HDMI port with a dual-core 1.5GHz SoC and Android 4.0

Mar 1, 2012 11:11 GMT  ·  By
Acer's other low-cost dual-core Android tablet: the Iconia Tab A200 with Nvidia Tegra 2 SoC
   Acer's other low-cost dual-core Android tablet: the Iconia Tab A200 with Nvidia Tegra 2 SoC

Acer has recently confirmed that the company is working on developing a low-cost dual-core Android tablet that will eliminate some of the features that are rarely used on slates, in order to keep prices down without cutting back on performance.

Speaking to TechRadar, Julien Bertheuil, Acer's UK sales manager, confirmed that the Wi-Fi only 10-inch Iconia Tab A200 would be officially launched in the next few weeks.

Despite targeting the entry-level tablet market, the A200 will be powered by a more than respectable dual-core SoC clocked at 1.5GHz, which will be paired with 1GB of RAM and 32GB of internal memory.

For those of you that require even more storage space, Acer has also decided to include a microSD card slot in the Iconia Tab A200, which is definitely a good news if you ask us.

Other features include a front facing camera for video conferencing and the Android 4.0, aka Ice Cream Sandwich, operating system.

A rear snapper is missing from the specs list, as this is one of the features that Acer decided to remove in order to decrease the price of the Iconia Tab A200 without affecting its performance.

"You're not likely to go outside and take pictures with a tablet, so we've decided to take the back camera out, because it's cost saving – we're keeping the front camera because people want to video chat and Skype," said Bertheuil.

Acer’s rep continued: "we've decided to remove the HDMI port because people plug their tablet into their TV once, twice, maybe three times and our studies show that 95 per cent of tablet usage is sofa based - such as browsing the web, watching videos and checking emails."

Sadly, Acer hasn’t mentioned how much they have managed to cut back from the tablet’s price by removing these features, but TechRadar suggests the A200 will cost less than £200 (238 EUR or $318 US).

More details should be available in the coming weeks as we get near the tablet’s launch.

UPDATE: After we have published the article, Tach Radar modified its story to include the correct name of the Acer tablet: the Iconia Tab A200.