Acer today jumped into the phablet arena with a new 6-inch smartphone with 4K recording capabilities. It will also be showing off a 10.1-inch Iconia tablet here at the IFA trade show.

The 6-inch Liquid S2 smartphone features a 6-inch, 1,920-by-1,080 display with 338 pixels per inch. It runs a 2.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor and Android 4.2.2. The phone will come with 16GB of on-board storage, expandable up to 128GB.

There's a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera and a 2-megapixel front-facing cam. The rear device, Acer said, is capable of capturing 4K video, something that will reportedly also be included in Samsung's Galaxy Note III phablet. It's an interesting addition, but might be more of a gimmick at this point (like 3D in years past) since the Liquid S2 won't be able to play back those videos in 4K. Users will likely need to show them on a 4K TV set, which are also still in their infancy thanks to lack of content and hefty price tags. Not to mention, 4K videos are going to eat up a nice chunk of the phone's memory.

At any rate, the camera features several photo modes, including: Smart Best Show, which takes multiple shots at once so you can pick the best one; a tag widget for easy photo browsing; the ability to create up to five photo profiles with select customization options; one-finger focus and exposure adjustment; easy cropping; and more.

That 6-inch screen enables Acer's Float user interface, which allows users to have several apps open at once. Press one key to access the Float Apps shortcut, which overlays a translucent list of available apps atop your screen. That shortcut can be customized with up to seven apps for easy access and multi-tasking. If someone calls you while you're using Float Apps, a mini window will appear rather than overtaking the entire screen, allowing you to easily answer or dismiss.

In addition to 3G and 4G networks, the Liquid S2 will also support the latest Wi-Fi standard, 802.11ac. The device can act as a mobile Wi-Fi router and share connectivity with up to 68 devices.

PC Magazine