Acer Liquid E2 Review

Introduction:

The Acer Liquid E2 Duo does not come from Samsung or Apple, nor it is a bleeding-edge device, but - contrary to what you might expect - it is an extremely fascinating handset. The reason for that lies deep in its brain. The Liquid E2 is the first device to come in our hands featuring a quad-core chip from MediaTek that is extremely affordable yet very powerful. It is the MediaTek MT6589, a chip that is now used in virtually every Android flagship from China, making the existence of $200 5-inch 1080p phones possible.

The Acer Liquid E2 Duo on its part has a spacious, but not too large 4.5-inch display with 540 x 960 pixel resolution, a surprisingly good 8-megapixel camera and dual-SIM card support. The little quad-core chip inside it makes possible some very cool features like 1080p video recording and that’s quite a feat for such an affordable phone.

There is plenty beneath the not so pretty plastic surface of this phone, and we definitely encourage you to read on to see just how far affordable Androids have gone. It’s impressive.

In the box:

• Wall charger
• Headphones
• MicroUSB to USB cable

Design:

We said there is plenty to get excited about the Acer Liquid E2 and we stick to our words. Let’s just make it extra clear that none of that excitement comes from its design. The phone is plastic, thick, looks kitsch and has a large bezel around the screen. It is generally unimpressive.


At even first glance, you’d notice the lack of attention to detail. The capacitive navigation keys are unevenly lit making the phone look even cheaper than it is. On the back, the plastic is soft to the touch and it feels rubbery which might turn out to be an advantage as it can help for a better grip. The back is also where the signature for Acer dual speakers are located - one on top and one on the bottom.

The snow white color of the front flows into a pearl white on the back. A thin chrome strip lies around the side. There is a volume rocker on the right and the lock key is on top which is always a bit of a stretch.


Screen:

The Liquid E2 features a 4.5-inch qHD IPS display. That means the resolution is 540 x 960 pixels - just one step behind the coveted 720p high-definition. Pixel density is around 245ppi which is definitely decent. In reality the screen is sharp but you can definitely see the slight pixelization noticeable around the edges of icons.

Viewing angles on the IPS display are great, colors fade out only slightly even when you tilt the device to more extreme angles. The screen is reflective and this is something that makes it harder to read in direct sunlight, but if you avoid those reflections it is definitely legible even under the direct sunlight.

Interface:

Having said all about its negatives, it’s time to take a look at the bright side of the Acer Liquid E2. Good news is the device lacks a heavy custom skin and counts on almost pure Android. We have an up-to-date version of it - Android 4.2.1 Jelly Bean.

Going with stock Android was a safe decision as everything is perfectly well optimized to run lag-free. All the signature features of the latest Jelly Bean like lockscreen widgets and actionable notifications are on board.

The phonebook is a nearly pure stock affair adorned with dual-SIM functionality. To control which SIM card is used you simply swipe down from the top to bring the notification shade. While you’d usually get a regular notification window with no SIM connectivity toggles, in the phonebook and messaging apps you get a contextual shade where you can either pick a default active card or select to have the phone ask you every time which card to use.

Acer has added slight modifications to the interface. In addition to static and live wallpapers, you can play a video as a live background. The feature is called video wallpaper and is accessed via a simple long hold on the home panel.

Also, some stock apps like the gallery (in tile view) have been adorned with features like live preview of videos.

Processory and Memory:

Overall the device feels very snappy. It is the first phone we get to review with MediaTek’s awesome 1.2GHz quad-core MT6589 and it comes with 1GB RAM and a PowerVR SGX544 graphical chip. The chip performs great in multi-thread oriented applications like the browser and that is evident in the AnTuTu test. When facing a heavy single-thread operation though the device does not perform well and you can clearly see this in its comparatively low Quadrant score.

Looking at the graphics alone, we see the PowerVR SGX544MP1 or single-core version of the graphical chip clocked at 300MHz. It’s not something that shines bright in the gaming department, but given the low resolution of the screen, it handles most games (even heavier ones) well.

Also important is the fact that MediaTek’s MT6589 chip is based on the Cortex A7 architecture. That makes is very power efficient, which is a definite plus. Here is how it did in standard Android benchmarks:

	Quadrant Standard	AnTuTu	GLBenchmark 2.5 (Egypt HD)	Vellamo (HTML5 / Metal)
Acer Liquid E2	3963	13580	1774 / 16 fps	1453 / 450
LG Optimus L7 II	2823	6674
HTC One SV	4456	11211
Sony Xperia L	4223	9225	3207	1804 / 449

The phone features 4GB of internal storage and of that only around 800MB available to the end user. Luckily, you can expand storage via microSD cards of up to 32 gigs.

Internet and Connectivity:

The E2 is blazing fast supporting the highest HSPA+ cellular connectivity downlink speeds of 42Mbps. Of course it also support Wi-Fi b/g/n connectivity. The handset comes with the stock Android and Chrome browsers pre-loaded. Both are stable and proven browsers and scrolling around and zooming in and out in pages was perfectly smooth.

Other connectivity options include Bluetooth 3.0 and GPS.

Camera:

The Acer Liquid E2 features a camera that surprised us with the quality of captured images. Located in the back, the 8-megapixel auto-focus camera with a single LED flash is quick and feature-rich. Most importantly, though, it captured images with accurate colors. Depth of field was impressive in macro shots and you can see we managed to capture some outstanding macro images with this phone.

Call quality:

Call quality is important for all handsets, but for dual-SIM devices it is of paramount importance. The device handled itself well and it was loud enough so that our callers could hear us even in noisier environments. Our voice was instantly recognized as clear and natural. On our end of the line output through the earpiece was also very loud and clear.

Battery life:

With its 2000mAh battery and relatively frugal chip and screen, the Acer Liquid E2 got us through a day of average use easily. You can deplete the battery even faster if you abuse the camera and play a lot of videos and/or games. Even with ascetic use though It would be a stretch to expect it lasting two days. According to data provided by the manufacturer, the Liquid E2 should last through 9 hours of continuous talk time or 18.8 days of stand-by.

Conclusion:

The Acer Liquid E2 Duo is a controversial device. On one hand is the snappy processor, brilliant camera and the nice and up-to-date nearly stock Android 4.2. On the other is the utter lack of attention to detail and a design that is not pretty.

That is the exact problem many white box manufacturers from China face right now. Android has gotten to the point where even cheaper devices can deliver enough of an oomph to drive a smooth daily performance, but consistently fail in design.

Let’s face it, though. For an off contract price of around $300 the Acer Liquid E2 Duo delivers more than comparable smartphones from better established smartphone brands. If you can overlook the uninspiring design, this handset will not disappoint.