By March 22, 2010

Acer beTouch E101 Review

e101 Announced back in October last year the Acer beTouch E101 is one of those handsets which I’m not really sure where it sits compared to the competition. It’s clearly a smartphone as it’s running Windows Mobile 6.5 however it seems to be lacking a few features which you would come to expect with any smartphone these days.

I will be basing this review on the fact that the beTouch E101 is a budget handset so will not be comparing it to the high end Windows Phones out there at the moment. At only £176.25 the beTouch E101 certainly has an attractive price tag but the question is, do we think it is worth the money and will users gets frustrated at the lack of high end features?

Read on to find out!

 

What’s in the box?

  • Device
  • Battery
  • USB Cable
  • Headphones
  • Charger
  • Screen Protector
  • Manual/Software

 

Acer E101 specification:

  • Operating System – Windows Mobile 6.5
  • Processor – Qualcomm 7225 528MHz
  • Memory – RAM – 256MB / ROM – 512MB
  • Display – 3.2 inch WQGA resolution
  • Network – Quad-band GSM/EDGE 850, 900, 1800, 1900
  • Connectivity – Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR
  • miniUSB
  • GPS supports A-GPS
  • Expansion Slot – MicroSD card
  • Camera – 2 Megapixels
  • Device Control – 5-way Navi Key + Scroll Wheel
  • Talk Time – 5 Hours (manufactures approximation)  
  • Standby Time – 400 Hours (manufactures approximation)  
  • Battery – Rechargeable Lithium-ion 1140 mAh
  • Dimensions – 113 x 56 x 12.8 mm
  • Weight – 118 grams with battery
  • Includes Google Maps

 

 

General:

On top of the E101 is the power switch.

E101-top

Acer beTouch E101 Top

 

On the left side is the volume rocker, a lock switch and also the USB port.

E101-left

Acer beTouch E101 Left Side

 

On the right is the MicroSD card slot and also the dedicated camera key.

E101-right

Acer beTouch E101 Right Side

 

The front of the E101 clearly is mainly made up of mainly screen but a selection of buttons sits below it.

E101-front

Acer beTouch E101 Front

 

 

Highlights:

  • Nice Screen
  • Feels good in the hand
  • Plenty of applications

 

Lowlights:

  • Lack of 3G
  • Lack of WiFi
  • Lack of GPS

 

 

Review:

In terms of looks and feel the Acer beTouch E101 is not too bad. Its an attractive looking device and the white version I had even more so. It does feel a bit plastic but I suppose you get what you pay for. The 3.2 inch resistive screen is clearly the phones main feature and its pretty nice. The icons look pretty on it and its as responsive as you would imagine.

Under the screen are a series of buttons. As well as the normal send and end keys there is a home and a back button. Between these is a track wheel which i was not keen on. It allows you to move and select the onscreen icons which is fine but i don’t really see the point of it as its a touch screen phone. It seems to work okay but if it were my phone I would never use the wheel.

Like when Matt reviewed the E200 recently, Acer have pretty much left Windows Mobile alone on the phone with the only change being the home screen. Here you can add up to nine icons to the home screen for quick access to your most used apps. I actually prefer this to the Windows Mobile home screen. ( Don’t tell Microsoft I said that!)     

Screen01

Acer beTouch E101 Home Screen

 

Diving into the main menu, either by pressing start or the menu icon at the bottom of the screen, the device gives you a broad selection of apps, all of which you would expect to find on a Windows Phone.

Screen02 

Acer beTouch E101 Menu

 

However there are certain apps here which will not give you the best experience as the beTouch E101 lacks 3G, WiFi and GPS! So Google maps is never going to be accurate, the web browser will be slow running on gprs, and YouTube will take an age to load a video. I can understand that these apps have to be left on a Windows Phone but I really cant see why anyone would release a WinMo phone without 3G. Its clearly a cost thing but surely the manufactures want to give the users the best experience so they buy a similar phone again next time. To be totally honest with you, if I had bought this as my first smart phone I would initially be pleased but it would not take long for me to be totally frustrated as to why everything takes so long to load without 3G. The Acer E100 is more of less the same as the E101 but it has 3G. It may be £60 more expensive but its well worth the money.

With only a 2 mega pixel camera on board this too lets the device down however I am thinking that the type of people who will buy this phone may not use it and I will explain why in my conclusion.

Like all Windows Phones you get all the usual stuff such as Office Mobile, a good calendar, Active Sync, Windows Live and Marketplace (although with marketplace it may take forever to download an app!)

 

Conclusion:

This is a rather short review I’m afraid. Not because I’m being lazy but because it’s a basic Windows Phone. If you read the site regularly you will have seen us review dozens of WinMo phones and you probably know the OS as well as I do so I’m not going to waffle on about it.

The Acer beTouch E101 is not a bad device but is extremely basic. I suspect the only type of people to buy it may be someone who is really just after a nice looking touch phone for making phone calls and texting their friends. The issue here is that will these folks be willing to spend nearly £200 on a phone that may look nice but doesn’t perform as well as others. You could get another phone that does more and has 3G and WiFi for less money than the Acer but I shall not name drop here!

I realise that all manufactures have lower-end devices but I find this one to be a bit of an oddity. I’d consider Windows Mobile to be a high-end OS so it seems strange to have a device that’s trying to sit at the bottom end of this market where is crosses over, price-wise, with the higher-end feature phone.

If you do fancy getting the Acer beTouch E101 head on over to Clove. If not then they have a fine selection of other devices too.

 

Posted by: James

Posted in: Reviews

About the Author:

More than 20 years in the IT industry. Blogging with a passion and thirst for new technology since 2005.
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