“Yes, It’s A Working One”

Acer executives surprised everyone yesterday at their New York “Touch More Connected” event with an on-stage presentation of their first smart watch, the Liquid Leap.

Meant to compliment their new line of Liquid smart phones, the new Acer Liquid Leap is an “intentionally simply” device that nevertheless packs a bunch of smart watch features into a sleek, small fitness band.

Features

Some of the capabilities mentioned during Acer’s brief announcement include:

compatible with several Android phones, including the Acer Liquid J

notifications and alerts

17 mm display

activity tracking

lifestyle tracking

easy messaging features, “just like a normal smart watch”

It appears that Acer is taking a play out of Samsung’s product strategy book. Samsung recently released the new Gear Fit, a fitness band that packs a ton of smart watch features into it and is priced accordingly ($199).

The ‘Anti-Apple’ Of Product Launches?

Acer is known for being low-key in their product marketing, as we’ve seen with their Liquid line of smart phones and their Iconia tablets.

Their matter-of-fact tone was on full display in New York this week. In the video below, the Acer executive basically says, “hey, here’s our new smart watch. Yes, it’s a working one”.

We think it’s really refreshing to see a “normal” product reveal in the smart watch market today. There’s so much hype right now that everyone is overlooking the truth, which is that smart watches improve our lives in many small ways. Some of them look great, too.

+1 for the engineers in the house ;-)

Pricing

No pricing was announced, but we expect Acer will price the Liquid Leap somewhere in the $120-$200 range, to compete with Samsung and Sony in the Asian market.

Availability

Acer’s new Liquid Leap will be available for sale in “limited countries” beginning around “the end of July or early August”.