As fun as it is to gander at the latest hardware and specs of the new high end smart phones that are being released, the real deal is when it comes to the low to mid range devices –after all, not everyone is willing to invest so much in a smart phone, and that is why cheap alternatives are always very important.
Acer recognizes the need to address the mid to low range smart phone market, and that is why they have come out with the beTouch series. While Acer’s Liquid line focuses more on the high end range, the Acer beTouch E130 juggles the tight balance between providing good hardware with keeping a low price tag.
The device’s 416MHz processor is undoubtedly slow by today’s standards, but it still gets the job done. Running the Android 1.6 Donut OS also means that the handset is able to access many of the Android’s newer features such as Map navigation and Google Goggles. So far, it has not been stated if the device would ever be updated to a later version of the OS.
The phone’s biggest charm is its front facing QWERTY keyboard. It may seem a little cramped for people who are not used to the layout, but anyone who has used a BlackBerry or a Palm would feel right at home. The keys are layered flat and are indistinguishable from each other; this means that users should expect the occasional typo when doing fast repetitive keystrokes. Aside from that, learning to use the beTouch E130’s keyboard takes only a short while. Users will be able to type long messages
Overall, the beTouch E130 is a great handset for anyone in a budget. With the Android operating system and the phone’s impressive keyboard, it’s a successful combination that is hard to beat.
