Acer neoTouch P400 review

Acer has released two quite similar Windows Phone based smartphones recently. The neoTouch P400 is a classic slab style smartphone, while the neoTouch P300  has a slide-out keyboard.

The general specifications of the P400 include elements you would expect from a higher end smartphone. Alongside Windows Mobile 6.5.3 is Wi-Fi that supports 802.11 b and g, GPS and a 3.2 megapixel camera that supports geotagging via the GPS.

There is a 3.5mm audio jack for using your own headphones instead of those provided, and it is located in the most convenient position on the top edge of the chassis. The screen is HVGA, but not capacitive.

Acer doesn’t always get the physical design of its smartphones right but the company has made quite a good job this time round. The shell is an unashamed homage to the iPhone with a shiny black front, silver band running continuously around the curved edges and sides, and a wide, letterbox design for the speaker above the screen.

The ‘in your face’ Acer branding lacks the subtlety of the iPhone, though, and Acer has used a rubberised finish to the backplate rather than Apple’s shiny, less grippy, more scratch-prone plastic.

Beneath the screen there are four touch buttons. These cater for Call and End features, call up the Windows Phone application menu and take you to the Home screen. A circle around the Home button doubles up as a charge indicator – red while you charge the neoTouch P400, green when the battery is full. It is a nice touch, if a little unsubtle in the way it has been implemented.

Acer has chosen not to skin the Windows Phone software. This means that, rather rarely these days, you get to see the Windows Phone vertically scrolling main screen in all its dubious glory. You can reposition items in the apps menu to suit your own preferences. Not a huge thing in itself, but a handy personalisation feature.

You have to deal with some pretty small tappable areas at times. While Windows Mobile has been tweaked for finger friendliness it does not feel the same as an operating system designed with finger-touch use in mind from the very beginning.

Skinned versions of Windows Phone, most notably HTC’s Sense user interface, are much better and much more useable as a result. But it is not an easy thing to perfect and we are glad that Acer has decided to leave the custom skin it used on earlier smartphones behind this time round.

Acer’s lack of skinning is mirrored by its decision not to add much to Windows Phone by way of software. Acer sticks to Facebook, YouTube, Google and Google Maps add-ons. The rest you will have to obtain from the Windows Market Place. Not even Opera has been added as an alternative to Internet Explorer, so you’d need to make that one of your first downloads.

Text entry is reasonably easy thanks to a keyboard which slides into wide mode when you swivel the neoTouch P400 in your hand. We got to about 70 percent of maximum smartphone softkeyboard speed with it.

There is a bit of an irritation as soon as you switch the neoTouch P400 on, as you have to calibrate the screen using a stylus. That’s quite an old fashioned thing to be asked to do these days, though still very much a part of the Windows Phone setup process. The irritation is that there is no stylus sitting in a slot on the device, and none in the box.

A fingertip is not accurate enough, so we reached for a pen and used the nib. It perfectly illustrates how Windows Mobile is stuck in that awkward compromise between finger and stlyus usage, and is becoming increasingly unsatisfactory for either.

We found the neoTouch P400 ran a little hot at times. Not worryingly so, but the back of the chassis did get a bit warm after a while, which might become an issue in the medium to long term.

Overall, though, this is a nicely designed smartphone which may suit anyone who wants plain, vanilla Windows Phone rather than a smartphone with a skinned user interface and lots of add-ons.

Price: £316
Web: www.acer.co.uk

Essential Verdict
Performance: 7/10
Not a powerhouse but capable of delivering reasonable performance within its limitations

Design: 8/10
Appealing hardware design especially if you like the look of the iPhone

Features: 6/10
The basic features are here but unskinned Windows Phone feels tricksy to use

Value for Money: 6/10
Feels a little expensive for an unskinned smartphone with few extras

Overall score: 7/10
Fine for what it is, but Acer could have done a lot more to try and turn this phone into a winner

Review written by Sandra Vogel. Originally published in Smartphone Essentials magazine.

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