Acer Liquid Zest 3G Review: A budget-friendly, feature-packed smartphone

Acer recently released its newest line-up of value smartphones and for this review it's the Liquid Zest 3G version. So let's check if this smartphone by Acer is worth our money.

Acer Liquid Zest 3G Review

The Acer Liquid Zest 3G lies in between entry-level and mid-range smartphone, considering the price tag of Php3,999 it's a real budget smartphone for starters and yet it packs a whole lot of features.

What's inside the box?

The box of the Acer Liquid Zest 3G contains the following:

• 1 x Acer Liquid Zest 3G
• 1 x USB data/charger cable
• 1 x Charger plug
• User manual

Build Quality & Design
The Acer Liquid Zest 3G comes in Midnight Black (the one in this review) or in Daylight White and it's pretty slim and very compact to carry. The phone has a full front glass, the body is rounded rectangle plastic-built with a curve matte design plus the Acer logo in the back. The phone is easy to hold in the hand, it's neither too small or too big, but it's a bit slippery to hold, so be careful. It's rather is simple looking smartphone which is a bit similar design in the some of the Android One line-ups

The display is clear and nice to look at, thanks to its 5-inch HD IPS @ 1280 x 720 resolution display, you won't see any pixels in the screen. The text and images are crisp and sharp with the display, this is one of the goodies in this smartphone. Another screen feature it boasts is the Zero-Gap display which you cannot see any gap in the display as the screen is attached in the glass.

The back part contains the camera, LED flash and the Acer logo

The top part has the audio jack port and the bottom part has the micro-USB port for charging or data transfer

The side has the volume rocker and the power button

The back part has the rear camera, LED flash, Acer logo and the speaker.

Inside the Liquid Zest 3G are the following: 2 sim card slots and 1 micro-SD slot

UI, Apps & OS
As for the UI and the OS, I'd like to congratulate Acer for keeping the OS or the Home UI as simple as much as possible and is similar to the stock Android look, it is fast and fluid. Only the icons and some pre-installed apps were included, nonetheless there are not much bloatwares that can slow the phone. Also I'm happy to say its already an Android Marshmallow so you get all the benefits of the latest Android OS.

The app drawer is from the stock Android Home UI, some system app icons were replaced and there are some pre-installed apps and games that maybe useful, if you don't want them, you can always uninstall or disable. Overall it feels like the stock Android and its a big plus in my view.

Camera
As for the camera, it has a pretty good quality for the 8MP it offer for the price. The pictures that I took are nicely captured in the camera, its has a focus feature and but sometimes it is slow in focusing. The camera is good taking pictures outdoors but on indoors it starts to produce image noises (or image dots) that you can see when zooming. You can see the sample shots below:

Indoor, Well-lit room

Indoor, Well-lit room

Indoor, low-light, Normal mode shot

Indoor, low-light, HDR

Indoor, low-light, Normal mode with Flash

As for the images above, the camera is good especially with its price, the image quality will vary if there is a better source of light. The 5MP front camera is quite good too, it has a wide angle lens so you can better capture your face, body and the background even in close range. (We'll add more pictures soon, so always check this article!)

Performance & Benchmark Tests

Benchmark Test Scores: 
Antutu: 23343
Geekbench 3:

• Single-core: 358
• Multi-core: 1139

Quadrant Standard: 5825
Nenamark 2: 56.4fps
Multi-touch test: 5 touch points

As for the benchmarks results, the Geekbench scored 358 for the for single-core test and 1139 in the multi-core test. Antutu scores about 23343 in its overall phone test and 5825 for the Quadrant standard. It scored 56.4 fps in the Nenamark 2 test which is pretty good for gaming & multimedia. To translate these scores, the Liquid Zest 3G is capable of running low to mid 3D games, those who won't need much processing & graphics power, nonetheless it can run most games except the new 3D apps and games that requires more power. As for our experience with the phone, there is no noticeable lags, the usage is smooth and works the way it should be. Speaking for the DTS Studio Sound feature, it provides a larger sound field with higher vocal clarity and more natural details.

ACER Liquid Zest 3G Specifications

• Display: 5.0-inch HD IPS @ 1280 x 720 resolution, Zero-Gap display
• Processor: 1.3GHz Mediatek MT6580 quad-core processor
• Memory: 1GB RAM
• Storage: 8GB internal storage, expandable up to 32GB via microSD
• Rear camera: 8MP rear camera with F2.0 aperture
• Front camera: 5MP wide selfie front camera
• GPS: Yes, with A-GPS
• Wi-Fi: Yes
• Networks: 3G HSPA+
• Bluetooth: Yes
• Audio: High quality audio with DTS® Studio Sound
• SIM: Dual-SIM, Dual Active
• Battery: 2000 mAh
• Weight: 125g
• OS: Android 6.0 Marhsmallow
• Colors: Black, White

Verdict
The Acer Liquid Zest 3G is a featured-packed smartphone for the very affordable price of Php3,999 that will surely entice people looking for budget phones. It has a quad-core processor, 1GB RAM a very clear and solid screen and a promising audio output and best of all it's an Android Marshmallow out of the box which is very reasonable for the price.

Pros

• Very lightweight and compact
• Feature-rich smartphone for its price
• Android Marshmallow out-of-the-box
• Has a high-quality audio with DTS Studio Sound
• Wide-angle Selfie/Front camera

Cons

• The internal storage could have been bigger than 8GB
• While the sound details is good, the internal speakers lacks volume

Read more: http://www.geekypinas.com/2016/06/acer-liquid-zest-3g-review-a-budget-friendly-feature-packed-smartphone.html#ixzz4AsLXgvtC 
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