by Jonathan Kevin Castillo
Acer had been taking a swing in the smartphone market for some time now. And recently they’re making a break in Philippine market. We got our hands on Acer’s first phablet device, the Liquid S1. We can’t say we aren’t impressed as it boasts a decent specs sheet, becoming a solid alternative for some.
It sports a 1280×720 resolution display in a 5’7-inch screen. We’ve enjoyed all the projected visuals with decent brightness and crispness. The screen size is ideal for playing games and watching movies. The downside, it may be too large, and this is where we recommend using Bluetooth headsets to keep you from pulling this phablet out of your pocket (if it fits) or from your bag every now and then.
The thing we love technology, when something new becomes not-so-new, such as touchscreen features, it becomes more accessible. And we’re getting more and more excited as touchscreen devices are gaining better quality, even at a not-so-high-end. Acer doesn’t disappoint. The Liquid S1’s screen is sensitive enough for simple and casual touches.
Pop up the hood and you’ll see varied but decent innards. The Liquid S1 sports a 1.5GHz quad-core processor and a 1GB RAM. We agree those aren’t exactly razor-sharp qualities, especially that this is the era of 2+GHz processors – but we’ve come to terms that this is a phablet that is more reachable than some. And Acer has their own target market.
There’s just so much power a person needs in their smartphones. The Liquid S1 is more than capable of running a lot of apps without lags and runs Android 4.2 pretty well.
It’s internal memory storage sports an expandable 8GB and the 8MP rear camera snaps some pretty decent pictures. It has two SIM card slots, so feel free to have more than one networks.
But the Liquid S1 takes a shine with its Float feature. Basically, it’s a fluid multi-tasking tool. Certain apps remain on screen while you navigate around the UI with widgets and other floating apps. It’s a pretty cool feature and maximizes that large 5’7-inch screen. It’s triggered by holding the menu button.
Although there is a limited number of apps that can float, one of them is the camera, which should be handy sometime in the future. We do hope that more developers start working on more apps that can float, because take our word for it, it looks pretty cool.
The only thing we frown down a bit, is the 2400mAh battery life. It really isn’t much, especially on how much you use your smartphone. A battery with this capacity will keep you safely juiced up for the entire day and maybe the next – if you frequently use call and text features only.
But fire up that Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, music, movies, and games – well, don’t expect it will last very long. That’s why we’ve always recommended one of the two: bring an extra battery for the Liquid S1, or get a power bank. If big screen devices are a thing for you, but want something that has a reasonable price, then we suggest taking a quick peak at Acer’s Liquid S1 phablet.
Key Specs:
• OS: Android 4.2
• Dimensions: 6.42×3.27×0.38
• Display: 5.7-inches
• Resolution: 1280×720
• Rear Camera: 8 megapixels
• Front Camera: 2 megapixels
• Video recording: 1080p HD
RAM: 1GB
• Internal Storage: 8GB, expandable to 32GB
• Battery: 2400mAh