Acer Liquid A1 review (part one)

Available from Clove for £328.90

The HTC Hero and Motorola DROID have received much praise in recent months and are considered to be the best Android powered handsets on the market. They are indeed impressive, but the DROID does not have the best design in the world and the Hero has a slight quirk in its design which is not to everyone’s taste. However, they have proved to be tough competition for any new entrant into the Android smartphone world and it would take something special to compete with them, let alone beat them.  Is the Acer Liquid A1 a worthy contender?

In the box

Acer Liquid A1, Battery (1350mAh), 2GB microSD Card, Screen Protector, Stereo Headset, Mains Charger (UK), Data Cable, Software CD, Quick Start Guide.

The box contents are not too bad with a screen protector thrown in as an extra. It would be nice to see this addition with more devices, particularly for large screened units like the HD2, and even though the quality of the protector is not the best in the world it is welcome. The 2GB microSD card is another bonus, albeit one that you will likely upgrade very quickly, and the rest of the kit is what you would expect from Acer- functional, but not mind blowing.

First Impressions

The very first impressions are surprising indeed. Gone is the standard Acer feel of fairly cheap plastic and boring design which has been replaced with a sleek shape created out of high quality materials which come together perfectly. It sort of feels like a slimmer Palm TX and although this version is in white (not a preference for me) the screen dominates everything about the look. Build quality also feels very good indeed and there are no moving parts to offer a sense of insecurity in use. It is all a bit slippery in the hand, but the white plastic means that fingerprints do not show up at all.

The buttons below the screen are completely flush, but do work well enough which lots of spacing around each to ensure accurate thumb pressing. The power key is on the left, not the best place for it, and on the right you have the volume keys and the camera shortcut key lower down. This setup is almost more suitable for left-handed people who would tend to hold the phone in the right-hand, but it is not a killer problem. The microUSB port is at the bottom and is protected by a swivelling rubber flap which is great for stopping dust getting, but slightly awkward when you are charging the phone.

I have to say that from a hardware perspective the Liquid A1 is a seriously smart piece of kit and one of the nicest smartphones I have held in my life. It looks fashionable in a way that is not obvious i.e. it is so cool that this kind of look has not been taken onboard by the majority of manufacturers yet. It is the kind of device that would look good in smarter establishments and not necessarily in an office. When the black one is available it will look great everywhere.

This is the first smartphone I have used that has the singular feel of the iPhone in that it really does feel like one slab of material that is honed together perfectly and I would go as far as to say that it has much more style. The use of plastic is a curiosity because some metal here would take it to a whole new level.

This is just a quick first look, but the Liquid immediately feels better than the HTC Hero in many ways. Tomorrow I will be looking at the OS and how well the phone copes with some serious use. It is looking much better than I expected so far.