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Review: Acer M220

Acer-smartphone-Liquid-M220-Black-main

What can around £50 get you in terms of a phone these days? Not a lot, if you look around, and to be honest, we are not surprised. Even ‘dumb’ phones can often cost more than that, and for good reason. It just isn’t possible to package that much of electronics into a phone at that kind of a price. However, Acer have had a good go at it, and voila, we have the Acer M220.

Before we delve further into the device, lets have a quick look at the highlight specs:

  • 4 inch screen
  • Windows Phone 8.1
  • 233 pixels per inch
  • 5MP rear camera with flash, 2MP front camera
  • 4GB ROM, 512MB RAM, micro SD Card Slot
  • Snapdragon 200, 1.2GHz Processor
  • 3G
  • 124.9 x 64 x 9.6mm, 119g

In some ways, it looks like a phone from a few years ago, sold at a price an old phone would be sold today. Immediate concern pops up from the 4GB of RAM and 512MB of RAM for this device, leaving very little storage for most personal usage.

Look and feel

Okay, I will definitely give Acer the fact that look and feel of the device isn’t bad. At a very low price, they have managed to pack a fairly decent feeling and looking phone. The back is textured, as is the side with a diamond/pyramid finish. Acer-smartphone-Liquid-M220-Black-photogallery-03

Other than, the screen faces the front, with metal indents visible all around. In many ways, if you didn’t know this was running Windows, it looks like any other Android phone with a few unique features.

It does feel solid, and I do quite like the small screen size.

Performance

There are quite a few concerns about the performance of this, with the low amount of processing power as well as storage space. Sadly, the concerns are true, and the numbers just don’t lie. The phone was a bit slow, and of course you are limited in app and storage space. You can expand on that using the microSD slot, but I rather have that as a luxury than a necessity.

Same goes for the display, it works, it is functional, but it won’t blow your mind. 5MP camera also delivers, but nothing special.

However, the low performance means it isn’t too bad on its small battery, which is an ironical plus in the mix.

On the plus side, you do get everything Windows 8.1 already built in, like live tiles, Office and one of the better integrated email systems.

So, who is this phone really for?

An interesting question that. This could easily be a phone you can give to your kids, or if you feel like being cruel, to your work colleagues. It is a phone that works perfectly as a phone, but doesn’t quite work perfectly as a smart phone. I would be more inclined towards the ‘kids’ if I was you.

Of course, the low price point does mean that even if the kids lose it, you won’t be bothered, and it is a bit on the rugged side any way.

What could make this work?

Apart from changing the specs, an easy fix may have been a go at Android, or perhaps even Symbian. Windows 8.1 works well, but for a limited device, the limited apps available on the OS just don’t really add much.

More information

More information on the Acer M220 is available on the Acer website:

http://www.acer.co.uk/ac/en/GB/content/series/liquidm220

Verdict

A low price point makes this the ideal phone for your kids, or a throw away phone, but do not expect to be blown away or impressed by what it delivers.

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