MWC 2011 Live: Acer Iconia Smart Hands-on Preview

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After the three Iconia Tab tablets, two Android-powered and one running Windows 7, we went on to find the Iconia Smart, a newly launched Android handset and we soon found it at Acer’s stand.

The Smart is an unusually long smartphone and it has to be in order to offer that 4.8-inch diagonal. On the same note, and without joking, the Smart seems a little too long and disproportionate compared to other handsets out there. Maybe 4.8-inch is not exactly the most appropriate screen size for a smartphone but this Iconia Smart is too narrow to be a considered a tablet.

You’ll notice the obvious length of the Iconia Smart in the gallery below as I have compared it with the iPhone 4 Do you have that much extra space in your pocket for such a smartphone?

Despite the unusual size the phone seems ready to offer a great smartphone experience. I went through the apps, browsed the web and it all worked pretty much on par with my expectations. But this Gingerbread Android handset running Acer’s Breeze UI on top doesn’t offer you the same Android taste a Nexus S handset will get you. I’m still a novice when it comes to Android handsets hands-on experience, but I have to say I really liked that particular Samsung handset.

The Smart comes with some high-end features like a 1GHz processor, 8-megapixel camera on the back with LED flash and HD video recording, 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera, 1,024 x 480 resolution and 21:9 aspect ratio and Gingerbread under the hood. Therefore the handset should come with an appropriate high-end price tag although these details haven’t been made official yet. At the same time, the Smart has some really smart competitors out there, the next gen dual-core Android smartphones and the upcoming iPhone 5. With that in mind, can the Iconia Smart become a best-selling product for Acer?