Along with some new smartphones, the Liquid M220 and Liquid Jade Z, Acer’s refreshed its wearable. The Liquid Leap+ will arrive this month and cost the small amount of 79 Euro. We’re waiting for a UK price but even if translates directly into pounds, it’s pretty cheap. The device looks very similar to the original, in fact, you’d struggle to tell them apart. This means it uses a rubber wristband but this time the main body is separate so you can quickly and easily change the band if you want. An advantage on the design front is the IPX7 waterproof certification. Design and build remain basic and the Liquid Leap+ doesn’t have much desirability about it but then we didn’t expect much more for the price. There is, however, strong competition in this area with devices like the Fitbit Flex although that doesn’t have a screen. Colours include Mineral Black, Fragrant Pink and Electric Green. The Liquid Leap+ has a 1in OLED touchscreen and since there are no physical buttons you tap it to wake. For whatever reason you have to tap it three times in quick succession and during our hands-on time this normally took three, four or even more attempts to work. Once you have convinced the screen to wake up, there are various bits of information available such as steps, distance, calories burned and time active. What it has on its rivals is some smartwatch functionality including notifications, music playback control. It’s a smartwatch on a very basic level and we haven’t been able to test out the functionality properly yet. While the Liquid Leap+ can do a little more than activity trackers, there are more downsides to the screen. It’s not particularly high resolution, the screen times out far too quickly and we’re told it can’t be changed, and when on the wrist the information isn’t displayed towards you because of its oblong shape. As we mentioned a couple of times already, the Liquid Leap+ is multi-OS so it support Android, iOS and Windows Phone so it doesn’t matter which camp you sit it. The device connects via Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy. It charges via a clip on attachment which has a microUSB port which is fiddly but you won’t need to use it as often as a smartwatch. Acer touts a decent battery life of 5-7 days. Tech Advisor’s Reviews Editor, Chris has been reviewing all kinds of tech for over 10 years and specialises in audio. He also covers a range of topics including home entertainment, phones, laptops, tablets and more.
