Acer Iconia Tab A110 goes head to head with the Nexus 7

Acer has lined up Google's Nexus 7 tablet in its sights and has pulled the trigger with its freshly announced Iconia Tab A110. Like the Nexus, it's a 7-inch slate that sports a quad-core processor, the latest Android Jelly Bean software and 8GB of internal storage. But at £180, it costs £20 more than the Nexus 7.

With such similar components under the hood it's difficult to tell the two apart. There are differences though, most noticeably in the screen. The A110's resolution of 1,024x600 pixels falls short of the Nexus 7's 1,200x800-pixels, and brings it below the threshold to be called HD.

Its saving grace, however, is a microSD card slot -- something that's not present on the Nexus 7 -- allowing you to expand the 8GB of built-in storage with an extra 32GB. Unlike the Nexus, the A110 doesn't appear to be available with a higher internal capacity, but 40GB in total is much more capacious than the 16GB in the £199 Nexus 7.

Design-wise, the front of both tablets offer the standard black, glass look, but the A110 opts for a metallic-looking grey back. It's not exactly the most fascinating of designs, but its minimal approach will offend no one.

Jelly Bean is hugely welcome too. Although this latest version of Android has been out for a few months, very few new tablets and phones have launched with it on board, so it's great to see Acer pushing out the latest version as standard, rather than simply promising an upgrade soon.

Jelly Bean offers various tweaks over the older Android Ice Cream Sandwich, including a higher frame rate on the homescreens -- resulting in very smooth page transitions. Google Now, meanwhile, provides live information about your travel habits or your sports teams before you've even searched for it.

The A110 is up for preorder now on eBuyer for £180, with shipping expected from October. What do you make of it? Is the addition of a microSD card slot worth the extra £20? Can you live with the lower resolution? Bring your A game to the comments below, or over on our iconic Facebook page.