Acer's Android phone and there's no word that we'll be getting this any time soon. My question to the wireless providers in the US is, why the frak not? On the surface, there doesn't seem to be much to distinguish it from all the rest of the Android devices on the market. In fact, it is as generic as the G1 or myTouch.
Heck, it does not even sport Sense in Hero or MOTOBLUR with Motorola's Cliq.
But what it does sport is a superior CPU. And anyone knows, boy, does the Android devices need a faster chip to run all the widgets, skins, and background processes. As I've mentioned, I started loading up widgets on my G1. Lovely as it is, it has slowed my G1 to a crawl at times and at worst, even restarted on its own.
With more memory and a faster chip, the Acer should be the showcase device to introduce new users to Google's mobile platform. Candy-eye widgets are fine but when users start experiencing slowdown, word will get around.
The chip sported by the Acer phone is a 45% faster than the ones used by the current crop of Android devices. I'll take every bit of horsepower I can get. The A1 sports a 768Mhz CPU versus 528Mhz CPUs used by the other Android phones.
Right now, there isn't a market for it in the US. I'm guess it's trying to get into the Chinese and other Asian markets. My guess is that we won't see any major changes in the design architecture of future Android devices until Android 2.0 or even 3.0.
More on the A1 at Engadget. Pre-order price is $571, not an insanely expensive upgrade. Though no specs are available for the A1 a this time, here are the specs for the newest Android devices, Hero and Cliq, on the market to keep in mind for comparison when we finally learn more about the A1.
Note: The latest version of Android is 1.5. Engadget reports that A1 lists Android 2.0. If A1 is available for pre-order now, Android 2.0 should be too far behind.
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