Acer teases its touchscreen bounty for 2011

Perhaps you’ve been thinking that 2011 will be awash with tablets and other touchscreen tech. Acer’s right behind you, today launching a plethora of touchable goodies none of us can buy until next year. But if window shopping’s your thing, there’s plenty to see…

Iconia

Remember Toshiba’s Libretto W100? No? It was only a few months ago. Okay, we forgive you – despite being a good idea, it was also a bit rubbish. But that hasn’t stopped Acer dipping its toe into the 14in dual-touchscreen water. The lower deck sprouts an on-screen keyboard when you lay ten fingers on it – and other digital impresses open other interfaces (like a dual-screen browser) for navigating various areas of Windows 7. Interesting? Yes. Better than Tosh’s effort. It must be.

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10.1in Windows 7 tablet (name tbc)

We’d expect some touch tricks from Iconia to make it on to this handsome tab, which tucks into a keyboard dock when you need to rip out an email without ripping out your hair. Pretty much all the other spec are in the title of this page, but we can add dual 1.3MP webcams, an AMD processor and 720p HDMI output. Expected in February 2011.

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Android tablets (names tbc)

If we bought shares in Skittles and ate one every time someone said “Android tablet” next year, we’d be rich by next Christmas. And also too fat to walk to the cash machine. It’s no surprise to see Acer bust out 10.1in and 7in Android tabs, though the company’s debut glass is decently specced. The larger has a 1GHz processor, a WXGA screen res (1280×800) and 1080p HDMI out. Little brother’s chomping data on a 1.2GHz chip and the same whopping screen res. If you’re eyes aren’t too dazzled, you might even see what Acer cryptically refers to as “Android Tablet OS” (naturally enough, Acer will put a bit of skin in there as well). Both of those are coming in April 2011.

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LED backlit smartphone/tablet (name tbc)

Okay, LED backlighting is something from TV-land, but then so is a 4.8in screen. Almost. This unnamed phone-tab hybrid (a mathematically-challenged Acer says it’s 100 per cent of both) takes on Dell’s Streak for size and raises it a 1024×480 screen resolution (at cinema-scale 21:9 aspect ratio). There’s an 8MP cam on the back, paired to an LED flash and a 2MP snapper front side. The usual 1GHz QSD innards are there to run the back end, plus 720p HDMI out and six-axis motion sensing. Didn’t think you’d forget about the LED backlighting that easily, did you?

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Alive and Clear.fi

Not content (there’s a pun in there somewhere) with publicly giving birth to some of the most desireable gadgetry this side of an iPad, Acer has a couple more tricks up its sleeve. One is Alive, the predictable media storefront portal for all these devices. It’s a flouro paint-spattered place, but should have a decent selection (2000 films, 15,000 music vids and 8 million songs) when it launches next spring. There’ll also be books, news, mags and games, of course. Clear.fi lets you share that with your other devices, drag-and-drop style. You’ll need to supply the Wi-Fi router and server, mind. Acer unsurprisingly thinks Revo would be a good choice.

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– News Nugget – Bolle’s iPhone printer

– Through the ages – Windows

– News Nugget – LaCie’s skinny USB SSD FastKey

– First Look – Dell Inspiron Duo

– News Nugget – Olive unwraps 2TB O6HD

– News Nugget – Galaxy Tab price drop

– Beatles catalogue, meet iTunes

– Rumour Mill – LG Optimus Star

– Unboxed – Palm Pre 2

About

Dan is Editor-in-chief of Stuff, working across the magazine and the Stuff.tv website. Our Editor-in-Chief is a regular at tech shows such as CES in Las Vegas, IFA in Berlin and Mobile World Congress in Barcelona as well as at other launches and events. He has been a CES Innovation Awards judge. Dan is completely platform agnostic and very at home using and writing about Windows, macOS, Android and iOS/iPadOS plus lots and lots of gadgets including audio and smart home gear, laptops and smartphones. He's also been interviewed and quoted in a wide variety of places including The Sun, BBC World Service, BBC News Online, BBC Radio 5Live, BBC Radio 4, Sky News Radio and BBC Local Radio.