For some peoples, Acer is better known for laptops than smartphones, and the Liquid E2 is unlikely to change this situation. It has a good screen and reasonable performance, but is let down by poor design and is outclassed by the very strong mid-range competition.
The white plastic shell and silver rim resemble a cheap version of an old iPhone mixed with one of Samsung's Galaxy phones. The orgy of plastic coupled with the over-sized speaker grilles on the back of the device mean that at best the Liquid E2's design will divide opinion. One upshot is that the phone feels well built, even if it doesn't look it.
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| Acer Liquid E2 Smartphone |
The Liquid E2's 540x960-pixel, 41/2in screen is its strongest area. It's not the best display we've seen, but its brightness and contrast levels are acceptable, as are its viewing angles. It didn't handle bright outdoor light very well, however, with the auto brightness setting underestimating how bright the screen needed to be in order to be legible.
The Liquid E2 runs an unaltered version of Android 4.2.1 Jelly Bean. Many will see this as an advantage over the heavily customised Android versions most manufacturers use, as it gives them a blank canvas on which they can install custom keyboards or app launchers from Google's Play Store. However, standard Android does look a bit dowdy compared to the smart customised operating systems available from Samsung, Sony HTC and LG.
The quad-core, 1.2GHz MediaTek processor coped well in our tests. The phone completed the SunSpider JavaScript benchmark in 1,441ms, which is fine for a budget phone and up there with budget rivals such as the Motorola Moto G and Alcatel One Touch Idol S. Performance in everyday tasks such as email composition, document editing and web browsing was good, with the device remaining fairly responsive throughout tougher tasks such as opening image-heavy web pages. Multitasking proved a much trickier challenge for the Liquid E2, though, and it ground to a halt when attempting to browse the web while simultaneously installing an app.
The phone managed a meagre score of 3,195 in the challenging 3DMark Ice Storm benchmark. This is below average by modern standards, falling well short of the Motorola Moto G, which scored 5,412 in the same test. Despite this mediocre score, gaming is still possible on the Liquid E2. Simple, popular games such as Temple Run 2 and Angry Birds Space were smooth, while the slightly more demanding Beach Buggy Blitz and Riptide GP were also playable, with only slight juddering occurring during busier moments of onscreen action.
There are a few Acer apps preinstalled on the Liquid E2, such as Acer's Cloud storage service. Also present is the bizarre Moodagent, which takes your music collection and creates various playlists based on how you're feeling. Moods range from 'sensual' to 'tender' to 'angry', and such an emotional app feels out of place on an otherwise very plain device.
The best software included as standard is Swype, a keyboard app that allows users to type simply by sliding their digits across the onscreen keyboard. It works well, and predicts with uncanny accuracy. Swype also has a classic typing mode, which offers fast and accurate predictions for those not wanting to use its swiping input method. That said, you can download Swype to almost any Android device for $4.50, so it shouldn't really influence your buying decision. The phone has only 4GB of storage, so you'll most likely need to use the microSD card slot to upgrade if you really want to go wild on installing apps and media.
We don't usually worry about smartphone speakers, as most people accept they're going to be rubbish. Acer, however, has fully committed to the illusion that its device can produce good sound, thanks to the bulging plastic grilles on the rear of the device and installed DTS audio balancing software. The sound is no better or worse than any other cheap smartphone, though: it's tinny, rattly, and you'll need a decent pair of headphones or speakers if you plan on listening to music.
The 8-megapixel camera looks good on paper, but we didn't rate its image quality. Pictures lack detail and colour balance is off both indoors and outside. Budget smartphone cameras don't tend to blow us away, but the Liquid E2's sensor is off the pace compared to the Moto G and Alcatel Idol S's cameras.
The Acer Liquid E2 is competing in a crowded market, and unfortunately doesn't have any outstanding features to differentiate it from its rivals, while also falling short in terms of design and camera performance. While its processor and screen would probably serve you well enough, there are much better phones available that cost significantly less, such as the Motorola Moto G and Alcatel One Touch Idol S.
KEY SPECS:
Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean), 1.2GHz, Number of cores: 4, RAM: 1GB, HSDPA 4G, Display 4 1/2in 540x960 LCD, Camera: 8-megapixel, Storage: 4GB + icroSD, 131x68x9.9 , 140g
