As we carry almost 60% of our body weight in liquid (water), hence another 135 grams won?t make much of a difference! But if that 135 grams is Acer?s ?Liquid?, with ?capacitive touch? screen, Android ?Donut? as the OS and the mighty Qualcomm Snapdragon (at 768 Mhz) as the power plant, I am sure its? going to create a few ripples if not a tsunami.
New into the cellphone business, the ?Liquid? is Acer?s first rendezvous with the Android, presumptively what the doctor ordered! And my word, it?s a worthy one, minor glitches all pardoned! Cosmetically, ?Liquid? is a very attractive and sleek device with contoured sides and arched top and bottom ends. The glossy pearl white plastic body and black bezel on the face, framing the 3.5-inch capacitive touch-screen of WVGA resolution, TFT LCD display panel gives it a ?dressed in evening formals?-like appearance. It is also available in deep red and black colours.
All three physical keys (power on, volume up/down and camera shutter) are discreetly placed on the either sides, tapering down and behind, out of sight.
On the rear giving company to the 5 mega pixel auto focus camera lens (sans flash) is a grilled opening of the audio speaker. The ?rip me off, if you can? type of back cover to access battery, SIM and micro SD card is a put-off, but the 3.5-mm standard audio jack (for head set) on the top and a mini USB socket (for charging and connectivity) on the bottom even off for it.
Measuring 115mm x 625mm x 125mm, Acer Liquid appears a tad bulky, but then this girth is justified for housing a big 3.5inch display and a 1350 mAh, Li-ion polymer battery.
The display screen is bright and crisp. Vivid reproduction of colours (256 K) and 480×800 pixel native resolution is good enough to support hi- definition multimedia contents? playback. The capacitive touch screen, which is rather responsive and accurate, and will dance to the tunes of your finger in full fluidity, without any trace of a lag. The icons of the four touch-sensitive buttons along the bottom of the display for ?home, search, back and menu? (typical of Android phones) requires a little getting used to or else they may appear to be inscriptions right out of the chambers of the great Pyramids.
The Liquid?s 5 mega pixel camera has a decent auto focus lens and snaps sharp and colourful visuals in the bright outdoor light. But once indoors in ambient light, it falters and lack of any inbuilt flash light bogs it down further. A big disappointment for the shutter bugs!
The Android ?Donut? (version1.6) as the operating system in the Liquid is very stable and runs smoothly and comes with hereditary Google applications like Gmail, Gtalk, Google maps, etc, with access to the rapidly growing collection of applications from the Android marketplace.
The on-screen layout is pleasant, user-friendly and customisable with a three-page home screen. You can create new desktop or shortcuts of frequently used applications for quick access and flip through them with a single slide of finger. I particularly liked the Japanese fan-like browsing of the personal folders on either side of the screen.
The android as an OS and Qualcomm ?Snapdragon? as the processor makes the Liquid a very snappy and responsive smart phone, and it chugs through heavy applications, games, multimedia and Internet activity smoothly without any hiccups, but at a cost! And that is battery life.
Though to compensate it somewhat, the ?Snapdragon? has been under-clocked, but still it barely manages a day with reasonable smart-phone usage.