Hands on with the new Acer M900 Tempo Smartphone - I have one to review!!

[boz]

I am lucky enough to have the yet to be released feature packed next generation Acer M900 for review purposes, I will write up a review on it in the near future, if you have any questions or want to see any more photos or screenshots then feel free to ask!

The Acer Tempo M900 features a large 3.8” WVGA touch screen, Windows Mobile 6.1, Outlook Mobile and a sliding physical keyboard that – quite literally – puts your office in your hands. And don’t worry about data security – the embedded fingerprint reader makes sure only you can access your smartphone and the data you move with it.

Here are the prelimanary specifications for this luxury device and there isn't much more you could wish for!


Operating System:
Windows Mobile® 6.1 Professional (Crossbow)

Processor:
Samsung S3C 6410 533 MHz Processor with one DRAM

Memory:
128 MB SDRAM for user applications and storage
256 MB FLASH ROM for operating system and embedded applications

Display:
3.8" WVGA TFT LCD touch screen, 800 x 480 pixel resolution
65,536 colors

Hardware Design:
Bar-type with side-sliding built-in QWERTY keyboard

Dimensions(L x W x H):
119 (L) x 62 (W) x 17.1 (H) mm

Weight:
188g

Communications:
HSDPA Category 8/ HSUPA Category 5 ( 2100/1900/850 Mhz)
GSM/EDGE: Quad-band, 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
GPRS/EGPRS: Class B, multi-slot class 11
Messaging: MMS, SMS
WLAN: 802.11b/g Wi-Fi CERTIFIED® network connection
Bluetooth: Bluetooth® 2.0+EDR (Enhanced Data Rate)

GPS:
Embedded SiRF Star III chipset, TMC function supported*,
(*Subjected to changes by region)

Camera:
Back
5M pixels VGA Auto-Focus with flashlight CMOS camera,
up to 2560 x 1920 resolution
Digital zoom (1x, 2x, 4x)
Image formats (JPG, BMP)

Front
VGA CMOS Camera for video calling
up to 640x480 resolution
Image formats (JPG)

Security:
Finger-Print Recognition mechanism for security and navigation

Light sensor (L-Sensor):
Sensing the brightness of environment to adjust panel luminance

Gravity Sensor(G-Sensor):
Auto-Sensing of device position for displaying in potrait or landscape mode

LED Indicator:
Upper-Right side: Red, Green
- Red always light: Device is charging
- Red sparkling once every 4 sec: Warning of Battery low level
- Red sparkling twice repeatedly: Warning of Battery critical situation.
- Red sparkling continuously: Battery cover not on or Battery level very low.
- Green always light: Battery charging is full
- Green sparkling once every 4 sec: GSM is connecting on line

Upper-Left side: Blue, Amber & White
- Blue sparkling once every 4 sec: BlueTooth enable
- Amber sparkling once every 4 sec: WLAN enable
- White sparkling once every 4 sec: GPS enable

Expansibility:
MicroSD card slot

Interface/Audio:
Built-in microphone and speaker, hands-free mode supported

A/V Recording:
Video Recording:
Formats supported: 3GP / MPEG-4 / H.263 / AVI / WMV
- Audio included ( AMR / MP3 / AAC format)
- Frames
High 4fps(320x240) / 8fps(176x144) / 15fps(128x96)
Middle 8fps(320x240) / 5fps(176x144) / 30fps(128x96)
Low 8fps(320x240) / 15fps(176x144) / 30fps(128x96)

Video Playback:
- Formats supported: 3GP / MPEG4 / WMV / H.263 / H.264
- Audio supported: AMR-NB / AMR-WB / AAC
- Frames (fps): 25 fps
- Streaming: 3GP/MP4

Audio Recording:
- Formats supported: WMA / WAV

Audio Playback:
- Formats supported: WMA / WAV / MP3 / AAC / AMR

TV-Out:
No

Radio:
FM 76 ~ 108MHz, support Channel Search using the supplied headset

Interface/Data:
USB Sync

Ergonomic Design:
Touch screen for stylus or fingertip, power button, 2 quick application buttons (GPS/Home), send/end button, record button, volume control, finger-print sensor, side-sliding backlit QWERTY keyboard

Battery:
Lithium Polymer rechargeable with 1,530 mAh capacity
Talk time: 3G: 5h depend on usage / 2G: 6h depend on usage
Standby: 160h depends on usage
Pocket PC usage: 10~15 hour
GPS usage: 2.5~5 hour

Software (pre-loaded*):
Windows Mobile@ 6.1 Professional
1. Microsoft® Office Outlook Mobile (Calendar, Contacts, Tasks and Inbox)
2. Microsoft® Office Word Mobile / Microsoft® Office Excel Mobile / Microsoft® Office PowerPoint Mobile.
3. MSN® Messenger / Microsoft® Transcriber / Windows Media® Player 10.
4. Picture / Notes / Internet Explorer Mobile / ActiveSync / Calculator / Game (Solitaire, Bubble Breaker).
5. Microsoft Reader* (* region/territories dependent)

Acer Exclusive Applications:
User interface: Acer Shell v2.0
Phone Tools: Phone settings, SIM toolkit, Speed dial, Communication manager, CSD type, Connection wizard, SMS sender, SIM manager, MMS composer, Finger-print security & navigation
Multimedia Tools: Pictures & Videos, Camera /Camcorder, Album, Streaming player, Media player
Utilities: Backup utility, Default Settings, Application recovery, Memory Optimization

M900 downloadable user manual: here (thanks to nalim for the find)

Quick highlights
The M900 comes with Acer's own very finger friendly Shell, and the easy to swipe screen has the layout of a desk in three parts, just swipe your finger across the screen to find the next section of your desk and tap on the function you need.

Tap on the window in the background and the weather screen pops up, the window even shows you the current weather outside, during night or day in 3D animation, with raindrops running down or the sun shining brightly for example!



Here you can see the weather in Acer Shell once you have tapped on the window in the main screen, with each location of your choice pinned on a 3D globe that changes with the time from night to day. Tap on for example Tokyo at the bottom of the screen, and the globe rotates to find Sydneys pinned location all in real time with the correct shadow of the sun even shown over the earth!

The second screenshot above and those below show the Acer music player once you have tapped on the third part of the desk on the Acer Shell main screen. Swipe across the screen to change albums and you can then change the music type from rock to pop etc to suit the music you are playing. Exit from there and play the album of choice and you can then see how far you are through a track and adjust the volume using the slider shown in the last picture.

[ispartacus75]

A Beautiful looking device and back the the XDA IIi style big screen that I used to love.

This is a serious contender against the Touch Pro 2 as my next phone.

Questions
1) Does the keyboard/screen tilt as well as slide like the Tytn II?
2) Does the GPS set up include A-GPS?
3) Is there any proposed handset only price or is it going to be provider exclusive (Vodafone going by screenshots)?
4) I take it the buttons to the left and right of the hardware keyboard are the buttons related to the menus at the bottom of the screen. Odd placement but certainly look accessible.

[boz]

Hi, Yes the M900 is a very nice looking device and has the wow factor many people are looking for with it's sleek black gloss finish and the Acer Shell has to be seen to be believed, It also has TV-out which I think you were looking for, although I haven't had a chance to test that yet.

In answer to your questions, the keyboard does not tilt a la Tytn II but it is no big deal, the keyboard is larger and easier to use anyway, and you are correct the end buttons are softkey buttons and do relate to the applications at the bottom of the screen. the softkeys can be mapped too with the built in softkey changer, I have changed the left one to comms manager.

Yes the M900 has AGPS as I have shown in the attached picture and that is how I connect using Tomtom 7, which looks very lush on the M900s lush WVGA large screen.

I have no ideas on pricing or a confirmed release date yet whatsoever, but when I do I will let you know, I would have thought the pricepoint will be lower than devices of a similar specification. I am pretty sure it wont be a carrier exclusive, the M900 should be available SIM free only, the screenshot with Vodafone showing will show any carrier there, and when tapped it shows the world time in the places you have selected in the weather application in a 3D globe view as seen below!!.

Anything else just ask!

[Bassey]

Good to see you have all the major international hubs covered there boz. London, Tokyo, New York, Norwich

It does look like a nice device though. Lets hope the ROM is stable. If so, this could be the breakthrough device Acer are hoping for.

[boz]

Lol Bassey, I forgot to add Peckham!!

Yes the OS I am running on the M900 is very stable, I think Acer have worked hard on getting their flagship device in the Tempo range just right and I am very impressed with it, and if the pricepoint is competitive I can see it selling well as a business tool.

Acer Shell is superb and I can't believe how well it functions, it does allow lots of finger friendliness.

[pgamble]

Hi guys

Would be nice if this one was a good alternative to the Pro II.

My biggest worry is that it only has 128M RAM .... my TyTNII has been mostly fine with that ... but with the extra screen estate and bloat on 6.5 ... I'd not want to buy a machine now with less than 256M.

Everything else seems great.

Paul.

[Bassey]

Yeah, 256 and 512 would definitely be better but I suppose as long as it works fine then that is the main thing.

[boz]

Hi Paul, the M900 runs WM 6.1 so there isn't an issue with bloating, Acer also give you the option to install their own custom applications when the device is first fired up which will gain you more space to play with.

The battery is a big 'un at 1530mAh and copes well!

[Bassey]

I noticed that battery. That's getting back to the "good old days" of the old XDA II style devices. 2.5-5 hours for the GPS seemed disappointing though. I get at least that from the Touch Cruise with 2/3 that capacity.

[windows]

That custom shell looks very sweet indeed!