Acer announces two budget Liquid Z phones alongside the mid-tier Liquid Jade Z

Hot on the heels of its 4G Liquid Z410, Acer has unveiled three new smartphones in its Liquid line-up, the Z220, Z520 and Jade Z. The first two are aimed at the budget-tier of the market, while the new Jade Z is more of a mid-range package flecked with high-end features.

Starting with the Liquid Z220 and Z520, both phones come packing the same basic specs. A 1.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon 200 processor and 1GB of RAM offer suitable performance for day-to-day tasks. The Z220 is listed with a 4-inch WVGA 233PPI display, the Z520 looks larger, but details aren’t clear. Both also offer 8GB of internal storage, dual SIM card slots, a 2-megapixel front facing camera, and Android 5.0 Lollipop out of the box. Acer’s customised software features a Basic Mode for kids, which offers simple call and text tools, an Easy Mode that opens up a few extra functions, and the Standard Mode for users who presumable know their way around a smartphone.

The two handsets differ when it comes to the rear camera, the Z220 packs a 5-megapixel 89 degree wide view snapper, while the Z520 offers a higher resolution 8 megapixel pixel sensor. The Z520 also offers DTS Studio Sound speakers for “astonishing stereo sound”, claims Acer.

Moving on the Liquid Jade Z, Acer has changed up the formula to produce a much more competitive mid/high-end product. The 64-bit quad-core MediaTek SoC, either the MT6732 or newer MT6735, should be an acceptable performer for most tasks, and the FullHD 5-inch display is on-par with most high-end smartphones. The handset also features a 13-megapixel rear camera with f1.8 aperture, a 5-megapixel f2.2 aperture front facing camera, and supports up to Cat4 LTE data speeds.

All of these of the handsets are reasonably priced too. The Liquid Jade Z will retail for €199 and will be available in Europe in March alongside the €89 Liquid Z220. The Liquid Z520 will be made available in April for just €109.