Acer Liquid Z630 Smartphone Review
For the original German review, see here.
Acer rounds off the Liquid lineup with its affordable 200-Euro (~$217), entry-level top model Liquid Z630. It scratches at the phablet category with a screen size of 5.5 inches. Decently configured with a quad-core SoC, dual-SIM support and IPS HD screen, the smartphone also offers a removable battery and wide-angle front-facing camera.
There are plenty of rivals, especially in this price range. We use Samsung's Galaxy J5, Elephone's P8000, and MobiWire's Taima as direct comparison devices.
Case
The elegantly designed casing is composed of dark gray plastic. The removable back cover features a brushed aluminum finish and has a pleasant grip. A chrome rim runs around the sides, and the unusually designed, circular earpiece grille on the front catches the eye.
The handset is quite easy to warp and produces audible cracking noises, which is primarily due to the removable, clipped on back cover. However, strong pressure on the screen causes only marginal discolorations. The build quality is good with consistently even gaps.
Devices in the 5.5-inch category can no longer be called compact. Nevertheless, Acer's Liquid Z630 is quite comfortable to hold, and its height of 8.9 mm (~0.35 in) is lower than the equally-sized rivals. The total weight of 165 grams (~5.8 oz) is also less than that of its rivals, which is due to the polycarbonate primary material. Only the smaller Samsung Galaxy J5 is somewhat smaller and lighter.
The very large 15.20-Wh and 4000 mAh battery can also be removed. It has to be removed for inserting the micro-SD and both micro-SIM cards; hot swapping is not possible.
Connectivity
A MediaTek MT6735 quad-core SoC clocking at 1.3 GHz and an integrated ARM Mali-T720 MP2 graphics card alongside 2 GB of RAM powers Acer's Liquid Z630. According to the manufacturer, the 16 GB flash memory (net: 10.35 GB) can be expanded by up to 128 GB. A 64 GB SanDisk Ultra Card functioned without any problems during the test. Most apps can be moved to the memory card and back to the internal storage. A clever detail: The device can be connected to a USB flash drive or mouse via the USB OTG capable micro-USB 2.0 port with a corresponding adapter, and even enables recharging other mobile devices. Both micro-SIM slots support LTE. An FM radio is also present.
Software
The relatively up-to-date Android 5.1 Lollipop operating system is installed. Acer has modified the standard Android OS very slightly, but has preloaded a multitude of software. These include Google's bundle as well as several proprietary applications. NAV by TomTom (stores maps on the handset, enabling offline use), SnapNote and child-oriented Suggests are also included. A quite powerful app designed for children, the Kids Center, is also preloaded. It allows parents to control their children's access rights. However, an Acer ID is inevitably needed for the manufacturer's apps such as file manager, photo gallery or music. Users can find alternatives from Google or other developers if Acer's cloud is not used. Unfortunately, a vast number of annoying bloatware, such as eBay or Booking.com, are also preloaded on the handset. However, most are easy to uninstall. We deem floating apps, such as notes, calculator, calendar or calls that hover over an opened application, convenient as they expand multitasking to some degree.
Communication & GPS
Acer's Liquid Z630 supports quad-band GSM, tri-band UMTS and quad-band LTE Cat.4 (download max. 150 MB/s, upload max. 50 MB/s). During the test, the reception was also good in an urban area. The Wi-Fi module supports only the 802.11 b/g/n standards in 2.4 GHz networks. We recorded half the possible signal strength at a distance of approximately 10 meters (~33 ft) to our Telecom router and through three walls. Pages opened at an acceptable speed and were stable. Bluetooth 4.0 is also on-board.
The smartphone uses A-GPS for navigating. The review sample found satellites at an impressive speed indoors near a window. The accuracy increased even more with up to 4 meters (~13 ft) outdoors. The test with Google's Maps was mixed; although we were tracked with an accuracy of approximately 20 meters (~66 ft), the display started to change the position after a few seconds and the accuracy decreased significantly. The handset tried to retrace the position, but the located position moved further away from the actual location; we observed a deviation of up to 300 meters (~382 yd) here. By comparison, Apple's iPhone 6 is considerably more accurate with a deviation of only 30 meters (~98 ft). Positioning was possible with an accuracy of approximately 10 meters (~33 ft) outdoors. Thus, tracking via GPS is fairly inaccurate, but still sufficient for occasional navigation - especially considering the smartphone's price range.
Telephone & Call Quality
The phone app provides the most important features, such as contacts, favorites, and also supports flip mute, i.e. muting a call by simply turning the smartphone. The dual-SIM functionality has also been implemented well in the system, and the user can always select which SIM is to be used. Noise suppression functions well, and both sides confirm good speech and hearing intelligibility in test calls. The hands-free feature is sufficiently loud, although voices are rendered slightly tinny and distorted.
Cameras & Multimedia
Acer has equipped its Liquid Z630 to an 8 megapixel lens on both the front and rear (3264x2448 pixels). Videos are recorded in Full HD. In addition, the primary camera features an auto-focus and LED flash. The camera app provides various settings and modes, such as HDR, beautify or panorama. Photos can also be shot via voice control, which functioned well. The primary camera's image quality is mixed. Overall, the pictures are slightly too dark and the image sharpness is very poor, especially when objects are at a distance. Furthermore, a heavy image noise is sometimes evident. The color reproduction is satisfactory, although the pictures look rather pale. The low-light performance is poor; the LED flash at least enables slightly better photos. The front-facing camera disappoints with heavy image noise, low light yield and blurred details.
Accessories
Acer ships the smartphone with a quick start guide, safety and warranty information as well as a stereo headset and the battery. Obviously the mandatory modular power supply is included.
Warranty
The smartphone comes with a two-year warranty; the battery is covered for one year. A 180-day software support is also included.
Input Devices & Handling
The virtual QWERTY keyboard features the standard Android layout and supports swiping. A number row is available in the upper row as second assignment. The touchscreen detects inputs even to the edges and implements them quickly. The screen's sleekness is compelling, but automatic rotation takes a second. We observed noticeable lags only during excessive multitasking. The Android system icons are displayed on the screen, and are only faded out in some applications like videos. Quick Touch is a special feature that enables opening Left Page (accumulated information via right swipe), camera, phone, music apps, and unlocking the screen via a simple swipe. However, this feature has to be enabled in the settings first.
Display
Acer's Liquid Z630 uses a 5.5-inch IPS screen with a resolution of 1280x720 pixels, and thus has 267 PPI. This corresponds to the category standard; only Elephone's P8000 can boast with 1290x1080 pixels. Its average brightness of 326.4 cd/m² is also slightly lower than some rivals. The illumination of 91% is homogeneous, but some comparison devices offer slightly more.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Brightness Distribution: 91 %
Center on Battery: 334 cd/m²
Contrast: 1758:1 (Black: 0.19 cd/m²)
ΔE Color 4.52 | 0.5-29.43 Ø4.86
ΔE Greyscale 4.39 | 0.5-98 Ø5.1
90.9118% sRGB (Argyll 1.6.3 3D)
Gamma: 2.23
| Acer Liquid Z630 Mali-T720 MP2, MT6735, 16 GB eMMC Flash | Samsung Galaxy J5 Adreno 306, 410 MSM8916, 8 GB eMMC Flash | Mobiwire Taima Mali-400 MP2, MT6582, 4 GB Flash | Elephone P8000 Mali-T720 MP4, MT6753, 16 GB eMMC Flash | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Screen | 2% | -58% | -53% | |
| Brightness middle | 334 | 349 4% | 360 8% | 338 1% |
| Brightness | 326 | 353 8% | 352 8% | 329 1% |
| Brightness Distribution | 91 | 93 2% | 91 0% | 95 4% |
| Black Level * | 0.19 | 0.53 -179% | 0.36 -89% | |
| Contrast | 1758 | 679 -61% | 939 -47% | |
| Colorchecker dE 2000 * | 4.52 | 5.22 -15% | 8.65 -91% | 9.38 -108% |
| Greyscale dE 2000 * | 4.39 | 3.96 10% | 8.32 -90% | 10.33 -135% |
| Gamma | 2.23 99% | 2.08 106% | 2.74 80% | 2.3 96% |
| CCT | 6917 94% | 7308 89% | 8151 80% | 10118 64% |
| Color Space (Percent of sRGB) | 90.9118 |
* ... smaller is better
The review sample can score with a black level of 0.19 cd/m² and a high contrast of 1758:1. Therefore, Acer's Liquid Z630 clearly surpasses its rivals; only Samsung's Galaxy J5 has a technological edge with its AMOLED panel here. Although subjectively the screen could be slightly brighter, contents still look very sharp with high contrast, and black looks saturated despite the low pixel density.
Our in-depth screen analysis using spectrophotometer and CalMAN software shows that the review sample's color accuracy is rather too strong yet quite accurate. The DeltaE shift of 4.52 in colors and 4.39 in grayscale levels are relatively low. We did not observe any tint in mixed colors; the grayscale only shifts marginally toward green-blue. The sRGB color space is also covered quite decently. The comparison devices clearly score worse here. Furthermore, the color temperature of 6917 Kelvin and gamma of 2.23 are quite close to the ideal rates. Acer's Liquid Z630 shows an overall good performance here. A word about the option LumiFlex enabled in the options by default: It is supposed to increase the screen's legibility, but we did not notice any difference.
The screen's average maximum brightness alongside the very reflective surface makes outdoor use difficult. It is barely possible to see anything on the screen in direct sunlight. However, outdoor use is quite possible without major restrictions when avoiding direct sunlight.
The IPS screen is very viewing angle stable. The brightness decreases in viewing angles of approximately 30°, but the colors remain mostly stable. Marginal color distortions occur only in extremely acute viewing angles from the right, but they will not be noticeable in everyday use.
Performance
2 GB of RAM supports the installed MediaTek MT6735 quad-core SoC clocking at 1.3 GHz. It is not one of the fastest mid-range processors. The performance is acceptable for the price of 200 Euros (~$217). The hardware is usually sufficient for coping with routine tasks; we did not experience noticeable lags in the system.
Acer's Liquid Z630 gives a mixed performance in our benchmark course. It clearly outperforms MobiWire's Taima in all tests, for example Geekbench 3. The review sample even outruns Samsung's Galaxy J5 in many benchmarks like AnTuTu v5. Only Elephone's P8000 clearly remains out of reach most of the time; our review sample only takes the lead in Smartbench 2012.
| Geekbench 3 | |
| 32 Bit Multi-Core Score (sort by value) | |
| Acer Liquid Z630 | |
| Mobiwire Taima | |
| 32 Bit Single-Core Score (sort by value) | |
| Acer Liquid Z630 | |
| Mobiwire Taima | |
| GFXBench (DX / GLBenchmark) 2.7 | |
| T-Rex Onscreen (sort by value) | |
| Acer Liquid Z630 | |
| Elephone P8000 | |
| Mobiwire Taima | |
| 1920x1080 T-Rex Offscreen (sort by value) | |
| Acer Liquid Z630 | |
| Elephone P8000 | |
| Mobiwire Taima | |
| GFXBench 3.0 | |
| 1920x1080 1080p Manhattan Offscreen (sort by value) | |
| Acer Liquid Z630 | |
| Elephone P8000 | |
| Samsung Galaxy J5 | |
| on screen Manhattan Onscreen OGL (sort by value) | |
| Acer Liquid Z630 | |
| Elephone P8000 | |
| Samsung Galaxy J5 | |
| Smartbench 2012 | |
| Gaming Index (sort by value) | |
| Acer Liquid Z630 | |
| Elephone P8000 | |
| Samsung Galaxy J5 | |
| Mobiwire Taima | |
| Productivity Index (sort by value) | |
| Acer Liquid Z630 | |
| Elephone P8000 | |
| Samsung Galaxy J5 | |
| Mobiwire Taima | |
| Linpack Android / IOS | |
| Multi Thread (sort by value) | |
| Acer Liquid Z630 | |
| Elephone P8000 | |
| Samsung Galaxy J5 | |
| Mobiwire Taima | |
| Single Thread (sort by value) | |
| Acer Liquid Z630 | |
| Elephone P8000 | |
| Samsung Galaxy J5 | |
| Mobiwire Taima | |
| AnTuTu v5 - Total Score (sort by value) | |
| Acer Liquid Z630 | |
| Elephone P8000 | |
| Samsung Galaxy J5 | |
| Mobiwire Taima | |
The review sample is fast in the browser-based benchmarks where most rivals fall behind. Scrolling through websites is fast and smooth. Apparently, the Android browser has been well-modified here.
| Sunspider - 1.0 Total Score (sort by value) | |
| Acer Liquid Z630 | |
| Samsung Galaxy J5 | |
| Mobiwire Taima | |
| Octane V2 - Total Score (sort by value) | |
| Acer Liquid Z630 | |
| Elephone P8000 | |
| Samsung Galaxy J5 | |
| Mobiwire Taima | |
| Mozilla Kraken 1.1 - Total (sort by value) | |
| Acer Liquid Z630 | |
| Elephone P8000 | |
| Samsung Galaxy J5 | |
| Mobiwire Taima | |
* ... smaller is better
The installed 16 GB flash memory seems to operate very fast, and the micro-SD card is also accessed quickly. The Androbench 3 benchmark test reveals the best performance in the comparison field, particularly in reading large and small blocks. Only Elephone's P8000 has an edge in write.
| AndroBench 3-5 | |
| Random Write 4KB (sort by value) | |
| Acer Liquid Z630 | |
| Elephone P8000 | |
| Samsung Galaxy J5 | |
| Mobiwire Taima | |
| Random Read 4KB (sort by value) | |
| Acer Liquid Z630 | |
| Elephone P8000 | |
| Samsung Galaxy J5 | |
| Mobiwire Taima | |
| Sequential Write 256KB (sort by value) | |
| Acer Liquid Z630 | |
| Elephone P8000 | |
| Samsung Galaxy J5 | |
| Mobiwire Taima | |
| Sequential Read 256KB (sort by value) | |
| Acer Liquid Z630 | |
| Elephone P8000 | |
| Samsung Galaxy J5 | |
| Mobiwire Taima | |
Games
The SoC-integrated ARM Mali-T720 MP2 graphics card takes care of graphic tasks. It allows playing demanding 3D games smoothly. The review sample rendered "Angry Birds 2" and "Minecraft Pocket Edition" without stutters. Furthermore, using the accurate, sleek touchscreen for game control is really fun.
Emissions
Temperature
Acer's Liquid Z360 always remains in a very acceptable range here. It heats up to a maximum of 36.9 °C (~98 °F) even under permanent load, which is just lukewarm.
(+) The maximum temperature on the upper side is 35.2 °C / 95 F, compared to the average of 35.1 °C / 95 F, ranging from 21.9 to 63.7 °C for the class Smartphone.
(+) The bottom heats up to a maximum of 36.9 °C / 98 F, compared to the average of 33.9 °C / 93 F
(+) In idle usage, the average temperature for the upper side is 29.6 °C / 85 F, compared to the device average of 32.8 °C / 91 F.
Speaker
The mono speaker's position on the lower rear is less than ideal, and is often covered by a hand or surface. The sound quality is not very impressive, even when it is not covered. Bass and mids are virtually non-existent, trebles are emphasized, and high volumes quickly distort - music playback . The DTS Studio Sound certification and integrated equalizer do not help much, either. The included headset does not sound much better. Overall, the smartphone delivers a decent sound with little base noise via the 3.5 mm jack.
Energy Management
Power Consumption
The power consumption of Acer's Liquid Z630 is impressive, particularly in the category comparison. It is by far the most frugal handset. Just 3.4 watts during full load - Elephone's P8000 exceeds that in idle. This gives hope for a long battery life.
| Off / Standby |   0 / 0.1 Watt |
| Idle |  0.8 / 1.5 / 1.7 Watt |
| Load |
2.9 / 3.4 Watt |
    
| |
Key:
min: ,
med: ,
max: Voltcraft VC 940 | |
Battery Runtime
Acer's Liquid Z630 can really excel here. The gigantic 4000 mAh and 15.20-Wh battery alongside the low power consumption enables real marathon sessions. Elephone's P8000 and MobiWire's Taima rivals deplete much faster under full load and in our Wi-Fi browsing test using adapted brightness. Even Samsung's Galaxy J5 has to be recharged much sooner. Acer's handset easily outlasts a long-distance flight and even has some reserves to call a cab after arrival, no matter if used for browsing or video enjoyment. And should the battery be depleted, it can be replaced with another. This makes the thought of recharging devices via the micro-USB port and OTG adapter realistic. Great job, Acer!
| Acer Liquid Z630 Mali-T720 MP2, MT6735, 16 GB eMMC Flash | Elephone P8000 Mali-T720 MP4, MT6753, 16 GB eMMC Flash | Mobiwire Taima Mali-400 MP2, MT6582, 4 GB Flash | Samsung Galaxy J5 Adreno 306, 410 MSM8916, 8 GB eMMC Flash | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Battery Runtime | -47% | -56% | -26% | |
| Reader / Idle | 1530 | 1292 -16% | ||
| H.264 | 806 | 657 -18% | ||
| WiFi v1.3 | 839 | 637 -24% | 480 -43% | 495 -41% |
| Load | 481 | 146 -70% | 156 -68% | 350 -27% |
Pros
Cons
Verdict
Buyers who opt for Acer's Liquid Z630 will get a decent smartphone with a long battery life and good screen for a low 199 Euros (~$216 RRP). The performance is always sufficient for routine use and playing the occasional game is also really fun. The intuitive and fast operation and the relatively up-to-date Android version are also on the plus side. The 5.5-inch handset is a reliable and, thanks to LTE and dual-SIM feature, also a communicative, everyday companion. This makes it easy to forgive the average camera modules, poor speaker and a multitude of bloatware.
Acer's Liquid Z630 is an affordable Android phablet with plenty of power for routine use, which does not have to inevitably be recharged every day.
Users who do not need NFC and can live with the mentioned shortcomings should definitely consider including Acer's Liquid Z630 in their purchase options.
Acer Liquid Z630
- 12/28/2015 v4 (old)
Michael Moser
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