subject: A Review Of The Brilliant Acer Stream [print this page] The new Acer Stream is the most impressive handset from the manufacturers to date. Previous attempts at producing a smartphone have fallen short of the mark, however this new Android handset boasts an HDMI port and an excellent AMOLED screen amongst an array of other exciting features.
At just 11mm thick, the new Acer Stream is a slimline handset which is arguably the most stylish design yet from the makers. The look of the handset is helped by the combination of dark aluminium and glossy black which makes the phone look much more top end than it actually is. The fascia is dominated by the great quality screen, with three simple media buttons located conveniently beneath it. The screen itself measures 3.7" an uses AMOLED technology to produce a bright and vivid image. This excellent picture quality can also be attributed to the massive 1.6 million colours that the display is capable of showing. The touchscreen is capacitive, meaning it is much more responsive than many of its resistive styled counterparts. Multi touch is also supported, so the pinch and zoom method makes zooming in and out of web pages and images incredibly easy. The phone is 119.5 mm tall by 63 mm wide and has an overall weight of 140 grammes which is fairly standard for a modern smartphone.
Running on the Google Android 2.1 platform, the Acer Stream boasts an innovative new user interface which moves away from the usual homescreen layout found on other models. The Stream uses a single screen divided into to parts. 8 permanent icons can be found on the bottom third of the screen. These icons can not be changed and feature shortcuts to the main areas of the phone including the messaging and call menus. The remainder of the display is occupied by three panels that you can swipe between. The first panel simply shows you the current time and date, the remainding panels show most recently used applications and media files. This new layout is a refreshing change to the pages and pages of icons found on other phone. The processing power on this handset is impressive thanks to a 1Ghz Snapdragon chip being on board. This is backed up by a hefty 512Mb of RAM. The overall speed of the phone is very good and contributes to a generally very good user experience. The only downside to the great processor along with the large screen is that it does prove a big strain on battery life, so typically a recharge would be needed after about 1.5 days of normal use.
The Acer Stream is an excellent smartphone which benefits from a lightning fast processor and a great screen, both alongside an impressive list of useful and innovative features.
