Acer has launched the Acer Liquid Metal smartphone in India. The Acer Liquid Metal features the Android 2.2 (Froyo) platform and is further enhanced by the 800MHz Qualcomm Snapdragon Core processor.

It is equipped with a curved 3.6-inch display with a TFT capacitive touch screen. The Liquid Metal utilizes HSDPA for internet access at speeds up to 14.4Mbps as well as Wi-Fi. The LED signal on the upper part of the phone notifies the user of missed calls, the need to charge the battery and incoming messages.

Acer Liquid Metal’s 1500 mAh battery gives up to eight hours talk time and 550 hours in standby mode. Acer Liquid Metal comes with three keyboard layouts, XT9 predictive text support, Push Mail, Bluetooth v3.0 with A2DP, built in pinch to zoom feature, 3G, GPS, Mini USB, 5-megapixel camera with digital zoom, LED flash, HD video recording with autofocus and smile recognition, Dolby surround and four touch sensitive control buttons.

The phone also offers a free 8GB Micro SD Card and is expandable up to 32GB. The Liquid Metal is available in Silver, Brown and Tiffany Blue colors and is priced at US$454.44.

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ITRI sues LG over patent dispute

Taiwan’s semi-official Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) has sued LG Electronics, accusing it of infringing 22 of its US registered patents covering the fields of mobile phones, air conditioners, blue-ray discs, and LCD displays.

According to ITRI, if the court does not block LG’s actions, then it will suffer additional irreparable harm for which there is no adequate remedy at law and impairment of the value of its patent rights.

The case is similar to the IP litigation between Acer and HP three years ago, when the former successfully used the support of the ITRI to force the latter in accepting a settlement.

As per LG’s statement, it will act appropriately when it receives the official court documents, which it expects later this month.

The ITRI is a technology developer that was founded in 1973 and is partly funded by the Taiwan government.

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Acer Unveils Three Tablet Computers

The world’s second- largest computer maker, Acer has unveiled a lineup of three tablet devices to compete with Apple’s iPad.

According to Acer, two of the three tablets will be based on Google Inc.’s Android platform and feature 7-inch and 10.1-inch screens, while the third 10.1-inch-display device will run on Microsoft Corp.’s Windows software. Acer intends to capture about 10% of the market for tablets.

Acer is the latest PC maker to join the tablet PC bandwagon after Apple Inc.’s iPad attracted strong consumer demand. Many device makers including BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd., Hewlett-Packard Co. and Samsung Electronics Co., have recently announced plans to introduce tablets to compete with Apple’s wildly popular product.

According to Jim Wong, Acer’s head of information-technology products, this is a market that’s still not fully known, not fully satisfied. The company expects 40 million to 50 million tablets will be sold worldwide next year.

The two Android tablets will be available in April and the Microsoft device will go on sale in February. All three will offer Wi-Fi connectivity and allow users to surf the Internet using a 3G connection. Wong said the tablets would likely be in the previously stated range of $299 to $699.

Acer has also released a smartphone with a 4.8-inch screen based on Android that they touted as a phone with the soul of a tablet.

Nokia considers Windows Phone 7

If reports are to be believed, Nokia may consider Windows Phone 7 as a platform for its upcoming smartphones.

Nokia has also teamed up with Intel to develop the MeeGo mobile platform which has yet to emerge on the handsets and doesn’t show any signs of becoming a serious rival.

If they were to make a Windows Phone 7 handset they would need to strengthen the internal hardware, one  of the areas in which the N8 lacks. The 600MHz processor features may just not be enough to cut it in the existing smartphone/OS conflicts, so a more powerful option would be a necessary. Nokia has seen a steep decline in its company value since the release of the iPhone in 2007.

Microsoft’s mobile platform currently has five launch partners; HTC, Samsung, LG, Acer and Dell and is a major improvement over the previous WinMo OS.

If Rumors are to be believed, Finnish company would soon ditch the Symbian platform entirely have proven untrue and were ridiculous to begin with. This was demonstrated last week when Nokia and AT&T announced a competition to entice developers to make apps for the Ovi Store with up for US$10million in prize money up for grabs.

Pre-orders for the N8 have been the highest Nokia has had for any handset till date, though currently it is the only smartphone in its line-up which could potentially have the mass appeal that it needs.

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www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Acer displayed the seriousness of its aim to penetrate the market with various prices and features for its phone lineup by announcing five new smartphones, out of which three would be coupled with the Android OS and two with Windows Mobile 6.5.

E, BeTouch E400, and BeTouch E110 are the android phones and the NeoTouch P300 and NeoTouch P400 both run Windows Mobile 6.5. However, with the announcement of Windows Phone 7 Series, the two Windows phones already look a bit dated.

All of Acer’s newly announced phones will be available overseas and in Canada in 2010, with the possibility of Acer handsets coming to the U.S. in 2011.

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www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Acer Computer and Telstra Business joins hand to to release three ready-to-go business laptops and data plan bundles with built-in wireless mobile broadband connectivity. These bundles will make it easier for small to medium enterprises (SMEs) to join the remote workforce revolution, thus providing better services and products to small business.

According to Telstra Business Group Managing Director Deena Shiff, 2010 Back to Business SME survey1 found that not only was the availability of finance a serious concern for about 70 percent of those polled, but investing in technology, including wireless broadband, featured in the growth plans of one in four.

Charles Chung, Acer computer regional Managing Director feels that expansion of 3G embedded notebooks, with their eight hour battery life, onto the Telstra Next GTM network for business customers means all-day, on-the-go computing is now in the reach of more SMEs.

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