Acer announces 6-inch Liquid S2, 'first 4K-recording smartphone'

Compared to many other companies, Acer's taken a rather cautious approach to super-sized phones. Its first attempt was the 5.7-inch Liquid S1, a rather straightforward Android handset unveiled back in June at Computex. The second time around, though, the company's taking a more ambitious approach, announcing the 6-inch Liquid S2 with 4K recording capability, a full HD IPS display and a Snapdragon 800 processor.

Acer's touting the S2 as the first phone to offer this 4K functionality, though all signs point to Samsung's next Galaxy Note shipping with the same feature. The device sports a 13-megapixel rear camera with LED ring flash along with a 2MP front shooter capable of 1080p video. The company's also loaded up the S2 with several software enhancements on the camera side. For one, a "quick first shot" feature lets you snap a picture right from the phone's unlock screen, and you have the ability to adjust focus and exposure separately. There's also a "favorite mode," which lets you create up to five profiles with customized settings and effects.

Though 4K recording is clearly the phone's marquee feature, other specs are decidedly more high-end than we're used to seeing on Acer's Liquid lineup. As mentioned, there's a Snapdragon 800 chip under the hood, clocked at 2.2GHz and bolstered by 2GB of RAM, and the battery is a sizable 3,300 mAh. There's 4G LTE connectivity on board as well.

As usual, Acer will sell this handset in Europe, not the US (at least for now). The Liquid S2 will launch at the end of October, and we expect pricing and more exact availability information to drop soon. We'll be getting our hands on the 6-inch handset here at IFA, so check back for a hands-on!

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A Touch More Resolution with Acer's First 4K Recording Smartphone @ IFA 2013

Editors' Summary:
• Ultra multimedia: 13MP camera, 4K Video, fast full HD, 4 x slow motion, full panorama 27MP photo, LED flash
• Ultra performance: Full HD 6" display with IPS technology
• Ultra connectivity: 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 ac

BERLIN, Sept. 2, 2013 - Acer will unveil at IFA 2013 the new Liquid S2, a full HD 6" with IPS technology 4K recording capable smartphone with ultra-fast connectivity including 4G LTE and the new Wi-Fi 802.11 ac standard. Following the recent successful launch of the Liquid E, Z and S series, Acer is now ushering in a different world of clarity with four times the resolution of full HD. This technology has been featured in some cameras already, but it's a completely new experience with smartphones running on Qualcomm's Snapdragon 800 2.2GHz processor capable of recording in 4K.

The real beauty of the smartphone is its iconic soft round curves and red elements for the receiver mesh and metallic ring highlighting the four LED ring flash for low light and macro capturing. The curved glass surface keeps a soft touch and "edgeless" feeling around the rim.

A touch of visual moments

The Liquid S2 combines the simple and visual interface with a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera to take professional looking photographs or videos with a smartphone. The front-facing 2-megapixel camera allows consumers to capture moments with an 88-degree wide viewing angle.

The Liquid S2 is loaded with several enhancements to capture reality:

• BSI Sensors and LED Ring Flash: Sharper pictures in any environment
• Video Recording: 4K Ultra HD, fast full HD 1080p 60FPS, 4 x slow motion
• Full Panorama Pictures: Up to 27-megapixels in a single picture
• Quick First Shot: Take picture right from unlock the screen with automatic center-focus by tapping any location on the screen
• Smart Best Shot: Automatically detects photo type and takes multiple shots for best selection
• Tag Widget: Convenient photo browsing with scene tag.
• Favorite Mode: Create up to five profiles with customized effects, flash, capture mode and scenes
• Exposure Control: One finger focus and exposure adjustment
• Freehand Capture: Crop out anything on the screen using hand or a digital pen
• Live Screen™: Share ideas and journey through pictures and scribble

A touch faster

This feature-packed Android smartphone will operate on 3G and 4G networks to boost customers with an average upload speed of up to 150Mbps. It will also support the latest Wi-Fi standard, 802.11 ac, offering significantly faster data transfer, better coverage and power efficiency when compared to today's 802.11 n standard. The Easy Hotspot enables the smartphone to act as a mobile Wi-Fi router to share wireless internet connectivity with up to 6 Wi-Fi enabled devices. The internet connection can also be shared with QR codes and NFC.

Acer Float User Interface allows several app windows to stay open, so users can multitask without having to back out of one app to work on another. The press of a key brings up the Float Apps shortcut where apps on a translucent screen float over the function being used. It is easy to access or switch Float Apps anytime and can be customized with up to 7 favored app shortcuts. A Float Caller notification ensures that users will not be interrupted by incoming calls that take over the full screen. When a call comes in, the Float Caller mini-window pops up and the user can choose to take the call or reply with a quick message.

A touch more power

The latest addition to the Acer smartphone family is designed with a full HD display with IPS technology and 368 ppi for brilliant, stunning graphics on the 6-inch screen with a wide viewing angle. It is 8.99 mm thin and has two stereo speakers powered with Dolby Digital Plus for a stunning sound experience. The Liquid S2 also uses curved Gorilla Glass® 3.0 to boast native damage resistance, making it stronger and more resistant to scratches and daily usage than before.

Available in red or black, the Liquid S2 is powered by Qualcomm's quad-core 2.2GHz processor, 2GB of internal memory and 3300 mAh battery for extended use on a single charge. Users can store a large library of photos, music and videos on the expandable memory of up to 128GB to complement the standard 16GB on-board storage.

Features and specs

Display 6", full HD (1,920 x 1,080), 368 PPI, IPS
Main camera 13 MP auto-focus, f2.2, 28 mm lens, BSI sensor, LED ring flash, 4K video
Front camera 2 MP, f2.2, 24 mm lens, 88° wide angle, BSI sensor, 1080p video
Processor: Quad-core 2.2 GHz
Storage / memory: 16 GB / 2 GB
Battery: 3300 mAh, non-replaceable Li-polymer battery
Dimensions: 166 x 86 x 8.99 mm,
Network: 4G: 800/1800/2600 3G: 900/2100 2G: 850/900/1800/1900
Connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11ac/a/b/g/n, Bluetooth® 4.0, GPS+GLONASS, NFC
Sensors: Light sensor, accelerometer, proximity sensor, digital compass, gyro
Operating system: Android™ 4.2.2
Acer features: Acer Float UI, Acer HD Channel, Acer Docs and Acer Remote Files, Acer
Data Traffic Manager, Acer Float Caller, Acer Float Apps
(maps/notes/camera/calculator), Acer Live Screen™, Acer Print, Acer
Easy hotspot
Additional features: Skitch, YouTube™, Moodagent, Polaris Office, Swype text input, Google
Keep, Evernote®, wireless display, Dolby Digital Plus

Pricing and Availability

The Liquid S2 version will be available at the end of October in. Exact pricing and availability will be announced at a later stage.