Snapdragon on the Cheap (1/4)
Acer neoTouch S200 F1 with Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional
INTRODUCTION
The affordably-priced Acer neoTouch S200 is one of the few devices out in the market to sport the new Qualcomm Snapdragon platform. What's this mean? Well, you can get technical if you want, but for the rest of us, this means faster device performance thanks in part to a tasty 1GHz CPU plus power-saving technology that sips less power than older chipsets you find in smartphones of today. That said, we were skeptical that Acer could deliver a device compelling enough for us to recommend thanks to a track record of sub-par devices with poor build quality and buggy software. Now with Snapdragon on board, has Acer gotten serious? Read on for the full review!
WHAT'S HOT
Let's go through the specs. The Acer neoTouch sports a Qualcomm QSD8250 processor running at 1GHz. It has 512MB ROM (~220MB accessible), 256MB RAM (~110MB accessible), and has a microSD/HC expansion slot for added memory. The resistive touchscreen is large at 3.8" and is WVGA 480x800 resolution, making for a pixel density of 246ppi (the Touch Diamond's screen is 285ppi, the Touch Diamond2's screen is 292ppi, and the iPhone's screen is 164ppi). It's a quadband GSM (850/900/1800/1900) phone with triband UMTS (900/1900/2100) with HSDPA and HSUPA. If you're in the US on AT&T and your area supports the 1900 UMTS band, you'll be able to get 3G on the neoTouch. The device also has assisted GPS, WiFi b & g, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, USB 2.0, a proximity sensor, an accelerometer, plus FM radio. For audio, there is a 3.5mm headphone jack, and for syncing and charging, the neoTouch uses miniUSB. The rear camera is 5.0MP with auto focus and flash. Powering the device is a 1350mAh battery. For even more specs, check out PDAdb.net.
(all images link to larger versions)
The neoTouch S200 is similar in size to the Touch HD. It has a large and vibrant 3.8" touchscreen with 800x480 WVGA resolution.
The on-screen keyboards are solid, but not as easy to use as the ones found on HTC devices.
WHAT'S IN THE BOX
Here is the unboxing video for the neoTouch. Included is a charger, sync cable, a set of in-ear headphones, user guide, and screen protector. Where's the case?
THE DEVICE
As mentioned, the neoTouch has a slate-like form factor with a very clean design.
Sitting on a table top, the device looks sleek with its beveled edges. And at just 12mm thick, it's quite thin. The screen, while sensitive enough to be used with just a finger, is quite "mushy" compared to the Touch HD, Samsung Omnia II, or other similar devices.
Zooming into the top we have an LED notification light, speaker grill, proximity sensor, and light sensor to regulate screen brightness. The polling frequency for the light sensor was way too high, causing frequent fluctuations in backlight levels. Because of this, I left the auto brightness turned off. The proximity sensor turns off the screen during calls, but it didn't work perfectly each time.
There are four flat buttons along the bottom of the device with unusual iconography. From left to right we have Call Start, Home, Back, and Call End. The buttons are activated by pressure and give off a small vibration.
The chrome edge that runs around the outside is a fingerprint magnet and feels cheap. Here on the left side is the power/standby button.
On the bottom is the miniUSB port for syncing and charging.
On the other side we have a dual-action camera button, soft reset hole, and volume rocker.
On the top we have a 3.5mm audio port...good placement!
As mentioned, the neoTouch's touchscreen is sensitive enough to be used without a stylus. But if you do use the stylus, you'll immediately notice how cheap it feels. Also, the stylus can become jammed in the silo if you don't slide it in correctly.
The back battery cover is a glossy black that feels cheap. It also picks up scratches and fingerprints way too easily. Behind the battery cover is the slot for the microSD and SIM cards.
Focusing in on the top we have the 5.0MP autofocus camera with flash. We'll cover photo/video quality later in the review. To the right of that is the speaker grill.
And when the lights turn off, the four buttons along the bottom glow white.
Video playback on the neoTouch is smooth (even when playing HD files), but because there is no good built in video player that supports a variety of formats, you'll want to get CorePlayer.
Here is the hardware tour in case you missed it.
COMPARISONS
From left to right we have: HTC Pure, iPhone 3G S, Acer neoTouch, HTC Touch HD.
And here they are again, stacked. The neoTouch is about the same thickness as the iPhone and Touch HD.
Click onto the next page where we'll dive into the user interface!
