Hardware

"This is clearly a handsome phone -- one that won't suffer a case of mistaken identity"

The CloudMobile has already enjoyed a rare Engadget accolade: we were so intrigued by it in Barcelona that we felt compelled to take a second look. The phone, which won an iF Product Design award, has a memorable look and feel, with Acer opting for a combination of sharp corners, curved sides and a dimpled matte back that contrasts nicely with the flat, glossy front face. Materials-wise, it's made of plastic but still manages to feel solid -- the kind of build quality we're used to seeing in Samsung's handsets. In fact, when this editor placed it in the same pocket as a Galaxy Nexus, the similar texture on the two phones made the two indistinguishable by feel. The dimpled battery cover not only provides some much-needed personality, it also makes it easier to grip. The metallic accents around the mic and top speaker grille add some visual interest as well. Regardless of whether you think this deserved the iF Product Design award, this is clearly is a handsome phone -- one that won't suffer a case of mistaken identity.

The display measures in at 4.3 inches, which should make the CloudMobile easy for most people to grip. In a world where phone screens are getting larger and larger it seems Acer has opted to make its product fit in as many hands (and pockets) as possible. It's lightweight and comfortable to hold, and yet we never felt we were making concessions on screen size. This might -- in theory -- lend itself to easy use with one hand, but the placement of the power / standby button on the upper-left edge requires a modicum of dexterity for right-handers. It's only your index finger you'll need to train to reach that far, though, as the volume rocker sits more comfortably on the right-hand side, with the rest of the input happening onscreen. That leaves the USB port, mic and headphone jack as the only other openings along the edges. (Note: there's no dedicated camera button, but the volume rocker will perform this role in camera mode.) Those edges also create a slight lip around the display, no doubt making it a bit more scratch-resistant when you place it face-down.

"The display is bright, clear and wonderful to look at."

The overall design is eye-catching enough, but that screen is what's bound to capture your attention. Acer describes it as an HD720 IPS LCD, which means, of course, that it has 1,280 x 720 pixels. We, on the other hand, would describe it as a bit of a corker. It really is bright, clear and wonderful to look at. Colors are crisp and the whole image just pops. This isn't surprising given that its screen density of 342 ppi bests other current flagships like the iPhone 5 and Nexus 4. Some of this "pop" has to do with the manufacturing technique used: Acer presses the glass up against the digitizer, eliminating any air. The screen is viewable from a broad range of viewing angles, even in direct sunlight. Images and photos are reproduced faithfully with dark blacks and no hint of saturation.

Look past that exterior, and you'll find some respectable innards. It might not be the quad-core monster you were hoping for, but the 1.5GHz dual-core chip keeps itself busy without causing any apparent problems -- that is to say, we were never caught cursing its performance. All told, it should be more than adequate for most people, but we'll elaborate on that later once we throw the phone to the benchmark lions. As for the 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage, these are fairly pedestrian specs these days, but the option to augment the storage capacity using a microSD card should come as a relief to many people. To get at the SD slot, you'll need to pop off the back cover, where you'll also find the micro-SIM slot and 1,460mAh battery. The rest of the non-radio hardware is made up of a front "HD" (0.9-megapixel) camera and that rear 8-megapixel shooter, along with Dolby Mobile 3 sound enhancement and DLNA. The unit we've been testing supports quad-band GSM / GPRS /EDGE and UMTS / HSPA+, as well as 802.11b/g/n, GPS, NFC and Bluetooth 4.0.

Performance and battery life

It's true that the Acer walks among an increasing number of quad-core competitors, but as we all know, it's not what you got, it's what you do with it that counts. Under the hood, the CloudMobile packs a perfectly adequate dual-core Qualcomm 8260A Snapdragon S4, clocked at 1.5GHz. Not once did we feel we were using a phone that wasn't capable of doing what we wanted it to. Bear in mind, this packs the same processors as ASUS's Padfone, Sony's Xperia T and the HTC One S -- not a slothful crowd by any stretch of the imagination. Also, thanks to that light, unobtrusive skin atop Android 4.0.4, there's little getting in its way. We also put it through some long bouts of casual gaming as we went about our day, and we're pleased to say that those angry birds flew with nary a glitch, Hill Climb Rally was as smooth a ride as possible, and Cut the Rope never looked better. When not gaming, we jumped back and forth between apps equally unabated. Of course, talk is cheap, so we've prepared some quantitative comparisons to help put the performance in context.