Acer announce the Liquid E2: Continue their mid-range Android efforts!

   Acer always seem to hit a sweet spot in the mid-range Android phone market. Their devices offer what people want, relatively cheaply, but the reality is that they don't have the same lure as the top of the market devices from Samsung, HTC, Motorola and the like. That means that Acer never shift tens of millions of these phones, but they're always relatively swift with updates and in our experience their phones are always well built.

   The Liquid E2, pictured above, shouldn't be any different and in fact this seems like a very nice little phone! On board there's a 1.2GHz quad-core processor, a solid 4.5-inch qHD that's 960 x 540p IPS display, an 8 megapixel camera with "zero shutter delay". This phone benefits from two rear-speakers just like its predecessor and it's all running on stock Android Jelly Bean, although we're not sure which version just yet. 

   You can pick one of these up in the UK, France, Germany and a few other countries around and about Europe at some point in the first half of May for €229 with your choice of single or dual-SIM slots!

   The full press release is embedded below:

Acer Liquid E2:
instantly catch everything
Editor's Summary:
· Quad-core processor and 42 Mbps connectivity[1] so that everything loads quickly
· Awesome stereo audio via dual speakers and DTS Sound™
· 8MP camera with fast continuous shooting and crisp 1080p video at 30 fps, to capture the best moments
Bioggio (Switzerland), April 24, 2013– Following the success of the Liquid E1 and Z2, Acer today unveiled the Liquid E2 smartphone. This is the latest addition to the lineup and the third smartphone Acer launched since the beginning of the year, further strengthening the company commitment to the smartphone market.
Targeted at multimedia user, the Liquid E2 is the first Acer quad-core phone with optional dual[2] SIM card slot giving users all the convenience of having two mobiles in one and easily manage personal and business communications. High-performance quad-core processor combined with an HSPA+ (up to 42 Mbps) data connection lets favorite apps react quickly and flow smoothly, while web pages and streaming media load very quickly. Everything responds instantly.
The Liquid E2 is equipped with a zero shutter delay 8MP camera, so every moment can be instantly caught when the capture button is pressed. With speedy continuous shooting, users can take up to 8 pictures per second just by holding down the camera softkey. While the camera lets users capture everything around them, the large 4.5" qHD display based on IPS technology with wide viewing angle allows enjoying photos or videos with friends or family.The camera is also capable of recording crisp 1080p videos at 30 fps so that any event will be memorable.
Liquid E2 also features an impressive dual-speaker system and DTS Sound™ for enhanced audio with volume maximization, so users can enjoy their favorite music at its best. The integrated Moodagent creates music playlists based on an individual's mood or uses songs from the library to create playlists that not only matches a person's mood, but also a specific taste in music.

Pricing and Availability
The Acer Liquid E2 will be available in Belgium, Netherlands, Ukraine, France, followed by Spain, UK, Italy, Germany and Russia starting from mid-May at a suggested price of €229. The Acer Liquid E2 will be available in two colours: Rock Black and Classic White.

Liquid E2 Specifications
Size
Dimensions
131 x 68 x 9.9 mm
Weight
140 g (with battery)
Battery
Talk time
Talk time: up to 9 h
Standby time
Standby: up to 450 h
Capacity
2000 mAh
Radio
HSPA
900 / 2100 MHz (42Mbps DL, 11Mbps UL)
GSM / EDGE
850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz
Processing
CPU / Modem
Quad Core 1.2 GHz
ROM / RAM
4 GB / 1 GB
Imaging
Camera
8 MP AF with flash LED, BSI sensor + 2MP front
Display
LCD
4.5" qHD
Touch screen
Cap. Touch
Connectivity
Wi-Fi
802.11b/g/n
Bluetooth / FM
Class 3.0+EDR / FM receiver
GPS
Yes, with A-GPS support
Micro-SD slot
Yes
SIM slot
Dual SIM or Single SIM*
Micro-USB
Yes
Audio output
3.5mm audio jack, Dual speaker
Sensors
Sensors on board
Accelerometer, e-compass, light sensor, proximity Sensor
Hard keys
Volume
Volume Up / Down keys
Power
Power key
OS
Version
Android Jelly Bean
UI
Version
Android default
Text Entry
Keyboard
Google virtual keyboard / SWYPE Input Method
Messaging
Universal inbox
SMS, MMS, E-mail
Email
Gmail
IM
Gtalk
Web
Browser
Android Browser
Search
Google Search
Entertainment
Video, Music
Google default
Video streaming
YouTube
Social network
Facebook
Productivity
Push mail
Gmail
PC sync
Google Cloud sync
Cloud sync
Acer Cloud
Office
Polaris Editor
Location-based Services
A-GPS
Satellite Data Update
Maps & directions
Google Maps, Latitude, Street View
Online Store
App download
Google Play Store
Online Update
FOTA
SAR
0.227 W/kg (Head, CE)

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16/08/2012

Lenovo remain indifferent to Microsoft's Surface tablets. Pledge to compete!

   Acer have today been made to look like a complaining little brother by Lenovo. The latter finally commented on Microsoft's Surface tablets and they don't seem to be too bothered at all. 

   The company's CEO, Yang Yuanqing, voiced his opinions on the company’s latest earnings calls, saying, “Although we don't like Microsoft providing hardware, for us, it just adds one more competitor." And we're inclined to agree with Lenovo here and it should spur companies on to up their game instead of complaining about it!

   The only thing to mention is that if Microsoft's RT Surface tablets do come in at $199 like the rumours suggested yesterday, then that may slightly peeve all OEM's not just Acer, but it might not even come to that, only time will tell!

RIM sets their screen resolutions for BB10 handsets and it's finally good news!

    Recently RIM CEO, Thorsten Heins, has had a bit of a hard time; he's in charge of a company whose handsets are starting to look outdated and lacking ideas. But, the promised land of BB10 pledges to change all of that. Last week Heins stated the company is in the polishing stages of the BB10 creation and that the devices are completed. Since then we've had word that the company is getting ready to take two “nearly complete” prototype devices to carriers in an attempt to persuade them to carry one or both devices at launch.

   Now Tim Neil has taken to the company’s developer blog to inform folks that upcoming full-touch devices will have Galaxy S3 matching screen with 1,280 x 720p displays, while QWERTY phones will be rocking with 720 x 720 screens.

   So if you're a developer and you want the chance to crack business phones get to work on them resolutions!

 Via IntoMobile!

In other news:

•  Sony have released their latest eReader; it's elegantly called the PRS-T2 eReader and when it's available it'll set you back $129.99.

• If you happen to be a lucky resident of China then you will soon be able to purchase the new Xiaomi Phone 2. This wouldn't normally make the news but the device has a quad-core Krait, a 4.3″ 720p IPS, and Jelly Bean! And the price? About $314!!!! Insane! Shame they're not heading west anytime soon.

• Samsung's monster phone, the Galaxy Note, has been a huge success for the company. It turns out they managed to ship 10million of them since the phone's release!

• Kaspersky Labs has reported a tripling  of Android malware in Q2 2012 alone!

• Nokia and Microsoft have scheduled a Windows Phone event for September 5th, new Windows Phone incoming!

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10/07/2012

RIM claim to own the qwerty market and make interesting comments about Chinese production.

   “We own the QWERTY market" is the claim today from RIM CEO Torsten Heins. It is this confidence that helps explains the company's plans to produce a full-touch BB10 device before unleashing the qwerty's. Heins' exact words were "That’s why we’re targeting the full-touch market first.”

   RIM see this as a good opportunity to diversify and in a way this is a fresh start for the company and hopefully they will be able to produce modern and stylish phones which will change the company's fortunes. 

   As always the company is relying on their comprehensive messaging services to win through and we can expect to see both qwerty and touchscreen devices in short succession in early 2013!

   There was one other interesting tidbit from today's shareholder Q&A in Waterloo. Heins was asked why the company doesn't produce phones in China to save money and his response was that he doesn't want to risk software leaks and industrial espionage. We don't know if this is a genuine concern or not really. Noone else seems to have this sort of problem, well not since Nortel cleaned up their act.

In other news:

• Microsoft's Steve Ballmer has promised to leave no space in the market where Apple is unchallenged. They have pledged to fight Apple on the software and hardware front in a head to head battle. This could get interesting!
• Kickstarter is coming to the UK in the fall!
• Android 4.1 Jelly Bean has had it's source code released to he AOSP, so expect custom ROMS in the very near future!
• It's been reported today that Nokia had given Jolla patents surrounding Meego but Nokia has denied this has happened today.
• AMD has suggested there will be an 11% drop in revenue in Q2 2012, as Intel wrestles more marketshare off of the company.
• Microsoft have proudly boasted that they are collecting royalties from 70% of Android devices today.

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Absolutely everything you need to know from the Google I/O Keynote!

   Today Google has had their annual announcement/press conference/ everything you need to know about Android day and along with that came the ever exciting keynote. This one in particular, was so good people on Twitter have literally been calling it the 'best keynote ever'! And lets find out why!

   The Nexus 7.

   It's hard to choose the best place to start with the sheer amount of events from today, but the widely rumoured Google tablet definitely did come to fruition, with a few very pleasant surprises too!

    Firstly, the specs of this 7 incher are very solid indeed. The screen has a resolution of 1280x800 and it's an IPS display, which is coated in "scratch-resistant Corning glass". At the moment we can only assume this is a variety of the extremely robust Gorilla glass. As well as this great screen, there's a front-facing, 1.2-megapixel camera, but no rear camera, which arguably isn't particularly useful on a tablet anyway!

   Inside there's 1GB of RAM, and NVIDIA's quad-core Tegra 3 SoC. Connectivity options are as diverse as you would expect thanks to the GPS, Bluetooth, 802.11b/g/n WiFi and Micro USB options and as a bonus there's NFC for all your Android Beaming needs.The battery is rated at 4325mAh and the usual spate of sensors: accelerometer, magnetometer, and a gyroscope are all present and counted for. 

   The whole device has been squeezed down to 198.5 x 120 x 10.45mm and you have a choice of either 8 (£159 or $199) or 16GB (£199 or $249) of storage. This is an insanely cheap price for what you actually get here. The devices will be available on the Play store in the USA for pre-order now and the UK has the same option now too! And you can expect the device to land on your doorstep in mid-July!

   The video below is a brief introduction to the tablet and the new version of Android, which is called Jelly Bean or 4.1!

Android 4.1 Jelly Bean!

   This is the latest update to Google's Android Operating System and appears to be a minor upgrade over ICS. The update has been confirmed to be available on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, Nexus S and Motorola Xoom in mid-July as an OTA update, and the SDK will be available today as part of a developer preview.

   One of the biggest features is Project Butter, a huge effort by Google to improve performance and response time. The whole system will be ticking over at 60fps from now on, and while the difference of a few miliseconds might sound minimal but, the guys over at Engadget have described it as 'glaringly apparently the moment you run Jelly Bean next to an ICS device', so it must be a very notable improvement. Animations are said to appear a lot smoother and quicker and your devices CPU immediately increases it's speed the second a touch is detected to ensure an almost immediate response.

   The home screen has also been reconfigured, with the addition of some clever features like dynamically resizable widgets, so you don't have to run through the steps of; placing, resizing and again placing it exactly where you want it. From now on if there is room on a home screen, but your app icons are a little in the way, the widget will automatically push them off to the side or to the next 'page'. Another nice touch, which is undoubtedly inspired by Mathias Duarte's efforts with WebOS, apps and widgets can now be removed by flinging them off the screen. Another highly useful addition is offline voice input. Now you can tap the microphone and dictate a message even with the phone in airplane mode, saving you time and your internet allowance!

   The camera app, which was really sold in ICS has been updated again in Andorid 4.1. The gallery's integration has been tightened up and looks great. It allows you to quickly pull up the photo you just took with a swipe to the left. You can continue swiping through your images or you can pinch to zoom out and view all your images in a filmstrip view. Deleting images is as simple as swiping a pic off the screen and, if you've manage to accidentally removed one, a quick tap of the undo button restores it, because we can see a lot of accidental swipes going on here. And both images and video can be shared using Google Beam, and Android now supports pairing with Bluetooth devices with the assistance of NFC.

   

The Nexus Q.

   Google's first own-brand consumer electronics product is a small, sphere-shaped device that will work with the Nexus 7 tablet and other Android devices to stream media from the cloud. It's designed to take centre stage in a living room, preferably yours, with the ability to pull content from YouTube and the Google Play music app, among other services, allowing you stream music and video. Anyone with an Android device will be able to take control of the Q to play content from their library; basically, everyone can be the DJ. What's more, the device can double as an amplifier, letting users plug in external speakers to receiver power from the Q's 25-watt amp.

   The device will be powered by an OMAP 4460 processor, that's the same chips that's in the Galaxy Nexus, and there's also 16GB of storage and 1GB of RAM. The connectivity options include dual-band WiFi and Ethernet, together with Bluetooth and NFC for tapping a device to the Q to exchange software and media. The little streamer will go on sale for $299 in mid-July. Google will also offer up a set of $399 Triad bookshelf speakers to go with the Q, it's expensive by my goodness it's also uber cool! 

   For those of you who care about employment opportunities, the Nexus Q will be entirely constructed in the United States!

All the other details:



Google+:

• Google+ has 250 million users, more mobile users than desktop users interestingly!
• Google has announced Google+ Events.
• Google+ on Android and iPad have got specific tablet versions!

Misc.:

• Google Play has started offering movies, TV shows and magazines from today!
• Google has cut the price of the Galaxy Nexus to $349 and it now comes with Jelly Bean.
• 400 million Android devices have been sold in total, with 1 million activations per day!
• Google Play now has 600,000 apps and has had 20 billion downloads.
• Google's Project Glass has official availability for early 2013! The 'Explorer addition' which is demoed in the video below, will set you back $1500.

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