Acer’s new Liquid E3 smartphone takes aim at the Moto G

Acer has a habit of announcing new devices rather quietly, and the company has just unveiled two new smartphones, the mid-range Liquid E3 and the budget level Liquid Z4.

At the start of the year, Acer had attempted, and failed, to knock the Moto G from its worthy position as the budget handset of choice with the Liquid Z5. But is the new Liquid E3 up to the task?

Hardware wise, the Acer Liquid E3 smartphone sits comfortably in the mid-tier. It features a 1.2GHz quad-core processor, coupled with a single GB of RAM, a 13 megapixel rear camera, and a 2 megapixel front facing cam which also has its own flash. The handset also features a decent 4.7 inch 720p IPS display, which is very similar to the Moto G’s 4.5 inch 720p LCD screen. All good so far, but the same can’t be said for the internal memory, which offers up an underwhelming 4GB of storage space, compared with an 8GB minimum with the Moto G, however this can be extended via a MicroSD card.

There’s very little to call between the Liquid E3 and the Moto G, besides the limited internal memory, however the Liquid E3 is a tad more expensive, costing €199 ($275) whilst the Moto G retails for only €160.

If you’re looking for something even more budget friendly, the Acer Liquid Z4 fits in nicely at the budget level. The handset comes with a 4.0 inch TFT screen (the aspect ratio suggest a WVGA resolution), a dual-core 1.3GHz CPU, and the same rather limited 4GB of internal memory as the E3. The Liquid Z4 will retail for €99 ($136).

Both of the handsets will ship with Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean and will come pre-loaded with Acer’s own launchers, which offers up four different UI modes (basic, easy, classic, and keypad). Acer has also promised a KitKat update for the Liquid E3 shortly after launch. The two handsets will both be on view at MWC next week, and should go on sale in Europe in April, there’s no mention of a US release.