Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 Specs and Review: A Detailed Look at Charging Speed

The Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 arrived in early 2013 as one of the cheapest tablets from a major brand, and this Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 review looks at what that low price actually bought. The Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 2013 launch followed its announcement at CES on 7 January 2013, with shops selling it from February 2013. It was a 7-inch Android Jelly Bean slate aimed at first-time buyers, families shopping for a second tablet for their children, and anyone who wanted a simple companion for reading, video and light browsing. The Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 price sat below 150 US dollars at launch, which made it far cheaper than the Nexus 7 of the same period, and the Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 specs explain why: a dual-core MediaTek chip, 512MB of RAM, 8GB of internal storage and a modest 1024 x 600 screen. The Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 release date February 2013 price combination tells the story plainly: a February 2013 launch at under 150 dollars, aimed squarely at buyers who had never owned a tablet before.

This is a classic device from a different era, so this article judges it by 2013 standards and by what it can still do now, not by the standards of a modern tablet. As an Acer tablet 2013 buyers could pick up for the price of a basic phone, it filled a clear gap, and the Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 tablet story is worth revisiting because its charging behaviour shows how far budget tablets have come. The Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 full specifications and review below cover design, display, performance, cameras, connectivity and, in detail, charging. The Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 Android Jelly Bean tablet review that follows is based on the published record of the time: Acer announcements, the user manual, and owner reports from the first months on sale.

Design and Build Quality

The Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 dimensions weight and build quality all point to one goal: keeping the price down while keeping the tablet usable in one hand. Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 dimensions are 197.4 x 128.5 x 11.3 mm, and Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 weight is 320 grams, so it is thicker and heavier than the Nexus 7 but still easy to hold for a child or to slip into a small bag. The body is plain matte plastic with a slightly textured back, and the front is dominated by the 7-inch screen with a fairly wide bezel by modern standards. There is nothing flashy here, and that was the point: every dollar went into making a working tablet, not a pretty one.

A Compact 7-Inch Body Built for Small Hands

The rounded corners and the light weight made it a natural fit for young users, which is why the Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 for kids and first time tablet users angle was central to how Acer sold it. The screen sits in a frame that gives small hands something to grip without covering the display, and the volume rocker and power button sit on the side where they are easy to reach. An Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 case was almost a must-have accessory for families, because the plastic shell marks easily and the screen had no special scratch protection beyond a basic coating. Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 accessories sold at the time included cases, screen protectors and car chargers, and a simple sleeve did a lot to keep a budget tablet alive in a school bag.

Ports, Buttons and the microUSB Charging Port

Along the edges sit a microUSB port, a 3.5 mm headphone jack, a microSD card slot and the power and volume keys. The Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 microUSB charging port and adapter setup is covered in depth in the charging section below, but the short version is that a single microUSB socket handled both charging and data, as was normal in 2013. An Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 unboxing from 2013 showed a simple box: the tablet, a wall adapter, a microUSB cable and a quick start guide, with no headphones and no case in the box. An Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 teardown is best left to a repair shop, since the sealed body hides the battery behind clips that can snap if forced.

What the 5.35V 2A Adapter Means in Practice

The Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 manual lists the power input as 5.35V 2A, which works out to roughly 10.7 watts, and that figure sets the ceiling for how fast this tablet can charge. A 2-amp adapter sounds generous for 2013, yet the tablet only draws what its charging circuit allows, so plugging in a bigger adapter does not make it charge faster. The practical lesson is to keep the bundled adapter, or a good quality equivalent, because a weak phone charger rated at 500 mA will fill the battery far more slowly. That detail matters more than it sounds, and it is the key to the whole charging story of this tablet.

Display: A 7-Inch WSVGA Screen from 2013

The Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 display is a 7-inch TFT LCD panel with a resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels, which gives about 170 pixels per inch. The Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 screen is a capacitive multi-touch panel that supports five touch points, so pinching to zoom and basic gestures work, even if the response feels slow next to a modern panel. Colours are listed at 256K, and the panel is a TFT type rather than the IPS panels used in pricier rivals, so the Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 1024 x 600 display quality is best described as adequate: readable indoors, usable for books and video, and clearly weaker outdoors.

Resolution, Brightness and Viewing Angles

The Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 screen resolution and viewing angles are the weakest part of the package for anyone used to a modern tablet. Text looks a little soft at 1024 x 600, and the picture washes out when viewed from a sharp angle, which is typical of TFT panels of the period. Brightness is modest, so reading in sunlight is a struggle, while indoor use at medium brightness is perfectly fine. For its intended jobs, reading e-books, watching cartoons, browsing the web on the sofa, the screen did the job, and buyers at the price were not expecting a high-resolution panel. The screen is the clearest reminder that this was a tablet built to a price, and it is also the reason the tablet stayed cheap.

Performance: MediaTek MT8317T and 512MB of RAM

The Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 performance was modest even in 2013, and it is the part of the tablet that has aged the least gracefully. The Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 MediaTek MT8317T processor performance comes from a dual-core Cortex-A9 chip running at 1.2 GHz, paired with a PowerVR SGX531 graphics unit. The Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 512MB RAM and 8GB storage combination was already tight at launch: the operating system and the apps that came with the tablet left little room for heavy multitasking, and switching between apps often meant waiting for them to reload. The Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 memory was tight in the same way for everyone who owned one, and it is the main reason the tablet feels slow now.

Everyday Speed on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean

The Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 Android version was 4.1 Jelly Bean, which was current when the tablet launched, and the interface was close to stock Android with only light changes from Acer. Web browsing, email, e-books and video playback all worked, though pages with heavy scripts could stutter, and the tablet was happiest with one app open at a time. The Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 games and apps for Android Jelly Bean that still run are simple titles and old apps, because modern apps need far more memory and a newer Android version than this tablet can offer. The Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 software update and Jelly Bean features story is short: it shipped with Android 4.1 and received only minor updates, so there was no jump to a newer Android generation. The Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 update path was short, and owners who wanted newer software had to accept the tablet as it was. For a closer look at another Acer device from the same period, see Acer Liquid C1: A Full Review With Detailed Specifications, which shows how Acer balanced price and hardware across its 2013 range.

Gaming and Apps on a Dual-Core Budget Chip

Light games from the era, puzzle titles, simple racers and 2D platform games, ran acceptably on the MT8317T, while demanding 3D games of the time already pushed it to its limits. Video playback at standard definition was smooth, and 720p clips generally played, though seeking through a long video could pause briefly while the small memory caught up. The 8GB of internal storage held the system and a modest app collection, and the Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 microSD card expansion up to 32GB gave owners room for music, photos and offline video. Moving apps to the card was possible for some titles, but the card was mainly useful as media storage, and a slow card could make the tablet feel even slower.

Charging Speed and Battery Life

The Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 charging time and battery life are the heart of this review, because charging is where a budget tablet from 2013 shows its age most clearly. The Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 2710mAh battery charging speed was ordinary for its class: there was no fast charging standard in a tablet at this price in 2013, and the tablet simply filled its 2710mAh cell at the steady rate its circuit allowed. The Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 battery is a sealed lithium-ion unit rated at 2710mAh, and the tablet charges through its microUSB port using the bundled adapter. A common question is how long does Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 battery last on a single charge, and the honest answer for a 2013 budget tablet is that it depends heavily on screen brightness and video playback, with most owners getting through a day of light reading and browsing but needing a top-up after a few hours of video.

How the 2710mAh Battery Charges

The Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 charging setup is simple: plug the bundled adapter into the wall, connect the microUSB cable, and the tablet charges while showing a battery icon. With a 2710mAh cell to fill and a 5.35V 2A adapter supplying power, a full charge from empty typically took around two and a half to three and a half hours, which is an estimate based on the capacity and the adapter rating rather than a laboratory measurement. Charging from a computer USB port, which usually supplies far less current, could stretch that time to five hours or more, so the wall adapter was always the better choice. If you wonder how to charge Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 with 5 volt adapter options, the safest answer is to use the bundled 5.35V 2A adapter or a good quality 5 volt 2 amp adapter, and to avoid cheap no-name chargers that can run hot or deliver unstable power. The Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 charger bundled in the box was a small wall adapter with a fixed microUSB cable in some regions and a separate cable in others, and keeping it matters, because the tablet has no wireless charging and no removable battery to swap. Readers who want to compare charging behaviour across Acer devices of the same era can read Acer Liquid E1 Detailed Review and Specifications: Charging Speed in Focus, which looks at charging speed on an Acer phone from the same period.

Real-World Battery Life in Daily Use

In daily use the battery was good enough for the jobs Acer had in mind. Owners at the time generally reported a day of casual use, reading, a little browsing, some video, with the tablet still alive in the evening, and video playback of around four to five hours at moderate brightness is a fair estimate for a fresh battery. Heavy video playback drained it faster, because the screen and processor worked harder than during reading, and leaving GPS on in the background also shortened the day. The Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 battery replacement and repair guide question comes up now because every original battery is more than a decade old: a worn cell holds less charge and may swell, so a battery that dies quickly or a back cover that bulges is a sign to stop using the tablet and take it to a repair shop. An Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 factory reset without losing data is not possible in the strict sense, because a reset wipes the internal memory, so back up photos and files to a microSD card first. Common Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 problems reported by owners included the small RAM, the dim screen and the weak camera, and a tired battery is the most common complaint on surviving units now.

Cameras, Audio and Connectivity

The Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 7 inch tablet with Wi-Fi connectivity was a practical choice for buyers who wanted a cheap slate for home use, because it reached the internet through a home wireless network. The Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 camera hardware is a single front VGA unit, and there is no rear camera at all, which was a deliberate cost saving. The Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 front camera VGA photo quality is poor by any standard: 0.3 megapixels gives soft, noisy images that are only good enough for a video call in bright light. Selfies and video chats worked, but nobody bought this tablet for photography, and the lack of a rear camera meant it could never serve as a casual camera. The Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 speakers consist of a single mono speaker, and an Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 mono speaker sound quality test from the era found it loud enough for a quiet room but thin and easy to muffle when the tablet lay flat on a table. Headphones through the 3.5 mm jack sounded far better, and most owners used them for video and music.

Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 and GPS

The Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 WiFi Bluetooth GPS tablet features cover the basics well for 2013. The Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 Wi-Fi only tablet no SIM slot design kept the price down: there is no cellular radio and no SIM slot, so the tablet reaches the internet through Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n at home or on a public hotspot. The Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 Bluetooth 4.0 pairing and file transfer worked with headsets, keyboards and other phones, and the Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 GPS navigation and location accuracy were good enough for basic navigation with an offline map app, with a lock that could take a minute on a cold start. Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n handled home networks, and with no mobile data of its own the tablet stayed a home and Wi-Fi-hotspot device.

The B1-A71 and the B1-710: What Is Different

The Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 vs Acer Iconia Tab B1-710 differences come down to launch timing and memory. The B1-A71 came first, in February 2013, with 512MB of RAM, while the B1-710 followed in November 2013 with 1GB of RAM. Both are Wi-Fi-only tablets with no SIM slot and no mobile data, so the two share the same screen, chip and battery and differ mainly in memory and price. Buyers who only ever used Wi-Fi could pick either one, while anyone who needs mobile data should look at the later B1-711, the 3G model of this tablet line. For the full picture of the sibling model, read Acer Iconia Tab B1-710 at a Glance: Review and Detailed Specifications. The Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 vs Nexus 7 comparison is also worth a short note: the Nexus 7 had a sharper screen, more RAM and a faster chip, but it cost noticeably more, and the Acer undercut it by aiming at buyers who wanted the cheapest usable tablet from a known brand. A wider look at Acer tablets of the period is available in Everything About the Acer Iconia Tab A110: Review, Audio and Full Specifications, which covers a slightly larger Acer slate from the same era.

Full Specifications

The Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 specs in the table below are the published figures for this model: announced 7 January 2013, released February 2013, and discontinued years ago. The Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 features listed here match the Acer manual and the launch record, including the MediaTek MT8317T chip, the 7-inch 1024 x 600 display, and the 2710mAh battery.

The Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 16GB version price in Europe was 139 euros, which arrived a little after the 8GB version and gave buyers double the storage for a modest premium. Both versions shared the same chip, screen and battery, so the choice was purely about how much space the owner needed for apps and media.

Pros and Cons

Judged as a 2013 budget tablet, the B1-A71 had a clear set of strengths and an equally clear set of limits. The list below keeps the balance honest: this was a good cheap tablet for its time, not a good tablet by the standards of the years that followed.

What We Like

• Very low launch price for a tablet from a major brand, under 150 US dollars.
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n connectivity, so it worked online at home or on a public hotspot.
• Light 320-gram body that suited children and first-time tablet owners.
• microSD expansion up to 32GB for music, books and offline video.
• Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, which was current at launch, with GPS and Bluetooth 4.0 included.

What Falls Short

• Only 512MB of RAM, which made multitasking slow even in 2013.
• A dim 1024 x 600 TFT screen with narrow viewing angles.
• No rear camera and only a VGA front camera.
• A single mono speaker that is easy to muffle.
• A sealed 2710mAh battery that now, more than a decade on, is the most likely part to have worn out.

Frequently Asked Questions

When was the Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 released?

It was announced at CES on 7 January 2013 and released in February 2013, with shops in several markets selling it from late January into February. It was discontinued years ago and is now a classic budget tablet from the early Android era.

How long does the Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 take to charge?

A full charge from empty typically took around two and a half to three and a half hours with the bundled 5.35V 2A adapter, which is an estimate based on the 2710mAh capacity and the adapter rating. Charging from a low-power computer USB port took considerably longer, so the wall adapter was always the better choice.

Does the Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 have a SIM card slot?

No. The B1-A71 has no SIM slot and no mobile data: like the B1-710, it is a Wi-Fi-only tablet, and it reaches the internet through Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n. The 3G model of this tablet line is the later B1-711, not the B1-A71.

What is the difference between the Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 and the B1-710?

Both the B1-A71 and the B1-710 are Wi-Fi only, with no SIM slot and no mobile data. The two models share the same 7-inch screen, MediaTek MT8317T chip and 2710mAh battery, while the B1-710 doubles the memory to 1GB of RAM against the A71’s 512MB, so memory and launch timing are the meaningful differences between them.

Can the Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 still be used today?

It can still switch on and run its old apps, play stored video and music, and serve as a simple e-book reader, but it cannot run modern apps or current web services well, and its battery is likely worn. The Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 reset procedure can help if it runs slowly: back up files first, then reset from the settings menu, which clears the internal memory and returns the tablet to its factory state.

Final Verdict: Who Should Still Care About the B1-A71

So is Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 still worth buying today? For most people, no: as a daily tablet it is outmatched in every way by even the cheapest modern slate, and its small memory and old Android version close the door on current apps. But as a piece of tablet history, it has a modest charm: it was one of the first tablets to bring the price below 150 dollars from a major brand, and it did so without leaving out GPS or a card slot. Anyone asking where to buy Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 second hand should look at used-device marketplaces, check that the battery still holds a charge, and pay only a small amount, because it is a collector item or a simple offline media player now, not a working tablet. The Acer Iconia Tab B1-A71 charging story sums it up well: a less than 150 US dollars tablet that filled its small battery in a few unhurried hours and gave a day of light use in return. For a sense of how Acer phones from the same year were judged, see Is the Acer Liquid Z110 Worth It? Review, Specs and Verdict, which applies the same kind of value-for-money test to a small Acer handset of 2013.