Acer neoTouch S200 Windows phone: Hands-on with fire-breathing Snapdragon

The Acer neoTouch S200 is a slim, shiny Windows Mobile phone with a huge screen and super-powered Snapdragon processor. We took photos of ourselves fondling one

Flora Graham

Oct. 15, 2009 5:41 a.m. PT

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Although our heads were turned by the WVGA, Android glamour of the Acer Liquid, it wasn't the only shiny, slim phone we fondled at the company's secret underground location on Wednesday.

With a very similar case to the Liquid, the neoTouch S200 (also known as the F1) is Acer's flagship Windows Mobile phone. It features a refreshingly straightforward version of Windows Mobile 6.5. The home screen shuns the complicated custom user interface of the HTC Touch2 and the sliding stripes of the default Windows Mobile 6.5. Instead, it hosts a simple arrangement of big icons.

The neoTouch dances into 'smart book' territory because of its big, 97mm (3.8-inch) screen and 1GHz Snapdragon processor. It's also got 802.11b/g Wi-Fi and 7.2Mbps HSDPA for speedy downloads over 3G.

The neoTouch will come with Windows Live Messenger, Facebook and YouTube apps pre-installed, which is great because, although there are plenty of great apps around for Windows Mobile, they can be tricky to install. You'll also get the mobile versions of Word, Excel, Outlook and the rest of the Microsoft Office gang.

There's assisted GPS on-board, and Google Maps is also present. Acer promises 5 hours of talk time, and 400 hours of standby.

We should see the phone in shops this month, although Acer couldn't tell us which networks will be pushing the handset, or the prices we can expect to pay.

But we did get to put the neoTouch through its paces, so click 'continue' to find out more about this phone as we peek through its Windows.

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A tap of the 'start' button brings up the refreshed Windows Mobile 6.5 start menu, with its larger, finger-friendlier icons. Sadly, unlike the Android-powered Acer Liquid, the neoTouch has a resistive touchscreen, so it requires some pressure to register your input.

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The shortcuts that are sprinkled over the home screen like so many hundreds-and-thousands can be customised to suit your taste.

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The shiny case is a fingerprint magnet, but it looks gorgeous, if huge. It measures 63 by 119 by 12mm.

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It just warms our hearts to see the standard 3.5mm headphone jack on top, allowing you to use your own cans with the neoTouch. There's also a 5-megapixel camera on the back with an LED photo light.

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Unfortunately, Windows Mobile 6.5 isn't all fun and giant, colourful icons. There are still plenty of tiny, dated-looking icons to poke once you start roaming around the user interface.