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Acer Liquid E Communicator Review

A stylish case, a good touch screen, a productive stuffing, a promising operating system ... and I will share my impressions of the use of all this disgrace from Acer.

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Perhaps, it’s worth starting with the fact that ... Acer Liquid E is, in fact, the same communicator as Acer Liquid, only a bit more expensive. What are we paying for this time? Frankly speaking and frankly - just for doubled the amount of RAM, from 256MB to 512. Even in the "new product" they hold the "new" Android 2.1 operating system as a trump card, but you yourself understand that these are the little things that can be done and most) So in fact, the manufacturer made a remake of a fairly popular model ... but does not position it as new or something unique. In fact, these are two identical devices, slightly different stuffing ... so most of the statements about Acer Liquid will be true for his "big brother". Well, the shortcomings of them, respectively, are the same.
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I'll start with the characteristics:

Specs


Processor : Qualcomm 8250, 768 MHz
Video accelerator : ATI Imageon Z430
RAM / ROM memory : 512/512 MB
Communications : GSM / EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, UMTS / HSDPA 900/1800/2100 MHz
OS : Android 2.1 Éclair
Camera : 5 megapixel with autofocus
Screen : LCD (TFT), 3.5 ”, 480x800 (WVGA), capacitive with multitouch
Interfaces : WiFi 802.11 b / g, Bluetooth Class 2.0, GPS, miniUSB, Micro-SD card slot, 3.5mm audio jack
Embedded services : Gmail, Android Email, Gtalk, Google Search, RollTech nemoPlayer, YouTube, Spinlets, urFooz, Facebook, Twitter
Optional : G-Sensor, light sensor, proximity sensor, digital compass
Battery : Li-Ion 1350 mAh
Work time : talk time up to 5 hours / standby time up to 400 hours
Dimensions : 115x64x12.75mm,
Weight : 135 g

In the box with the Acer Liquid E was:

- Battery
- Memory Card
- Charger
- Disk with manual
- Film on the screen
- Maps Navitel
- USB wire
- Headphones
- Case

Appearance


Like most Android devices, Acer Liquid E is a candy bar. Absolutely from all sides, the black case is glossy, but ... due to the lack of protruding elements, it becomes quite simple to get rid of the prints - it is done with a sleeve and ready. With the back side of the plastic, the situation is simpler - although it is easily soiled, you do not pay any attention to the prints there, because they are not always in sight.

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The communicator is really flat - the entire front part is occupied by wear-resistant glass, which, as is the case with HD2, does not scratch (which cannot be said about the reverse side of the device). The only embossed element is the speaker cut-out - there is no frame at the screen, it is almost invisible under the glass.

All four buttons are touch - they are familiar in appearance, with the exception of the first (Home) - it has a non-obvious icon in the form of a rectangle.

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Below is a microphone and a miniUSB connector - it's nice that at least someone did not go along with stupid standards and did not use a dead microUSB. On top only the headphone jack (3.5mm).

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On the sides there are several buttons that do not stand out from the case at all, at first they are completely inconvenient to use, but then you get used to it; on the left is the power button (it also turns the display on / off), and on the right is the volume rocker and camera button.

On the reverse side, everything is standard - the eye of a 5-megapixel camera and the “gills” of the speaker. It is a pity that there is no flash - neither pictures of you at a party, nor even a “flashlight”.

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It took me some time to figure out how to remove the battery cover - this is the only removable part of the device. I have it both up and down, and to the sides ... but it turns out that it was necessary to just pry with a fingernail on the upper end. But after all these deformations, there were good impressions - nothing creaks. Of course, there is no such solidity, as in the flagship HTC, but in general for a plastic case it is a very worthy result!

Under the hood there is a 1350 mAh battery (3.7V, 4.995Wh) - if you wish, you can buy non-original, but more capacious options of the same size for $ 20 on Ebay. There is nothing behind the battery - the memory card and the SIM-card slot are slightly higher, although you still have to pull out the battery to work with them.

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In addition to the black and white colors of the case, there is also a bright red communicator model, traditionally branded for Ferrari - there is a slightly higher price, but in addition to a small overpayment for the brand, additional accessories are included.

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By the way, I am ready to argue that you also did not notice in the photographs that it was a surprise to me in my time. In general, when the phone is in charge, there is an incoming SMS or a missed call, information about this is displayed ... at the upper end of the device! Neat white icons pulsate on a black-black glossy plastic, additionally putting a battery) This is stated in the manual, but who reads them now. I accidentally noticed it with side vision, when I was working at the computer ... at first I decided what “seemed”, but after a couple of seconds I thought, “Hmmm ... maybe this is not the most useful function, but it’s unusual and done very carefully.” In general, a trifle, but nice!

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... do you expect a couple more paragraphs from me about any differences between this communicator and the usual Acer Liquid? ) I will not be happy because they really are no more ... but I will not upset it, because the price has remained almost the same.

Turn on and work. Soft


The communicator comes with the Android 2.1 operating system (kernel version 2.6.29, build number Acer LiquidE 1.100.39 EMEA GEN1) - I’ll share my impressions of this firmware, and here's why. First of all, this firmware will be for everyone who buys this device - it will be the impression for those who will not bother with updating the firmware. And secondly, the choice of alternative firmware entirely depends on the specific user, so each issue will decide for itself. I will only add that there are several unofficial assemblies in the network on the same w3bsit3-dns.com (including 2.2, which was already written on Habré), with individual pluses and minuses.

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The screen is very bright, by default automatic brightness adjustment is enabled:

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On the factory firmware, the device is fully turned on in 25 seconds. When you first start the device asks you to specify the basic settings - language, date, time zone ... everything is standard. If you are tempted to enter the data from the GMail account, after the initialization, all the acquaintances (as planned) will be in the address book. Similarly, you can import contacts from Facebook.

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5 screens, on the main of which (average) is the Google search bar and 8 applications. There are hours and Facebook on two screens - it's good that all of this is customizable and turned off in a couple of clicks :)
In general, everything is fairly standard - never HTC Sense, although Acer tried to make a small contribution to the development of a standard interface. And to be more precise, it is more correct to speak about a small add-in. On the first (leftmost) screen, by default, there is a multimedia widget - the type of content (music, photo or video) is indicated at the top, and below this content is presented as a “carousel” - the animation is smooth, although for the same music it initially takes some time to cache. album covers.

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On the last screen there is a similar carousel, only this time there are “unnecessary” online services - Facebook (because it is already a widget on one of the screens), Picasa, Acer Sync (for synchronization with Outlook), Acer Registration and Acer Mobile. It’s not a language to call a superstructure a bad one — it works, it’s just that someone will not need it) But this statement is true for any improver decorator.

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* UPD * Acer shell in version 2.2 - click

The demo version of Documents To Go, the omnivorous nemoPlayer player, a fairly functional Gmail client and a primitive Gtalk ... Twidroid preinstalled; Spinlets program for free access to streaming music and video (there, by the way, you can listen to a lot of things!), urFooz service for creating your avatar and using it on many services (functional, but stupid thing), barcode scanner ... a lot of things , but here again, it's a matter of choice - there are a huge number of applications available in the Market, including free ones. I agree that there are not so many good applications there, but it is a matter of time.

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In a separate item (Acer Settings), some of the most frequent options are placed for quick access - Wi-Fi, Bluetoth, GPS, phone ringtone, screen brightness and display timeout setting.

There are a couple of primitive applications on the disk - Acer EasyLink for Internet sharing, and Acer Sync for data synchronization.

All movements between the screens occur very smoothly - nowhere is the slightest hint of brakes, despite the fact that there are not even gigahertz inside. Although the regular 768 MHz can be overclocked to 900+, but why waste the battery even faster, even if you can watch unconverted video (up to 720p) even with the default settings and solve almost any other user tasks that may be needed at all. When installing alternative firmware (for example, Liquid Community Rom) everything becomes even faster, despite the fact that the battery life will only increase. In general, there is complete freedom for the flight of fantasies - it makes no sense to describe in detail what can be disabled or reconfigured in a couple of clicks. But if it’s really interesting, then here’s a useful link to the detailed description of the software part of the communicator - I honestly planned to write something similar, but I saw this article and realized that it makes no sense to repeat.

It's great that there is a separate hardware key for the camera - on some devices it is often not enough. In sunny weather (and just in good light), the 5-megapixel camera takes great pictures, but in a dark room it will not be so easy to make a good shot - at least it will be blunt the autofocus. It is possible to shoot videos in VGA-resolution. Sample photos:

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The sound of the speaker is weak - firstly, quiet, and secondly, not very high quality; but if you believe the Internet, then both of these shortcomings are eliminated by flashing. But the sound that is output to the headphones through the minijack is very even!

Reviews are teeming with lines about a heating battery ... well, it’s really prone to heat when charging - not that it’s hot, it’s just warm ... but it’s hot. Moreover, there is even a dedicated icon on the screen for this case, which makes it unclear what appeared first - either the icon was added to the artifact found, or the battery compartment was designed so that the icon would not be wasted. In general, this is a design flaw, the situation is not critical, but it remains only to accept it.

In standby mode, the phone works for about three days - this is when it just lies somewhere on the table with a vegetable and waits patiently for a call. In less greenhouse conditions, the phone lasts a maximum of a day, and some even will not be enough for this time. As far as I know, this is an unpleasant feature of all guglofonov, but for me it did not come as a surprise - I did not get into awkward situations. Regardless of the charge level, the communicator often fell into the hands of a cheap Chinese car holder, where it was periodically powered by a cigarette lighter through old charging. In this regard, by the way, miniUSB is very useful :)

In order not to offend anyone, I will not compare Acer Liquid E with other devices, including because I hardly ever had to use many of them. But if you compare it with the HTC HD2, which I use now ... then, probably, I would choose Acer - at the time of the start of sales it costs exactly twice as much as the cost of HD2. On the other hand, I don’t regret buying HD2 - I’ll soon be installing an android on it and then we'll see! ) Although here you have to compare a couple of photos:

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As a final paragraph, I once again express my gratitude to the site w3bsit3-dns.com and its numerous users - perhaps this is the best thing on the web about mobile devices. I strongly recommend to bookmark this site, in case you have not already done so.

image Advantages and disadvantages


+ Design. The phone is beautiful, which side do not look
+ The front side is completely flat, because of which all prints are removed with a slight movement of the sleeve. Wear resistance is also not superfluous
+ High performance, “smooth” operation of any software, large amount of memory
+ A separate item like the icons on the top end
+ Big and bright screen with wear-resistant coating
+ MiniUSB connector - it is more practical and versatile than microUSB
+ Good camera;
+ Price

And, of course, the key advantage is the Android platform itself. This gives the device a huge potential, which is not the first day used by many enthusiasts.

- Glossy case. Though I am an opponent of gloss, but in this case it looks very successful, almost at the expense of practicality.
- The buttons on the side ends are not pressed very “clearly” - this requires getting used to.
- The camera does not have a flash, in poor light autofocus tupit
- Average battery life - day
- Battery heating when charging
- Weak speaker

Some of these shortcomings can be fixed by installing an alternative firmware, but, I repeat, I wrote about what was “out of the box”.

I did not attribute the build quality to either pluses or minuses - I didn’t creak and the parts fit together perfectly. At the same time, there are directly opposite reviews on the network, so, apparently, there is already a matter of chance - you should pay special attention to the purchase at this point.

I also can’t accept the fact that Android-communicators most often do not have hardware “green” and “red” handsets. Accordingly, if at a meeting in your pocket the bell rings, you can turn off the sound only by taking the phone out of your pocket. What guides the designers - it is not clear.

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The cost of the usual Acer Liquid is 13,500 rubles, while the price tag for the updated version starts at 16,000. I believe that the communicator is well worth the money, which once again confirms the large number of positive reviews on the network.

The Ferrari-version of the device mentioned in the article costs another two thousand more, but there the price includes additional accessories such as a headset with a corresponding design.

findings


A good communicator for those who want to join the gaining momentum Android-get-together. For a relatively adequate amount, the manufacturer offers a very decent testing ground - here you will find both a large screen, a nimble filling and endless spaces for messing around with software. The key difference of the E-version from the usual Acer Liquid, perhaps, is only one (after all, it is easy to install the necessary firmware yourself) - this is an increased memory capacity. So, if an ordinary communicator is equally suitable for almost everyone, then Liquid E will be more like very active users and all kinds of enthusiasts.

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Any device has both advantages and disadvantages - speaking of Acer Liquid E, the wars of light won with a good margin and it will definitely join the fierce competition. At least for its price the device offers a far from empty place. There are really plenty of competitors lately, but if you look at devices of the same price range, you still need to look for decent ones! In my opinion, it is better to overpay, but to take the communicator, the amount of memory which will allow for a long time to safely experiment. If I had such a purchase, I would take the device in a white case - practice shows that in this color the device is the least branded.

Successes!

Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/105226/


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