Acer Liquid gets first preview

The Acer Liquid Android smartphone has got its first proper preview. The guys over at the::unwired have quite an extensive preview of the device that includes a good look at both the hardware and software. Overall they were impressed with the handset, feeling that it is on the right track to join the big players in this space.

Much like other manufactures (HTC, Motorola, Sony Ericsson) launching Android handsets, Acer has provided its own UI customizations. This includes catering for both multimedia and social networking integration, although it does lack Twitter integration right now. Thankfully, the touch experience was found to be smooth and very stable.

It is not a Google Experience device, which doesn’t mean too much for most people as all of the expected Google apps are on the phone (including Google Maps, Gmail, Android Market, YouTube and Google Talk). The only difference comes down to firmware updates, which will be distributed by Acer rather than Google.

The Acer Liquid is equipped with a healthy 256MB of SDRAM and 512MB of storage for the Android OS and apps. It includes a microSD card slot for extra storage. As has been well publicized, the Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU has been under-clocked to 768 MHz. I imagine Acer took this decision to prolong battery life. The 1,350mAh battery is quoted to last for around 6 hours in terms of talk-time.

You won’t find a d-pad or trackball (like is seen on the HTC Hero) but this wasn’t too much of a hindrance in practice. It also has three LED notification icons on the top of the handset for unread messages, missed calls and battery status. They were also available to confirm that the handset will be released in the “upcoming weeks across Europe” despite not having an official price point. We’ve listed some of the key specifications of the device after the cut.

Acer Liquid Specifications:

3.5” WVGA (800 x 480) capacitive touchscreen
OS: Android 1.6 (Donut)
Qualcomm QSD 8250 Snapdragon CPU under-clocked to 768 MHz
Quadband GSM/GPRS/EDGE and Triband UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA at either 900/1800/2100 MHz (European version) or 850/1900/2100 MHz (North American version)
5MP Autofocus Camera
Wi-Fi (b/g)
Bluetooth 2.0+EDR
A-GPS
Digital compass
G-sensor & Light sensor.
Battery: 1,350 mAh Lithium Polymer (5 hours in UMTS; 6 hours in GSM)
Size: 115x64x12.43 mm
Weight: 135 g