Acer Iconia Tab iM10-22 tablet review: a feature-packed 4G tablet with some caveats

• By Dhruv Joshi
Published On: 26 February 2025 | 11:10 IST Last Updated On: 3 March 2025 | 16:00 IST

When you’re shopping for a tablet in the ballpark of Rs 15,000, there are quite a few tempting options. What is rare, though, is finding one with 4G connectivity at this price. Behold the Acer Iconia Tab iM10-22—a bit of a mouthful, but a fun little device that sneaks in just under Rs 15,000. I’ve been using it for some time now, and in this review, I’ll discuss its quirks and try to answer whether it is a worthy option for its price.

Design & display

The Acer Iconia Tab iM10-22 takes a minimalistic approach to design. The rear panel is a metal frame in Rose Gold, with just a central Acer logo keeping things clean. Up in the top left corner, there’s a small camera island housing a 16MP sensor and a flash. It does protrude slightly, but not enough to make the tablet wobble when laid flat. You also get wired earphones and a good-quality TPU case included in the box, which makes me feel quite nostalgic and is something to be appreciated. The tablet doesn’t feel too heavy either, and is comfortable to hold, even with one-handed usage. The matte finish also helps it evade fingerprints and smudges.

You get your usual USB-C at the bottom, a quad-speaker setup, a Pogo pin port, and thankfully, a 3.5mm headphone jack sitting at the bottom right. The power and volume buttons are placed towards the top right when held in landscape mode. The design is clean, practical, and refreshingly simple, something I quite like. The power button also doubles as a fingerprint sensor, which is swift and accurate.

Moving to the display, you get a 10.36-inch IPS panel with a 2000 × 1200 resolution, a 60Hz refresh rate, and a peak brightness of 480 nits. The bezels are on the thicker side, and there’s a bright white Acer logo at the bottom centre, which I’m not too fond of. It’s a bit distracting at first, but you get used to it. On the plus side, the high resolution ensures crisp visuals, making content look sharp and appealing. The colours, however, were a little washed out for my taste, although you can tweak them in the settings.

The quad-speaker system is the real hero here and delivers loud and immersive audio, perfect for multimedia! Although the sound is a bit bass-heavy and crackles a little at max volume. The biggest drawback, though, is the 60Hz refresh rate. In 2025, it feels rather archaic and makes the tablet feel slower than it should.

Performance & software

The tablet runs on the MediaTek Helio G99 chipset, paired with up to 8GB of LPDDR4 RAM and 256GB of eMMC storage. If you need more space, you can expand it further with a microSD card. Given that the Helio G99 is an entry-level chip, I wasn’t expecting a lot of power going in. My main concerns were that the interface didn’t lag too much, it handled everyday tasks smoothly, and it could manage some light gaming.

In that regard, the Acer tablet delivered as expected. There’s some lag during regular use, especially when multitasking, but it’s not disruptive and can be worked around. While reading, watching YouTube, and scrolling through social media, it does the job just fine, and I faced no major issues. Older 3D games run well, and the large, high-resolution screen makes gaming enjoyable.

Newer and more demanding titles like BGMI and COD:Mobile, however, can push the limits of this hardware, so it’s best to keep expectations in check. These games run fine on medium graphical settings and you can reduce the graphics further to improve performance.

For software, the device gets Android 14 out of the box and is promised 2 major OS upgrades and 3 years of security updates. The OS is stock Android, so it is clean, efficient, and works smoothly. If you’re someone who’s fond of clean, minimal software, you’d enjoy the experience on this tablet.

Cameras & 4G connectivity

Acer has been generous with the cameras on this tablet, equipping it with a 16MP rear sensor and an 8MP front camera. The front camera is decent and captures a good amount of detail, although the colours are a little dull. The 16MP rear camera performs similarly but isn’t quite on par with what you’d get on a smartphone. There’s a lot of softness, limited dynamic range, and a slightly washed-out look, making images feel a little lacking in detail.

I tested the 4G connectivity using my Airtel SIM, and I’m happy to report that the experience was great. Call quality was loud and clear, and network speeds were consistent with what I’d normally get on my personal device. If you’re planning to use this as a secondary device with a dedicated SIM, the Acer Iconia handles the job well.

Battery & charging

The tablet packs a 7,400mAh battery and comes with an 18W Type-C fast charger. Battery life is fairly average compared to other tablets in this price range. With moderate use, you’ll get a full day out of it, but heavier usage will have you reaching for the charger by evening. In our battery benchmark test, it registered an ordinary result, trailing slightly behind the Redmi Pad SE 4G (review). As for charging, the device takes a little over two hours to go from 20 to 100 percent. It is not the fastest, but reasonable given the battery size.

Verdict

The Acer Iconia iM10-22 starts at Rs 14,999 for the 6GB+128GB variant and goes up to Rs 17,999 for the 8GB+256GB model. It brings a high-resolution display, impressive speakers, 4G connectivity, and decent performance to the table.

That said, the lack of a higher refresh rate feels like a missed opportunity for a multimedia-focused device. Its battery life is fairly average, and the pricing is a bit higher compared to some alternatives. The Redmi Pad SE 4G (review), for instance, offers longer battery life and 4G connectivity at a slightly lower price.

Overall, if you prioritise a sharp display, solid speakers, and 4G connectivity, the Acer Iconia iM10-22 remains an option worth considering under Rs 15,000.

Editor’s Rating: 7.5/10

Pros:

• Good multimedia experience
• Decent everyday performance
• 4G connectivity

Cons:

• Low refresh rate
• Average battery life