Acer Liquid Jade Z and Z410 are two new budget options for the US market

As several carriers say goodbye to contracts in the US, we’re already seeing the unlocked phone market start to grow. While some consumers who go the off-contract route are going to be perfectly fine with spending $400, $500, $600 or more — others will be looking for more affordable options. That’s why we are now seeing so many OEMs throw their budget offerings into the ring here in the states. The latest contender is Acer with the Liquid Jade Z (left) and Liquid Z410 (right).

The most affordable of these options is the Z410, a quad-core 1.3GHz MediaTek MT6732M powered device with either 1GB of RAM and 8GB storage or 2GB RAM and 16GB storage. Other specs include a 4.5-inch 960×540 resolution display, 2MP front shooter, 5MP rear shooter, a 2000 mAh battery, and Android 4.4 KitKat-powered software. Pricing starts at $129, or is $20 more for the 2GB RAM/16GB storage configuration.

A bit further up the ladder we find the Liquid Jade Z, which offers a MediaTek MT6732 running at 1.5GHz and the RAM/storage configurations as the Z410. One of the bigger differences with the Jade Z is the upgrade to a 5-inch 720p display, and a better camera package with a 13MP rear cam and 5MP front cam. The battery here is also 2300 Mah, and unfortunately we are still stuck with KitKat as well. Pricing begins at $229, or $20 more for the higher-end configuration.

Let’s be honest, there are plenty of phones with similar or better specs for about the same price points, though neither of these devices are particularly bad — just not impressive either. The Jade Z is available right now with the Z410 coming in September.