According to the press release, the Liquid Metal, which is the new flagship of Acer, is the latest generation Acer’s smartphone that features the best solutions currently available on the smartphone market. The Liquid Metal is designed for all those who live a dynamic, modern, and fully integrated lifestyle.

We have been waiting the opportunity to review this product since a month ago, but we have not received the sample of this new product from Acer at that time. A week ago, the Acer contacted us and finally, the good news is: have a chance to review the latest Acer’s product, the Liquid Metal - a smartphone that it hopes will allow it to compete with the major rivals in what is becoming an increasingly crowded market.

Speaking about technological evolution, Acer – a Taiwan-based multinational company, is always one step ahead, thanks to its proven capacity to translate the most sophisticated technological innovations into devices that are easy to operate. Although Acer is well-known as one of the largest computer-technology and electronic companies in the world, recently, the Acer has been struggling hard make every effort to enter the crowded smartphone market and to compete with all mobile giant companies around the globe.

The latest Liquid Metal is positioned between the Acer Liquid E and the Acer Stream. The new Liquid Metal comes with Android 2.2 (Froyo) – which enables Flash 10.1 – right out of the box, as well as Acer’s Breeze user interface that offers additional widgets even from the lock screen – first seen on the Acer Stream. Well, it seems that the lock screen bares a striking resemblance to the new one introduced in Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Eclair update.

The Acer Liquid Metal smartphone shows its excellence not only in its design, style and power, but brings delightful user experience by the intuitive interface and software developed by Acer. Breeze, the new Acer UI was developed to manage applications even more easily. Information is visible even when the screen is locked; view the application history and quickly start up your most used applications; customize your home-screen as you like it and re-arrange the way you access your favorite applications according to your own specific needs. And, the Acer SocialJogger Application aggregates your Facebook and Twitter feeds, allowing you to surf through the updates with the trackwheel, receive updates directly through the dedicated widget on the home-screen, and comment or share directly from the user-friendly interface.

For a smartphone that costs around $400 in the U.S., and EUR 340 in Europe, the Android 2.2-powered Acer Liquid Metal has a lot going for it. Style and elegance characterize the soft, sinuous, and curvy design for the perfect grip. However, there is one thing that bother us, how do a smartphone that equipped with a 3.6″ LCD display (480×800 pixels of resolution), a 2nd-gen Snapdragon CPU (the same fast one that is in the HTC Desire Z and the T-Mobile G2), a 5MP built-in camera with LED flash and HD video recording (720p resolution – an equal to the Acer Stream’s built-in camera), 512MB RAM/ROM, Dolby Surround sound support, DLNA/UPnP media streaming, and 14.4Mbps HSDPA, is sold at a price range in such a way?

On top of that, the Acer Liquid Metal passed the FCC with AT&T bands, and T-Mobile has also been in talks to bring it into its portfolio. The Acer Liquid Metal is, after all, what the new and improved Terminator they sent after Arnie was made of. Here the name makes a not so subtle hint that the smartphone’s casing is partially made of cold, hard metal. To be more precise, the battery cover of our unit is made of mocca-colored steel, and all around the smartphone is a chrome-like band, which is just plastic, but looks very classy nonetheless. When you add its light weight to the nice choice of materials, as well as the curved surfaces of the casing, the Liquid Metal is one very comfortable to hold and operate with one hand device, not to mention attention-grabbing.

The Acer’s design team even managed to come up with a rather cool idea for visual notifications. They put three LED icons on top of the product that get illuminated each time you miss a call, have a new message, or are charging the smartphone - like projectors under an ice skating rink. In this way, you can just glimpse at the top of the smartphone, without having to take it out fully or turn on the screen, and know if you had emails, missed calls, or whether it is being juiced up.

Acer has transformed the Liquid Metal into a true wireless server for all your home-devices through DLNA/UPnP technology that enables all the multimedia content memorized on the smartphone can be shared with your PC, TV or gaming console. Moreover, the Acer Liquid Metal is capable of providing your computer an Internet connection via USB. This is truly useful for traveling by train or when on vacation. The Acer EasyLink PC software is free of charge and even enables a protected Internet connection (https).

Acer Liquid Metal specifications:

• Platform: Android OS v2.2 Froyo
• CPU: Qualcomm MSM 7230 8000 - clock speed: 800MHz
• Memory: 512MB RAM x 512MB ROM, MicroSD card-slot expandable to 32GB
• Data: HSDPA (14.4Mbps), HSUPA (2Mbps), GPRS, EDGE, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, UPnP, Bluetooth v2.1 with A2DP, microUSB v2.0
• Display: 3.6″ (480 x 800 pixels) 16M-colors TFT capacitive touchscreen, Accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate, Acer UI 4.0 Breeze, Touch-sensitive controls
• Camera: [Primary] 5MP (2592х1944 pixels), autofocus, LED flash; [Features] Geo-tagging, face and smile detection, image stabilization; [Video] HD video recording (720p@30fps)
• Size: (Dimensions) 115 x 63 x 13.5 mm; (Weight) 135g
• Sound: [Alert Types] Vibration, Polyphonic(64), MP3 ringtones; [Speakerphone] 3.5 mm audio jack, Dolby Mobile sound enhancement
• Messaging: SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email
• Browser: HTML
• Navigation: AGPS, Digital Compass, Google Maps
• Other Features: Java MIDP 2.0; Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic; Google Search, Maps, Gmail; YouTube, Google Talk, Picasa integration; MP3/WAV/WMA/eAAC+ player; XviD/MP4/H.264/H.263 player; Facebook and Twitter integration; Document viewer (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF); Voice memo/dial; Predictive text input; Music recognition
• Operating Times: [Stand-by] Up to 450 h (2G) / Up to 550 h (3G); [Talk time] Up to 11 h (2G) / Up to 8 h (3G)

List of recommended mobile phones:

• Samsung Google Nexus S
• Apple iPhone 4
• Motorola Milestone XT720
• Motorola Droid 2 Global
• HTC Desire
• Nokia N8
• Nokia E7

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