Introducing Liquid Jade 7 - from Acer

What’s most obvious about the Liquid Jade Z is its weight and thickness, or lack thereof. At a mere 110 grams and 7.9mm thin, it’s considerably lighter and thinner than other handsets with 5-inch displays. The feathery design has much to do with the type of materials used to craft the device, and it’s mostly down to a thinner plastic back, etched in a unique pattern. It does improve grip, and doesn’t look too bad, but premium craftsmanship, this is not. The lens protrudes out noticeably, which comes as no surprise when the phone’s body is this thin. At the bottom is the rear speaker.

The front is pretty standard. Gorilla Glass 3 should help keep the 5-inch display relatively scratch-resistant and free from cracking. The slot for the nano SIM and microSD card (or dual nano SIMs) comes out of the left, and it proves to be finicky to put back in with the cards in place. Screen resolution takes a bump down to 720p, but pixel density is a respectable 294ppi, and with an IPS LCD panel, brightness and viewing angles are more than adequate.

 

Acer Extend bridges the phone with Acer computers, allowing for full access to the handset on a laptop or desktop. Live Screen allows for two-way sharing with a temporary group. The microSD card slot offers expansion, but only up to an extra 32GB.

 

The 1.5GHz Mediatek MT6732 quad-core processor and 2GB of RAM  proves good enough for the Liquid Jade Z, provided that performance was put in some perspective. For users who focus more on browsing, messaging, email, casual gaming, calls and playing music, the Liquid Jade Z isn’t going to buckle in getting those things done.

 

The 13-megapixel rear camera is interesting for the sheer fact it has an f/1.8 aperture. That’s the same as the LG G4, one of the best smartphone cameras to date. It’s also among the widest apertures, and that generally translates to better low-light performance. A dozen capture modes are flanked by a handful of scene modes and effects.

Having a thin and light body usually means a smaller battery. At 2,300mAh, the battery in the Liquid Jade Z isn’t huge, but with a less demanding processor and 720p display, it’s not being asked to do as much as it could.

 

The Liquid Jade Z is an odd device, in many ways. It doesn’t have a distinct look, yet it feels so light to hold that it oscillates between being wieldy and cheap.