MWC 2009
Acer introduced four new Windows Mobile smartphones in Barcelona. They may boast impressive specs, but we truly hope Acer plans to spend some time refining its hardware.
DX900
First up is the dual-SIM DX900. This is seriously that fattest smartphone I have ever held. This could be to accommodate the dual SIMs, or it could just be the design. Whatever the reasoning, it is a thick, thick phone.
It doesn't weight too much, despite its size, but you're not going to want to carry it in your pocket. This is clearly meant for heavy travelers who need some computing power on the go and want to only carry one phone. I would expect that at the end of the day, any user of the DX900 is going to switch out one of the SIMs into their personal phone.
The plastics all felt cheap. The control keys at the bottom of the phone's front face all worked well and had good travel and feedback, but the buttons along the side of the phone didn't work at all. We understand that this are pre-production models, but even we were surprised at how shoddy the builds were.
F900
Take everything I said about the build quality of the DX900 and apply that here, too.
The one thing the F900 has going for it is that it is much thinner than the DX900. It is longer and wider, but the thinness helps out a lot. The screen is also much larger than the DX900, and this is a good thing. We didn't get to see the F900 in action because none of the models worked, but the screen was very roomy.
M900
The M900 on hand was literally falling apart. The control keys on the front of the device have seen some serious action. They were coming off the phones we saw.
That aside, the M900's claim to fame is that is has a slide out QWERTY keyboard for messaging. The keyboard adds a lot of thickness to this phone. It isn't DX90 thick, but it's pretty chubby.
The QWERTY keyboard may look large and comfortable, but looks can be deceiving. It was quite literally the worst QWERTY keyboard I have ever used (sorry Acer!) The keys felt like cardboard and had nearly zero travel and feedback. They also were coated with some sort of texture that made my thumbs unhappy.
This was another non-working phone, but the buttons found along the outer edges of the phone were noticeably better than the two previously discussed phones.
X960
The X960 was bay far the most interesting of the bunch. The hardware may have not been all that special (apply build quality issues here, as well), but the X960 was using a trial version of a user interface overlay.
The OS takes a picture of a desk and places different applications in different places on the desk Scroll to the far left to see your calendar, listen to music, and open messages. The middle screen lets you access the phone, contacts and productivity apps, and the far right side of the screen lets you open up the Internet. It is a little cutesy, but a decent idea nonetheless.
The X960 also has an improved contacts application that places contact photos in a little bubble next to their contact information and lets you call/message them directly with a touch of the finger.
In all, we weren't that impressed with Acer's first set of devices. All of them border on the too-large, and will make for awkward devices to carry around in your pocket.
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