The mid-range smartie segment is bursting at its seams with options, and Acer, the one manufacturer known for making really practical laptops, has decided to hop on to the bandwagon.

Technophile decided to take a good look at the Acer Liquid Jade, the manufacturer’s sub-20k smartphone, because we expect Acer to continue its legacy of producing reasonably priced devices that are also highly functional.

But looking at the segment and the device’s pricing, we have to ask ourselves –is it possible for Acer to carve a slice out of the pie for itself, given the competition? And more importantly, did it price the Jade Liquid a bit more than necessary?

Design and build To be very honest, we were in for a slight surprise at the time of unboxing the Jade Liquid. For a 5-inch phone, it has a rather slim profile of 7.5mm and is unbelievably light at just 110 grams.  We’ve tested a lot of devices in this segment, of similar specs, and we’ve never come across a sleeker handset. The slim body lets you access the phone with unsurpassed comfort. To add to the already brilliant ergonomics are a slightly curved back panel, and a curved glass fascia, which, by the way, is made of Corning Gorilla Glass 3.

It’s also quiet a looker – while many manufacturers are producing iterations of massively successful designs (such as the iPhone’s), Acer has added a touch of class with a faux gunmetal trim around the phone, and shiny, glossy back panel. Yes, the glossy nature of the back panel does make it a fingerprint magnet, but we are not complaining. It looks very good.

The overall build is plastic, but the construction feels very sturdy. The speaker grille is nicely crafted, and well, it does stand out from its competitors. The only thing that did leave us a bit disappointed was the protruding camera unit – if you’re not careful enough, the lens might get scratched very easily.

Specs and performance Now here’s where we would like to think that the Liquid Jade’s pricing is a bit unconvincing. On the inside, the smartphone comes with a MediaTek 1.3GHz quad-core chip, and 2GB of RAM. The display unit supports a maximum resolution of 1280x720 pixels, and there’s a 13MP camera at the rear, with a 2MP unit on the front.

These specs put the Acer Jade Liquid on par with the Motorola Moto G and the Asus Zenfone 5, but the Acer is priced significantly higher than the other two. At this price, the Liquid Jade is comparable to smartphones such as the HTC Desire 816G and the Huawei Honor 6. But in comparison, the Acer looks terribly under-powered and under-specced, at least on paper.

The fact, however, is that the Jade Liquid feels underpowered even with the existing specs, irrespective of what it’s priced at. The phone handles multitasking pretty well but the overall performance is a bit sluggish. The Jade Liquid runs Android 4.4 KitKat, with the company’s own UI laid on top. The Float UI, though good-looking, does slow down the overall user experience. On Quadrant benchmark too, the phone scored a rather low 6,900 points on an average. That’s a good 5000 points lower than the Moto G, which also costs nearly ₹3,000 less.

Thankfully, the display and the camera make up for this. The viewing angles are great, and there’s ample brightness for usage in all sorts of lighting conditions. The colours too, are nicely balanced.

The 13MP primary shooter produces very good results in both bright and dim conditions, with noise kicking in only in the darkest of situations. The LED flash isn’t of much help, but works for close-ups nonetheless. The important thing to notice here is that both the primary and the 2MP secondary camera units retain sharpness and a good colour balance under all conditions.

At 2,100mAh, the battery unit does seem to be small, but manages to provide enough juice for one whole working day. The DTS enabled speakers offer great clarity, and with a good screen, the handset offers a rather good multimedia experience.

Verdict The Acer Liquid Jade has its own strengths and weaknesses. It’s a great looking phone, and handles multimedia and imaging brilliantly. But with the slightly sluggish performance that it offers, it can be a dampener for those looking for blazing speeds in a budget device. And it’s not a budget device too. If you really want these specs and a balanced performance, you’re better off with a Moto G 2014.

₹16,999

Love – Design; Camera

Hate – Performance; Price

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