MWC – Acer announce a range of new devices

BARCELONA, March 1st, 2015 – Acer today unveils the Liquid M220 smartphone, first ever Liquid smartphone to run on the Windows Phone 8.1 operating system. “We are proudly introducing our first Windows Phone 8.1 and simultaneously announcing its future upgradability to Windows Phone 10,” said ST Liew, Smartphone Business Group President at Acer. “It is the right moment for Acer to join the Windows Phone eco-system with its growing popularity and consistency across phone and PC devices.”

The Liquid M220 will be on display at Acer’s booth (Hall 1, stand G50) during MWC2015 in Barcelona.

For those who are looking for a perfectly balanced Windows mobile experience, Acer developed the Liquid M220; putting simplicity and essential features for people on the move at the center. With a 4-inch 233 pixels per inch (PPI) display, the compact Liquid M220 enables a vivid multimedia experience and its dual cameras are perfect for taking photos and recording videos on-the-go. Featuring Windows Phone 8.1, the Liquid M220 is easy to use and customize and fully supports Microsoft applications and services such as OneDrive, Skype, Office and of course Cortana . “With the addition of a Windows-based smartphone, Acer now offers the broadest Windows portfolio in the industry,” Liew added.

“With the launch of the Liquid M220, it’s great to see Acer expanding its portfolio of Windows devices to include smartphones,” said Peter Han, Vice President of Worldwide Marketing, OEM Division, Microsoft. “Together we are providing an integrated, cross-device Windows experience to our joint customers.”

Aesthetics of Living Style
The Liquid M220 features a design that is as functional as it is beautiful. The sophisticated surface texture design on the cover sports a Thai Silk inspired pattern, while the silver middle frame features a distinct square pyramid design, adding grip and elegance. The volume and power keys are positioned along the path of the silver middle frame making them easy to find and providing a comfortable single hand experience.

Great cameras
While the voice and video calling features allow users to always stay connected, the 5MP auto-focus main and 2MP front cameras will capture beautiful moments. The main camera sports an 89-degree wide-angle lens, which lets users fit more of the scene into their photos. With the Liquid M220, every owner can easily save and share their memories!

Easy operation
Windows Phone 8.1 offers a productive alternative to other operating systems; it is extremely intuitive and easy to personalize, because Windows powers most of the PCs and laptops in the world, the phone has a familiarity and provides seamless integration across devices. A clean interface and a host of customization options means, you can customize the live tiles, colours and layout of the screen to really make the device your own. Plus, staying in touch with friends and family is easier than ever.

Accessories and connected devices for more fun
Both the Liquid Leap and Liquid Leap+ smart activebands are compatible with Windows Phone 8.1, becoming the ideal companions of the Liquid M220 for health conscious users with fitness tracking or anyone looking for a smarter way to stay in touch with deported notifications and music-control. The Liquid M220 will also have optional accessories ranging from matching colour flip covers to matching colour protective cases.

Availability and Pricing
The Liquid M220 will become available in April through selected EMEA retailers in Mystic Black & Pure White with a starting price of €79.-.

###

Better entertainment and More Storage with Acer Liquid Z-Series

Editor’s Summary:
· New design pattern inspired by Thai silk with silver pyramid mid-frame
· Voice activated camera and 89 degree viewing angle
· Quick Mode to fit what you really need at any stage of life

BARCELONA, 1st March, 2015 – Acer today announced its next generation of smartphones in its popular Z-series. The new Z220 and Z520 smartphones combine sleek design elements with up to quad-core performance and great camera features for an overall impressive mobile experience. The stylish Z220 all-rounder primed for feature phone upgraders, party-goers or basic silver surfers on the go in an incredibly slim-yet feature-packed mobile device. The Z520 all-rounder primed for media fans seeking a blend of style and functionality, completes the duo. The new devices complement Acer’s existing and growing portfolio of smartphones, offering consumers greater choices across multiple price points to fit both lifestyle and budget.

Both the Liquid Z520 and Z220 will be on display at the Acer Booth at Mobile World Congress in Hall 1, Stand G50 from March 2 – 5.

Liquid Z220 – trendsetting tactile pattern with square-pyramid mid-frame
Designed for users of all age looking to purchase a secondary, vacation or party device, the 4-inch WVGA display with 233 PPI and optional dual SIM makes it the ideal compact wallet-friendly smartphone. The new textile pattern design inspired by Thai silk and silver pyramid mid-framed encases a true mobile joy machine with a Qualcomm Dual-core 1.2GHz Snapdragon 200 processor, 5MP flash-equipped 89 degree wide view angle rear and 2MP front cameras for snapping and sharing quality images or selfies. The exposure control feature allows customers to control and adjust focus and brightness separately to better manage the exposure and capture the perfect picture. The Z220 will be Acer’s first smartphone sporting the new Android 5.0 operating system (Lollipop) with a brighter, flatter and pleasant look, backed with 8GB of storage and 1GB RAM to insure a seamless Android experience.

Liquid Z520 – all-round high entertainment
The latest addition to the Z-series has been upgraded to a touch-less selfie experience with a voice-activated camera and up to 8GB internal storage. The 8MP auto-focus, rear-facing camera comes and LED flash to produce sharp, brilliant shots. Both music lovers and video fans no longer need external speakers, DTS™ Studio Sound will deliver astonishing stereo sound with bigger sound field, higher vocal clarity and more natural details.

Both smartphones include Acer’s Quick Mode with 3 distinct profiles for different customer and age groups:
· Basic Mode: for youngsters with fixed call and text functions
· Easy Mode: for silver surfers with access to quick messages, radio, weather, clock, quick call contacts
· Standard Mode: for the advance smartphone user familiar with the Android interface.

Availability & Pricing
The Z220 will be available in Europe in March with a starting price of €89.-.
The Z520 will be available in Europe in April with a starting price of €119.-.

###

Acer Liquid Leap+ Smart activeband now with exchangeable strap and multi-OS support

Editor’s Summary:
OS agnostic smart wearable device, works with Android, iOS and Windows;
Improved ergonomic design with exchangeable colour bands
Richer functionalities with step, sleep and calories tracking, alarms, notifications and music control in IPX7 water-resistant body

BARCELONA, 1st March, 2015 – Acer today announced the next generation of Smart activeband products, the Acer Liquid Leap+. Standing for flexibility, the new wearable now syncs and connects with all main supported operating systems (Windows, Android, iOS) and the 1” OLED touchscreen can be strapped to the wrist-band colour of your current mood. Life is more than the number of steps you take, the Liquid Leap+ is about action, motion, logging and flexibility.

Acer Liquid Leap+ | Acer’s first multi-OS wearable device
By developing Liquid Leap+, Acer had one thing in mind: user flexibility. This innovative wearable convinces with features aimed at keeping track of all aspects of one’s life in a small 1-inch package. There is no question that Liquid Leap+ radiates an understated elegance with its modern, minimalistic, button-free design. But its qualities go well beyond looks, the ultra-slim 1” touch-screen is nestled in a durable exchangeable rubber wristband with a curved surface especially designed to lower body temperature by minimizing skin contact.

The Acer Liquid Leap+ is the ideal smart wearable device for active digital users who have both a need and a desire to always be connected. It becomes a fitness companion by tracking the user’s steps, running distance and calories burned. The activeband core module is a 24/7 wearable thanks to its waterproof certification (rated IPX7). Music control functions such as “play”, “pause”, “previous”, and “next song” make it easy to adapt to the tune of your choice, while notifications never let one miss an important email, calendar event or SMS.

The wearable technology in Liquid Leap+ talks to Acer Leap Manager app and your Android, Windows, or iOS smartphone via Bluetooth 4.0 low energy.

Light-weight and stylish, the Liquid Leap+ comes with a variety of colour-bands: Mineral Black, Fragrant Pink and Electric Green.

Availability & Pricing
The Acer Liquid Leap+ will be available EMEA in March with a starting price of €79.-.

###

Liquid Jade Z: a Brighter Soul in an Impeccable Wallet-Friendly Body

Editor’s Summary
Beautiful and bright 5” HD IPS and Zero Air Gap display;
Speedy browsing and streaming with Mediatek 64-bit quad-core processor and LTE;
24-bit Hi-res audio through HD DTS speakers;
Thin and ultra-light at only 120 grams while super-tough with Gorilla Glass 3;

Barcelona, 1st March, 2015 – Acer announces the Liquid Jade Z that brings additional brightness and performance into the award winning Liquid Jade series. It’s beautiful in its HD definition, brilliant thanks to its 350 nits luminosity, viewable from any angle with its IPS Technology, readable in all circumstances with Zero Air Gap technology reducing sunlight reflection, and durable as protected under a beautifully curved Corning® Gorilla® Glass 3 panel. The 64-bits quad-core 1.5GHz Mediatek (MT6732) processor and 4G LTE (Cat. 4) ensure a speedy connectivity to browse, stream and download almost anywhere in the world.

The Liquid Jade Z will be on display at Acer’s booth (Hall 1, stand G50) during MWC2015 in Barcelona.

Ultra-Vivid Screen
The Acer Liquid Jade Z offers bright visuals both indoor and outdoor: the state-of-the-art Zero Air Gap display reduces reflections, and increases readability in sunlight while increasing the contrast. The new generation Corning® Gorilla® Glass delivers increased toughness and damage resistance with a 20% reduction in thickness if compared to the previous generation. It also grants superior resistance to deep scratches that can greatly damage or even break the display glass. Lastly, the special Read Mode feature protects the eyes by eliminating the blue-light emissions from the image processing engine.

Marvelous Camera
Thanks to its voice-activated 13MP rear camera with F1.8 aperture, it can produce flawless pictures in any environment, even when the light is scarce. A front camera of 5 megapixels is also on board, to empower users to shoot their best selfie. The intuitive interface provides users total control over their cameras, from filters through exposure adjustment. Additionally, the Jade Z embeds a series of exclusive modes:
Dual Shot lets users make a collage of simultaneous shots from the front and rear cameras for picture-in-picture and video-in-video,
Bright Magic allows users to get brighter photos even under low light, as well as shooting 6 in a row and integrate them into a single brighter photo.
Presentation Mode offers the possibility to capture and correct any screen shot, to export slides as .JPG, .PDF, or .PPT, choose the quality and mode (text, image, or image with text) that best fits users need and share presentations or screens instantly.

Equally Beautiful inside
AcerEXTEND will enable users to take full control of their smartphones via cable or wirelessly using their Windows-based PC, typing with their keyboard, using drag and drop and rich sharing – taking the multitasking experience to the next level. AcerNAV, a free offline navigation software powered by TomTom and utilizing TripAdvisor POI, gives Acer Liquid smartphone users the flexibility to navigate without any data plan at home or abroad.

Superb Design
The Liquid Jade Z was created to be an elegant but wallet-friendly smartphone. It boasts beautiful curves and gives the eye an impression of elegance and grace. 7.9mm slim and weighting only 120 grams, the Liquid Jade Z is comfortable to hold and use even with one hand.

Availability and Pricing
The Liquid Jade Z will become available in March through selected EMEA retailers at a starting price of €199.-.

“Made For Acer Liquid” Certifies Liquid Smartphone Accessories

BARCELONA, 1st March, 2015 – Acer today announces the upcoming release of the “Made For Acer Liquid” program. In an era where all devices have very similar functionalities, it does not mean they all have to look the same. More and more customers are willing to personalize their communication devices with various accessories. To increase reliability and awareness around their Acer Liquid smartphones ecosystem, Acer is launching the “Made For Acer Liquid” label, to certify compatibility of 3rd party accessories made for Liquid smartphone such as protective cases, flip-covers, screen protectors and more.

All “Made for Acer Liquid” accessories will be tested and validated for perfect fit, functionality and seamless integration with the specific Liquid smartphone model.

To kick off the launch of this new certification, Acer has partnered with MadeFor, a custom-cover maker, to offer custom-made covers which can be ordered on www.madeforcases.com in a very simple set-up. Part of the agreement with MadeFor includes the release of multiple customizable covers for the newest Acer Liquid smartphones, starting early April, including upcoming Liquid Jade Z, Liquid Z520, Liquid M220 and Liquid Z220.

Owners of Acer Liquid smartphones purchasing a “Made for Acer Liquid” accessories will have confidence of the accessory being specifically designed and approved for Acer Liquid smartphones.