The New Acer beTouch E110 Brings Android to a Wider Market

Not all Android smartphones occupy the topmost positions in the industry food chain. Many have started to get designed as an entry level smartphones that should be able to gain wider markets that the Symbian smartphones have enjoyed over the years as the number one smartphone on earth.

While Android smartphones started out covering the upscale markets with cutting edge features and were for some time considered the cream of the smartphone crowd, we now see them getting more down to earth with eyes for wider markets like the new Acer beTouch E110.

This was announced at the recent Mobile World Congress by the maverick Taiwan based computer maker Acer. While pricing has yet to be disclosed, we don't see the E110 as fetching above budget price points once it gets released this March as its feature set screams entry level but competent in its class.

With a compromised feature set, the beTouch E110 can't possibly showcase the Android promise to a budget conscious crowd wanting a taste of Android smartphone promises. It is nonetheless a competent smartphone that could deliver value if priced right. While it is promised to ship starting in March, there is still no pricing information but as an entry level Android, we don't expect to go beyond the €200 price point in the European markets. Anything above that and the market is sure to look elsewhere.

Entry Level Android Features

First off, there's no WiFi. But you still enjoy 3G on the dual band UMTS though its high speed data connectivity is on the modest side at 3.6 Mbps on HSDPA and 364 Kbps on HSUPA.

Second, it has no gravity accelerometer that we expect to be in touchscreens with large displays. In addition, just when almost all large displays get WVGA or HVGA resolution, this one gets another cost cut with a mere QVGA resolution on an otherwise stunning 2.8-inch TFT LCD resistive touchscreen display with 256 color support.

Thirdly, its imaging feature seems like an afterthought which, while getting an average 3.2 megapixel resolution, enjoys no other feature the market often takes for granted in camera phones. Even its video recording isn't specified.

Lastly, but the least important, there's a modest 414 MHz ST Ericsson PNX6715 processor that is suitable for its pared-down specs and runs an old Android Cupcake OS customized with Acer's multimedia UI.

Other than what are obviously Acer's feature-pruning measures to make it an affordable smartphone, the E400 still does a competent job as a smartphone with a quad band GSM for international roaming on the 2G network with class 10 GPRS/EDGE speeds. It still gets local data connectivity support from its Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP and USB 2.0. It also features SatNav provided by a GPS receiver with A-GPS support

Multimedia gets better with the Roll Tech Nemo Player supporting the popular media format codecs, stereo FM radio receiver with speakerphones, Bluetooth A2DP for wireless stereo headphones and a 3.5mm audio jack for wired headsets.

The Android 1.5 OS on the Acer beTouch E110 is customized with the Acer multimedia UI with web widgets including Spinlets for music streaming. It comes preloaded with suitable apps for viewing PDF and MS Office files, an Android browser and email client as well as apps for social networking integration with Facebook with Twidroid PRO and Ur-Fooz apps for avatar creation.

Visit http://www.best-mobile-contracts.co.uk to find out more about the Acer beTouch E110 and other new mobile phones. You can find more reviews for the beTouch E110 as well as a comparison of the best deals available. They also have information for new handsets on T-Mobile.