The Acer Liquid E… The Saga Continues, General Bits

After using the Liquid E for a few days here are some things I have noticed:

As I mentioned before, the battery life is not good. I honestly can’t see getting through a full day of solid use. The issue of it getting hot when the processor is pushed even the slightest has not improved.

On the positive side, I quite like the screen. I personally find that screen size between 3.5” and 4” is optimal. The Liquid E at 3.5” is right in there. I also like WVGA resolution. It allows for a nice screen size but not too wide. I have small hands and wide phones are not comfortable for me. Unfortunately because of the design of the Liquid E, with so much space between the screen and the sides of the device, it is slightly uncomfortable for me. The colors are very vibrant and crisp. This is my first extended use of a capacitive screen and I have found some pros and cons. I think the pros win though. Scrolling is very easy to do on a capacitive screen. I seldom open anything by mistake like I do on my TP2. I do find it a bit difficult to hit the right spot if there are a number of things in a tight area on the screen, since small touches such as with a fingernail do not register, so when you use the soft pad of a fingertip it covers a bit too much area. I wonder if this may be just a learning curve though. Outside viewing seems to be not bad. I’m rather impressed actually. It’s far from perfect, but it is easily one of the best I’ve seen outdoors since the days of reflective screens when they were pointed right at the sun.

Pairing up to a Bluetooth headset was very easy, although I seem to have to go into settings and connect each time I turn it on. Using the same headset on my TP2, it connects automatically.

Volume through Bluetooth and phone calls on the phone itself seem quite good, as is the sound quality. However I cannot hear the ringtones, or alarms. Nor can I hear voice commands through Google Navigator.

More after the break:

Acer has not developed any kind of GUI overlay, so what you get is pure Android. There’s not much on here to bloat it. Setting up the home page, or pages, is quite simple and flexible. There are lots of widgets to choose from, some on the device and others available from The Market. Although effective, I find if I compare it to what HTC has done with Sense for Windows Mobile it is lacking. It just doesn’t look nearly as polished. I think overall Android has some maturing to do. That’s ok it has come a long way in a short time, and I think it has a great future in store for itself.

Acer have included a sync app. Yup, it’s called “Acer Sync”. It syncs between the phone, your desktop and the Google cloud. Where exactly is the Google cloud? It’s everywhere. How do you think they get all those satellite views. It’s not as robust as I’m used to with Activesync, but it does a decent job of getting your Outlook calendar and contacts onto your phone.

Gmail pushes to the phone, and does so by simply signing into your Gmail account. You can setup a pop account similar to any other device, and use it with Exchange as well if you like.

As for the device itself, it is made of plastic and feels like it. The sides are rounded and the power button is on the underside of that round edge making it a bit awkward to use, same goes for the volume buttons on the other side. Again, I think this is just a learning curve. The 3.5mm jack is right up top where it should be, and the mini USB is centered on the bottom edge where it should be as well. It has one of those rubber protectors that cover it when not in use and are in the way when USB is in use. That’s ok, because it will get lost soon, I’m sure. They always do. The phone actually feels fairly light. I can carry it around in my shirt pocket comfortably.

There is probably nothing I do on my phone more then read. Since the days of that old Palm III I have probably read 300-400 books, and every single one has been on a handheld device. I primarily use eReader, AKA, Palm Reader, AKA, Peanut Press. They have a version for Android, which is ok, but is a slimmed down version. Just this past week Kobo released a version of their ePub reader for Android. I haven’t seen anything from Kindle. I believe Barnes and Noble are working on a version of their Nook eread for Android, but there’s nothing yet. As for audio books, Audible.com seems to be king in that area, and they too say they are working on a version for Android.

It’s been a great few days with the Liquid E. I have found some pros and cons with it. As I said in my first post, we don’t all drive Porsches, nor do we all use the latest cutting edge phones. Other than the battery life, which some may find acceptable, it’s not a bad phone for the money. Presently in the Canadian market for current devices the closest choice would be the new Legend. The Liquid E is a bit cheaper under contract , but a bit more when bought outright. The Legend has a smaller screen, but fits nicely in your hand, and feels pretty cool with all that aluminum. The Liquid E also has a bit faster processor. However the Legend has HTC Sense…around and around we go. Give The Liquid E a look and let us know what you think.

*NOTE* If any of you are wondering why I have not included any pictures with this post, it is because I lost my camera. Some lucky individual happened to find it….as they were rifling through my glove box in the middle of the night. ARGGG!

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