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The screen is smaller and the back has tiny ridges. The dimensions are 12x20x.8cm; the viewable screen is 9.5x15cm which gives the notional diagonal imperial measurement of 7inches. Screen resolution is 800x1280.
The right side has the on/off button towards the top with the volume up/down rocker below it, even lower on the right side is a micro SD card slot. The base and left side are clear while the top has pin hole microphone, micro USB connector and 3.5mm connection for headphones. The back has a 2MP camera top right and the speaker runs along the base of the back, this gives quite a good sound for a small device. The face has a VGA camera for selfies of Skype.
The processor is dual core at 1.6GHz, there is 16GB of ROM and 1GB of RAM and it runs Android 4.4.2.
The screen is clear, crisp and easy to read, an information bar with several icons has the top .5cm and the standard Back, Home and Open Items bar takes just under a centimetre. So the available viewing home screen is 13.7x9.4cm which if viewing a web page is readable. You of course have the ability to zoom in or out using two digits.
Unlike some other Android units this comes with Amazon Appstore installed as well as the Google Playstore however before you can install anything from the Amazon store you have to change a setting that allows items from external sources.
There are a number of free Apps installed that may not be found on other units but as the Web is awash with such items and indeed Amazon Appstore offers one free App a day. One App that will be loved by young children is iStoryTime which offers four free stories but after that you need to purchase extra items. The four books are all well known, Madagascar, The Giant Smurf, Ice Age and Robin Hood. These can be read by the child, read to the child of played automatically, the images are excellent, the voices good but I found the text a little small.
Being smaller than the A1 it is perhaps easier to hold in an adult hand. Having used it for several weeks I think I have worked out what fells different it’s the fact that the surrounds – the sides, top and bottom – are the same size as on the A1 but the viewing area is smaller so proportions look wrong, this of course you would not notice unless you had used the larger A1.
The screen surround is not shiny black so does not show finger marks greatly however the screen is so you do spend a lot of the time cleaning them off when the screen is blank or in bright sunlight, in normal indoor use the screen is bright enough that the marks do not show.
I found the Wi-Fi good and the initial connection was quick. During the test I was also just starting my review of a WD product that sets up its own Wi-Fi and the switching between the two was efficient.
The Acer Iconia One 7 B1 is available from the first link below – with 32GB - for £119.99.
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/2662271.htm
http://www.acer.co.uk/ac/en/GB/content/series/iconiaone7
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