CES 2012: Acer Unleashes First Full 1080p HD Tablet

Acer has taken time out from announcing new ultrabooks and its AcerCloud service to reveal a new tablet capable of displaying full 1080p high-definition video.

The A700 Iconia tablet is due to be released in the second half of 2012.

High definition competition

Acer’s new quad-core powered flagship tablet boasts the same Nvidia Tegra-3 processor found in the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime and will run the latest version of Google’s Android mobile operating system, Ice Cream Sandwich.

However the main selling point is the 1900 x 1080 resolution display, which will allow Acer to compete with the rumoured retina display of the iPad 3 as well as any potential high definition version of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab.

Acer has been busy at CES and has announced two new ultrabooks, the Acer Timeline Ultra as well as the Acer Aspire 5, which it claims is the world’s thinnest ultrabook. The Taiwanese manufacturer also detailed its new AcerCloud service which allows users to share media and files between PCs and other devices such s smartphones and tablets.

Last week, the company revealed that it would be launching its budget-friendly Iconia Tab A200 tablet in the US in mid-January. Despite releasing a number of Android Honeycomb tablets last year, Acer failed to meet sales expectations and was forced to scale back on its tablet shipment targets as a result of the ongoing domination by Apple’s iPad.

In addition, the founder of Acer, Stan Shih, seems unimpressed by the potential of tablets, dismissing them as little more than a fad.