Five Reasons why Acer underclocked the A1 Liquid

Thursday, 5 November 2009

The guys over at The::Unwired had the opportunity to go hands on with a phone that has come under some fire recently; the Acer A1 Liquid. It`s been touted as the first Android handset to ship with a 1.0 GHz Snapdragon core. That is, until the company recently confirmed that it will be underclocked to 768Mhz. Read on as we get into some of the reasons why something like this could happen.

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Reason number 1 - Battery Life:
As a general rule, a CPU will use more power at higher clockspeeds. Yes, your battery is going to cop a bigger hit at 1 GHz than it will at 768 MHz. Other devices that run the Snapdragon at 1 GHz have reported less than impressive battery life - see the Toshiba TG01 and HTC HD2. Yes, we`re aware that the Zune HD is packing a full speed `dragon but keep in mind that it doesn`t have to maintain a 3G connection, track your goofy Bluetooth headset and humour you every three minutes while you check your inbox. Perhaps Acer had this in mind when they kicked it down a notch. Bam.

Reason number 2 - Heat:
Faster means hotter. It`s possible that an Acer A1 running at 1 GHz might burn with the heat of a thousand suns - ye, a searing heat that would rend the very earth in twain. A creature wrought from this hellfire may very well enslave humankind. We`re just saying. I mean, we don`t want to rule anything out.

Reason number 3 – iClone
The three members of the Apple iPhone family all use underclocked CPU’s. The iPhone and iPhone 3G both use a 620Mhz processor underclocked to 412Mhz and the 3GS runs a gimped 833Mhz Cortex A8 at 600Mhz. The amazing success Apple has enjoyed in the smartphone market has prompted numerous manufacturers to imitate parts of Apple’s tried and true formula. We think this might be an attempt to fit in with the cool kids. Acer, word to the wise: we like the A1 because we want something different; something open, adaptable and free of restrictions. Honestly? You used to be cool.

Reason number 4 – Forward Thinking:
Technology is always moving. There will always be something new just over the horizon, something that will blow away the current offerings and reign supreme - for a week or two, at least. Admit it, you`re addicted to the momentum of this industry, you love reading the `buzz` about new products while at the same time despising your ancient (read: four month old) handset. Perhaps Acer is simply paving the way for a phone that runs 1 Mhz faster at 769 MHz. We`re going to get in early on this one and call it the Acer A2. By our calculations, we might be in for another 232 iterations until we get one that performs as God intended.

Reason number 5 - Get off my lawn:
Big Tech is generally run by old guys and Acer is no exception. Have you seen Acer`s CEO? He`s old. Anyone who has tried to teach their Grandma how to send a text message is well aware that a subset of older folk tend to harbour a resentment bordering on fear when it comes to technology. Acer`s executive management team might simply be content to release a slower device because they want to slow you down. Since demand can dictate supply, if you buy a slower device then competing manufacturers will release a slower device, and so on. Research and development will naturally slow down since there is no longer a need to build a faster phone than the competition. This pattern will spread to other parts of the industry and will eventually bring technological progress to a grinding halt. End result: old people can finally get some sleep without waking in fear of that bladeless Dyson fan.

So there you have it. Acer has gimped one of the biggest selling points of the A1 (aside from the gorgeous 3.5-inch screen and 5-megapixel cam with autofocus) and we have no idea why. Ok, if we had to guess we’d pick reason number one, but wouldn’t it be dandy to hear it straight from the horse’s mouth. We think so! Care to fill us in, Acer?

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tags: a1    acer    android    liquid