All about Technology: Acer just debuted five new phones, one tablet and a wearable

Friday, 30 May 2014

Acer just debuted five new phones, one tablet and a wearable

Acer had a lot to get off its chest before the weekend, announcing five new smartphones, a new tablet, and a wearable smartband to go with one of those phones, for a total of seven new devices launching in 2014.

Most interesting are the Liquid Leap smartband and its paired smartphone, the curved Liquid Jade. The two will be bundled together "in selected markets," Acer said in a press release.

The Liquid Leap is a 1-inch touch screen housed in a rubber wristband with fitness and sleep tracking, phone notifications, music controls, and seven days of battery. It comes in white, black, blue, pink, and orange.

The Liquid Jade, meanwhile, is a curved 5-inch HD smartphone with Android 4.4: KitKat and a 13-megapixel camera. Both smartphone and wearable launch in the third quarter of 2014, Acer said.

That's not all

But the Leap-Jade combo is only a small part of Acer's announcements. The Taiwanese company has also debuted four other smartphones.

The impressive Liquid X1 sports a 1.7 GHz octa-core processor, a 13-megapixel camera, a 5.7-inch display, 2GB of memory, and microSD expansion.

Where the X1 is professional- and business-focused, the budget-priced Acer Liquid Z200 smartphone is focused on "color" and "fun." It comes in five colors and has a 4-inch display and Android KitKat.

Next up are the Liquid E700 and Liquid E600, two similar devices with varying specs. The travel-ready E700 has an impressive 3500mAh battery, triple SIM capability, a 5-inch screen, 4GB of storage with microSD room, Android KitKat, and a quad-core processor.

The E600 has similar specs, including a 5-inch display and quad-core processor, but lacks the triple SIM capability of the E700.

Don't forget the tablet

Finally Acer also announced the Iconia Tab 8, a Wi-Fi-only tablet with an 8-inch 1920x1200 anti-fingerprint display, Intel Atom quad-core chip, Android KitKat, and microSD expansion.

All of these devices have various "intuitive and convenient" control and interface features, like the X1's AcerRAPID rear button, as well as its Acer Zoom Fit and AcerFLOAT UI tweaks. The former limits the display's active area when you're using it with one hand, while the latter is a multi-tasking tool.

In addition they'll all launch in Q3 this year, so watch out for more info as summer gets on.