Acer unveils 5.7-inch Liquid S1 smartphone

Acer has announced its first phablet at the ongoing Computex event. The phablet, dubbed the Liquid S1, sports a 5.7-inch display and a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels, which gives it a pixel density of 257 ppi. The Liquid S1 comes in two variants—a single SIM version and a dual-SIM version. It comes with Android 4.2 Jelly Bean out of the box and runs on a 1.5GHz quad-core processor. It is kept alive by a 2400 mAh battery.

The phablet has 1GB of RAM, which when coupled with the quad-core processor should allow easy multitasking. It has a rear camera of 8 megapixels with a BSI sensor and 1080p video recording capability. The front-facing camera is a 2 megapixel shooter, which also has a BSI sensor. Connectivity options include 3G, 2G, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0. The Liquid S1 also has GPS with A-GPS capabilities.

Acer has unveiled the Liquid S1 5.7-inch phablet

The phablet runs on a skinned version of Android and uses Acer’s Float UI. This works a lot like Samsung’s multi-window feature and allows many app windows to stay open on the same screen at the same time. Pressing a key brings up the Float Apps shortcut where apps on a translucent screen float over whatever is being used. Apps that work with the Float UI include camera, maps, calculator and notes. There is also a Float Caller notification that doesn’t eat up the whole screen when users receive a call.

Much like Samsung’s Galaxy Note series, the Liquid S1 comes with a digital pen. The pen has a thick 9.5 mm grip and is equipped with two buttons – one to launch the Float Notes app and the other to toggle between write and erase modes.

The Acer Liquid S1 is scheduled to start shipping in Q3 2013. The company hasn’t revealed any pricing information for the phablet yet.