Acer’s Liquid S2 smartphone can record 4K video, but will you see the difference?

By Andy Boxall September 2, 2013

Acer Liquid S2

Acer has announced a new smartphone/tablet hybrid, the Liquid S2, and while the majority of its features are ones we’re used to seeing on such large devices, one stands out as being both unusual and almost completely useless to most of us. The headline feature of the Liquid S2 is its ability to record video at a 4K resolution.

Now, taken just on its technical merits, this is impressive. After all, we’re not talking about a professional camera here, but a smartphone, and it can capture video in Ultra High Definition, or 3840 x 2160 pixels. Except to fully appreciate the clarity of an image with this resolution, you’ll need to have quite deep pockets. You see, the phone can’t display pictures at that resolution, and neither can your 1080p HDTV, so you’ll need something like Sharp’s LC-70UD1 70-inch TV. Which costs $7.000.

So, 4K video recording is cool, but not a feature many of us will be making full use of for a while. Let’s take a look at what else the Liquid S2 offers. It has a 6-inch IPS LCD screen with a 1080p resolution, and is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 800 processor which runs at 2.2GHz. It’s this chip which makes the 4K video recording possible, and is expected to also bring the same feature to Samsung’s Galaxy Note 3 and the Sony Xperia Z1.

Inside the Liquid S2 there’s 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage memory, 4G LTE connectivity, and Android 4.2.2. The whole device measures only 8.9mm thick and has a generous 3300mAh battery inside. The camera has 13-megapixels, and can shoot regular 1080p video too, plus it’s accompanied by a 2-megapixel video call lens above the big screen. Acer has also fitted a pair of stereo speakers to the Liquid S2, and installed Dolby Digital Plus to ensure they sound their best.

Acer plans to put the Liquid S2 on sale in Europe by the end of October, but hasn’t released a price for the phone yet, nor has it stated if the phone will see a U.S. release in the future.

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