Acer held a massive press conference today in Manhattan to unveil its new product lineup. BetaNews was there, live, at 4 World Trade Center. The views from the 60-something floor were magnificent, but even more awe-inspiring to a tech nerd like me, were the Acer products.
Acer is one of my favorite manufacturers because it focuses on value. Not only are the company's computers beautiful and powerful, but affordable too. While the company kept its focus on the affordable segment with Windows, Chromebooks and Android products, it also introduced its new Predator gaming computers. The star of the show? A small gaming-tablet running Google's mobile OS.
Acer explains that it introduced "two 2-in-1s -- Aspire Switch 10 E and Aspire Switch 10; an 11-inch convertible -- Aspire R 11; three new notebooks -- Aspire V 15, Aspire E and ES Series -- offering strong performance and stylish design for work and play; the new Chromebook 15 with 11.5 hours of battery life, currently the longest in the 15-inch Chromebook segment; and the Iconia Tab 10 tablet for education and Iconia One 8 with advanced touch capability".
The Iconia One 8 was very impressive to me, due to its unique touch capability. You can actually draw and write on the screen using any object, including a pencil. No, this is not some special pencil, just a regular run-of-the-mill writing utensil. In my testing, it worked flawlessly.
One of the more bizarre products is the abTouchPhone. It is essentially an Android tablet strapped to a landline phone. While I do not see consumers embracing it, there may be an opportunity in the enterprise.
The Acer Liquid X2 is one of the most impressive Android phones I've seen in a long time, but sadly, it will not reach the USA. It will feature a 64-bit octa-core processor for great performance, and 3 sim slots for world-travelers. The most impressive aspect, however, is the 4,000 mAh battery. A battery of this size should give incredible longevity.
The second generation 2-in-1 Switch devices have an update hinge, which allows easier docking and undocking of the tablet/display. While the hinge was successful in this regard, I found myself accidentally removing it without trying. Maybe it is a bit too easy?
Also exciting is the new Predator gaming line of computers. Acer unveiled concepts for a Windows laptop, desktop and Android tablet. It even unveiled a 35-inch Predator gaming display! Unfortunately, the company was not forthcoming with specs, but did promise something extraordinary in the future. The Android tablet was notable for having four front-facing speakers.
Windows Phone fans will be happy to know that Acer will be releasing a Windows 10 for phones device, which I got to demo. While the build quality is great, featuring a fabric-inspired rear, it felt like a low-budget affair from a specs perspective. The device was a bit sluggish and the screen was sub par. With that said, it was running pre-release software.
The Revo One gets a software-based update, in the way of some Acer software, but the hardware apparently remains the same. The cute computer still uses 4th-generation Intel processors and not Broadwell, sadly.
Overall, however, the theme of the event was Windows 10. It is clear that the company is planning to go all-in on the operating system. True, it has seen much success with Chromebooks, but the excitement was all about Windows. In fact, Joe Belfiore, Corporate Vice President, Operating Systems Group, at Microsoft recorded a special video praising the company.
What do you think about Acer's strategy? Tell me in the comments.
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