The Android meter is ticking. Acer want a piece of the pie. We all add two and two together. Yesterday, Acer didn’t know the first thing about phones (if you can say that for a household name in notebooks), today they’re betting on two horses in the mobile OS race. After their neoTouch running on Windows Mobile 6.5, Acer decided to dip their toe into another kind of water - the free and open source world of Android. This time attention goes to the Liquid - the company’s second Snapdragon powered device.

We have to admit we weren’t as impressed as we wished by the neoTouch and its almost naked Windows Mobile OS. It was less the price and more the really strong competition that drew our attention away from it.

Acer Liquid official photos

We’re certain it’s not how Acer planned it to be and their answer was immediate - the sexy Liquid powered by Android 1.6. Just like the neoTouch, a Snapdragon core is ticking inside the Liquid and does all it can to run the OS flawlessly despite the slightly lower clock rates.

Key features
Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support
3G with HSDPA 7.2 Mbps and HSUPA 2Mbps
Android OS v1.6 with Acer UI 3.0
3.5″ capacitive touchscreen of WVGA resolution
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8250 768 MHz CPU, 256 MB RAM
5 megapixel autofocus camera with video recording
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g and GPS receiver
Accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate and turn-to-mute
Digital compass
Standard miniUSB port for charging and data
Stereo Bluetooth (A2DP)
microSD card slot with support for up to 16GB cards (2GB one included)
Standard 3.5mm audio jack
Direct access to the official Android Market
Main disadvantages
Camera lacks flash or lens cover, has outdated features
No smart dialing, no voice dialing, no video calling
No web Flash support
Acer UI 3.0 offers only minor changes to the original interface
Somewhat limited 3rd party software availability
No DivX or XviD video support or a third-party application to play that
Poor MP4 playback performance - any videos over QVGA res are barely watchable
No proper file manager out of the box
No TV-out port
No FM radio
Both lists give us a sense of deja-vu. It was a similar case with the neoTouch, but this time the situation is a bit different. Some of the Liquid’s weaknesses are inherent to the Android OS (especially its first iteration, the Donut). It’s not that they won’t count against, but it’s at least fair to note most of those are not Acer’s fault.

Acer Liquid live photos

Anyway, the Liquid will be measured against the likes of HTC Magic, HTC Hero, Samsung Galaxy and Samsung Galaxy Spica and it sure has a few things to offer that they won’t. WVGA resolution and sky-high processing speeds are enough of an edge against competitors. The excellent capacitive screen and all-round connectivity are perhaps no news for the Android species.

So, Acer are newcomers but they’re keen to bring value. Let’s see how their Android fits in that plan.

Some handsets will work their socks off to have their fifteen minutes of fame, others are simply born into stardom. The BlackBerry Bold 9700 is certainly fortunate to carry a name that stands for popularity and excellence in the RIM family of phones. But this kind of fame can be less a blessing and more of a curse if the successor fails to live up to the standards set by its illustrious namesake.
These high expectations have quite often turned otherwise decent handsets into a byword for failure. It’s simply not enough to provide incremental improvements when upgrading an iconic handset. The iPhone somehow gets away with that, but Apple usually does. But for regular mobile phone manufacturers it takes something new and it certainly takes something better for the successor to achieve the same kind of success.
Key features:
• 2.44″ 65K-color TFT landscape display with a resolution of 480 x 360 pixels
• Comfortable four-row full QWERTY keyboard
• Quad-band GSM support and tri-band 3G with HSDPA
• Wi-Fi and built-in GPS and BlackBerry maps preloaded
• 3.15 autofocus megapixel camera, LED flash
• 624 MHz CPU, 256 MB RAM
• BlackBerry OS v5
• Responsive trackpad navigation
• Hot-swappable microSD card slot (up to 16GB)
• DivX and XviD video support
• Good web browser
• Office document editor
• 3.5 mm audio jack
• Decent audio quality
• Smart dialing
• Great battery life
• More compact body and lighter weight compared to the Bold 9000
• Good build quality
Main disadvantages:
• Many features are locked without a BlackBerry Internet Service account (plan)
• Mediocre camera performance and features
• No FM radio
• No video-call camera
• No TV-out functionality
• No built-in accelerometer
• No built-in compass
It’s pretty obvious where the RIM R&D team is heading with the BlackBerry Bold 9700. It’s hard to really overhaul a handset that was considered almost perfect by most of its users without testing their loyalty, so they embarked on optimization instead. It’s not a bad formula for success to just keep the same functionality, stick it in a smaller, fitter body and improve the performance wherever possible.
One glitch or an important feature sacrificed to fit the compact package and the plan goes down the tubes. The smartphone market is increasingly competitive and smaller companies like RIM know they have little room for error. The new Bold 9700 looks fit and hot, no doubt about that. Let’s see if it performs to our expectations, and yours.

RIM are a company with style and simply hopping on the touchscreen bandwagon with another iPhone wannabe just wouldn’t suit them. They certainly realized the importance of having a full-touch device in their portfolio but wanted a clear and legible BlackBerry imprint on it.
The BlackBerry Storm 9500 was a truly intriguing device but never really managed to find its place in the new market it was built for. Too bold and unusual for the BlackBerry-loyals and yet too conservative for the rest of the world, it didn’t quite get the results it was hoping for. But the successor might use the publicity the first Storm generated for its own good.
Key features
• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE and 2100 MHz 3G with HSPA support
• 3.25″ 65K-color capacitive touchscreen of 360 x 480 pixel resolution
• Improved touchscreen experience with piezo-electric touch feedback system
• 3.15 MP autofocus camera, LED flash
• BlackBerry OS 5
• Wi-Fi and built-in GPS with BlackBerry maps preloaded
• 2 GB internal storage and a hot-swappable microSD card slot
• Landscape on-screen keyboard is as close to hardware keys as we have seen on a touch phone
• Nice looks and great build quality
• 3.5mm standard audio jack
• Accelerometer sensor for screen auto-rotate
• Bluetooth v2.1 and USB v2.0
• Document editor
• Good audio quality
Main disadvantages:
• No email support without BlackBerry Internet Service account
• Interface not as quick as competitors’
• Chubbier than most touchscreen phones with similarly-sized displays
• Mediocre camera
• No FM radio
• No web browser Flash support
• No dedicated video-call camera
The good news is RIM decided to honor the Storm2 with a few upgrades over the original. However, none of them seems to be absolutely crucial so the greatest responsibility falls on the brand new piezo-electric touchscreen. The missing link between touchscreen and a hardware keypad is what many keen texters must have been waiting for. Or at least that’s what RIM believe.
Now, the SurePress screen didn’t work out particularly well on the first Storm and a second failure might herald the demise of the entire series. So the BlackBerry Storm2 knows it needs to impress the audience or it might take a spot in history for all the wrong reasons.
But first thing first, let’s check out what you get when you buy a shiny new Storm2. Unboxing follows after the break.

Nexus One firmware update fixes the 3G issues, brings pinch zoom
Gentlemen, start your updates - your Nexus One should be prompting you to download the new software update as we speak. It fixes the 3G connectivity issues and brings pinch-zoom to several applications, plus a few more changes.
The update started rolling out yesterday and is being released gradually to users, but all Nexus One phones should receive it by the end of the week. Just check your notification bar and when it appears, download it and wait for it to install. It’s an over-the-air update, so you don’t even need a computer.
The Nexus One firmware update brings a fix for the 3G woes that have been plaguing the Google superphone.
Google also flipped the switch on for pinch-zooming - yep, no more fearing Apple, there’s multi-touch for all Nexus One users. Pinch-zoom is enabled in the Browser, the Gallery and in the Google Maps Navigation app. There’s no word on whether pinch-zoom or other multi-touch functionality will be available in third-party applications.
There are two more updates - Google Goggles is now preinstalled on the phone and also Google Maps got bumped to version 3.4. This new version of Maps for the Nexus One knows a few new tricks - it syncs starred items between the phone and maps.google.com and also uses the your history from the site for better suggestions as you search. Finally, Google Maps has a new night mode, which automatically changes the screen at night.