If there's a hotly contested tablet category it has to be the affordable 7-inch sector. And Acer has unveiled an additional two tabs to add to the stack: the Iconia One 7 and Iconia Tab 7, both of which we've got our hands on at the company's A Touch More Connected press event in New York.

We'll start with the Iconia One 7, a tablet that comes dressed in one of several colours. We found the yellow rather fetching, but there are also pink, purple, green, blue, light blue, orange, red, black and white finishes available.

The back is textured for a good grip although it feels plasticky, which is no surprise at this given price point. We don't have UK price points just yet, but the One 7 will retail for €140, which we would think will be a similar equivalent in Sterling.

acer iconia one 7 iconia tab 7 pictures and hands on image 2

The tablet has a 1280 x 800 pixel panel which Acer calls "HD", but we'd call that a stretch. It's not a patch on the Nexus 7 (2013) and its 1920 x 1080 pixel panel - a model that retails for around €29 more. Not that the Acer screen looks bad, it's just not best in class, despite being a newer release. Viewing angles are decent, though, thanks to an IPS panel - although we did find reflections to be a little prominent.

At under 300g and 9.5mm thick the lightweight tablet is easy to hold, while three on-screen Android command buttons make for familiar navigation. We found the Tab 7 to be somewhat slow with simple tasks such as auto rotating the screen too. There's only so much 1GB of RAM can handle we suppose.

On the front there's a 0.3MP camera, with a 2MP offering to the rear. Again, it's all a bit behind the times. There's only so much a dash of colour can make up for.

acer iconia one 7 iconia tab 7 pictures and hands on image 21

Conversely the grey-only Iconia Tab 7 looks altogether less colourful but has a protruding 5MP rear camera and 3G connectivity. The screen is the same as the One 7, but the device is a few grams lighter and a touch thinner at 9mm. The camera protrusion undoes much of that gained benefit though.

In the busy tablet market these two 7-inch Android tablets are functional, but fail to truly excite or lead in their class. The Acer Iconia Tab 7 will cost €150, out at the end of May, while the Iconia One 7 will cost €140 and be available from mid-May.