Gadget of the Week: Rogers Acer Liquid E Smartphone

Rogers and Acer have teamed up to break from a painful (to the consumer) tradition, which stipulates that all powerful smartphones must sell for over $500. The Acer Liquid E is a Snapdragon CPU, Android 2.1 Eclair powered unit that has a delicious high-resolution (800×480) 3.5″ LCD and sells for only $424.99 outright or $49.99 with a standard 3-year Canadian contract.


Many are wary of low prices. I know that I usually question why a product is selling for less than its competitors. Acer is known to undercut its rivals, but the company’s reputation for reliability and build quality is also mixed. With little experience building smartphones, has Acer under-priced the Liquid because it is mediocre, or do good bargains actually exist?

W H A T ‘ S - H O T :
+ I took the headline picture of the Liquid near territory where AMOLED does not dare venture (i.e. sunlight), and as you can tell, the LCD is still bright and clear. The colors are vibrant and fairly accurate, omitting AMOLED’s over-saturation. Images look sharp, as expected from an 800×480 display, and contrast is high.

+ Although underclocked to 768MHz from 1GHz, the Snapdragon CPU enables the Liquid to be buttery smooth in Eclair. Live wallpapers are fast, and most applications (including Google Earth) load up instantly. The Linpack benchmark score of 5.24 (I hit 5.33 once) is the same as the HTC Evo 4G and other 1GHz phones.

+ Pleasantly surprising, the multi-touch panel on the Liquid is accurate and responsive. Setting the sensitivity to the highest level works well for me, and I made few mistakes surfing websites and tapping around. Typing is fine and works better than most other Android phones that I have tested. While the HTC Droid Incredible, with its Amtel sensor, is better than the Liquid E, the Acer is, in turn, seemingly superior to the Nexus One.

+ Voice quality is above average, and the speaker is loud enough for hearing YouTube and clips without needing headphones.

+ A few appreciated bonuses that Acer has thrown in are a screen protector shield and a sleeve.

+ The Liquid’s build quality feels, generally, solid, with no flex on the LCD glass. Also, I dig the contoured edges and deep black paint that is not too glossy.

W H A T ‘ S - N O T :
- Acer has left Eclair’s GUI almost unmodified. In one respect, this could be a blessing because upgrading to FroYo might be easier and quicker for the company to accomplish. Compared with HTC’s Sense UI, though, the vanilla Eclair interface is not as attractive or as useful.

- The 5-megapixel camera lacks flash but does shoot pretty decent photographs in bright conditions. Video recording is limited to 480p.

- Although the Liquid E’s body feels sturdy, the battery compartment door is a tad too “bendy” and creaks.

- I wish that Acer had included a bigger microSD card than 2Gb, which is just too small for me, but at $425, we should be glad to have received anything at all.

V E R D I C T :
For buyers who demand the absolute premium of hardware and presentation, the Liquid E might be disappointing –but for everyone else, the $425 price tag, stunning LCD, fast processor, capable multi-touch performance, and respectable call quality make the Liquid E a bonafide jewel. Even at $500 CDN, I would recommend the Liquid E. For $425, I feel like I have committed theft.