Acer Liquid S100 review

Do high end specs automatically make a good Android phone?

The definitive Acer Liquid S100 review
The definitive Acer Liquid S100 review

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Android phones are well specified when it comes to connectivity, and the Liquid is no different. Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.0 and GPS are included by default, and while there's no inbuilt tuner, an FM radio can be downloaded from the Market.

GPS is a little disappointing on the Liquid, as it takes a while to connect to the satellites, and pretty much gives up when in a crowded city at times.

Acer liquid s100

We've had a few handsets that can lock on to your GPS signal from indoors - so we'd have hoped this would have been included in the Liquid as well.

Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are good enough at finding other devices when you need them to - there's no way to send your pictures over the latter, which we still find a strange thing to leave out (although Apple does it with the iPhone too).

PC software with the Acer Liquid is non-existent - it's pretty much just a case of you plugging the phone into your PC, waiting for it to have a think about being connected and then being allowed to transfer files across in mass storage mode.

Acer liquid s100

There doesn't seem to be any dedicated software to allow you to use the Acer Liquid as a mobile modem, and the CD in the box is nothing more than a dedicated user manual.

Acer Sync seemed to be the place to go to connect to your PC - but the interface only offered us the chance to synchronise with Google in the way Android already does, so this seemed a redundant icon.

Acer liquid s100

However, being able to interact with the file system on both the phone and the memory card is vital, and pretty much all we need the connection for (although the internal storage level is rubbish) so we can't criticise this feature too much - although it was irritating not to be able to use the phone as a mobile modem at times.

Gareth Beavis
Formerly Global Editor in Chief

Gareth has been part of the consumer technology world in a career spanning three decades. He started life as a staff writer on the fledgling TechRadar, and has grown with the site (primarily as phones, tablets and wearables editor) until becoming Global Editor in Chief in 2018. Gareth has written over 4,000 articles for TechRadar, has contributed expert insight to a number of other publications, chaired panels on zeitgeist technologies, presented at the Gadget Show Live as well as representing the brand on TV and radio for multiple channels including Sky, BBC, ITV and Al-Jazeera. Passionate about fitness, he can bore anyone rigid about stress management, sleep tracking, heart rate variance as well as bemoaning something about the latest iPhone, Galaxy or OLED TV.