Acer Liquid Running 2.1, A Few questions

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LostPacket

92 posts

Master Geek

#64237 11-Jul-2010 18:19

As the Topic says, I have a few Questions

I am trying to decide between a Acer Liquid or a 3GS or a Iphone 4

Things I will be Mainly using the phone for Twitter/Facebook/Golf GPS/Email/Gmail/POP/Exchange

Now I can get the Acer for $500 and a 32 GIG SD card for around $100 so $600 for a 32 GIG Acer Liquid
Iphone 8 GIG is $900 and Iphone 4 is going to be around $1300 for 16 Gig (Guess)

1)What are your thoughts on the best Device for me functionality vs Price
2)Can the Acer do Turn by Turn navigation with Vodafone?
3)Is there Multi-touch in 2.1 with this Phone
4) I use Exchange for my work emails, thoughts on both Ios and Android
5)Been using a Motorola and the internet is Flaky have to restart windows mobile every 2 days, Do not want that any more
6)Is 256meg ram enough?
7) Your Final thoughts

Thanks any help will be appreciated.

Linuxluver

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#350020 11-Jul-2010 20:22

pollock: As the Topic says, I have a few Questions

I am trying to decide between a Acer Liquid or a 3GS or a Iphone 4

Things I will be Mainly using the phone for Twitter/Facebook/Golf GPS/Email/Gmail/POP/Exchange

Now I can get the Acer for $500 and a 32 GIG SD card for around $100 so $600 for a 32 GIG Acer Liquid
Iphone 8 GIG is $900 and Iphone 4 is going to be around $1300 for 16 Gig (Guess)

1)What are your thoughts on the best Device for me functionality vs Price
2)Can the Acer do Turn by Turn navigation with Vodafone?
3)Is there Multi-touch in 2.1 with this Phone
4) I use Exchange for my work emails, thoughts on both Ios and Android
5)Been using a Motorola and the internet is Flaky have to restart windows mobile every 2 days, Do not want that any more
6)Is 256meg ram enough?
7) Your Final thoughts

Thanks any help will be appreciated.

Answers to your questions:

1. and 7. saved for last

2. Any Android phone in NZ will be able to do Google turn by turn navigation when Google enables the service for NZ. Until then, there is a hacked version of Google Maps that can - sort of - do it, but the voice part is intermittent and frequently, too late. But the turn-by-turn part works fine on the screen. It just doesn't talk. Or...you can fork out for Co-Pilot for Android (and its maps) and have turn-by-turn immediately.

3. Android v2.1 has multi-touch on the Acer Liquid.

4. I don't recall if the Acer's version of Android came with Exchange ActiveSync or not. I think it did.

5. Android phones - in my experience, having owned several now - tend to be reliable. I can't say it will never crash because I don't know how many times you plan to drop it (and then forget about it in the hope it won't affect anything). ;-)

6. The Acer Liquid has 384MB of RAM, I think.

1 and 7

It isn't really fair compare an Acer Liquid to an iPhone. The best thing about the Liquid is that it runs Android, but it is a cheaper phone and does have some limitations that won't apply to an iPhone OR a higher spec Android phone (like the Nexus One or HTC Desire).

I owned an Acer Liquid for several months. They are good, fast phones for the price. They also run Android, which let's your phone freely access data from any source and there is no "iTunes" to lock you down to one PC and act as a choke on what you can put on or take off you phone.

I got my Acer Liquid onto a modded version of Android v2.1 that supported Apps2SD. The stock Acer Liquid has relative limited internal app space, so being able to install apps to your sdcard instead of internal storage means you can install a lot more apps on the phone.

Android apps are generally a lot smaller than iPhone apps, so it's hard to compare space equivalences.

If you put it to me that the MUST buy either an Acer Liquid or an iPhone 3GS or 4 (at what price?), then I'd say get the iPhone.

But if you were prepared to buy a price-comparable Android phone, then I'd say don't get an iPhone.

Bottom line: Have you ever owned an iPhone?

I didn't buy one because:

- You can't swap in a fresh / spare battery if you need to.
- You can't access data / content from any source and just use it. iTunes gets in the way and controls what moves on and off the phone.
- You must install apps from the Apple Store (whereas Android can install apps from anywhere.)

If you're going to jailbreak your iPhone, then that goes some way to make it equal to an Android phone. Otherwise, there is list things Android can do that Apple just won't allow an iPhone to do.

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siimo2005

68 posts

Master Geek

#350173 12-Jul-2010 11:30

Can you please tell me where you can get the Liquid for $500? I am looking to buy it as well! The cheapest I find on pricespy is about $636 from notebook city http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=527368

LostPacket

92 posts

Master Geek

#350266 12-Jul-2010 14:29

Thats a Typo, It was meant to be Just under $650

siimo2005

68 posts

Master Geek

#350284 12-Jul-2010 15:02

For me its a toss up between Motorola Milestone and Liquid since both are around the same price now... Liquid has more RAM but milestone has physical keyboard and much larger community...

Both lack FM radio though.

Linuxluver

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#350292 12-Jul-2010 15:23

siimo2005: For me its a toss up between Motorola Milestone and Liquid since both are around the same price now... Liquid has more RAM but milestone has physical keyboard and much larger community...

Both lack FM radio though.

Both will stream many FM radio stations over wifi or 3G.

I use the "Radio Time" app to listen to many local, Auckland radio stations.

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Linuxluver

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#350293 12-Jul-2010 15:25

siimo2005: For me its a toss up between Motorola Milestone and Liquid since both are around the same price now... Liquid has more RAM but milestone has physical keyboard and much larger community...

Both lack FM radio though.

Interesting to note that the community element is an important aspect of purchase decisions. Also interesting some phone makers haven't yet got their head around that (You listening, Samsung?)

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Linuxluver

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#350294 12-Jul-2010 15:28

I note PB Tech's price is pretty good.

Cash discounted Price: $629.00 +gst ($707.63 incl)

...and their web page offers advice on how to root the phone and upgrade it to Android v2.1, along with links to the instructions and tools to do it!

Reward these guys for their attitude. :-)

http://www.pbtech.co.nz/index.php?item=HHDACN040

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siimo2005

68 posts

Master Geek

#350298 12-Jul-2010 15:42

You don't need a root. acer.com site has 2.1 firmware.

oxnsox

1923 posts

Uber Geek

#350317 12-Jul-2010 16:19

Physical keyboard is not necessarily an issue if you run an app like SWYPE on an android phone.

siimo2005

68 posts

Master Geek

#350323 12-Jul-2010 16:34

Do you think Liquid will be upgradable to 2.2/3.0?

LostPacket

92 posts

Master Geek

#350565 13-Jul-2010 11:11

Got the Liquid this morning,

I am really Impressed with the phone so far, will upgrade from 1.6 Tonight,

But so far so Good.

Linuxluver

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#350655 13-Jul-2010 13:48

pollock: Got the Liquid this morning,

I am really Impressed with the phone so far, will upgrade from 1.6 Tonight,

But so far so Good.

Is there a stock v2.1 out yet? It's been close for months...with numerous leaks from Acer.

I used the Liquid Community ROM (LCR). Last version I used was 1.4 and it was excellent - apps2sd worked really well.

Make sure you flash malez recovery (latest version) assuming there isn't a better one around. He based it on Amon_RA's source - which itself is probably the most elegant, simple but effective recovery around.

I sold my Acer in early May, so I'm probably not up to date. Looks like they are up to v1.7 and the file links and instructions are here.

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siimo2005

68 posts

Master Geek

#350715 13-Jul-2010 14:50

According to GSM Arena, the Liquid also has 256MB RAM (Liquid E has 512MB). So Milestone vs Liquid what is better?

Linuxluver

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#350754 13-Jul-2010 15:05

siimo2005: According to GSM Arena, the Liquid also has 256MB RAM (Liquid E has 512MB). So Milestone vs Liquid what is better?

More RAM is always better.

I have not had my hands on a Milestone so can't make any real-world comparison.

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