BARCELONA—The Acer Iconia Smart is probably too innovative for America. That's the word from Campbell Kan, Acer's vice president of its smart handheld business unit. He's not talking about Americans in general. Rather, U.S. carriers typically don't like out-there devices, and the Iconia Smart's super-wide, 1024x480 screen is certainly out there. I spent some time with the phone and with Acer's 7-inch and 10-inch Android tablets, and I wish those carriers would reconsider.
Initially, the Acer Iconia Smart looks really weird. It's long! It's very long! But as Kan explained, there's a trick to it. When you're holding it vertically, it feels like a phone. Yes, it's a long phone. But it feels like a phone. It's running Android 2.3 Gingerbread with some Acer extensions, it uses a pretty standard 1Ghz Qualcomm MSM8255 chipset, and it has an 8-megapixel camera on the back.
When you turn it horizontally, though, it psychologically starts to feel like a tablet. You can see the full width of desktop Web pages, and play widescreen movies in their very wide default formats. If you're playing not-so-widescreen movies, there's enough room left on the sides for all the transport controls. It's like a tablet that was cut off slightly before its time, but enough of the tablet was left to be useful.
In other words, it's kind of cool. I was initially skeptical that Google and third-party developers would support the wacky 1024x480 screen, but Kan said that Google has approved the resolution as an official Gingerbread screen format, and that many - although he agreed, not all - third-party apps work fine on the long phone.
Yes, it's crazy. But it's crazy in kind of a fun way. Don't hate the long phone.
If you like more normal-looking devices, Acer also has 7-inch and 10-inch, Nvidia-based Android tablets for you: the 7-inch Iconia Tab A100 and the 10-inch Iconia Tab A500. These tablets are going to launch with Honeycomb, Kan said, but for now they have Froyo, because Acer isn't one of Google's Honeycomb launch partners. Instead, the company will wait until Google open-sources Honeycomb and then be able to put out the tablets within 30 days.
Honeycomb on a 7-inch tablet is the news here. I haven't seen a 7-inch, Honeycomb tablet yet. Up until now, there's been a lot of scuttlebutt that Google wouldn't approve Honeycomb on a tablet with a 1024x600 screen. But it turns out that Honeycomb really is "open." It's just the first round of Honeycomb tablets that Google is keeping a tight rein on. HTC said today its Flyer tablet would get Honeycomb, and Acer's 7-incher will get the new OS as well. As a nod to Honeycomb, the two tablets don't have the standard Android back and menu buttons; they only have a Home button. (The back and menu options exist in software on Honeycomb.)
This won't be stock Honeycomb, either. At least, not quite. Acer has various preloaded apps that provide "experiences" different from the norm, although they don't re-skin the interface by deafult. There are specialized launchers for e-reader apps and for games, for instance, and a SocialJogger app that combines social network updates.
The Acer tablets could come to the U.S. much more easily than the phone could, Kan said. Maybe they're just innovative enough. None of these products have US prices or release dates, obviously, although they're all coming to foreign countries within the next few months.