Deutsch
Español
Français
Italiano
Nederlands
Polski
Português
Русский
Türkçe
Svenska
Chinese
MagyarAcer Liquid E700 Trio Smartphone Review
For the original German review, see here.
Acer's Liquid Trio doesn't look special at first glance, particularly since many identically equipped smartphones are found in the manufacturer's 200-Euro (~$256) product line. A mid-range quad-core SoC from MediaTek, a 5-inch HD screen, and Android 4.4.2 KitKat - unremarkable up to here. But then, Acer's Liquid E700 Trio does have a unique feature: It can operate three SIM cards at the same time, and it also proves to be quite versatile in other things. Many contenders cannot offer a 16 GB flash memory that can be expanded via a micro-SD card, a lush 2 GB of RAM, and a bright IPS screen either.
Acer's Liquid E700 will have to compete with the Archos 50c Oxygen, iOcean X7S and LG L70 in our test report.
Case
The casing of Acer's Liquid E700 is made of matte-black polycarbonate (Titan Black). The phone is also available in matte red (Burgundy Red). The matte plastic on both the back and the bezel give the review sample a pleasant grip and makes it insusceptible to fingerprints. The smartphone is not exactly compact with a thickness of 9.9 mm and a weight of 156 grams. The contenders are all a bit smaller and lighter. Nevertheless, the review sample is pleasant to hold despite its size of 147.3 x 73 mm, owing to its rounded casing.
Considering the price range, the build is very good and exhibits even gaps. Acer's Liquid E700 passed our compulsory pressure test with flying colors. Both the screen and the removable back cover are very solid and do not produce cracking noises. The non-removable battery, slots for the three micro-SIM cards and for a micro-SD card with a maximum of 64 GB capacity are found underneath the back cover.
Connectivity
Acer equips the Liquid E700 Trio with the MT6582 quad-core SoC from MediaTek. It clocks with a frequency of 1.3 GHz, and an ARM Mali-400 MP2 dual-core graphics core is integrated. A lush 2 GB of working memory supports this array. It is possible to expand the 16 GB internal flash storage (net: 12.43 GB) up to 64 GB via a micro-SD card should it get too tight. Apps can be moved to the micro-SD card providing they allow that. The three micro-SD slots support UMTS; LTE is, unfortunately, not available. Acer's Liquid E600 with 4G support is to be introduced for this standard. Acer has also installed the compulsory micro-USB 2.0 port and 3.5 mm jack. Both the power and volume buttons function reliably and are easy to reach with one hand. Like in LG's G3, an additional button is found directly under the rear-facing camera lens. It opens the camera app when pressed longer, and it is also the shutter button. A short pressure opens a predetermined app via the shortcut function.
Software
Praiseworthy: Acer has only modified the latest Android 4.4.2 KitKat operating system very subtly. For example, there is a Float app interface that displays several applications and widgets at the same time. Consequently, there is no need to close one app in order to switch to another when multitasking. Acer also installs a few apps, some of which are useful like Polaris Office 5, a radio app, Facebook or Google's standard bundle. There is barely any bloatware found.
Communication & GPS
Our review sample supports Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n for local, wireless data transmission. Mobile browsing is available in an adequate speed owing to UMTS/3G. The Wi-Fi reception is decent. A stable connection was still maintained even through several walls and a distance of 10 meters to the router. The combination of tri-SIM operation and quad-band technology makes the smartphone's utilization very flexible. Both GSM quad-band (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) and UMTS quad-band (850/900/1900/2100 MHz) are installed for this purpose. The review sample operates in the GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA, HSUPA, HSPA+ net standards with a bandwidth of 21 Mbps / 5.76 Mbps in the UMTS net (download/upload). The A-GPS module does a good job, as the quick localization via the GPS Test app proves.
Telephony & Speech Quality
The phone app corresponds to the good standard known from Android. The multi-SIM implementation is good and always worked flawlessly. Every SIM is mapped with a specific assignment, such as data connection or domestic / foreign telephony, and thus it is possible to use the smartphone not only for private and business calls with separate cards, but also for an additional data plan. Frequent travelers especially can benefit from the best plan in every individual case. The speech and audio quality ranges between good and very good, and there is only low background noise. Our contact confirmed an impeccable connection in the practical test. The hands-free feature is sufficiently loud.
Cameras & Multimedia
Acer's Liquid E700 Trio sports an 8.0-megapixel primary camera and a 2 MP webcam. Despite the relatively high resolutions, the camera units do not manage to take particularly focused pictures even in ideal light, and they exhibit image noise. Although the webcam has a dedicated LED flash for shooting selfies in poor light conditions, it ruins the fun of taking pictures due to its poor light capturing ability in conjunction with abysmal image sharpness. The direct comparison shows a quite decent color reproduction but also reveals the massive quality difference.
Accessories
Acer puts a modular power supply including a USB cord and a standard in-ear headset in the Liquid E700 Trio's box. It also contains a quick-start guide, warranty card and safety booklet.
Warranty
Acer includes a 24-month warranty for the Liquid E700 Trio.
Input Devices & Controls
The virtual keyboard functions according to the Android standard, which ensures an intuitive and reliable operation. The key field covers approximately one-third of the screen in portrait mode. The keys are large enough for typing faultlessly. The visible area diminishes massively in landscape mode.
The capacitive multi-touchscreen functions reliably and accurately. The automatic screen rotation when changing modes is also implemented quickly.
Display
The 5-inch screen has an HD resolution of 1280x720 pixels. That is standard in this category. The approximately 40 Euros (~$51) more expensive iOcean X7S provides a Full HD resolution. The image is appealing due to the good sharpness, and it shines very bright with an average of 410.8 cd/m². Only iOcean's X7S is on par in the category comparison; both LG's L70 and Archos' 50c Oxygen have a considerably lower brightness.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Brightness Distribution: 89 %
Center on Battery: 433 cd/m²
Contrast: 866:1 (Black: 0.5 cd/m²)
ΔE Color 10.02 | 0.55-29.43 Ø5.2
ΔE Greyscale 8.55 | 0.57-98 Ø5.4
Gamma: 2.46
The illumination of 89% is homogeneous, and both the contrast of 866:1 and black level of 0.5 cd/m² are very decent. Although the contenders have a marginally better illumination, the other rates cannot compete with those of the review sample.
The screen disappoints in the blue range with a clear shift in our measurements with CalMAN. The much too high DeltaE of 10.02 confirms this. The color saturation is also only mixed. The bluish cast then also becomes visible in the grayscale and is obvious in relatively dark parts. The too high color temperature of 8805 K and a DeltaE of 8.55 underline that. The gamma of 2.46 is still the best rate. Fortunately, these considerable shortcomings are barely visible in routine use; they are only noticed adversely in single-colored, bright contents.
The screen's maximum brightness of 436 cd/m² would be high enough for outdoor use even on sunny days. However, the highly reflective glass surface thwarts that to some extent. Nevertheless, it is a good performance compared with the contenders.
The screen in Acer's Liquid E700 Trio uses IPS technology, and thus provides very stable viewing angles. The content first brightens up slightly in very steep angles that are unusual for practical use; colors do not invert.
Performance
A quad-core SoC from MediaTek is installed in Acer's Liquid E700 Trio. The MT6582 clocks with 1.3 GHz and an ARM Mali-400 MP2 graphics chip is integrated. The processor convinces with its good application performance and allows using many current apps.
Our synthetic benchmark course confirms the review sample's good performance, which, however, lags behind that of the contenders. Only LG's L70 can usually not keep up. The Androbench 3 storage test verifies that the review sample sports a swift flash memory that outperforms the contenders in virtually all tests, in return.
| 3DMark | |
| 1280x720 Ice Storm Standard Score (sort by value) | |
| Acer Liquid E700 Trio | |
| Archos 50c Oxygen | |
| iOcean X7S | |
| LG L70 | |
| 1280x720 Ice Storm Standard Graphics (sort by value) | |
| Acer Liquid E700 Trio | |
| Archos 50c Oxygen | |
| iOcean X7S | |
| LG L70 | |
| 1280x720 Ice Storm Standard Physics (sort by value) | |
| Acer Liquid E700 Trio | |
| Archos 50c Oxygen | |
| iOcean X7S | |
| LG L70 | |
| 1280x720 offscreen Ice Storm Unlimited Score (sort by value) | |
| Acer Liquid E700 Trio | |
| Archos 50c Oxygen | |
| iOcean X7S | |
| LG L70 | |
| 1280x720 offscreen Ice Storm Unlimited Graphics Score (sort by value) | |
| Acer Liquid E700 Trio | |
| Archos 50c Oxygen | |
| iOcean X7S | |
| LG L70 | |
| 1280x720 offscreen Ice Storm Unlimited Physics (sort by value) | |
| Acer Liquid E700 Trio | |
| Archos 50c Oxygen | |
| iOcean X7S | |
| LG L70 | |
| 1920x1080 Ice Storm Extreme Physics (sort by value) | |
| Acer Liquid E700 Trio | |
| Archos 50c Oxygen | |
| iOcean X7S | |
| LG L70 | |
| 1920x1080 Ice Storm Extreme Graphics (sort by value) | |
| Acer Liquid E700 Trio | |
| Archos 50c Oxygen | |
| iOcean X7S | |
| LG L70 | |
| 1920x1080 Ice Storm Extreme Score (sort by value) | |
| Acer Liquid E700 Trio | |
| Archos 50c Oxygen | |
| iOcean X7S | |
| LG L70 | |
| AnTuTu v4 - Total Score (sort by value) | |
| Acer Liquid E700 Trio | |
| Archos 50c Oxygen | |
| iOcean X7S | |
| LG L70 | |
| Geekbench 3 | |
| 32 Bit Multi-Core Score (sort by value) | |
| Acer Liquid E700 Trio | |
| iOcean X7S | |
| LG L70 | |
| 32 Bit Single-Core Score (sort by value) | |
| Acer Liquid E700 Trio | |
| iOcean X7S | |
| LG L70 | |
| GFXBench (DX / GLBenchmark) 2.7 | |
| T-Rex Onscreen (sort by value) | |
| Acer Liquid E700 Trio | |
| Archos 50c Oxygen | |
| iOcean X7S | |
| LG L70 | |
| 1920x1080 T-Rex Offscreen (sort by value) | |
| Acer Liquid E700 Trio | |
| Archos 50c Oxygen | |
| iOcean X7S | |
| LG L70 | |
| PassMark PerformanceTest Mobile V1 | |
| System (sort by value) | |
| Acer Liquid E700 Trio | |
| Archos 50c Oxygen | |
| LG L70 | |
| CPU Tests (sort by value) | |
| Acer Liquid E700 Trio | |
| Archos 50c Oxygen | |
| LG L70 | |
| Disk Tests (sort by value) | |
| Acer Liquid E700 Trio | |
| Archos 50c Oxygen | |
| LG L70 | |
| Memory Tests (sort by value) | |
| Acer Liquid E700 Trio | |
| Archos 50c Oxygen | |
| LG L70 | |
| 2D Graphics Tests (sort by value) | |
| Acer Liquid E700 Trio | |
| Archos 50c Oxygen | |
| LG L70 | |
| 3D Graphics Tests (sort by value) | |
| Acer Liquid E700 Trio | |
| Archos 50c Oxygen | |
| LG L70 | |
| AndroBench 3-5 | |
| Random Write 4KB (sort by value) | |
| Acer Liquid E700 Trio | |
| Archos 50c Oxygen | |
| iOcean X7S | |
| LG L70 | |
| Random Read 4KB (sort by value) | |
| Acer Liquid E700 Trio | |
| Archos 50c Oxygen | |
| iOcean X7S | |
| LG L70 | |
| Sequential Write 256KB (sort by value) | |
| Acer Liquid E700 Trio | |
| Archos 50c Oxygen | |
| iOcean X7S | |
| LG L70 | |
| Sequential Read 256KB (sort by value) | |
| Acer Liquid E700 Trio | |
| Archos 50c Oxygen | |
| iOcean X7S | |
| LG L70 | |
Acer's Liquid E700 Trio presents us with mixed results in the category comparison in the browser-based benchmarks. Although the review sample still clearly lags behind contenders like Archos' 50c Oxygen in the Peacekeeper and SunSpider benchmarks, it surpasses both iOcean's X7S and LG's L70 in Octane V2. The review sample clearly gains ground when a faster browser, such as Google's Chrome, is used. The speedy website setup is appealing in routine browsing operations.
| Octane V2 - Total Score (sort by value) | |
| Acer Liquid E700 Trio | |
| Archos 50c Oxygen | |
| iOcean X7S | |
| LG L70 | |
| Mozilla Kraken 1.1 - Total Score (sort by value) | |
| Acer Liquid E700 Trio | |
| Archos 50c Oxygen | |
| LG L70 | |
| Sunspider - 1.0 Total Score (sort by value) | |
| Acer Liquid E700 Trio | |
| Archos 50c Oxygen | |
| LG L70 | |
| Peacekeeper - --- (sort by value) | |
| Acer Liquid E700 Trio | |
| Archos 50c Oxygen | |
| iOcean X7S | |
| LG L70 | |
| WebXPRT 2013 - Overall Score (sort by value) | |
| Acer Liquid E700 Trio | |
| Archos 50c Oxygen | |
| LG L70 | |
* ... smaller is better
Games
The MP2 version of the Mali-400 GPU has two cores and supplies an impressive performance. Many up-to-date games are no problem although demanding apps only run smoothly in low or medium settings. Acer's Liquid E700 Trio did not exhibit any weaknesses in the games we tested. The accurate and swift control via the touchscreen, position sensor, and accelerometer are appealing. Full HD videos were rendered just as smoothly.
Emissions
Temperature
The surface temperatures are always tolerable in practical use. The average temperatures on the smartphones upper side and underside range from 31 °C to 32.9 °C in idle mode.
The surfaces heat up to 34 to 37.4 °C during full load. We measured a maximum rate of 40°C on one spot on the underside. The review sample never reached an unpleasant temperature range in practical use. The power supply heated up to approximately 40 °C during load, and thus it should not be covered when connected.
(±) The maximum temperature on the upper side is 40 °C / 104 F, compared to the average of 34.9 °C / 95 F, ranging from 21.9 to 52.9 °C for the class Smartphone.
(+) The bottom heats up to a maximum of 35.6 °C / 96 F, compared to the average of 33.7 °C / 93 F
(±) In idle usage, the average temperature for the upper side is 32.9 °C / 91 F, compared to the device average of 32.7 °C / 91 F.
Speakers
The front-sided speaker produces a satisfactory sound and has a decent maximum volume. As is common for the category, it sounds a bit distorted and somewhat treble-heavy, particularly in higher volumes. The DTS equalizer enables multiple adjustments according to personal preferences and definitely improves the sound. The 3.5 mm jack compels with a low-noise sound and high maximum volume.
Energy Management
The power consumption of Acer's Liquid E700 Trio of 1.2 to 2.2 watts in idle and 3.4 to 2.6 during load is relatively low. Only LG's L70 consumes significantly less in the category comparison. Both Archos' 50c Oxygen and iOcean's X7S need more energy, particularly during load.
| Off / Standby |   0 / 0.1 Watt |
| Idle |  1.2 / 1.9 / 2.2 Watt |
| Load |
3.4 / 3.6 Watt |
    
| |
Battery Runtime
Acer's Liquid E700 Trio sports a non-removable 3500 mAh battery. Although the installed SoC is not a power guzzler, the bright IPS screen takes its toll. This can be seen in our two runtime tests. According to the manufacturer, up to 60 days of standby or 24 hours of call time should be possible.
We measured 5 hours and 27 minutes under full load using the Stability Test app and maximum brightness. Thus, it is unrivaled with a one to two hour longer runtime compared with the competition. However, the contenders have considerably smaller batteries.
The practical browsing test via Wi-Fi with an adapted brightness of 30% (150 cd/m²) stopped after 8.5 hours. Alone, that is a good time. However, it is clearly beaten by the competition. Archos' 50c Oxygen is first place with approximately 10 hours; LG's L70 follows with 8:39 hours just before our review sample. Only iOcean's X7S has to be recharged earlier due to roughly 5 hours. It still manages 8 hours with the optional 3000 mAh battery.
It should be possible to easily survive a workday without recharging when the Liquid E700 Trio's brightness is reduced a bit.
Verdict
Acer's Liquid E700 Trio is a decent smartphone for the demanded 200 Euros (~$256, RRP) - but why?
Firstly, the bright and viewing-angle stable, 5-inch IPS screen with an HD resolution is appealing. The casing's immaculate build and high stiffness make a high-quality impression. Admittedly, the device does not offer the best color reproduction, but that is barely if at all noticed in routine use. Also, the application performance is convincing for a mid-range phone. The device reaps in another plus point for using the latest Android 4.4.2. The generous flash memory can be extended via a micro-SD card and even supports the App2SD function that is crucial for many apps. The Wi-Fi reception is decent, the GPS module localizes the phone fairly quickly, and even Bluetooth 4.0 is installed. It's not a matter of course that 3G functions with all three SIM slots. LTE is not available but will allegedly be installed in a similar sister model. The front-sided speaker performs well, and the sound can be enhanced a bit via DTS even if only with the headset jack. The battery runtime is good and is easily enough for a busy workday. The two camera modules' middling performance was not as compelling, although the webcam's LED flash is a small added value.
The biggest pro argument for Acer's Liquid E700 Trio is likely the very well integrated tri-SIM functionality that, unlike many other competing products, does not involve compromises in other areas. Quad-band additionally ensures worldwide use when required. Thus, users with a tight budget who depend on multi-SIM support and do not need LTE will find a reliable and well-equipped partner in Acer's Liquid E700 Trio.
