Acer just unveiled a range of new smartphones and a wearable at MWC in Barcelona. The Liquid M220 is an entry-level Windows Phone 8.1 device that will be heading to the States. It was joined by the Android trio, the Liquid Jade Z, Z220, and Z520. Acer also had the Liquid Leap+ active band on display.
Hands on: Acer Liquid M220
First up we have the entry-level Liquid M220, running Windows Phone 8.1, but set for a Windows 10 update. This is a diminutive device with a 4-inch display at 233ppi (pixels per inch). It has a 5-megapixel main camera and a 2-megapixel selfie cam, which can also be voice operated. The back is a strange texture that Acer explained was inspired by Thai Silk suit jacket material. It comes in black or white and it also has ridged sides for extra grip. And it should land in the U.S. some time later this year, but initially it will go on sale in Europe in April for 80 euros.
Hands on: Acer Liquid Jade Z
This is an impressively inexpensive variant of the Liquid Jade S that will go on sale in Europe in March for 200 euros. It’s actually identical in size, with the same 5-inch display, but the octa-core processor has been dialed back to a quad-core 64-bit 1.5GHz MediaTek processor. There’s also a 13-megapixel rear camera and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera. At 7.9mm and 120g it feels very light and slim in hand with Acer’s Thai Silk pattern providing easy grip on the back cover. It runs Android 4.4 KitKat out of the box, but should get Android 5.0 Lollipop in due course. It comes in two flavors, 1GB of RAM with 8GB of storage, or 2GB of RAM with 16GB of storage.
Hands on: Acer Z220 and Z520
Two affordable Android KitKat phones, the Z220 and the Z520, have 4-inch and 5-inch displays respectively. The resolution on the Z520 is 900 x 480 pixels, it has 1GB of RAM, and a quad-core MediaTek processor. There’s an 8-megapixel main camera, and a 2-megapixel selfie cam. The Z220 has a WVGA display, 1.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon 200 processor, 5-megapixel main camera, and a 2-megapixel front-facing camera. The Z220 lands in Europe in March for 90 euros and the Z520 follows in April for 120 euros. There are no plans right now to take them Stateside.
Acer Liquid Leap+
This smart activeband marks Acer’s entry into the wearable market. It’s a fitness band with a 1-inch OLED display and it tracks your steps, sleep, distance covered, and calories burned. It’s platform agnostic so there’s support for notifications from Android, iOS, or Windows Phone devices. You can set alarms on it and control your music. It’s also waterproof with an IPX7 rating. You can pop the screen out and pair it with a range of different colored wristbands in black, pink, or green.
The Liquid Leap went on sale in the UK a few months ago, but the Leap+ is an improved version and it’s poised to hit Europe in March for 80 euros. No word on a U.S. release yet.
