Acer launches a high end Android smartphone

ACER HAS ANNOUNCED an Android-based entertainment smartphone that's fully integrated with social-notworking features.

The Acer Stream is destined for demanding users with a bob or two to spare but just misses out on the Froyo release of Google's Linux based OS, settling for Android 2.1 instead.

Acer said that the multi-media smartphone is built with highly shock resistant materials, so should be robust. It also comes with top end technical specs and, at 11.2mm thin, is small.

The Stream has a 3.7-inch touchscreen AMOLED display with a 2,000:1 contrast ratio.

Connectivity includes 3G+, WiFi and Bluetooth, and the Stream has a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon chip, 512MB of RAM and 2GB of flash memory. The Stream supports up to 32GB on a micro-SD card.

Multi-media features look pretty solid. The smartphone has 720p HD video recording and Dolby Mobile audio. You'll also get a 5MP camera and GPS so content can be geotagged. And by Jove, there's even an HDMI port to connect to a HD display.

Social notworking apps are pre-installed and Acer has a free streaming service called Spinlets. This will let you post tunes you like to any social notworking service.

The Acer Stream will cost £399 and Expansys will be flogging it from 9 August. µ