The Acer Iconia One 8 B1-850-K3SX (16GB) was easy to use for a wide variety of functions. It was easy to move from screen to screen using finger swipes, and to move app icons among screens. The onscreen keyboard may be used in "gesture" mode to type by swiping to each letter.
The rear-facing camera was only fair in performance. Photos can be displayed full height without interference from the navigation bar. Turning from portrait to landscape while reading a book worked well. A voice-typing feature lets you dictate emails and text documents. You can sync and transfer files to and from a PC using USB. A built-in file manager app makes it easy to transfer files from a memory card. The memory card was more difficult than most to insert and remove.
The display quality was very good overall. Colors were among the most realistic and natural-looking we've seen. The screen was somewhat dimmer than most tablets and readability in daylight was good. Viewing angle was quite wide in landscape orientation, making it easy to view photos or video with another person. Viewing angle was quite wide in portrait orientation, making it easy to share the screen with another person.
Touch response was excellent. The capacitive touchscreen responds to a light finger touch, and allows multiple fingers to perform gesture actions. Moving objects and using finger gestures is easy and precise. Icons were easy to move and place precisely. A special coating on the screen resists fingerprints and makes cleaning easier.
This tablet has some useful features - see the "About" section for more details. There is full access to the Google app market, with a large and varied selection of apps. There is also access to a large media market through Google, for downloading movies, music and books.
There are a variety of sensors to provide positional and environmental info to apps and games. These include a global positioning system (GPS) receiver to locate the user geographically and allow the use of navigation apps, and an accelerometer to give motion feedback to apps.
This tablet ranks high in portability among tablets in the 7- to 8-inch category. Its battery life of 10.6 hours is middling for tablets. It's very slim and compact for its screen size, and at 0.75 pounds, it's a lightweight tablet for its size.
