Review: Acer Liquid

The Acer Liquid could be something of a dark horse in the world of Android powered handsets. Acer is not the first name that springs to mind when thinking of smartphones – honestly, it would be lucky to scrape into the top ten. Yet in the Liquid the company has produced an understated and immensely likeable device that should appeal to even the most discerning user.

Understated is the key word: the Liquid does almost nothing that other devices do, and often quite a bit less, leaving it without much to shout about. Our review unit ran Android 1.6, rather than the newer 2.0; it has some basic support for social networking but nothing that can be compared to Android phones from HTC; the home screen and its widgets are augmented with little beyond the basic Android offerings, and there are no neat tricks like multi-touch on board.

Even the Snapdragon processor is pegged at 768MHz, rather than the full 1GHz that would have turned the Liquid into a true powerhouse.

But if there’s so little out of the ordinary, what is the secret of the Liquid’s success?

Well, at the heart of any smartphone, there is the screen. This is the Liquid’s one claim to fame, since it is the first Android device to have a WVA display (800×480 pixels). It is stunning. Bright, clear, vibrant, a real pleasure. The glossy coating is quite reflective in bright sunlight, but in most conditions it is absolutely fine. It’s incredibly responsive as well, thanks to its capactive layer, and the added oomph from the Snapdragon processor.

Because even though the processor is not performing to its full potential, it still handles every task with ease, while navigating through Android’s various screens and menus – so often an indicator of the speed of a device – is instant. Allied to this we found the Android 1.6 build on the Liquid to be rock solid as well – fast and stable. A update to version 2.0 of the OS will also be available as an over the air download.

Next up is the design, which is extremely elegant. Despite the device being available in various colours – our test unit was white, while red, and black versions are also available – they are classy rather than gaudy, again fitting with the whole understated theme. The unit is light on buttons, just a volume rocker and (rather stiff) camera button on one side and the power button on the other.

The top sees a 3.5mm headphone jack, and the bottom a covered mini-USB port for charging and that is it. The front itself is button-free, with responsive touch sensitive panels beneath the screen. There’s no d-pad or trackball as on other Android handsets, and the snappiness of the system means it isn’t missed either.

Acer has added a few extra apps to the software package to enhance the out of the box experience. For business users there’s the Documents To Go office file viewers and RoadSync software for Exchange email. For consumers the standout is nemoPlayer, a stylish media player that is a welcome alternative to the perfunctory built-in Android media apps.

Both types of user will likely welcome the addition of Acer Sync, a solution for syncing the phone with a PC, should you not want to keep your data solely in the cloud. The cloud is, of course, catered for with the full gamut of Google applications. Add a few more choice offerings from the Android Market and you’ve got a well packed smartphone on your hands.

There are inevitably one or two quibbles. As well as the camera button being stiff, the 5MP camera itself is mediocre. There’s no flash, so is of limited use in all but the best light, and there is also some shutter lag, which is hardly ideal when taking pictures of moving objects.

Probably our only complaint about the hardware design is that the battery needs to be removed in order to add a microSD card. We also found the phone to get quite warm with heavy 3G or GPS use, although that is by no means unique to this device.

Even though the Acer Liquid doesn’t do much that can separate it from the crowd, it still remains a hugely impressive device. It’s a phone that is not trying to be something that it’s not, but rather to simply be good at what it is. And with the Liquid coming in at a firmly mid-range price, it’s hard to argue that this is not the right approach.

In fact, we would be inclined to say that this is our favourite Android smartphone to date.

Price (as reviewed): £330
Supplied by: www.clove.co.uk

Essential Verdict
Performance: 9/10
Design: 9/10
Features: 8/10
Value for Money: 9/10
Overall score: 9/10

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