Hands-on with Acer's DA241HL 24-inch all-in-one running Android
Granted, tablets are getting up there in size, but even after a couple of Android all-in-ones (including, in fact, one from Acer early this year), we're still not fully used to playing Angry Birds on a glossy 24-inch display. We're sure we'll get a better handle on it, but these things take time. For those who want their Android games and apps in full, giant HD, there's the DA241HL. We've got to admit, while it's still an odd space, Acer's doubling down here, with a pretty nicely designed all-in-one that looks a bit better than the current DA220HQL.
Along the bottom, you'll find one long speaker grille with four buttons: input, monitor settings, volume up and down and power. Flip the device around to find the hinged stand and a removable panel that hides three USB ports, an SD slot, a headphone jack, HDMI and micro-USB sockets. The USB, in particular, will come in handy when you want to connect up a keyboard and mouse, and you'll be using the HDMI and micro-USB should you decide to connect a phone or PC to use it as a secondary display.
The quad-core Tegra 3 processor was able to handle all the Android apps we threw at it, and while they're a bit tricky at first, the keyboard and mouse play nicely with the OS. Still, navigation is just much more natural when you're using the touchscreen to interact -- if your arms get tired, however, there's always a fallback. As for the OS itself, this is vanilla Android 4.2, as per Acer's earlier "we don't believe in modification" comment. That's probably for the best here, as it's already a bit tricky learning to navigate the mobile operating system on such a large display, even without an added skin.
We're still not entirely convinced that this is a category that needs to exist, though there is, perhaps, something to be said for maintaining a consistent ecosystem across devices. And, of course there are some games and other apps that are optimized for that Tegra processor. But again, you've got to be really into the concept of playing casual games on a 24-inch display for that to be a selling point. If that, along with external monitor functionality, is enough to convince you, you'll be able to pick one up here in Europe for €429 next month.
