MOBILE

Acer CloudMobile - Ambitious Android Phone (Part 1)

5/20/2013 6:20:37 PM

Acer CloudMobile is a sort of ambitious Android phone that appeared a little too late.

It's been a while since we reviewed a smartphone from Acer. However, the current model - CloudMobile S500 – might not completely unfamiliar for its debut at MWC in spring. This time Acer shows us a thinner, more beautiful, more design-conscious phone, one that is not only about the nice look.

This time Acer shows us a thinner, more beautiful, more design-conscious phone, one that is not only about the nice look.

This time Acer shows us a thinner, more beautiful, more design-conscious phone, one that is not only about the nice look.

With a 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 Plus processor, 1GB of RAM, an 8-megapixel camera and a 720p display, all are priced at $434 with SIM-free; it competes with the phones that have the specs similar to HTC One S. In short, it is another option for those who are looking for a full-featured smartphone, except it does not have the pocket-draining price. However, more importantly for Acer is the chance to attract the people’s attention to the smartphones. So, this time when CloudMobile has gently arrived at our shores, whether it makes us look up the clouds, or just indifferently put on our raincoats? Please read on to learn more.

Hardware

The phone, which won the iF Product Design Award, has the unforgettable style and feel, with Acer selecting a combination of the sharp corners, curved sides and a dimpled translucent back in contrast to the flat, glossy front face.

The phone, which won the iF Product Design Award, has the unforgettable style and feel, with Acer selecting a combination of the sharp corners, curved sides and a dimpled translucent back in contrast to the flat, glossy front face.

The CloudMobile has already had a rare hug from Engadget: we were so attracted by it in Barcelona that we felt that we had to consider it again. The phone, which won the iF Product Design Award, has the unforgettable style and feel, with Acer selecting a combination of the sharp corners, curved sides and a dimpled translucent back in contrast to the flat, glossy front face. In terms of materials, it is made of plastic but still feels solid – the kind of build quality that we get used to seeing in the Samsung’s phones. In fact, as the author put it in his pocket along with the Galaxy Nexus, the similar structure of the two phones made both phones hard to distinguish by feel. The rippled battery shell not only provides some needed personality, but also makes it easier to grip. The metallic accents around the mic and top speaker grid also enhance visual appealing. Regardless of whether you think this device was worth getting the iF product design award or not; this is clearly a nice cell phone – one that will not be mistaken identity.

The screen size is 4.3 inches, which makes the CloudMobile easy to grip for most people. In a world where the phone screens are becoming bigger and bigger, it seems that Acer has chosen to make its products fit in as many hands (and pockets) as possible. It is lightweight and comfortable to hold, but we never felt we were making concessions on the screen size. In theory, it might be suitable to use with one hand, but the button power / standby layout on the upper left side requires a bit tricky for those who are right handed. However, there was only your index finger that you might need to train to reach there, because the volume rocker is located more comfortably on the right-hand side, with the rest of the data input occurring on the screen. That creates the USB ports, mic and headphone jack to be the only other openings along the edges. (Note: there is no dedicated camera button, but the volume rocker will perform this role in camera mode). These edges also create a small edge around the screen, which makes a bit more scratch-resistant it when you put it face-down.

The screen size is 4.3 inches, which makes the CloudMobile easy to grip for most people.

The screen size is 4.3 inches, which makes the CloudMobile easy to grip for most people.

The overall design is quite eye-catching, but the screen is what will attract your attention. Acer describes it as an HD720 IPS LCD screen, which of course means that it has got 1,280x720 pixels. On the other hand, we will describe it as a bit of a corker. Actually, it is very bright, clear and great to look at. The colors are vivid and the whole image is striking. This is not surprising based on its display density of 342ppi defeated the redoubtable opponents such as the iPhone 5 and the Nexus 4. Some of the "highlights" are related to manufacturing techniques used: Acer pressed to the glass up against the digitizer, removing all air. The screen can be viewed from many angles, even in direct sunlight. Images are faithfully reproduced with the dark black colors and have no signs of saturation.

Getting past the outer shell, you will find a number of significant internal parts. It may not be the quad-core monster that you are hoping for, but the 1.5GHz dual-core chip continues to run without causing any obvious problems – that means we have never complained about the its performance. In short, it will fit for most people, but we'll talk more about that after we take the phone to check. About the 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage, these are rather modest specifications now, but the option to increase the storage capacity by using a microSD card should be considered as a support for many people. To come to the SD slot, you will need to pry the back cover, where you'll also find a micro-SIM slot and 1460mAh battery. The rest of the hardware is made out of a front "HD" (0.9-megapixel) camera and that rear 8MP camera, along with Dolby Mobile 3 sound enhancement and DLNA. Our test unit supports quad-band GSM / GPRS /EDGE and UMTS / HSPA+, as well as 802.11b/g/n, GPS, NFC and Bluetooth 4.0.

 

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