MWC 2012: Acer's Uncertainty

Acer CludMobile and Liquid Glow smartphones had been announced before the expo but MWC 2012 it was the first time I had a chance to see them. Unfortunately, the demo CludMobile handset was not operational so it is pretty pointless to describe it. It looks like a typical Acer phone – the company managed to create a recognizable style for their smartphones except for the first generation devices after the company purchased E-Ten.
The size of CludMobile is very convenient: it is not too big or too tiny and the curved battery lid makes it even more comfortable to use. The battery lid plastic has a square pattern that looks unusual and feels nice.
The quoted specs are as follows: 1280x720 4.3” screen (HD-IPS matrix), the Qualcomm 8260A platform with a dual core 1.5GHz processor, 1GB of system memory and 8GB of storage space. The reps did not mention a memory card slot. The main camera is an 8MPix module. This smartphone runs Android 4.0. Technically it is almost a flagship – it is the most attractive Acer Android device as of early 2012. However, it is obvious that Acer is having difficulties especially on the smartphone market. The fact that Acer did not come to the main mobile event of 2012 proves that Acer will not be betting on CludMobile which is too bad because if the price was right this phone could be a success.
The other new smartphone Acer Liquid Glow is a lot simpler. It looks somewhat similar to CludMobile but it is smaller and has simpler hardware. The 3.7” 800x480 screen uses a TFT matrix, the phone features a 1GHz CPU, 512MB of system memory, a 5MPix camera and runs on Android 4.0. It looks good for a budget Android phone but no info on the release date is yet available.