I'm done with one of Acer's budget smartphone that they released this year that they promised to have a good selfie phone. Is it worth it? Let's find out on what I had on the Acer Liquid Z520.
From the icons itself and the feel, I can tell that this has some skin from Android Kitkat OS. Even that I had some tweaks off on developer options, I can feel some a bit weight on switching apps and widgets. Not the quickest but the not the slowest MT6582-powered smartphone that I had so far.
On SMS app, the only thing that I don't like for my taste is the keyboard which I instantly put in Google Keyboard with no problems. Sending and receiving messages are a-ok. The call app is something that I already saw in a number of Kitkat handsets that I had and it got the job done in call clarity, receiving and making calls.
On benchmarks, I got over 19,700 onn Antutu benchmark which is normal. The device has 5-point multi touch. On connectivity, it was not the strongest that I had as on 2G/3G mode with my test area of a strong Globe 3G signal, sometimes it will go to EDGE.
The multi tasking tab that I first saw in their Liquid X1 returns into this device which also the one that I love.
On camera, I though that I was only fooled on my viewfinder as this has only FWVGA display but when I checked it thru my laptop, I was a bit disappointed by it's performance. Most of the pics are kinda a bit cloudy and some added exposure in normal settings. The selfie cam is a-ok for good lighting conditions. Take note that I took 2 software updates before I had these camera samples. The rear cam has f/2.0 aperture while it's f/2.8 at the front cam.
Acer Liquid Z520 2 MP front camera sample
Extras: I ran my usual HD video battery test via MX Player and it got 8 hours and 20 minutes from 100% to 2% with my usual criterias that you already saw in my previous reviews which is normal. IN real life usage, I got a max. of 22 hours of mixed usage with 5 1/2 hours of screen time which is nice. the DTS support is a mixed bag for me. It works for watching movies but it will depend on the type of music that you are listening to. One warning on it's Quick Menu app: If you choose any of the 3 modes and you want to go back to it's normal state, sadly there's no way back except if you'll gonna reset the device which is painful esp. if you already have a lot of updated apps. With this phone, only the micro SD is hot swappable. No USB OTG support on this device.
Pros: Good battery life, nice back casing, a-ok design for a budget global brand, the pulldown menu and multi tasking UI
Cons: Not that good camera, no OTG, not the smoothest UI that I found so far with the typical MT6582 quad-core processor, the Quick Menu "trap app"
I'll gonna rate it at 3.25 out of 5 for the Acer Liquid Z520. It is currently retails at Php 4,990. You can also buy it at Lazada Philippines at the same price (Buy Black variant on Lazada PH here!) (Buy White variant on Lazada PH here!)
