Acer saw some great success with the Liquid Z series of smartphones, and today alongside their announcement of the new Liquid E3, they have just announced the Liquid Z4, a smaller, and more elegant version of the E3. The Z4 comes with some of the same great features of it’s bigger brother, with great multi-tasking capabilities thanks to AcerFloat, which gives the user the ability to open up multiple apps on top of a translucent panel that floats over whatever current function is in use. It’s easy to toggle between multiple apps, and you can favorite up to eight different app shortcuts to be used with AcerFloat. Even if you get a call while using AcerFloat, a float caller mini-window pops up giving you the option to answer the phone call or use a quick message to reply so you can get back to what you were doing.
The Z4 also supports the same AcerCloud features as the Liquid E3, so you can just as easily share media files and documents between multiple connected devices regardless of the platform. Another great feature of the Z4 is the option to have custom profiles made up. If the phone will be for someone in a younger age group, you can set up a profile in “basic mode” that has things like fixed call and text messaging functions. You can also select to set up profiles in either easy mode with fast access to things like the clock, messages, weather, radio, and quick call contacts, classic mode which takes all your main functions and places them in an easy to use and organized layout for first time smartphone users, or keypad mode if you’re primarily going to be using voice and need quick access to the dialer to make calls.
The Z4 also does well with photos, since it’s 5MP camera uses an f2.4 lens with 5 elements instead of the previous 4, which makes images appear more vivid than before, especially when paired with auto-focus. The Z4 has a beautiful 4-inch display, and is powered by a 1.3 GHz dual-core processor instead of the quad-core processor used in the E3. It carries the same amount of storage space as the E3 with 4GB, and will be running the same version of Android out of the box at launch which is 4.2.2 Jelly Bean. There is no mention if this will get Android 4.4 Kit Kat later this year like the Liquid E3, but since Kit Kat is optimized for phones with lower memory we won’t rule it out just yet. You can also expect the standard connectivity and location features with WiFi and integrated GPS. The Liquid Z4 will be launching in Europe at the same time as the E3, but will cost €99 instead of €199, and will come in two different color variations titled “Essential White”, and “Titanic Black”.