Acer Tempo M900 review

While we're talking about the positives, it's only fair to mention that the hideous desktop of the home screen can be done away with quite easily with a flick of the finger. You can also choose to permanently disable it, too. And Acer has included a lot of useful tools here, too, hidden away on the Windows Mobile Programs screen. Among other things you get a video trimmer for basic video clip editing, a YouTube viewer, backup and recovery tools, and a memory optimisation tool. The latter is particularly useful, as it lets you shut down idle tasks that would otherwise run down battery life if left running inadvertently. Google Maps, for instance, with GPS turned on can suck the life out of a battery in double quick time.

Alas, no matter how much extra software or features Acer packs in, there's still no getting past the M900's dreadful problems with usability. The unresponsive touchscreen is an unforgivable faux pas, and it's a fault that's compounded by a fingerprint reader that doesn't work in bright light, a front end that looks like it was dreamed up by an adventure game designer from the 1980s, and dimensions that make it the ideal phone for Andre the Giant - but no-one else. It adds up to an awkward phone that's difficult to use, and it's one we advise you to avoid.

Author: Jonathan Bray