Fido, the budget division of Rogers Wireless, will be offering their first Android OS handset within the next few weeks. Training will begin soon for Fido employees on the Acer Liquid E. The Liquid E has a Snapdragon processor, but it runs at 768 MHz (it’s capable of 1 GHz). Acer has said the CPU is underclocked to prolong battery life. The Liquid E will have Android 2.1 on board (Eclair) with very little Acer customization of the User Inferfacer. And Acer is planning an upgrade to Android 2.2 (Froyo) “before the end of the year.”
Other specs are a 3.5-inch display, 5 megapixel camera with video capabilities (640 x 480 VGA), WiFi, full HTML browser, GPS, Bluetooth, 3.5mm headset jack, and storage up to 32GB. You can take one of these home from Fido soon for $50 on a contract, or $350 without.
This smartphone would be one of Fido’s best devices when released. They do carry the iPhone 4, if you can ever find it in stock. The only other smartphones in their current inventory are two Blackberrys: Curve 8520 and Pearl 8100. Fido will be receiving more Rogers hand-me-downs in the months ahead (Rogers has been selling the Liquid E since June). Look for some mid and low level Android phones to make an appearance.