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Red Dead Redemption features a man who’s in love with his horse (guess how we spent our weekend), but Ferrari fans also know what it’s like to fancy a prancing pony. They’re the target for the Acer Liquid E Ferrari, an Android smart phone that flirts with hippophilia.
Like the Ferrari-free Acer Liquid E and the Acer Liquid before it, the Acer Liquid E Ferrari has an 89mm (3.5-inch) capacitive touch screen and Google’s Android 2.1 operating system.
As well as the obligatory fire-engine-red case, the Liquid E Ferrari is decorated with the Ferrari shield on the back and a speaker designed to look like an air intake, both frosted with a sprinkling of carbon fibre — although it doesn’t do anything to reduce the 135g weight.
We would have preferred a feature worthy of Ferrari — a speed boost to the phone’s Snapdragon processor, which is capable of 1GHz in phones such as the HTC Desire. Instead, it runs at a Beetle-like 768MHz here, as with the other Liquids.
The Liquid E improved on the Liquid with a refreshed on-screen keyboard and version 2.1 of Android. The Liquid E Ferrari also adds two more homescreens, giving you a total of five to pack with Ferrari widgets. It will come pre-loaded with Ferrari images and videos, as well as Facebook and Twitter apps.
Another treat for Ferrari fans is the included Bluetooth headset, which has echo cancellation and automatic volume adjustment, and as much Ferrari branding as you can pack on to something the size of a kumquat.
There’s also a 5-megapixel camera on board, plus Wi-Fi and HSDPA to keep you surfing faster that the fabled Rossa.
We tend to be wary of branded tat, but the Acer Ferrari One netbook surprised us with Formula 1-level awesomeness. The first Acer Liquid wasn’t quite as impressive, and we’re not sure that a keyboard revamp and some glued-on carbon fibre will take the Liquid E to pole position. At least the refresh to Android 2.1 should help it keep up with the pack.
