Acer Liquid Jade Primo review: Windows Prime

Telephony and contact management

The People Hub hasn't changed much since Windows Phone 8.1. It is the phonebook that you'll find on any Windows device and supports multiple accounts, including social ones, and has multiple pages like the rest of the WP interface. The first page is your contacts list with slightly updated looks, the second one is What's New with all of your friends' social updates (Facebook and Twitter), and Groups.

The People app • Quick Search • Search by letter • Viewing a contact • Editing a contact

Some of the complications are gone for good such as the social updates for each contact and its complete history.

The cell reception and call quality are very good and we had no receptions issues or unpleasant sound problems.

The Dialer app

The Liquid Jade Primo scored a Good rating in our loudspeaker test. While it is indeed pretty loud, it tends to start playback at at a higher level, and then dials it down, perhaps trying to protect the speaker from overload.

Speakerphone test	Voice, dB	Pink noise/ Music, dB	Ringing phone, dB	Overall score
Sony Xperia Z5	65.1	62.3	66.3	Below Average
Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016)	66.2	64.8	66.8	Below Average
LG V10	66.1	64.7	70.7	Average
Samsung Galaxy A9 (2016)	65.5	72.2	65.2	Average
Acer Liquid Jade Primo	68.8	74.3	68.8	Good
Motorola Moto X Play	69.8	66.6	75.7	Good
LG G4	66.9	71.8	74.7	Good
Microsoft Lumia 950	71.9	73.0	77.2	Very Good
Huawei Nexus 6P	74.7	77.8	72.1	Very Good
OnePlus 2	75.7	73.5	80.7	Excellent
Microsoft Lumia 950 XL	74.9	75.7	84.3	Excellent

Audio quality starts off impressively, loses points with headphones

The Acer Liquid Jade Primo did excellently when plugged in an active external amplifier. Matching high volume to perfectly clear output the smartphone really aced this part of the test.

Unfortunately, it was all downhill from there as plugging in a pair of headphones really harmed the stereo quality by introducing plenty of crosstalk and the frequency response became shaky. Some intermodulation distortion crept in and volume dropped to below average levels for a rather disappointing showing on this occasion.

Anyway, here go the results so you can do your comparisons.

Test	Frequency response	Noise level	Dynamic range	THD	IMD + Noise	Stereo crosstalk
Acer Liquid Jade Primo	+0.01, -0.03	-90.8	91.8	0.0020	0.0087	-90.8
Acer Liquid Jade Primo (headphones attached)	+0.58, -0.37	-89.9	90.0	0.019	0.462	-50.5
Nokia Lumia 950	+0.01, -0.03	-91.3	91.2	0.0036	0.012	-91.6
Nokia Lumia 950 (headphones attached)	+0.59, -0.03	-92.0	91.9	0.011	0.316	-63.9
Sony Xperia Z5	+0.01, -0.04	-95.5	89.5	0.0033	0.012	-94.8
Sony Xperia Z5 (headphones attached)	+0.22, -0.24	-95.1	89.5	0.0057	0.212	-59.8
Apple iPhone 6s	+0.03, -0.04	-93.5	93.5	0.0016	0.0075	-73.2
Apple iPhone 6s (headphones attached)	+0.10, -0.06	-93.8	93.9	0.0030	0.101	-68.2
LG G4	+0.04, -0.07	-93.4	93.3	0.0021	0.050	-92.6
LG G4 (headphones)	+0.93, -0.13	- 91.4	91.9	0.013	0.244	-50.4

Acer Liquid Jade Primo frequency response

You can learn more about the tested parameters and the whole testing process here.

Messaging

Text messaging is straightforward with a threaded view of your conversations.

Text messages

The keyboard on the Jade Primo is Windows standard-issue, as well. It lacks a separate number row - you need to tap the symbols key to get those, but it has a virtual joystick for navigation, and supports emojis. It's also resizable, and can be undocked from the bottom to position it wherever you feel like it. Swipe input is supported too.

Keyboard has plenty of features, no number row

The native email client is the mobile version of Outlook Mail. It looks a lot like its desktop app and works like a charm. It supports multiple accounts, and syncs across all your Windows devices. It is available on Android and iOS as well and we often prefer it over other solutions.

Outlook Mail