The Acer Iconia W4 is a compact tablet 8 inch in size and it is one of the initial products of this to be advertised and offered minus the keyboard dock. It discards almost everything that makes ultraboOKs which are hybrid in nature so costly. By doing so, the tablet creates a completely new category in the market for itself.

Feel and loOK of the Tablet
The tablet has an 8 inch screen. The body of the tablet is much bigger than other tabs of the same category, but it is not very apparent. The tablet is thicker and larger than the iPad Mini but given the fact that the tablet runs the Windows OS, it is quite impressive.

Around the screen, a bezel of black glass runs. There is an additional plastic lip grey in colour at the bottom. The speakers, ports and physical Windows buttons fit into this space. The tablet is easily handheld and smooth and minus air passages along the side.
The edge on the left is totally blank although the volume rocker, microphone pinhole, micro SD card slot and Micro-HDMI port are located on the edge on the right. A status LED and power button has been kept on top along with an indentation which is not marked which could be used for accessories meant to be snapped on. A 3.5mm headphone jack, twin stereo speakers and micro USB port are located at the bottom.

Back side has a fake metal brushed texture although it is made of plastic completely. The Acer logo in silver has been kept in the middle.

There is much to appreciate about Iconia W4. The tablet has the complete prowess of a laptop or personal computer on a device as small as 8 inches, which includes complete Windows laptop software such as MS Office tools. Users might have to spend some to get acquainted with the Modern user interface. The tablet can be used with a more hands on approach as there is no keyboard or stand. You will tend to use it more in your hands than on table top.

Features and Specifications
Expecting the tablet to be a complete PC is unfair. The processor used is the Intel Atom Z3740 CPU which is coded as Bay Trail and it utilizes the fairly modern Silvermont. The chip is quad core one and operates at 1.33 GHz. Integrated HD graphics have been included in it although the graphics do not clock more than 667 MHz. Nevertheless, it is adequate for playing videos but expecting gaming prowess from it would be too much.

The CPU provided is of 64 bits even though Acer has chosen the 32 bit copy of the Windows OS. It may be due to the restrictions imposed by Microsoft's cost effective Small Screen Touch license agreement. It serves as a disappointment nevertheless.

The RAM provided is 2GB whereas the tablet comes with 64GB or 32GB of in-built storage. None of these are upgradeable or accessible and hence buyers should go for the ones with the maximum capacity. A micro SD card slot has been provided which can read 64GB XC cards and might have higher capacities when they are made available.

The screen works on 1280X800 resolution which is standard for tablets of this size. However, it is nowhere close to the 2013 Nexus 7 or iPad mini having the Retina Display which might make the display loOK grainy if you are a user of one of the aforementioned devices. On-screen and text elements on a desktop powered by Windows 8 are pretty small which might be uncomfortable for some individuals. On increasing the DPI scale from 100% to 125% a difference may be felt.

MicroUSB ports cannot be used for transferring files from a PC the way users would usually do with an iOS or Android device. However, the tablet is able enough to host hard drives,USB pen drives and similar devices. For using micro USB pen drives, you will have to make use of the adapter which is provided for all normal USB accessories. One such adapter is contained within the package.

For wireless connectivity, Bluetooth 4.0 and Wi-Fi b/g/n have been provided. The battery included is 4960 mAh and can be used for 8 hours for continuous playbacks of videos. The rear and front camera is 5 and 2 megapixels respectively, which is quite OK considering the fact that you would not be using the camera too extensively.

Software
The Windows 8.1 is much improved over its former version Windows 8. Problems such as wasted space and excessive scrolling are countered well here. However searching for something just by typing a few words will not work here and also the apps from the Windows store are not adequately equipped to handle the jump to a larger screen. If you intend to utilize the Acer Iconia W4 Tablet in your office or as a replacement of a netboOK or laptop, you should seriously consider buying a transportable keyboard. The Bluetooth versions will keep you from dealing with an OTG adapter. However, you should remember that you have to charge and carry the external keyboard.

A full version of the Microsoft Office has been included in the tablet which is not bound by a time limit. The Home and Student 2013 version includes PowerPoint, Word, OneNote and Excel which is otherwise sold for Rs 5,499. In comparison, a year-long subscription of the Office 365 will cost a user Rs 4,199.

The Atom CPU supplies reasonable performance. Sluggishness is not noticeable although the speed of a regular laptop is too much to be expected on it. The 5 megapixel rear camera clicks good photographs in adequate light. Objects which are near appear clear but the ones in the background appear hazy. The battery will last you for 3 hours and 46 minutes if you continuously use it for regular PC tasks, watching videos, playing games etc.

The device is recommendable, especially for its full Windows utility. However, if you are expecting to perform tasks that you do on a laptop or netboOK, then this might not be the right device for you.