Acer shows off new smartphones

ACER SAYS IT will be pushing further into the world of mobile computing with a plethora of new smartphones on display at CeBit.

The firm says its acquisition of E-Ten Information Systems last year is helping it make leaps and bounds in bringing the Internet to a pocket near you.

Gushing about Acer's veritable "smorgasbord of choice", Aymer De Lencquesaing showed off Acer's offerings, which included the M900, the F900, the X960, DX900 and three upcoming models dubbed "F1", "L1" and "C1".

The M900 purportedly synchs with a user's notebook or desktop PC, includes a full keyboard, comes pre-installed with Windows mobile 6.1 (yes, De Lencquesaing was embarrassed it wasn't 6.5), HSDPA connectivity, a 3.8 inch WVGA touch screen and (best till last, not) an embedded fingerprint sensor so you can pretend to be James Bond.

The Acer F900 also sports a 3.8 inch WVGA touch screen, a touch keyboard, 3.2 MegaPixel camera with flash, GPS, FM radio, voice recorder, voice command and expandable memory. De Lencquesaing also boasted the device came with 3.75G HSDPA/HSUPA and WiFi connectivity. The kind of phone you could quite happily survive alone with on a desert island if only you could find a plug.

Moving on to the X960, De Lencquesaing showed off a phone with a slightly smaller 2.8 inch VGA touchscreen, embedded GPS functionality and the bog standard 3.2 megapixel camera again.

More interesting was the DX900, purportedly the world's first dual SIM Smartphone, supporting both 3.5G (HSDPA) and 2.75G (EDGE) SIM cards. The DX900 also apparently features 3D animated icons on its 2.8 inch screen, a flight mode, front side VGA camera and a voice recorder.

"The device is something we are attached to" blathered De Lencquesaing who went on to cryptically note "one size does not fit all, the swiss knife doesn't work".

The Acer senior vice president then went on to unveil Acer's upcoming mobile Internet phones, the "F1", "L1" and "C1", reminding the audience Acer was doing its utmost to "think in terms of communities, applications and content". µ