Smart, speedy and surprisingly cheap

ON LAST WEEK’S IT page, we looked at Acer’s Liquid Z520 smartphone, a dual-SIM 3G device priced at less than Bt4,000. Another phone in the same vein and at Bt10 less than Bt5,000, equally as affordable is the Acer Liquid Z410, an LTE 4G smartphone with acceptable performance,

It features a 4.5-inch IPS display with 540 x 960-pixel resolution, is powered by 64-bit Mediatek MT6732M quad-core 1.3 GHz processor, and uses Mali-T760MP2 GPU to handle graphics.

The phone has 1 gigabyte of RAM or working memory and 8 GB of internal storage, expandable with a microSD card. It runs on Android 4.4 operating system.

Like its sister, the Z520 also has dual microSIM slots with SIM management function that lets you use one SIM for data connection and the other for voice calls.

I tested the Z410 on TrueMove H’s LTE 4G network and was impressed by the data connection speed. The Ookla Speedtest app found that the Z410 achieved a download speed of 44.98 Megabits per second and an upload speed of 19.49 Mpbs.

Uploading a snapshot to my Facebook wall on the 4G connection was a breeze and checking mails and Facebook feeds were also fast.

The phone has good performance for this price range. Its menus and touch screen are responsive and the scrolling of the screen is fast.

I played video clips and YouTube clips without problem and found the display satisfactorily bright and clear for reading text and viewing photos.

The Z410 comes with a AcerRAPID key at the back below the main camera, which you just press and hold to bring up the camera. Press briefly on the RAPID key to bring an app of your choice.

The phone also has Acer QuickTouch functions that enable you to quickly control the phone with a simple one-finger gesture. You can swipe a Z shape on the locked display to launch the music player and swipe left or right to command previous and next songs. You swipe a C shape to open the camera and a V shape to enable the dial pad. You can also draw an I shape to unlock the phone.

The phone has a 2MP 80-degree wide-angle front camera and a 5MP rear camera. The image quality is okay for a phone and fun to use thanks to the special features, especially the voice commands.

For example, simply say “Cheese” and a photo will be taken or say “Selfie” to switch to the front camera, which will snap an image after a three-second countdown.

The phone can be a good quality music player thanks to its DTS Studio Sound feature. I tested it with my Sony MDR-EX1000 earphones and enjoyed both the bass and the clarity.

The Liquid Z410 also comes with the AcerEXTEND function that lets you take full control via USB cable or wirelessly with a Windows-based PC. You can then type on the computer keyboard, and use drag and drop from the computer to the phone.

Acer Liquid Z410 retails for only Bt4,990.

 

Key Specs

 

- OS: Android 4.4.4 KitKat

- Networks: 3G HSPA: 900/2100 MHz, 4G LTE CAT 4: 800/1800/2100/2600 MHz

- Processor: Mediatek MT6732 1.3 GHz quad-core

- Memory: 1 GB RAM

- Storage: 8 GB internal, upgradable with microSD by up to 32 GB

- Display: 4.5-inch IPS with 960x540 pixels

- Cameras: 5 MP rear camera with f/2.4 lens, 2 MP front camera with wide 80-degree angle lens

- SIM: dual microSIM slots

- Wireless connectivity: Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi b/g/n

- Battery: 2,000 mAh

- Dimensions: 136 x 66.7 x 9.9 mm

- Weight: 145g