14 DAY TRIAL // Acer has been struggling to make ends meet for the past year, but the company continues to stay afloat thanks to its tablet and Chromebook business.
At least as far as tablets are concerned, Acer has long given up releasing premium models and now it concentrates on low-cost units arriving with low to mid-range specifications.
It’s the case of the Acer Iconia Tab 8 tablet, which runs Android out of the box. The stock version of Android has been designed to display only one app in full-screen mode, but device makers such as Samsung or LG have tweaked the standard, by introducing custom software that lets you view more than one app at a time.
You can now multi-task on your Acer tablet
Now Acer joins the bandwagon and is offering a new feature called Split Screen, to allow users of the Iconia Tab 8 Android tablet to view two applications at once and the ability to switch between them quickly.
The Acer Iconia Tab 8 also has a Windows version with similar specifications, but we’re going to concentrate on the Android model.
The company has been offering the device in 10 lively colors that should match each user’s personal style.
The tab arrives with an 8-inch display with the standard 1280 x 800 pixel resolution and draws its life source from an Intel Atom Z3735G quad-core processor fitted with 1GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage.
It runs Android 4.4 KitKat out of the box, but Acer hasn’t said anything about a possible bump to Lollipop 5.0, although we can certainly hope.
Acer also offers a model that boasts 1920 x 1200 pixel resolution and takes advantage of an Intel Atom Z3745 combined with 2GB of RAM.
Only the Android version takes advantage of the option
Anyhow, the new Split Screen feature has been demonstrated by Tab Tech and you can take a look and see how it works in the video below (even if it’s in German, it’s not difficult to comprehend what’s going on in there).
Basically, Split Screen lets you multi-task, so for instance you’ll be able to keep the Facebook app opened in one portion of the screen and keep replying to your friend, while in the other you continue watching the movie you were watching before you received the message.
You can draw the line separating the apps as you see fit, resizing them as you feel it suits you better. All in all, it’s a very useful feature.
