I have been fortunate enough to have had an Acer neoTouch P300 for the last few days so I thought I would give you a bit of feedback on my experience. I am not going to write an extensive review – I will leave that for the seasoned pro’s but the intent was to give you my honest opinion in the short time I have used it.

First things first, the unit I have been using is a final production model (although it came in a white box and not the final packaging), so my thoughts are based on the final unit and not a pre-production model.

I have previously thought Acer despite their efforts has lacked something in their smartphones; normally the quality has been a little lapse. I am a bit picky and can be hard to please, but the Acer neoTouch P300 bucks the trend. It feels solid and is made of much better quality materials than previous models.

The P300 does run Windows Mobile 6.5.3 which has been covered extensively on the internet so I won’t go into this, but I honestly thought that it was easy to use and certainly improved the user experience.

The 3.2 inch touch screen was responsive and at no point did I experience any lag in operations – which was very pleasing. Everything just seemed to work well.

Being a user of the HTC Snap, the keyboard is a big thing for me and the Acer did not disappoint. The keys themselves have glossy, smooth finish, but are raised which allows for tactile feedback when typing. Only a 4 line keyboard a 5^th numeric key line would be nice, but to be honest this was not a big issue for me and to be honest, it would probably impact on the overall size of the device which despite its features is fairly compact and is smaller than the likes of the HTC Touch Pro2 and Samsung Omnia B7610.

The annoyance for me was that the spacebar, it is a bit small and positioned left of centre on the keyboard and for me it wasn’t very natural to type with the spacebar in this position. I have a tendency to use my right thumb for this and whilst it was possible it wasn’t comfortable. I soon got used to using my left thumb instead but this was the biggest niggle or me.

Of course you can use the on screen keyboard if you like or prefer this input method.

The keyboard also has a backlight which is a bonus in poor lighting conditions or at night. When you wish to access the secondary functions of each key (numbers and punctuation marks and symbols) you need to press the function key which is the same as you would on any similar device, but a great feature was that the keyboard had an LED notification light that came on when you have the function key activated. Some may not like this but for me it was a nice bonus.

On the sides of the device, there was a dedicated camera button – not many smartphones have this now – usually its all through the touch screen, which was why it was refreshing to see this button. The camera quality was ok too. Nothing spectacular, it is only 3.2 megapixel camera, adequate, but if photos are your thing, then this isn’t the device to go for.

Another nice touch on the right side of the machine is a volume rocker, allowing you to easily adjust the speaker volume and even mute the device if necessary.  Perfect if you are in a meeting and have forgotten to silence your phone.

MicroSD expansion slot, a necessity nowadays but how often is it now under the battery or you have to remove the battery cover to access it?! Not on the Acer neoTouch P300.  Just unclip one port cover and you are presented with the MicroUSB connection for charging and the MicroSD slot – simply genius – it is small things like this that can make the difference – no messing about removing back covers, just a simple cover and out pops the memory card.

Also on the P300 is a 3.5mm audio jack, so you can listen to music through your preferred headphones, having said this the speaker quality on the device itself wasn’t bad.

Not a lot to say on the call front, all worked perfectly, audible and clear – I had no issue with this.

The neoTouch P300 also has a stylus included, although I didn’t have to use it much, the touch screen and menus worked well enough. The other bonus is here that the stylus is not telescopic, it’s a proper, usable stylus.

On the unit I had the stylus sat a little too deep in the stylus silo for me, making it a bit difficult to remove (unless you have long nails) but to be honest I am being very picky here and it could be that when it goes into full production this (if it is a problem) is resolved.

I haven’t been able to extensively test battery life, but it seemed reasonable and as I would expect. The capacity is a bit smaller than I would like at 1010mAh, but enough to get you through the day.

All in all the Acer neoTouch P300 really exceeded my expectations.  You might say that I would say that as Clove Technology sell the devices.  You are right I could, but we pride ourselves on being honest and as users of smartphones ourselves we are all too aware of what makes a good smartphone.

I take my hat off to Acer, they have done an exceptional job.  A great form factor, great performance, a solid design and exceptionally priced at £269 + VAT.

In summary:

+ Size and weight

+ Full stylus – not telescopic

+ Volume rocker

+ Dedicated camera button

+ Backlight keyboard

+ MicroSD slot on exterior of the device

- Size and positioning of spacebar

- Battery capacity

- Fit of stylus into silo