Hands-on with the Acer Liquid S1

Acer announced the Liquid S1 phablet at Computex today. We managed to spend some time with the 5.7-inch smartphone, with a display resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels. The Liquid S1 will come in single SIM and dual-SIM versions. Both variants will run Android 4.2 Jelly Bean out of the box, but the heavily customised Acer skin on top makes it look totally different. Powering the S1 is a 1.5GHz quad-core processor and there’s a 2,400 mAh battery.

The primary camera of the S1 is an 8-megapixel affair, 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.Here’s a quick look at the S1, which is scheduled to start shipping in Q3 2013.

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As you can see in the video, Acer has a new take on the Android interface. Float Apps and Float Caller mimic Samsung’s multi-window-like feature and allows users to keep many app windows open on the same screen at the same time. 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 stylus. The pen has a thick 9.5mm grip and is equipped with two buttons; one to launch the Float Notes app and the other to toggle between write and erase modes.

So what do you think? Is this a worthy competitor to the Galaxy Note 2?