Acer is looking to put its fork into the entertainment tablet pie with an Android slate due for release before year end. 
Utilizing a 7-inch screen, and full QWERTY keyboard contained within a "chin" underneath the screen, the device is poised to compete with not only the iPad, but Amazon's Kindle.
Acer intends to bundle the hardware with its own version of Android rather than developing its own operating system, like HP with its acquisition of Palm. Gianfranco Lanci, during his presentation of the device at Acer’s Source Home global press conference explains that: "We are not thinking to do our own operating system. Our own user interface, yes – and maybe our own middleware, we are working on certain things – but not our own operating system. Android is very good in terms of Internet browsing and connectivity. You can run it on an ARM processor at a certain speed and Android is light enough not to overload the CPU.”
The device will also include 3G as well as wi-fi, in a move that Lanci calls "an important part of the device. Acer is "not looking just at Wi-Fi, you need both Wi-Fi and 3G”.
Acer has chosen the 7-inch screen size as they are "not convinced that 10 inches is the right size for this type of device", and that open-source "is a better solution than a proprietary system. This is no longer a Wintel world.”
Acer expects to release the new device in Q4 of this year “which probably means September or October”, according to APCMag
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