Price and specifications of Acer Liquid advantages, disadvantages, and a comprehensive explanation

Overview of Acer Liquid

The Acer Liquid represents an intriguing entry in the smartphone market, having been announced in October 2009 and released in December of that same year. As part of the early wave of smartphones, it offers a blend of functionality and style that reflects the technological advancements of that era. This article delves into the key features, design, performance, and the overall significance of the Acer Liquid in the context of its time.

Design and Build Quality

The Acer Liquid was designed with both aesthetics and practicality in mind. It has dimensions of 115 x 62.5 x 12.5 mm and weighs 135 g, making it a compact and lightweight phone for its time. The device's physical design was built around the Mini-SIM technology, which was standard at the time.

The choice of materials and color options - black, white, and red - also highlight Acer's desire to cater to diverse tastes. Despite being discontinued, its build quality remains commendable, serving as a testament to Acer's commitment to producing durable electronics.

Display Features

With a TFT display of 3.5 inches and offering 256K colors, the Acer Liquid provides users with a vibrant viewing experience by the standards of 2009. It has a screen resolution of 480 x 800 pixels, resulting in a pixel density of approximately 267 ppi. Although modern smartphones have surpassed these specs, at the time, this display was competitive and provided clear and bright images.

Performance and Operating System

The Acer Liquid was among the first smartphones to run on the Android 1.6 (Donut) OS, which was groundbreaking for its ability to support a wide array of applications and functionalities. Under the hood, it houses the Qualcomm QSD8250 Snapdragon S1 chipset and a 768 MHz Scorpion CPU, which facilitated efficient operations. Complementing this is the Adreno 200 GPU that managed graphical tasks adequately.

The device came with 256MB of RAM. While limited by today's standards, the RAM was sufficient for the tasks typical of early Android devices. Additionally, the phone offers a microSDHC slot for storage expansion, thereby allowing users to bypass the limited 512MB of internal storage.

Camera Capabilities

The main camera on the Acer Liquid is a 5 MP autofocus unit, which was a notable feature during its release. The camera could record video at 480p@20fps. While it does not have a front-facing camera, the main camera served most casual photography needs of the time.

Battery Life and Connectivity

The device is powered by a removable Li-Ion 1350 mAh battery. Users could expect up to 400 hours on standby and up to 5 hours of talk time. This offered decent battery life for a smartphone from the late 2000s.

Connectivity options include Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP, GPS, and A-GPS, ensuring that users could stay connected wherever they went. The inclusion of miniUSB was also standard for the era, allowing for charging and data transfers.

Audio and Additional Features

The Acer Liquid is equipped with a loudspeaker and a 3.5mm headphone jack, providing users with essential audio options. Audio quality tests reported a noise figure of -82.3dB and crosstalk at -80.3dB, ensuring acceptable sound quality for music and calls.

Additional features include standard sensors such as an accelerometer and proximity sensor, which contribute to the functionality and user experience of the device. The HTML browser provided internet browsing capabilities, an essential feature for early smartphones.

Price and Market Position

At its launch, the Acer Liquid was priced around 90 EUR, making it a mid-range option in the smartphone market. Despite its discontinuation, the device holds historical value as part of the early Android smartphone ecosystem and is a notable mention in Acer's smartphone legacy.

Conclusion

The Acer Liquid succeeded in delivering a combination of innovative technology and user-friendly design, marking its place in the evolution of smartphones. While it may not compete with today's flagship devices, it offered a respectable array of features to its users at a competitive price point. The device stands as a reflection of the technological stride taken during its time, reminiscent of the early adaptation of Android OS in mobile technology.