Acer beTouch E210 review

It’s a good display, though, with strong colours and sharp contrast. Photos taken with the camera were not so impressive; they suffered from excessive artefacts and noise that ruined most shots, and without a flash, shots in dark areas were underexposed. Surprisingly, videos were much better, with good contrast and colour, but frame rates were low.

Acer has left Android pretty much alone, although it has installed a few multimedia widgets and apps. There’s a Sync app that ties in with a Windows application for managing your phone from your PC, and a Settings app that brings together a selection of important settings, such as networking, GPS and personalisation options, in one neat interface. There’s a trial copy of DataViz’s Documents To Go, which lets you view office documents and PDF files, but you’ll probably not want to register as editing office documents isn’t practical on the 2.6in screen.

A Media Server app lets you share your phone’s multimedia content to other DNLA-aware devices, and nemoPlayer, a popular Android video player, is also installed. We don’t quite understand why Acer bundles DataViz’s RoadSync app, as Exchange support has long been built into Android, and the inclusion of silly apps like urFooz and Spinlets is annoying, especially as these can’t be uninstalled.

Blackberry handsets are popular despite having smaller screens, and we can see how the E210 will appeal to those who like a QWERTY keyboard but want access to Android’s wealth of apps. The screen’s big enough to browse photos and even watch YouTube videos, and although it’s not perfect for browsing the web or reading long documents, it is excellent for reading and writing emails and texts. Sadly, the E210 isn’t available on contract, and at £216 SIM-free it’s not cheap either. It also faces stiff competition, mainly from the excellent Motorola Flipout, which now costs only £139 SIM-free.