Budget-friendly Acer Iconia B1-A71 to compete with $99 Nexus tablet

New Delhi: It appears that Acer too wants a share of the budget-friendly tablet market; a leak on GLBenchmark has revealed some of the specifications of a tablet known as Acer Iconia B1-A71. This tablet will compete directly with the rumoured budget offering from Asus, which is codenamed ME172V and tipped to be a Nexus tablet.

The Acer Iconia B1-A71 has recently been cleared by the Federal Communications Commission and this tablet is believed to make its debut at the Consumer Electronics Show slated to take place in January 2013.

From the GLBenchmark, a few details of the device have been revealed such as it will run on Android 4.1.2 and will feature a screen size of 1024 x 552 pixels which would translate it to an actual display size of 1024 x 600 pixels with a pixel density of

According to a post on Benchmark.rs, this 7-inch offering from Acer will also come equipped with 512MB of RAM, 8GB of storage, a microSD card slot for storage expansion, GPS and Bluetooth 4.0. The thread also features some press shots of the tablet giving us a preview of what it will look like once it gets officially unveiled.

It appears that the budget Nexus from Asus, the ME172V, will face some serious competition from the likes of the Acer Iconia B1-A71.

For those of you who do not know what the Asus Me172V is about, it is a tablet that is believed to be a Nexus branded device with a 7-inch form factor. The tablet will come in black and white colour variants and will be priced between $129 to $149.

This is a bit more expensive than the previously perceived price tag of $99. This low end tablet from Asus will feature a 7-inch screen with a resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels with a TN panel rather than an IPS panel, which means viewing angles will not be as great.

The device now is believed to sport a VIA WM8950 chipset featuring a single Cortex-A9 core and Mali-400 GPU along with 1GB of RAM. The internal memory found here is said to be 16GB and as far as camera optics are concerned, the device will feature a 1.3MP camera.

The last leak surrounding the $99 Nexus tablet came via a photograph on Picasa where a device from Asus, which goes by the codename ME172V, had made an appearance in the EXIF data. The EXIF data revealed that the resolution of the device is 1280 x 720 pixels. Apart from the features mentioned above, nothing else was revealed.

In the benchmark that had appeared earlier this month, the Asus ME172V featured a 1GHz processor and a display with a resolution of 1025 x 600 pixels. The benchmark also revealed that it featured a Mali 400 GPU and runs on Android 4.1.1.

There was no word on the number of cores found on the tablet, but if this device is to be categorised in the sub-$100 price range, we suspect it will be powered by a single-core processor.

It now appears that a trend is slowly building where devices get revealed in benchmarks to create some hype before manufacturers actually take to the stage to announce its wares. However, at next year's CES, we may see two potential competitors go head to head in the battle of the budget-friendly tablets. 1

Kuldeep: Public fury over Delhi gangrape case

Kuldeep: Public fury over Delhi gangrape case

Public fury over Delhi gangrape case

'Fasi do, Fasi do - death to rapists, death to rapists' - slogans continue to rent the air at India Gate to Vijay Chowk. Young people from all parts of Delhi descend over the heart of Lutyen's Delhi. They are angry, they are upset, they have no faith in the system and some want to change it over night.

Twenty one-year-old Neha is from a South Delhi family. She is doing MBA at a prestigious college. She was upset that somebody asked her if she was from Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

"I don't belong to any party. I have no interest in politics. But, I want a safe city. I have come here on my own," she fumes.

Nineteen-year-old Pinky is from Vinod Nagar in East Delhi. She works at a Super Market as a salesgirl. She was at India Gate after dropping the idea of going to watch a movie. "My job is very tough. I work from 10 AM to 9 PM, six days a week. Sunday is a luxury. I have come here instead of taking rest at home or going for a movie. Because my blood is boiling", she says holding a placard that demands Bobbitty for the rapists. Her friends nod approvingly.

Huge contingents of police stand at a distance watching the burning of seats put up for Republic Day Parade. Whenever the police try to stop young protesters, they push them back and run away with whatever they can snatch from the police.

"Aaj se thand bad gaya, hum police aur sarkar ko thoda thanda karenge" says a 35-year-old shopkeeper from West Delhi.

An Arab couple from Lebanon who have come with their toddler try to negotiate their way through angry crowd, which keeps swelling every minute. A college girl shouts 'Arab spring, Arab spring'. They wave at her and move on.

Vendors are doing a brisk business. The sale of Tea and Gol Gappa has gone up. Elderly people who have come to India Gate with their young children sit near these vendors keeping a close watch on the agitators.

"Business is extremely good. But, we are scared of police. If they continue crackdown, nobody will come here" groundnut seller Chunni Lal says in a hushed tone after making sure that no cop is listening. He admits that he dislikes police the most.

Outdoor Broadcasting Vans (OB Vans) of several dozen news channels have been parked just behind India Gate for the past 5 days. A hassled young reporter is feeling tired after two days of non-stop work. "All that I need is rest. A good rest. But, it does not seem to end soon. What to do?" she asks before rushing to get some more sound bites of angry voices.

A huge crowd curiously watches an overturned car. Police in battle gear rush towards these people menacingly. They start hitting them. Some run away, some fight back, some refuse to move and some shout anti-police slogans.

A JNU student says some pro-Congress rowdy elements have managed to infiltrate the peaceful protesting crowd. "These anti-social elements are creating trouble to discredit this apolitical movement. I know that some of them are from NSUI. We warn the Congress that if it does not stop this, situation will get worse' he thunders fist-pumped from behind his girl friend. Is he actually happy or angry? I wonder!"

A group of 50-60 young professionals discuss the apathy of Delhi police. A 25-year-old man complains that he made a call to Delhi police commissioner Neeraj Kumar in connection with some sexual harassment and got a negative reply. Others share similar experiences with each other.

These are net savvy youngsters. Some discuss celebrity tweets supporting the crowd at India Gate. A few feel that they should make it an international news. "If the international media makes it big like they did during the Arab Spring, this insensitive government will be forced to act", they say.

All Metro stations between Mandi House and Race Course are shut. But, it did not stop people from reaching India Gate. They walk a long distance on a cold Sunday. Some shout 'Death to rapists'. Some just hold placards. Some run on empty roads. Delhi has never seen something like this before.