Acer Liquid Z520 Price in the Philippines Upon Launch is Php 4,990 : Specs, Unboxing, Antutu Benchmark Score, In the Flesh Photos

Looking for a capable Android smartphone by an international company but your budget is less than Php 5,000? Well, you might want to include the freshly released Acer Liquid Z520 in your list of handsets to check out and consider getting.

Acer Liquid Z530

This one is priced at only Php 4,990 and it already has a Quad Core processor, a fairly large 5-inch display, a good 8 MegaPixel main camera, and Acer's unique experience or skin on top of its Android operating system. Not to mention, it looks rather attractive.

Acer Liquid Z530
The standard retail package includes the unit itself, the earphones, travel charger, microUSB to USB cable, the 2,000 mAh Li-Ion battery pack, user manual, and warranty certificate.

Let's take a look at the different panels and sides of the handset and get to know its distinguishing design characteristics, main features, and technical specifications.

Acer Liquid Z520
The face of the phone features the 5-inch 480 x 854 pixels TN display, which gives you bright and vivid colors when you look at it perfectly parallel to and in front of your face. If it were IPS, it would have had a wider viewing angle but I guess it's one feature that got compromised when Acer tried to lower the cost of this model.

Acer Liquid Z520
The back cover of Z520 flaunts what the Taiwanese company calls a 'trendsetting tactile pattern', which - I admit - is quite unique, making the design of the phone look more interesting while making this panel resistant fingerprints.

Acer Liquid Z520 sports an 8 MegaPixel autofocus main camera with LED flash and BSI sensor delivering bright and brilliant shots even in low-light settings. The front-facing selfie shooter has a 2 MegaPixel non-BSI sensor requiring good ambient lighting to deliver good self portraits.

Acer Liquid Z520
Both the power button and the volume rocker can be found on the right side of the handset for quick access using our thumb if you're right-handed.

Acer Liquid Z520
Check out Acer's "square pyramid mid-frame" design accent for the Liquid Z520. Aside from being another distinguishing physical trait, this also helps users have better grip on the device for less accidental slippage.

Acer Liquid Z520
Z520 measures 9.9 millimeters at its thickest point and weights 159 grams. It's not the thinnest or lightest entry-level Android phone out there but it's not the heaviest nor the thickest either.

Acer Liquid Z520
Both the microUSB 2.0 port and 3.5 millimeter audio jack are located on the top panel. The audio jack comes with DTS Studio Sound, which - according to Acer - delivers astonishing stereo sound with bigger sound field, higher vocal clarity and more natural details. I've tried listening to my favorite music tracks on this phone and it really delivers as promised.

Acer Liquid Z520

Powered by a removable 2,000 mAh Li-Po battery, the Z520 runs Android 4.4.2 KitKat operating system with its MediaTek MT6582M processor with four ARM Cortex A7 cores and a Mali-400 GPU, handles multitasking with 1 GB of RAM, and has 8 GB of expandable storage.

Acer Liquid Z520

Serving as skin to its Android KitKat OS is the phone's Acer Liquid user interface, which comes with three distinct profiles for different customer and age groups: First, the Basic Mode for youngsters with fixed call and text functions. Second, the Easy Mode for silver surfers with access to quick messages, radio, weather, clock, quick call contacts. And finally, the Standard Mode for the advance smartphone user familiar with the Android interface.

Acer Liquid Z520

So how well do this phone's internal hardware perform? Collectively, they gave Acer Liquid Z520 an Antutu Benchmark Score of 19,761 when I ran the app on the phone this afternoon. Basically, this mark tells you that while the handset is far from being a powerhouse, it's good enough to run almost all non-3D, non-specs-intensive apps and games (that you can download from Google Play Store) without stuttering or horrible lags.

Acer Liquid Z520
This device can run Clash of Clans, Criminal Case, PBA Slam, Marvel Future Fight, Candy Crush Saga, Subway Surfers, and Temple Run 2 as well as all Social Media Applications flawlessly.

Is Acer Liquid Z520 the right smartphone for you? Frankly, there are many local handsets out there with better technical specifications that you can get for Php 5,000. If you just want great specs for less, you might want to check those out. However, if you'd rather spend your money on a phone by a respected international company that has been in the electronics industry for a considerable amount of time, then I think the Z520 could be ideal for you. Off hand, I will tell you that the phone's display and front-facing cam could be better but when it comes to design, build, unique user interface, music playback, and responsiveness, it's one of the great phones that I've tested in this price echelon. All things considered, it's a good purchase for Php 4,990.

TechPinas Smartphone Technical Specs Table (TSTST)
Name Acer Liquid Z520
Type Slate Form Factor (Full Touchscreen)
Price Category Entry Level
Dimensions143 x 73 x 9.9 mm
Weight 154 grams
Available Colors Black, White
Operating System Android 4.4.2 KitKat with Acer Liquid UI
Display 5.0 inches (~57.1% screen-to-body ratio), 480 x 854 pixels (~187 ppi pixel density), TN, capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
Processor Quad Core 1.3 GHz ARM Cortex A7 CPU, Mali-400MP2 GPU, MediaTek MT6582M chipset
RAM 1 GB RAM
Internal Storage 8 GB ROM, expandable via microSD card slot supporting up to 32 GB
Camera Main: 8 MP, 3264 x 2448 pixels, autofocus, LED flash, BSI sensor
Front: 2 MegaPixels, fixed focus, non-BSI
Video Capture Full HD 1080p 30 frames per second for main camera, HD for front camera (TBC)
Audio and Video Playback MP3, WAV, eAAC+, FLAC, MP4, H.264
Ports microUSB v2.0, 3.5 mm audio jack (DTS Studio Sound)
Connectivity Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth v4.0 with A2DP, EDR, 3G HSDPA, 21 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps, HSPA+
GPS Yes, with A-GPS
FM Radio Yes
Sensors Accelerometer, Digital Compass, Proximity
Network 2G bands GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 - SIM 1 and SIM 2, 3G bands HSDPA 900 / 2100
SIM Card Type Dual microSIM, Dual Standby
Battery Removable 2,000 mAh Li-Po battery
Uptime TBD
Value-Added Features DTS Studio Sound, Good Main Camera, Liquid UI
Announcement Philippines: May 8, 2015
Availability Philippines: May 8, 2015
Price Official: Php 4,990