Acer unveils two new Android smartphones

Acer smartphones

Acer has added a pair of business-minded touch screen phones to its range, both running Google's Android operating system.

The Acer beTouch E120 is a traditional Android candybar not entirely dissimilar to the HTC Hero, and features a 2.8in touchscreen, with the familiar row of four control buttons underneath and a five-way navigation key below that.

On the inside it's powered by an ST-Ericsson 416MHz processor backed up by 256MB or RAM, putting it on the back foot against most Android rivals. It also only comes with the previous-generation Android 1.6 on board no word yet as to whether that will be upgraded in due course.

However, its weight of just 105g makes the E120 one of the lightest smartphones around, and confirms that it isn't aimed at all at the high-end market.

Its stablemate the beTouch E130, meanwhile, has a full QWERTY keyboard underneath a 2.6in touch screen in a squatter form-factor device. It's a little bigger and only a tiny bit heavier than the E120, and there's a more than a passing resemblance to a BlackBerry in the looks department.

Both new handsets share the same 3.2 megapixel camera, on-board Wi-Fi, GPS and Bluetooth, while a micro-USB socket is joined by a 3.5mm jack for connecting headphones or speakers. They also come with FM radios, along with direct YouTube video access and support for the Spinlets music-streaming app.

The E120 will be available in black or white and will go on sale in mid-July. You'll have to wait longer for the E130, though: it will come online also in black and white in mid-August..