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Hi guys. This post is more of a mini-blog of sorts because I just feel inclined to write a little bit about my new phone, which is, you guessed it, an Acer Liquid Zest Plus. The name evokes images of dishwashing liquid or laundry soap, doesn't it? While the name may sound funny the phone itself, at least in my opinion, is a great phone for just $160. Yep, I got it for a mere $160. Not everyone will be willing to spend $800 on the latest iPhone and I'm one of them. But you know, at least at this point, I think even if I'm filthy rich I don't think I'd like to get myself an iPhone or a Note 7 because, well, a phone like the ALZP already gives you a lot for a tiny fraction of a Note 7's cost. It does everything I need and has everything I want at a much lower price. Sure, the build quality will not be anywhere near the $800 phone and it's made of plastic instead of Unobtainium but hey, so what? My fingers don't itch if I touch plastic instead of aluminum. And as long as it's reasonably durable, it's all good. I just need it to last. And a jelly case will take care of accidental drops. (Not that it isn't needed with an aluminum-body phone as well anyway.)

The Zest Plus comes with most of the things you'd expect from a phone these days but the real story here is the gigantic 5,000mAh battery and Quick Charging. I got the phone just yesterday, ran the battery down to 9%, turned it off, and plugged it in. Fully charged in around 1h:55m. The charger apparently can push more than the usual 5V/2A so it's not an apples-to-apples comparison with the standard charger specs but still, it's nice to be able to fill such a huge tank real quick and I reckon many phones come with chargers that push beyond 5V/2A as well anyway.

Which brings to mind the exploding Note 7, if I may veer a bit off topic. There's no doubt it's a phone that pushes the boundaries of what electronics engineers can do at this point and it's a very handsome phone made with some fancy materials. The thing is though, you obviously will pay a bundle for it. But the thing is, unless you're the kind of guy who needs to show people your financial capability (it's a sad reality but people really do look at your stuff and judge you by them, isn't it?) in your line of work or you simply need to get the best results that current tech would allow (say, a top notch phone camera), I don't see why a 'lowly' $160 phone like the Zest Plus is a bad purchase. Sure, it's made of plastic, and it doesn't seem to come with Gorilla Glass (although it has oleophobic coating), but I'm pleasantly surprised to see so many features for $160. I mean, look, there's a MediaTek SoC with 4 x 1.3GHz A53 cores that scores ~30,500 in AnTuTu (yes, yes, I know what you're gonna say), a potent GPU that runs all my mobile games more smoothly than I expect (yes, games ran very smoothly), a proper 5.5" 720p IPS display that doesn't look cheap, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage, dual (micro) sim support, a dedicated microSD slot, a 13MP rear camera with Laser Focus/Phase Detection/Contrast Detection, a 5MP front wide-angle camera, the ability to act as a power bank to charge another device, the hardware you need to run Waze (GPS, compass, etc.), LTE, USB OTG, DTS HD certification (sounds way better than my Asus Zenfone 6, about ties my old Sony Xperia Sola, a bit better than my cheap Samsung Tab 3 Lite, about on par with my Galaxy S2 tab), Android 6.0, etc. All that for $160. Even without factoring in the price this midrange smartphone is already a miracle of technology if you think about it. I'm honestly more impressed with phones that give you so much at the ~$200 price point than phones that are nice but are priced at $800. You see, if you pay $800 you EXPECT to get a lot, but if you pay $160, it's amazing what you get here. And this applies to everything else from cars to computers, etc. Even the physical power and volume buttons press with a satisfying click akin to my Galaxy S2, not the cheap mushy buttons you normally find in this class.

So that's it, really. Just amazed what $160 can get you these days and this isn't some cheap brand that rebrands white box phones from Shenzhen. Yes, Acer is the Suzuki of electronics but here they're starting to look like Hyundai. Perhaps they've decided to take the smartphone game more seriously. Sure, it's made of plastic, but it's packed full of technology that most folks just take for granted these days. I'm not telling people to buy it and this price point is pretty crowded so you can get similar value for money from other manufacturers.

That does look like a pretty nifty device. Thanks for the write-up.

I agree that it makes little sense to buy $650+ phones these days. Especially since I see plenty of people buy them, and then only use them for Facebook, Snapchat, and other similarly undemanding apps. I bought a Zenfone 2 Laser for $200 last November, and it has been very nice for money - 5.5" FHD IPS screen, adequate octo-A53 processor, 3 GiB RAM, 32 GiB storage + mSD card slot, and so on.

I did a side-by side comparison with one of my coworkers $750 iPhone 6s+, and for the average users, it is hard to see what spending that extra $550 gets you. Apps opened a bit faster on the iPhone, the screen was slightly better, it takes somewhat better pictures, and has a fingerprint scanner. But in some ways it was worse - less storage (16 GiB vs 32 GiB), no mSD card slot, no user replaceable battery. And while it looked fancier, my coworker had it in some clunky Otterbox, rendering that a moot advantage. Of course, my coworker said he needed iMessage, since the guys at the clubs he frequents won't message you back if you have the wrong colored speech bubbles, so that is that, I suppose.

It always amazes me how much money people waste because they won't do a little product research. (This applies to more than just cell phones of course.) For example, cell phone service - it is amazing how many people won't even look at the various pre-paid options, that could easily cut their monthly bill in half. Or how many people take whatever financing the dealer offers when buying a car, rather than asking their own bank, or looking up offers online. Or continue to buy a name brand-product when the store brand is literately identical. I know people who insist on buying the Land of Lakes brand milk, instead of the Hyvee or Wal-Mart store brand milk, even after I point out that Land of Lakes bottles both of the store brands at the same plant, and ships them in on the same truck.

DreadCthulhu wrote:

I agree that it makes little sense to buy $650+ phones these days. Especially since I see plenty of people buy them, and then only use them for Facebook, Snapchat, and other similarly undemanding apps. I bought a Zenfone 2 Laser for $200 last November, and it has been very nice for money - 5.5" FHD IPS screen, adequate octo-A53 processor, 3 GiB RAM, 32 GiB storage + mSD card slot, and so on.

You make some great points.

I did a side-by side comparison with one of my coworkers $750 iPhone 6s+, and for the average users, it is hard to see what spending that extra $550 gets you. Apps opened a bit faster on the iPhone, the screen was slightly better, it takes somewhat better pictures, and has a fingerprint scanner.

The last item is key. It's not just merely a "fingerprint scanner". Together with Applepay, it makes for a secure payment system that I can trust. Once Android offers truly secure payments, that will be one less thing keeping me on Apple.

But in some ways it was worse - less storage (16 GiB vs 32 GiB), no mSD card slot, no user replaceable battery.

Actually, I have never had to have any battery replaced in my apple devices, the oldest being my 5 year old iPad 3. So the user replaceable batter is actually a lower-priority item, and it has not prevented me from buying Apple devices. Non-replaceable laptop batteries, however, would be a show-stopper for me.

And while it looked fancier, my coworker had it in some clunky Otterbox, rendering that a moot advantage.

Otterboxes are UGLY! I agree that protection is important, but I don't know why people do that to their iPhones.

Of course, my coworker said he needed iMessage, since the guys at the clubs he frequents won't message you back if you have the wrong colored speech bubbles, so that is that, I suppose.

What? I'd unfriend them fast just for thinking that their way is the only way for everybody. Can we still unfriend people? Well, I'd find a way.

It always amazes me how much money people waste because they won't do a little product research.

"Product research" is not necessary if you have a no-go item. For me it was Applepay. Android wasn't offering a secure solution, so I bought my iPhone 6 Plus (not "s"). This time around, I'll re-assess.

(This applies to more than just cell phones of course.) For example, cell phone service - it is amazing how many people won't even look at the various pre-paid options, that could easily cut their monthly bill in half.

I use Verizon. I'd consider switching, but Verizon has been flawless for me even when travelling in the US, so it's very hard to consider changing. And once you buy a new phone and change plans, switching back is a REAL hassle if you have unresolvable troubles with the new service.

Or how many people take whatever financing the dealer offers when buying a car, rather than asking their own bank, or looking up offers online. Or continue to buy a name brand-product when the store brand is literately identical. I know people who insist on buying the Land of Lakes brand milk, instead of the Hyvee or Wal-Mart store brand milk, even after I point out that Land of Lakes bottles both of the store brands at the same plant, and ships them in on the same truck.

All good points. But there are some exceptions. I don't like the Publix brand of cheese, and there is no substitute for the coffee creamer I use. Alternatives of either are rather plastic-tasting.

I use the otterbox commuter. Very low profile while still offering great drop protection. The case for the 7+ is even thinner than the one for the 6+

Usacomp2k3 wrote:

I use the otterbox commuter. Very low profile while still offering great drop protection. The case for the 7+ is even thinner than the one for the 6+

I've seen the Otterbox Commuter. It's nice in a "new cross-trainers" or "urban assault vehicle" (aka: any SUV that never sees any mud) way. But why the big hole on the back? That's just another way for grit and liquid to get in. I've been partial to the Pt line of cases that I got from Best Buy; bought something like 5 of them with different finishes. They're reasonably thin, cover the back and edges of the phone (but not the screen; I have a screen protector for that), and they come in various wood and metal veneer finishes. They fit with a Pt holster so the screen IS protected when holstered. The holster didn't come with these cases; it came with another Pt case that's 2-part and is the only one I don't use. I like the Pt cases because they're thin and nice looking, but I don't know how protective they might be against drops.

Another thing that makes me nervous about Android phones is the free-for-all nature of the store. Because of that, I think the consumer doesn't always know what he/she might be getting into with a new app.

BIF wrote:

Usacomp2k3 wrote:

I use the otterbox commuter. Very low profile while still offering great drop protection. The case for the 7+ is even thinner than the one for the 6+

I've seen the Otterbox Commuter. It's nice in a "new cross-trainers" or "urban assault vehicle" (aka: any SUV that never sees any mud) way. But why the big hole on the back? That's just another way for grit and liquid to get in. I've been partial to the Pt line of cases that I got from Best Buy; bought something like 5 of them with different finishes. They're reasonably thin, cover the back and edges of the phone (but not the screen; I have a screen protector for that), and they come in various wood and metal veneer finishes. They fit with a Pt holster so the screen IS protected when holstered. The holster didn't come with these cases; it came with another Pt case that's 2-part and is the only one I don't use. I like the Pt cases because they're thin and nice looking, but I don't know how protective they might be against drops.

Another thing that makes me nervous about Android phones is the free-for-all nature of the store. Because of that, I think the consumer doesn't always know what he/she might be getting into with a new app.

Not sure what you mean by hole in which back. You mean around the camera and Apple logo? I never had any issue with intrusion.
I like the fact that there is rubber for shock absorbtion and smooth plastic for sliding in and out of the pocket easy

Usacomp2k3 wrote:

BIF wrote:

...But why the big hole on the back? ...

Not sure what you mean by hole in which back.

How many "big holes" are there, and how many "backs" are there? One of each, I thought.

Yes, I mean the one for the Apple logo. I dislike it very much.

I guess I've been a little out of the loop, and my reaction probably isn't anything new.

But still - they actually called a phone Liquid Zest? Like... I thought you were joking at first. The Zest jingle still resonates in my head...

Just a question. I've only charged this phone twice since I got it less than 48 hours ago. When I got it, I turned it off to charge it, which filled it up from 9% to full in slightly less than 2 hours (as I stated in the first post). Now it's Sunday yesterday so I really played around with it and ran it down to 12% (it's tough running it down though, with that 5,000mAh battery). I then charged it without turning it off and this time it took about 3h:02m. I used the same charger that came with it. Is this normal? I mean, do I have to turn it off to enable faster charging? Upon Googling it I think Samsung says their devices must be turned off for them to charge faster. Note that this phone uses a MediaTek SoC so it's not using Qualcomm's Quick Charge™ tech, but rather, MT's own implementation called Pump Express. There's a battery icon that flashes very rapidly when charging the battery when it's off, and it gets hotter, so perhaps that icon is a hint that the device must be off for charging to be faster?Maybe Pump Express works faster when the phone is off, just like Quick Charge? Also, Android tells me the battery charging rate is linear during the 3-hour charge. The charger specifies 5/9/12V so I think it's effectively a Quick Charge 2.0 charger.

Was it on and idle, or on and being used? If it was sitting idle with the screen off I would expect it to charge nearly as fast as if it was powered down.

I suppose with that high-capacity battery they may be pushing the limit of what a QC 2.0 adapter is capable of to get reasonable charging times.

I don't know that frequent use of the quick charge is good for the battery.

@JBI: During the 3-hour charge the phone was idle, screen off, although when I unplugged it I saw that it downloaded updates for 3 apps over Wi-Fi. Battery charge graph was linear.

@USAComp : I agree. One should resort to fast charging only when it's really necessary.

Having said that, I think the manufacturers want fast charging to be avoided whenever possible. If fast charging took place every time you charge, the battery will degrade faster, not to mention putting more stress on everything inside the phone, so I think it only kicks in when the device is off. The charger probably detects if the device is on and feeds 9V/1.67A, and when it detects the device is off, it sends 12V/1.5A (or thereabouts).

Is this correct?

BIF wrote:

I've seen the Otterbox Commuter. It's nice in a "new cross-trainers" or "urban assault vehicle" (aka: any SUV that never sees any mud) way. But why the big hole on the back? That's just another way for grit and liquid to get in. I've been partial to the Pt line of cases that I got from Best Buy; bought something like 5 of them with different finishes. They're reasonably thin, cover the back and edges of the phone (but not the screen; I have a screen protector for that), and they come in various wood and metal veneer finishes. They fit with a Pt holster so the screen IS protected when holstered. The holster didn't come with these cases; it came with another Pt case that's 2-part and is the only one I don't use. I like the Pt cases because they're thin and nice looking, but I don't know how protective they might be against drops.

Another thing that makes me nervous about Android phones is the free-for-all nature of the store. Because of that, I think the consumer doesn't always know what he/she might be getting into with a new app.

The big hole in the back is so you can see the Apple logo so all your friends know you're an iOS userr.

BTW back to your previous comment about secure payments, Android Pay works very much like Apple Pay. NFC + fingerprint reader for contactless payment. I don't know if your bank is signed up with it (so whether your cards will work) or whether it's accepted at the stores where you shop, but it seems to be gaining quite a bit of traction. Thing is, you have to buy a phone with a fingerprint scanner, and right now the cheapest one is quite a bit more than the Zest Fully Clean Plus (Nexus 5X on Project Fi, and with no SD slot I feel like you really need to pony up for the 32GB version).

Is the Zest Plus even available in the US market?  It shows up nowhere when I do a quick search, not even eBay.

@Ludi, I don't know if it's available in the US, but I reckon Acer made the unveiling in New York, so yeah, it could be there.

derFunkenstein wrote:

...Android Pay works very much like Apple Pay. NFC + fingerprint reader for contactless payment. I don't know if your bank is signed up with it (so whether your cards will work) or whether it's accepted at the stores where you shop, but it seems to be gaining quite a bit of traction. ...

Thanks!

Liquid Zest Plus.

Is it a floor wax or a dessert topping?

While on the surface the price is crazy good I don't think I'd want to go back to lower than iPhone 5s levels of performance.

@EU: It isn't as bad as it seems. It's really fast enough. Web browsing is pretty snappy, game play is very smooth at least for games like Subway Surfers and the usual cooking games. Could use a better camera but even without factoring the low price, it takes decent-enough photos. Can't imagine spending 5x more money for superior but unnecessary performance.

I recently moved from iphone to moto g4.  Absolutely agree with OP, paid $125 for what works like a premium phone; qc3.0 charges very quickly, 75% in 25 minutes, full charge in under an hour.

ronch wrote:

unnecessary performance.

One could argue that the the iPhone 6 has more than enough performance (50888 in AnTuTu). I went from a 6 to a 7. The difference in performance in just the UI alone is amazeballs. I could never go back to a 6 now for that reason alone.

ronch wrote:

spending 5x more money

I wish it was only 5x.


There is more to a high end phone than just the hardware. Buying a Pixel gets you the best Android experience. That is worth the price of admission as far as I am concerned.

And I, OTOH, just can't see a phone being worth that much, no matter how much better of an experience it is than its competitors. My LG G4 does everything I want a phone to do and then some. Why would I pay 3x as much?

@EU: There's no doubt Apple's wares are some of the most, if not the most, respected piece/s of computer technology around. Apple's uncanny ability to squeeze more performance out of a given set of specs must drive many Android phone makers crazy (take for example how the iPhone 6, a 2014 phone, still had just a dual core CPU and 1GB of RAM yet managed to outpace most Android devices which had more CPU cores and 2GB RAM or more. That's optimization unmatched in the industry. Their displays and cameras and manufacturing precision are also some of the best.

Thing is, though, do you really need to pay many times more for those features or technical prowess in daily usage? Do you really need to hop on a bimmer just to go down the block? Do we always need to travel first class and wear the finest silk? Those things are nice, but i guess I'm just the kind of person who's just thankful I have a nice $160 smartphone (and a nice albeit inexpensive car, which is an old '05 Mazda 3 that still looks good and still drives great, even if it's not a Merc.)