subject: The Brilliant Acer Stream - A New Android Smartphone [print this page] Mobile phone manufacturer Acer are relatively new to the smartphone market, but if their forthcoming handset the Stream is anything to go by, they will rightly have some of the more heavyweight brand looking nervously over their shoulder.
When first opening the box for the Acer Stream, the first thing you will notice that it is packed with accessories that other brands may well want to charge you for later. Alongside the usual charger and headset you will find various other goodies including an 8GB micro SD card, an HDMI cable and a carrying case. This is certainly a good start, and when we look at the phone itself it is equally as impressive. The handset does a great job of packing a great quality large screen into a relatively small chassis, which at its deepest part measures a pleasingly slim 11.2mm. The weight of 140 grammes is by no means lightweight, however some of its bulk can be attributed to the metallic parts that make up some of the design, and giving the phone a very expensive look and feel. As is common, the front of the phone is dominated by the WVGA quality 3.7" capacitive touch screen. As well as performing the obvious functions, it also house four Android keys, three of which are touch key, with only the Home button being a physical key. Another row beneath this features three physical buttons to make media operation easier. Upright these keys are difficult to use, but in landscape mode they really come into there own, as does the screen which is perfect for viewing photographs and video clips.
As a business tool, or even one to organise your social life, the Acer Stream features a superb organiser function. Four types of view are available which are agenda, daily, weekly and monthly. You can add tasks and appointments to any set date very easily, and even set an alarm to remind you at the time. The calculator features large and easy to use buttons, making it practical for everyday use, unlike many modern handsets. The Stream comes with a nice selection of Applications pre instaslled on the phone. One of the most impressive is named MusicA, and it allows you to record a song you hear which it will then inturn search the internet to find information about. A barcode scanner and a media server application are also both present, as iare the obligatory Facebook and Twitter Clients.
With competition at the top of the smartphone tree very fierce, this newcomer certainly has earned the right to be mentioned in the same breath as the likes of HTC and Apple thanks to a thoroughly impressive specification and excellent list of features.
