Acer DX900 vs HTC Touch Diamond2

Looks aren’t everything but in the world of fickle mobile users they certainly count for a lot. Nobody wants a phone that others laugh at, nor do they want one so heavy it’s almost hernia inducing, or so light that it’s easily lost down the back of the sofa.

No, mobile users want the moon on a stick. Or at the very least the mobile equivalent of the moon on a stick.

Acer’s first dabble into the mobile phone market certainly looks like something you’d find on the moon. It’s quite chunky and – we mean no disrespect here – looks a bit like a plastic Fisher-Price toy.

But what it lacks in looks, it certainly makes up for in other areas. We'll keep the suspense building for a few more paragraphs on that topic.

Older and wiser
HTC, however, has been in this game a whole lot longer than its wet-behind-the-ears counterpart. And, its maturity is starting to pay dividends.

At 53.1x13.7x107.9mm and 117.5g, there’s something reassuringly familiar about this device. Indeed, those who loved the way the HTC Touch Diamond looked, will find their senses equally as pleased by the aesthetics here. HTC has also increased the screen size a bit – pushing it up from 2.8-inches to 3.2-inches to form a full touchscreen that does the job perfectly.

With dimensions of 60.5.x17x106mm, Acer’s DX900 isn’t exactly a beast compared with the TouchDiamond2, but it’s certainly a lot heavier at 147g. When pocket friendliness matters, this could prove a deal breaker.

However, the DX900 does do something that the Touch Diamond2 doesn’t. While HTC’s handset only has room for the usual one SIM, Acer has made its device a home for two. Although this may prove useful for those who want one handset for work and play but two numbers, the dual-SIM approach hasn’t really set the world on fire in recent years.

A phone by any other name...
Acer’s handset has all the hallmarks of E-TEN, the smartphone house the company acquired in 2008. That said, it could well be saving its really special Acer-specific features for the next generation? While we like the DX900, we certainly hope this is the case.

Both the Touch Diamond2 and the DX900 run Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional as their operating system of choice. For many, this will be a match made in heaven, for others it will be like trying to enjoy a really nice picnic while sitting on an ants’ nest – a massive irritation.

But there is also good news OS-wise for those opting for the Touch Diamond2. The first iteration of the Diamond simply used HTC’s TouchFLO 3D UI as a skin to hide the perceived ugliness of Windows Mobile. To a certain extent this worked, but it didn’t really fool many people into loving it. This time around, however, TouchFLO has actually been integrated with the OS, meaning it’s a much more pleasant experience for the user.

Acer - or should that be E-TEN? – clearly understands that not everyone loves the mobile software equivalent of marmite and has catered for that taste by using the SPB Mobile Shell. This tarting up helps make things a bit nice to both look at and use.

Users also get to choose from a host of applications on firing up the handset. Business card apps, location-based apps, an easy keyboard and more are all up for automatic installation, or you can simply choose to ignore them and save that memory space for other things.

HTC also has a few other UI tweaks up its mobile sleeve in the Touch Diamond2. For starters, there’s a whole lot more to like about the presentation of calls and messages, which are now interlinked by contact.  This threaded construction makes keeping track of what you’re supposed to have said – and what you certainly haven’t said after a few drinks – much easier, a la iPhone.

The rest of the features story
Acer loses the battle when it comes to photography. Its 3-megapixel camera is overshadowed by HTC’s 5-megapixel snapper. Although, as we know, it’s not all about stuffing as many megapixels as you can into a mobile camera so this alone is unlikely to make average users opt for the Touch Diamond2 over the DX900.

Both the HTC Touch Diamond2 and Acer DX900 feature a range of solid connectivity options like Bluetooth, HSDPA and Wi-Fi so the web and email hungry are unlikely to suffer from malnutrition.

When it comes to using either handset as a phone (you know to call people like they did in the old days), both come up with the goods and we didn’t have any complaints during the review period.

Verdict
Considering the DX900 is Acer’s first foray into the mobile phone space, it’s done amazingly well, offering up home for not just one but two SIMs. But, with ages comes knowledge and HTC has gained a slight edge by being around that little bit longer and refining its handsets so they get better with time. Maybe next time Acer?

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