Tech News and Reviews
Posts tagged Acer
Acer’s Android-powered Stream confirmed for Expansys-exclusive August 9th launch
Jul 29th
Acer’s Android-powered Stream phone already got official way back in May — and we got our hands on it at Computex in June — but the company has only just now confirmed a launch date. According to Acer, the Stream will be rolling out on August 9th, and it’ll be exclusive to UK-based online retailer Expansys, at least initially. As for the phone itself, you can expect a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, a 3.7-inch AMOLED screen, Android 2.1 for an OS, a 5-megapixel camera with 720p video recording (no flash, though), an HDMI out port, and full DLNA / UPnP support for media streaming (hence the name). Of course, being exclusive to Expansys also means you won’t be getting a subsidized price — look for this one to set you back £399, or just over $600. Full press release is after the break.
Update: And it looks like we’ve got our first unboxing with the final retail packaging. Video’s after the break.
Acer said to be launching 7-, 10-inch Android tablets before the end of the year
Jul 15th
Acer’s already offered some indication that it planned to launch at least one Android-based tablet before the end of the year, and it looks like we’re starting to get few more tidbits of information. According to DigiTimes (reasonably reliable when it comes to Acer rumors), the company is planning to launch both 7-inch and 10-inch tablets sometime in the fourth quarter of this year, both of which will reportedly be ARM-based and run Android 2.2 (complete with Flash support_. Details are otherwise still pretty light, but DigiTimes is backing up earlier talk that Acer’s looking to partner with mobile carriers on the devices, which we presume means they’ll both at least have a 3G option.
Acer Aspire One 521 and 721 review
Jul 6th
On the surface Acer’s 10.1-inch Aspire One 521 and 11.6-inch Aspire One 721 appear to be fairly run-of-the-mill netbooks — or ultraportables for those that are morally opposed to calling a laptop with a 11.6-inch display a netbook. They’re rather small machines, measure just about an inch thick, and ring up at under $430. But there’s a lot more than meets the eye with this Aspire One duo – instead of Intel Atom or ULV processors, both are powered by a new AMD 1.7GHz Athlon II Neo K125 processor and promise 1080p playback thanks to ATI Radeon HD 4225 graphics. We’ve certainly been pumped about these two systems since their French debut, but fear of AMD’s usually poor battery life and scorching temperatures have been holding us back from all-out excitement. Do we have nothing to fear but fear itself? We’ve spent the last few days with these two systems, and will reveal all in our full review after the break.
Acer Aspire 8943G and 5943G (aka Acer Ethos) preview
Jun 5th
Acer may have announced its new Aspire Ethos line a few months back, but this is the first time we have had the chance to catch a glimpse of the multimedia monsters in person, albeit these were lacking that special Ethos branding on the exterior. We’ve really got to hand it to Acer on the new aesthetic of the 18.4-inch 8943G and 15.6-inch 5943G — the systems have a nice brushed metal coating and glorious-looking chiclet keyboards. Though obviously, the first thing that caught our eye was that black dual-mode touchpad which is pictured above — it’s a standard touchpad until you press the circular button between the buttons, after which it turns into the system’s multimedia controls. When we tapped that movie button, it briskly launched Windows Media player, but we do fear that the glossy plastic coating on the pad will hamper everyday navigation. Both models on display were powered by 1.6GHz Core i7-720QM CPUs, but the 5943G had 4GB of DDR3 RAM and ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650 graphics while the 8943G boasted 8GB of RAM and a Radeon HD 5850. In addition, they’ve got 8-cell batteries and Blu-ray drives, so three cheers for that. We’ll be keeping an ear out for the arrival of these bad boys stateside, but until then feast your eyes on the beauty shots below.
Acer Liquid E Ferrari Special Edition revs up Android 2.1
Jun 2nd
Sure, the Acer Liquid E Ferrari Special Edition features the same underclocked 768MHz Snapdragon and Android 2.1 as the original Liquid E that launched in February, but, well, this one comes with a flashy Ferrari F1 Red paint job and matching Elite Bluetooth earpiece. Can’t say no to that, can you? You know the rest of the drill: 3.5-inch WVGA touchscreen, five megapixel camera with autofocus, geotagging, and adjustable ISO, included 8GB microSD card, and the Acer Sync app that syncs changes across your phone and PC. No word on price or availability, but it certainly looked pretty on the Computex show floor — we’ll let you know if we find out more.
AMD netbooks: Acer Aspire One 521 and Gateway LT22 hands-on
May 27th
Sure, Acer may already have the Ion 2-powered Aspire One 532g in its arsenal, but who’s going to complain about two more HD-capable, 10-inch netbooks? Showing some serious love to AMD, the Acer Aspire One 521 and Gateway LT22 both pack new 1.2GHz AMD V105 processors along with ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4225 graphics. The latter is what had us most impressed when we caught some time with the duo at the Netbook Summit — the 521 and LT22 handled 1080p WMV video and light gaming without any stuttering. We’ll hold our real performance conclusions until we can test the battery life on these bad boys, but other than that they look like decent netbook contenders with the standard 1GB of RAM and 160GB hard drives. And unlike the typical Atom netbook, they have HDMI ports. We can’t say we’re the biggest fans of the 521′s in-your-face Aspire One branding on its glossy cover, but the LT2203 delights with its textured matte lid. No word from Acer on the availability and pricing of these here in the US, but hit the gallery below for some imagery, or the source link even further below for a video of these two in action.
Acer Aspire 1820PT convertible hands-on, priced for 599 euros
Mar 4th
Craftily unhidden at the tail end of its press conference, Acer’s long-awaited Aspire 1820PT convertible laptop has finally passed into our hands for ever the briefest of moments. Let’s cut to the chase, shall we? Strong hinge, accelerometer for tablet mode, capacitive multitouch, and the ability to use stylus for input (protected in a slot just below and to the right of the screen when not in use). Beyond that, seems like the typical underpowered laptop you know and love — well, maybe not love, but you get the idea. Under the hood there’s an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 8GB RAM, and 320GB HDD, all priced at 599 euro, which we’d venture a guess to mean it’ll be about $599 when it comes to the US (actual release date MIA). Gallery below, and brief video demonstration after the break.
Acer’s H5360 and X1261 projectors take it to the third dimension
Mar 3rd
You know who else is firmly situated on the 3D bandwagon? Acer. This fine morning the outfit has busted out two new beamers, both of which are eager and willing to be paired with NVIDIA’s 3D Vision setup for viewing in the third dimension. Outside of that, neither one is particularly awe-inspiring, but if you’ve got a 3D Blu-ray player on the brain, you might need one of these to fully complete the nerded-out basement experiment. Up first is the H5360, offering a native 1,280 x 720 resolution, a 3,200:1 contrast ratio, 2,500 ANSI lumens and an HDMI socket. The lower-end X1261 gets a lowly XGA resolution, a similar amount of brightness and a component video port. Check ‘em real, real soon for $699 and $579 in order of mention, and hop on past the break for the rest of the details.
Acer launching thin, Calpella-based notebooks this summer?
Feb 27th
The progression of ever-faster notebooks seems to have dwindled, but the quest for thinner and lighter goes on. Acer is said to be finding the balance between those two goals with its next suite of thin performers, starting with a range of mid- and high-end portables based on Intel’s Calpella series of processors, the Nehalem spin-off that we haven’t heard much about lately. Sizes are said to be 13-, 14-, and 15-inches, all will be manufactured by Wistron, and all said to be one inch thin at their thinnest point — hopefully not much thicker elsewhere if they want to turn heads. These higher-performing machines will eventually phase out Acer’s CULV offerings, which apparently have had unimpressive sales thanks to a perceived lack of performance by consumers. We can’t imagine where they got that idea…
Acer Aspire 3811TZ and 3811TZG get Greenpeace stamp of approval
Jan 19th
So Acer’s new Aspire 3811TZ and Aspire 3811TZG may not be puke-green like Sony’s VAIO W Eco, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t some of the greenest — as in eco-friendly — laptops out there. Part of the company’s thin-and-light Timeline series, the two 13.3-inch laptops have been named by Greenpeace as being completely free of those bad-for-the-environment materials, including PVC (polyvinyl chloride) and BFR (brominated flame retardants). Powered by Intel ULV Core 2 Duo CPUs, they are more power-efficient than most and last longer on a charge. There doesn’t seem to be an official statement from Acer on availability and price on these models, but we assume like the rest of the Timeline bunch there will be models both north and south of a grand.
