Acer launches two affordable smartphones in the US, the Acer Liquid Z and the Acer Liquid Z410

With two-year carrier contracts slowly starting to fade away in the US, the rise of the unlocked mid-range smartphone is upon us. Acer, a company that's not very popular as a smartphone manufacturer on US soil, is looking to capitalize on this recent shift by launching two new affordable smartphones. Meet the Acer Liquid Jade Z and the Acer Liquid Z410.

The Acer Liquid Jade Z is the more capable of the two new Acer smartphones. Its specs include a 5-inch display with a resolution of 720 by 1280 pixels, a MediaTek MT6732 chipset with a 1.5GHz quad-core CPU, a 13MP primary camera on the back, a 5MP "selfie shooter" on the front, and a 2300mAh battery. As far as the memory is concerned, two configurations are available. One comes with 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage (expandable via microSD) and the other features 2GB of RAM and 16GB of integrated storage space. On the software side, the Acer Liquid Jade Z runs Android 4.4 KitKat, which is a bit disappointing given that the Lollipop version of Android has been around for almost a year now.

The Acer Liquid Z is priced at $229 for the version with 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage, and at $249 for the version with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage. In our eyes, the $249 version offers better value, especially since apps are likely to run much smoother with 2GB of RAM available. On the other hand, if you're looking for the best affordable handset, your options should really start with the excellent Motorola Moto G (2015).

Moving down the price scale, the Acer Liquid Z410 is a very affordable smartphone with decent entry-level specs. The Liquid Z410 comes with a 4.5-inch display running a resolution of 540 by 960 pixels, is powered by a MediaTek MT6732M chipset with a 1.3GHz quad-core CPU, and, like the Acer Liquid Z, is available with either 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal memory, or 2GB of RAM and 16GB of integrated storage space. Other specs include a 5MP primary shooter, a 2MP secondary camera on the front, and a 2000mAh battery.