Acer Liquid S2: Full Review and Specifications

This Acer Liquid S2 review looks back at a big-screen 2013 flagship that arrived when phones were growing fast, and this Acer Liquid S2 full specifications and review brings the whole story together: the screen, the chip, the camera, the battery and the verdict. The Acer Liquid S2 was Acer’s flagship phone of late 2013, a 6-inch Android phablet built around the Qualcomm Snapdragon 800, and it earned a place in phone history as the first 4K phone able to record video at 4K resolution. As a phablet phone it sat between a normal handset and a small tablet, which made it a bold choice at the time and a curious classic now.

The Acer Liquid S2 release date December 2013 followed an August 2013 announcement, and the phone was announced in August 2013 and released in December 2013. The Acer Liquid S2 price in 2013 at launch was about 340 EUR, which put it in flagship territory next to the best phones of that year. A quick look at the Acer Liquid S2 specs shows why: a 6-inch Full HD screen, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, a 13MP camera and a 3300 mAh battery. The Acer Liquid S2 features list also included LTE, NFC, stereo speakers and a microSD slot, which was a generous package for 2013.

Readers who want the short version can jump to the table below, while the rest of this article works through the design, the display, the speed, the camera and the battery one by one. The Acer Liquid S2 phone is now discontinued, so this review treats it as a piece of phone history rather than a buying guide for a new handset, and every figure here matches the published specification record for this model. The sibling model in the same family is covered in our look at the Acer Liquid S1 Review and Specifications: Value for Money, Everyday Performance and the Verdict, which shows how Acer pitched a cheaper large-screen phone next to this flagship.

Design and Build

This Acer Liquid S2 design and build quality review starts with the sheer size of the thing. The Acer Liquid S2 size is 166 x 86.2 x 9 mm, so it is tall, wide and a little under a centimetre thick, and the Acer Liquid S2 weight is 229 grams, which is heavy even by the standards of large phones. The Acer Liquid S2 design is a plain black or red slab with a large screen, a slim bezel for its era and a ring flash around the rear camera, and it feels like a device built to be noticed rather than to disappear into a pocket.

Size, Weight and Handling

The Acer Liquid S2 dimensions weight and pocket fit were the first things buyers noticed in 2013, because a 6-inch phone did not fit every pocket and needed two hands for most jobs. The wide body makes one-handed typing hard, and the weight is easy to feel during a long call or a long video, so this was a phone for people who wanted a big screen and accepted the trade-off. On the plus side, the large body leaves room for a big battery and stereo speakers, and the flat back sits well on a table. A case was a sensible add-on, since the smooth back and the glass front could both be slippery.

Colours and Materials

The Acer Liquid S2 black and red colour options were the two finishes on offer, and the Acer Liquid S2 colours were Black and Red, with black the common choice and red the louder one. The body uses plastic with a glass front protected by Gorilla Glass 3, and the rear camera sits in a round module with a ring of LEDs around it, which was the most recognisable detail of the phone. The Nano-SIM tray and the microSD slot sit on the sides, and the microUSB port sits at the bottom, so the layout is familiar to anyone who used Android phones of that era.

Display

The Acer Liquid S2 6 inch full HD display was one of the best screens Acer had shipped, and the Acer Liquid S2 display measures 6.0 inches with a resolution of 1080 x 1920 pixels, which works out at about 368 pixels per inch. Text looks sharp, photos look detailed and video fills the wide screen well, and the IPS LCD panel gives steady colours and fair viewing angles for a phone of its time. The Acer Liquid S2 screen is large enough for reading, maps and video without zooming all the time, which was the whole point of a phone this size. Readers comparing screens in this family may also like the Acer Liquid Z5 Review: Screen Quality in Everyday Use and the Full Specs, which looks at a smaller Acer screen from the same period.

Screen Quality in Daily Use

In daily use the panel is bright enough for indoor reading and fair outdoors, though direct sunlight washes it out, as it did with most phones of 2013. The 16:9 ratio suits video, and the large canvas suits reading while a video plays, even though the software of the time did not make that easy. The screen-to-body figure is worth noting: the Acer Liquid S2 screen to body ratio 69 percent means the front is mostly display, with modest bezels above and below, which was a good result for a 6-inch phone in 2013. The larger tablet-style screen in the family is covered in What the Acer Iconia A1-830 Gets Right: Review and Detailed Specifications, which shows how Acer handled big screens on its tablets.

Protection and Viewing Angles

The Acer Liquid S2 Gorilla Glass 3 screen protection guards the front against scratches and light knocks, and Corning Gorilla Glass 3 was the standard tough glass of flagship phones in 2013. Viewing angles are good for an IPS panel, with colours holding up when the phone is tilted, and the touch layer responds well to taps and swipes. There is no fingerprint reader or always-on display here, since those features came later, and the lock screen is the plain Jelly Bean style of the time.

Performance and Platform

The Acer Liquid S2 Snapdragon 800 performance review starts with the chip itself: the Qualcomm MSM8974 Snapdragon 800 is a 28 nm part with a quad-core 2.2 GHz Krait 400 CPU and an Adreno 330 GPU, and it was the flagship Android chip of late 2013. The Acer Liquid S2 performance in everyday use was fast for its time, with apps opening quickly, web pages loading well over LTE and Wi-Fi, and multitasking handled by 2GB of RAM. The Acer Liquid S2 chipset was shared with the best phones of that year, so this Acer was not a compromise on speed, and the Acer Liquid S2 RAM of 2GB was the standard amount for a flagship then. Storage is 16GB on eMMC 4.5, and the Acer Liquid S2 16GB internal storage eMMC setup leaves a smaller amount free once the system is counted, which is why the card slot matters.

Snapdragon 800 and Everyday Speed

Day to day, the quad-core chip keeps the interface smooth, and the phone handles email, browsing, maps and music without fuss. The Acer Liquid S2 vs other 2013 flagship phones comparison is fair on speed, because the same Snapdragon 800 powered rivals such as the leading phones of that year, and the Acer keeps up with them in ordinary tasks. Heat can build up during long heavy sessions, and the large body spreads it out rather than hiding it, but short bursts of use stay comfortable. Our comparison of a smaller Acer from the same year, the Acer Liquid Z3 vs the Rest: Review and Specifications Compared, shows how much faster this flagship chip was than the budget chips Acer used elsewhere.

Gaming and Graphics

The Acer Liquid S2 gaming performance Adreno 330 graphics combination handled the 3D games of 2013 well, and the Acer Liquid S2 gaming experience was helped by the big screen and the stereo speakers. Games of the era ran at good frame rates on the Full HD display, and the large battery meant a gaming session did not end the phone for the rest of the day. Modern games are a different matter: the old Android version and the old GPU cannot run current titles, so gaming here is a look back at 2013 rather than a present-day test.

Camera and 4K Video

The Acer Liquid S2 4K video recording phone claim is the headline: this was the first smartphone able to record 4K video, at 24 frames per second, which was a striking first for a phone in 2013. The Acer Liquid S2 camera is a 13 megapixel rear unit with autofocus, and the Acer Liquid S2 13 megapixel camera with flash uses a ring of four LEDs around the lens instead of a single flash, which spreads the light more evenly. The Acer Liquid S2 quad LED ring flash camera design is the visual signature of the phone, and it helps close-up shots in dim light, though it cannot work miracles at distance. Video also runs at 1080p at 60 frames per second, and the Acer Liquid S2 1080p video recording at 60fps mode is the smoother choice for fast movement, while 4K is the sharper choice for still scenes.

The 13MP Main Camera

Photos from the 13MP sensor are detailed in good light, with fair colour and enough resolution for prints and crops, and autofocus is quick for a phone of this age. Low light is the weak point, as it was for nearly every phone camera in 2013, and noise creeps in as the light falls, even with the ring flash. The camera app is the plain Acer software of the time, with modes for panorama and HDR, and there is no optical stabilisation, so steady hands help. The Acer Liquid S2 video modes are the real story, because 4K recording on a phone was new, and the files are large, so the microSD slot earns its keep.

Front Camera and Video Calls

The Acer Liquid S2 2 megapixel front camera video calls setup is modest: a 2MP front camera that records 1080p video at 30 frames per second, which is fine for calls and selfies of the time. The front camera will not impress anyone used to modern selfie cameras, and detail is soft, but faces are clear enough on a call, and the wide screen makes the other person easy to see. There is no front flash, so dim rooms hurt, and the fixed focus keeps things simple.

Battery Life

The Acer Liquid S2 battery life 3300 mAh figure comes from a non-removable Li-Po cell, and the Acer Liquid S2 battery is rated for up to 700 hours of 3G standby and up to 13 hours of 3G talk time. In real use the large screen is the biggest drain, and a day of mixed use with browsing, calls and some video was realistic in 2013, while heavy video or gaming shortened that. The 3300 mAh capacity was generous for the year, and it is one reason the phone could carry a 6-inch screen without dying by lunch. The Acer Liquid S2 non removable battery replacement options are limited, because the cell is sealed inside, so a tired battery in a surviving handset usually means a repair shop rather than a quick swap, and any replacement today should use a part made for this model.

Charging is over microUSB 2.0, and there is no fast charging or wireless charging, since neither was common on phones of this era. A full charge takes a few hours with the charger of the time, and the phone is best charged overnight. Power saving is the plain Android kind, with screen brightness the biggest lever, and turning the brightness down is the simplest way to stretch the day.

Software and Connectivity

The Acer Liquid S2 Android Jelly Bean software features come from Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean, with Acer’s own interface on top, and the Acer Liquid S2 software is firmly of its time, with the app drawer, widgets and settings layout that Jelly Bean users will remember. The Jelly Bean release brought lock-screen widgets and quick settings, and Acer added its own apps and tweaks, though the overall feel is close to stock Android of the period. There was no later major update path worth counting on, so the phone stayed on Jelly Bean, and modern apps and services will not run on it, which is normal for a device of this age.

Android Jelly Bean and Acer Software

Acer’s additions included its own camera app, a file manager and some media apps, and the interface uses large icons that suit the big screen. The software is simple to learn, and the settings menus are the familiar Jelly Bean layout, with wireless, display, sound and storage grouped as they were then. Readers who want the software side of a smaller Acer tablet can read the Acer Iconia B1-720 Review: Connectivity, Software and Usability, which covers how Acer handled software on its cheaper devices. The Acer Liquid S2 storage settings show the 16GB total and the card slot, and the Acer Liquid S2 microSD card expandable storage support lets owners add a card to hold photos, music and the large 4K video files this phone records.

Connectivity, Sensors and Extras

The Acer Liquid S2 LTE connectivity and network bands cover GSM, HSPA and LTE, with LTE Cat4 at up to 150 Mbps down, and the Acer Liquid S2 LTE support was a flagship feature in 2013, when many phones still lacked it. The Acer Liquid S2 WiFi dual band Bluetooth NFC set covers Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac with dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA and hotspot, plus Bluetooth 4.0 with A2DP and NFC, and the Acer Liquid S2 connectivity is completed by GPS with GLONASS, a stereo FM radio and a microUSB 2.0 port. The Acer Liquid S2 FM radio with RDS support gives free radio without data, and the Acer Liquid S2 GPS GLONASS navigation accuracy test results of the era were good, with quick locks and steady tracking on maps. The Acer Liquid S2 sensors are an accelerometer, gyro, proximity sensor and compass, and the Acer Liquid S2 audio comes from stereo speakers with a 3.5mm jack, so headphones and wired speakers both work. The Acer Liquid S2 microUSB charging port and accessories are standard for the time, with the port used for charging and for moving files to a computer.

Full Specifications

The table below gathers the Acer Liquid S2 full specifications in one place, and every figure matches the published record for this model. The Acer Liquid S2 full specifications and review above already covers each part in words; the table is the quick reference.

Pros and Cons

The Pros

The strong points start with the screen and the chip: a 6-inch Full HD display, the Snapdragon 800 and 2GB of RAM made this a fast phone in 2013, and the 4K video first gave it a genuine claim to fame. The Acer Liquid S2 stereo speakers and sound quality stand out too, because stereo speakers were not common on phones then, and the Acer Liquid S2 audio is loud and clear for video and games. Battery life was generous for the size, LTE and NFC were included, and the microSD slot fixed the modest 16GB of built-in storage. It was priced at about 340 EUR at launch, which was fair for a flagship of its year.

What Stood Out Most

The 4K video recording, the big sharp screen and the flagship chip are the three things people still remember about this phone, and together they explain why it was Acer’s flagship rather than just another large phone.

The Cons

The weak points start with size: at 166 mm tall, 86 mm wide and 229 grams, the phone is hard to use one-handed and hard to pocket, and the plastic body feels plain next to metal rivals. The camera is good in daylight but weak in low light, the 2MP front camera is basic, and the sealed battery cannot be swapped by the owner. Software is the biggest limit now, because Android 4.2.2 cannot run modern apps, and the phone has been discontinued for years.

What Aged Worst

The software and the front camera aged worst, followed by the low-light camera and the sealed battery, while the screen, the chip and the 4K video first are the parts that still read well on paper today.

Frequently Asked Questions

Was the Acer Liquid S2 the first phone with 4K video recording?

Yes. The Acer Liquid S2 was the first smartphone able to record 4K video, at 24 frames per second, and that first is the reason the phone is still remembered. The 1080p mode at 60 frames per second is smoother for action, and the microSD slot helps with the large files that 4K recording creates.

When was the Acer Liquid S2 released?

The phone was announced in August 2013 and released in December 2013, so it reached buyers in time for the end of 2013, and it is now discontinued. Some listings give September 2013 for other markets, but the published record for this model is December 2013.

How much RAM and storage does the Acer Liquid S2 have?

It has 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage, with a dedicated microSDXC slot for cards, so owners could add space for photos, music and video.

Does the Acer Liquid S2 support microSD cards?

Yes. The phone has a dedicated microSDXC card slot, and a card is the practical way to hold the large 4K video files and a music library, since the built-in 16GB fills up fast.

Is the Acer Liquid S2 still worth buying today?

As a daily phone, no: the old Android version cannot run modern apps, the battery in any surviving handset will be tired, and the phone is discontinued. The Acer Liquid S2 discontinued phone worth buying today question has a different answer for collectors, and the Acer Liquid S2 old flagship phone collector guide view is simple: buy it only as a piece of history, check that the screen, camera and 4K recording still work, and pay a collector price, not a daily-phone price.

The Acer Liquid S2 remains a notable phone because it paired a flagship chip with a big screen and a video first that no other phone had in 2013. It was too big for many pockets and its software has long since aged, but the screen, the speed and the 4K recording explain why Acer made it the flagship of its range. For readers who want the quick reference, the specification table above has every figure in one place.