Acer Liquid mt (Metal) on Rogers review

Over the past couple of years, Android has managed to not only grow, but thrive.  Google’s phone OS is now the best selling smartphone OS in the US, and shows no signs of slowing down.  With this growth, it’s not surprising that manufacturers of all stripes are trying to establish a name in the smartphone market, as the category shows nothing but growth for the foreseeable future.  This is where Acer comes in.

The Taiwanese computer maker has released Android based smartphones in the past, and while they were solid enough performers, in a sea of releases it’s easy to be overlooked.  With their latest phone, the Liquid mt, they’ve learned from the past, but is it enough?

Out of the box

On first blush, the mt has a unique style.   It retains the overall shape of their earlier Liquid e Android phone, with a few new design elements.  Although the front and back are the standard glossy black of most smart phones, Acer has gone the route of making not only the back but the front curved.  Combined with chrome trim on the sides, top and bottom, my first impression was that the design inspiration was from the same school as Dell’s recent Venue and Venue Pro.  The back battery cover is etched metal which gives it a good grip, and complements the design.

This is certainly a step up from the Liquid e, and has a much more ‘professional’ feel.  At the same time, the mt feels a little thick and wide for a device with a 3.6 inch screen.  Acer has always been a ‘value brand’, but given the amount of wasted space on the sides, it would have been nice to see them either put in a larger 3.8 inch screen, or maybe shave a few millimetres off the sides.

The buttons on the mt are mixed bag.  On top you’ll find a power button, which feels just a smidge on the mushy side, but not overly so.  The same can be said about the volume buttons on the right.  Also on the right is the two-step camera button.  This one they got right.  There’s a very clear and natural differentiation between focus and shutter.

One other nice touch I was glad to see carried over from the Liquid e is the subsurface notification LEDs in the top of the phone, which pulse accordingly when you have unread email, messages etc.

Under the hood

Acers history of riding the fine line between good specs while keeping things economical have carried over well from the computer arena.  While the processor is 800Mhz, lower than the top tier phone makers, the overall combination keeps it moving along for the most part.  As mentioned, the 800×480 screen is a bit smaller than most, clocking in at 3.6 inches (officiall 3.61 if size really does matter).  It has 512MB of RAM, an SD slot, and the full checklist of wireless options (GSM 850/900/1800/1900, WiFi b/g/n and Bluetooth 2.1).  It also has AGPS and an FM radio.  The 5Mpixel camera is capable of 720 video, and Acer has added Dolby Mobile technology for a better media experience.

All of this hardware is driven by Android 2.2.3, aka Froyo, though it’s worth pointing out that Acer has promised to release a Gingerbread update “soon”.  Let’s hope it’s sooner as opposed to later, and that Acer goes the route of HTC in being one of the better OEMs at releasing updates.

In the real world

As a phone, the Liquid mt was a bit of a disappointment, but not too much so.  The handset speaker was just a little too muffled and low volume, and people on the other side reported me sounding a bit tinny and distant.  Not terrible, but not near best in class.  Using a wired headset made a difference, so that’s worth keeping in mind.

The mixed bag continues in general use.  Acer has gone with Froyo for the mt, with their own skin called Breeze.  When powering up the phone, you’re presented with a nice pageturn unlock interface, which brings you to a large clock with an 8 icon dock below.  Swipe the clock to the right and you’ll see a recent history page that is somewhat reminiscent to WebOS cards, but not quite as feature rich.  The 8 icon dock can be configured however you like, and, and swiping up gives you access to the rest of your applications.  The Breeze UI actually keeps things very simple, which keeps it from being as top heavy as some other OEM skins, and for the non-geek it will probably be enough.  Of course, the hardcore phone geeks will probably switch over to either the Android native skin or a third party option like ADW.

After launching apps, the performance of the Liquid mt can best be described as decent.  When viewing websites, page scrolling and zooming weren’t bad, but lacked the fluidity of most higher end Android devices.  The browser supports Flash, and it seemed to handle that just fine, though it can sometimes take a while to get rolling.  While the touchscreen itself responded well, animations weren’t always the smoothest.  This also carries over to gaming.  While more simple games like Angry Birds had no problem, framerates on heavier 3D games were a little choppy at points.

The curved glass is very impressive from a design point of view, and it’s very nice to type on.  The curvature seemed to make a difference in keyboard use, possibly from getting used to the angle relative to holding it.   Due to its smaller than average size, the 800×480 display looks very crisp, but other aspects of the screen don’t get off so easily.  It does suffer from a noticiably lower than average contrast ratio and saturation, which gives images a somewhat muddled appearance.  It’s not neccesarily a deal breaker, but for anyone who’s picky about colour, the difference is noticable. 

Camera

The 5 megapixel camera and video interface is very intuitive, and combined with a good two-step button makes it easy to snap images in those ‘on the go’ moments.  When held in landscape mode, the settings are located on the left, which makes switching between photo and video, as well as changing camera settings, a lot easier than some other camera software.  This also leads to more natural stability in the hand when compared to camera software that places controls on the right or bottom of the screen.  Reaction time for focusing and snapping a picture are good, which leads to a very high usability. 

Unfortunately, such praise can’t be passed on to the quality of the results.  While outdoor shots weren’t too bad with well-saturated colours had a lot of punch, there is more chromatic noise than I would like to see in the midtones.  Indoor shots were even tougher on the sensor, which just isn’t kind in low-light situations. It does come with a flash, which mitigates some of this grain.  The flash does have the tendency to blow out photos a bit if the subject is too close.   After view the results of the still images, I wasn’t expecting much with the video mode either.  The 720p video exhibits a lot of the jello-cam effect in high motion. 

While acceptable for snapping quick pictures and videos that , the Liquid mt camera isn’t going to replace an average point-n-shoot camera.

More Camera samples

Media

The Liquid mt comes loaded with the nemoPlayer software, and while it’s adequate, that’s about it.  I’ve never been impressed with this software, or any Android media software for that matter, and consider it one of the weak points of the OS.  You’ll be able to manage tracks well enough, and while it handles a wide variety of video formats (H.264, WMV, Xvid, MP4), it’s not the most elegant of interfaces.  nemoPlayer will do if you’re not heavy into media playback, but luckily there are a number of other options in the Android Marketplace for more robust media use.

The quality of music playback is pretty good, and holds up to most other phones.  The headset that ships with the Liquid mt is adequate, but only for those with big ear canals.  I found the earbuds on the large size, and it woud have been nice to see Acer go with in-ear buds; something more manufacturers are starting to do.  The supplied headset leans more towards the bass with adequate reproduction of sound.  When using better headphones, it becomes clear that the sound issues are not with the phone, as it actually sounds pretty good.  The highs may lose a little bit of punch but it’s not terrible.  Let’s face it: if you’re listening to music on your phone, it’s more about convenience than it is sound quality, and the Liquid mt holds its own here.

Battery performance

Most Android phones I’ve used have never really held up under heavy use, usually begging to be juiced up before the end of a work day.  The Liquid mt actually made it home without needing a charge, and then some.  This can probably be chalked up to the combination of a larger than average 1500mAh battery, smallish screen and 800Mhz processor. 

In the end

The Acer Liquid mt sits in much the same space as its predecessor the Liquid e, however that space has become much more narrow.  It’s certainly better than the more budget Android phones out there, but to keep costs down, Acer has made some tough sacrifices.  By far the largest expense in buying a smartphone is the contract most users end up signing.  When the lifetime price differential between something like the mt and a higher end phone is less than 10% of the total cost of ownership, it’s difficult to make a case for it.

That’s a very thin wedge Acer’s Liquid mt is trying to squeeze into.  If Acer wants to establish a foothold in the Android race, they’d be better off upping the quality of some of the internals, or getting the price down, as their competition is fierce.  To put it in perspective, for the same 3-year contract price you could either go with the Android based Samsung Galaxy S, or the Windows Phone 7 based Samsung Focus.  Opting for either of these would be a better choice for many.

That’s not to say that the Liquid mt lacks any appeal.  While a bit chunky, the industrial design holds up, and has a unique charm, even if some of the internal components aren’t the top of the line.  Those component decisions by Acer are probably what lead to the Liquid mt outshining every other full featured Android phone when it came to battery life.  If you’re looking at getting a new Android phone, and battery performance has been a problem for you in the past, the Acer Liquid mt might be worth the look.

The Acer Liquid mt is availabe at Rogers for $49.95 on a 3 year contract.