Acer F900, M900, X960, and DX900 hands-on with video

Acer's new Tempo lineup of middling Windows Mobile 6.1 sets isn't going to steal the show from the TG01, the OmniaHD, or the Magic, but it's not like they're total failures -- they're just way behind the curve. Engadget Spanish did the honors, and it looks like Acer would have been better off spending the time getting these ready to ship with 6.5 instead of the amusingly quaint Microsoft Bob-like Acer Shell it's come up with to skin 6.1 -- all it's missing is the dog. Add in a general sense of lagginess and a stubborn resistive touchscreen, and we'd say this round is better off skipped. So much for those budding Acer fanboys. More galleries and a video after the break.

Acer F900 hands-on

Acer M900 hands-on

Acer DX900 hands-on

Acer X960 hands-on

[funkyp56 Posted Feb 17th 2009 10:52AM]

If its not an iPhone or Blackberry, I don't like it.

[Ruffy Posted Feb 17th 2009 10:53AM]

i do like the home screen, its a cleverness i would like to see other companies look it

[CJ Posted Feb 17th 2009 10:52AM]

Impressive, considering this is Acer's first outing into the realms of Smartphones (as far as I'm aware).

And is that SPB Mobile Shell peeking out from the DX900? It would be great if it came standard. I'm using it (on top of Touchwiz) on my Samsung Omnia, and it's a really fantastic Finger/Gesture-based funtional overlay for WinMo.

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 17th 2009 10:55AM]

Won't steal the show from the "Magic"? I mean the Acer phones are bad, but they're not THAT bad.

My 2 year old phone could steal the show from the "Magic".

[fieldcar Posted Feb 17th 2009 11:00AM]

The F900 looks like the only one compatable with MyPhone 6.5

[Nerdtalker Posted Feb 17th 2009 11:00AM]

Hey Steve, you can leave!

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 17th 2009 11:05AM]

seems very laggy

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 17th 2009 11:41AM]

Agreed. Seems to be a very common theme among the phones displayed at the conference. But, I suppose that's what you get when you try to polish the turd that is WinMo. I've used it for years, but the second you try to put 'pretty' on it, it sends everything down the tubes.

[Pingles Posted Feb 17th 2009 11:08AM]

"So much for those budding Acer fanboys."

I'm kinda pleased that in this world there are fanboys for everything.

Maybe I'll start a website for Cinder Block fanboys!

[Flowah Posted Feb 17th 2009 11:22AM]

Really? I thought the phones, especially the M900 were kinda nice, well specced?

What's wrong with em?

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 17th 2009 11:31AM]

There's nothing "sad" or "behind the curve" on most of these handsets. It seems like if you aren't running Windows Mobile, you can get away with "standard" hardware (i.e. the Magic, iPhone, etc) but if you're Acer and running Windows Mobile, 5 MP Cameras, 3.8 inch screens, and WVGA resolutions are "way behind the curve". Good stuff, Engadget.

I do agree that releasing these phones with 6.1 instead of 6.5 (no mention of an update either) is a bad move, but since it is Windows Mobile and the hardware looks good, I'm sure there will be 6.5 ROMS for these phones down the road.

The Acer Shell looks poor too, but there are a plethora of other options thanks to the flexibility of Windows Mobile.

[KVirtanen Posted Feb 17th 2009 11:27AM]

How is it that I feel that these phones are getting more and more gimmicky? A real desktop? All these weird widgets that you have to move around and organize are making my head hurt.

Why not just make it easy to use and less.. fireworks?

These phones are starting to resemble the oldskool Amiga demos with their particle effects and explosions.

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 17th 2009 11:50AM]

You pulled Microsoft "Bob" out and dusted it off for this? That's impressive. I still remember the bumper stickers on all the cabs in Vegas at CES... boy, did that campaign work.

[Hackettman Posted Feb 17th 2009 12:31PM]

Im liking the interface. If it were a bit faster but this is a display model and theyve probably been running it straight for probably the last day or so and that might be jamming it up. But yeah very touchy feely design with the winmo.......

[tungmeister Posted Feb 17th 2009 1:20PM]

upon release if the frame rate is trippled or so and the touch detection is improved this UI might actually be quite nice to use

[dr steve brule Posted Feb 17th 2009 2:12PM]

hope that software is still way into development, i want to touch the widget once and then move it and not hit it 8 times before it works, especially when i have to use a touch keyboard.

here's my hierarchy so far on phone software. based not on apps but solely on intuitiveness. granted a lot of this is just based off of videos on engadget and youtube.

palm pre > iphone > android > wm6.5 with htc's software > nuviphone > s class > samsung's touchwiz or whatever its called > this

[DaRockwilder Posted Feb 17th 2009 7:50PM]

C'mon Engadget stop hating, the UI is not that bad and it is only a pre-production unit. Give it time...

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 17th 2009 7:54PM]

It's not that difficult to design a fancy GUI, but to have it run smoothly on something less then a laptop sized device is. This is btw my main complaint about the iPhone. Although it does better then all other competitors, it still tries to do a little more than it actually can handle.

[prometeum Posted Feb 17th 2009 8:19PM]

Why do companies put people that doesn't know how to handle touchscreens to promote their touch-phones. I realy find hard to believe that the screen is so unresponsive. There's no way that my 3 y/o Palm TX's touchscreen is more sensitive than a newer model.

[prometeum Posted Feb 17th 2009 8:24PM]

Shoot, I wrote people that DOESN'T know... Who am I to talk about.

I shoud have known my English better.

-_-