Acer’s Android Smartphone Coming to Expansys on August 9th

It seems you can’t go a week or so without hearing about the newest and greatest Android phone. Phones with the Google mobile OS are coming almost too fast at times, with most of them coming from HTC or Motorola, and maybe Samsung and LG. There’s also a lot of smaller companies that use Android for cheaper phones, and even PC manufacturers like Dell are in the mix. Now we have another PC manufacturer, Acer coming with it’s own Android phone. {Engadget}

The Acer will cost the US buyer $600

The smartphone is dubbed the Acer Stream, and it runs on a modified Android 2.1.  The Android version actually looks pretty slick, with the navigation bar halfway down the screen rather than on top.  Below the bar is a collection of 6 apps that can be changed by the user.  Above the bar is what appears to be screens of recently used functions, though that’s a bit unclear.  It looks fairly similar to the cards used in WebOS for multitasking.  Apps are accessed by flicking upwards, and revealing the rest of the apps which have to be navigated by flicking left and right between pages.  To add to the difference, the navigation bar is pushed to the bottom while inside any app.

The Stream is powered by a 1 GHz Snapdragon processor, just like the Nexus One and other similar phones.  It has a 5 MP camera capable of 720p video without a flash, and HDMI out.  Acer is marketing the phone as a media-centric smartphone, so the company expects us to watch movies on the 3.7-inch AMOLED display, again just like the Nexus One.  It’s an interesting choice since HTC just stopped using the AMOLED screens on the Nexus One and Desire since they can’t be made fast enough.  Lack of AMOLED screens is the main cause of the constant waits for the Droid Incredible.

The phone, as of now will only be available via UK online retailer Expansys for £399.  For US buyers, that’s about $600 with the current exchange.  It is unlocked, but still more expensive than the Nexus One was before Google stopped selling it last week.





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