Paranoid Android

The Acer Liquid Mini falls into the more affordable range of Android handsets at Rs 12,000, which is why we're being very particular about its shortcomings

The Acer Liquid Mini falls into the more affordable range of Android handsets at Rs 12,000, which is why we're being very particular about its shortcomings

Acer has placed its own skin, Breeze, on top of the Android operating system. Which means that the screen has a different navigation system compared to the usual Android one. One of the cool features, however, is the history widget so you can head back to Apps and pages without much ado.

The Mini comes pre-loaded with Android 2.2 Froyo to access the Android market. However, Android 2.3 Gingerbread is the latest version of Google's mobile operating system. Luckily, a majority of Android applications will run in Froyo. Features include DocumentsToGo, RoadSync, Office applications like Word, PowerPoint and Adobe PDF that allow you to edit documents.

Pushing the dedicated shutter key for the 5-megapixel camera down directly captures the image, which is pretty cool, because most handsets usually take a lot of time to focus and capture. However, there's no flash.

The 3.2-inch capacitive TFT touchscreen comes with a resolution of 320 x 480 pixels, so you might find it tough to read the screen in the sun. The screen itself is responsive. We're not too hot on the 600MHz Qualcomm processor either or the meagre 512 MB RAM, which could slow the phone down.

The curves and chromed strips of plastic on the top (with a 3.5mm standard headset jack) remind you of its first avatar. But at 108g and 13mm depth, you're looking at some solid build quality. You'll get the phone in three colours ufffd blue, black, and silver. Lime green and pink versions are available abroad.