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Acer Tempo X960 Windows Mobile smartphone

Sound but samey satnav smartphone

Twin speakers on the back give it a bit of punch for public listening – still tinny though – and the supplied headphones are distinctly sub standard; having a closed, shut-in sound that's sorely lacking in bass or high frequency definition. Upgrading to a better pair isn't straightforward either, as there's no 3.5mm jack plug – you'll need a micro USB adapter, which isn't supplied.

Call quality seemed fine in the various parts of north London where we tried it using O2, and the loudspeaker renders voices clearly, though with perhaps a little too much distortion when the volume's whacked up to full.

Acer X960

Does the job, but not especially different from competing models

There's 256MB of Ram on board, which won't take you very far, but you can add up to 8GB more with a microSD card. The Samsung 6410 533MHz processor was quick enough in general use, but there's only 128MB of ROM on board, and we noticed it wasn't always as nippy as we'd like when we had multiple applications open.

Battery life seemed to be a bit better than the DX900, and we just about got two days of moderate use out of it before recharging. That said, we did make careful use of the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and kept the screen at less than full brightness.

Verdict

Acer's second Windows Mobile handset is an improvement on its first but – its swishy UI aside – there's not really much to distinguish it from the other Windows Mobile 6.1 devices out there. Sure, it does the job, but the impression we get is that Acer is clearing out its Glofiish closet in preparation for more advanced devices, such as the recently announced Android models that are due later in the year. With that in mind, we’re inclined to save our pennies until we see the next batch. ®

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Acer X960

Acer Tempo X960 Windows Mobile smartphone

Functional, but not very distinctive and the styling feels a bit retro
Price: £330 RRP

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