Acer Liquid Jade First Look: Mid Ranger With A Slim Profile

Rating:

3.5/5

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PROS

• Simple Design
• Ultra Slim profile

CONS

• Expensive
• Mediocre Processor
• Missing 4G LTE connectivity

Acer is primarily known for making PCs, but the company seems serious about its connected devices division.

Unlike its South Korean counterparts, Acer's strategy for the Indian market is largely dependent on the success of its newly launched smartphones under its Liquid series.

To be precise, Acer is adopting the 'wait and watch' policy this time around without giving any big numbers.

Anyway, Acer has just unveiled the Liquid Jade and Liquid E700 for the Indian market. Both devices are on budget; the Liquid Jade certainly doesn't seem cheap and flimsy.

From a hardware perspective, the Liquid Jade is powered by a 1.3GHz quad-core chipset, a 5-inch HD display, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of ROM and 13MP rear-facing camera.

The Acer Liquid Jade is now available for Rs. 16,999. The handset is exclusive to Snapdeal.

We got a chance to check the device out. Here are our first impressions.

Acer Liquid Jade: Form Factor, Design, Display and Operating System

The design of the phone is unique, which is a good thing. With its rounded edges coupled with sleek profile, the handset genuinely looks sober in nature. And even though the phone is entirely made out of plastic, it has a solid feel in the hand. Although not everything is perfect with the Liquid Jade; the design does have a few notable loopholes. For instance, the handset has a glossy rear back cover, and if you had it for mere seconds, it completely lost its sheen. Just in case you would like to know the device's actual measurements - it measures 7.5mm thick and weighs in at 110grams.

The Liquid Jade sports a 5-inch 720p HD display and a pixel density of 294ppi. But those expecting a Full HD resolution will be disappointed. The phone's major disappointment, though, is the 720p HD resolution display. While the 5-inch screen doesn't look low-resolution at first glance, it just has terrible viewing angles and colors are not bright either.

The device runs Android 4.4.2 KitKat with various enhancements in the form of added applications, including Acer Cloud. The UI is slightly modified, as Acer has covered the OS with its own custom layer on top. It's pretty much simple to understand and well executed.

Acer Liquid Jade: Processor, Storage and Connectivity

The Liquid Jade's specs aren't top notch. It comes stuffed with a 1.3GHz quad-core processor.

Let's get specific. We found the performance fairly balanced and stable during out time with the device. It's also paired with 1GB of RAM, so the performance seemed to be pretty decent, if not that great.

There's 16GB of internal storage, which can be expanded via a microSD card slot. Unfortunately, the phone doesn't support LTE connectivity, but you'll find standard options, including 3G, dual-SIM, GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and many more.