Acer DX900 Review: A Dual SIM Windows Mobile Handset That Doesn’t Quite Deliver

I've always been baffled at why major manufacturers continue to steer clear of producing dual SIM handsets.  My guess is it has something to do with exclusivity issues with carriers, although I could be wrong.  I certainly don't think there isn't any mainstream interest in it - I, for one, would love it.

After their takeover of phone manufacturer Eten, Acer decided to rebrand one of the former's devices and bring it to the world market.  Called the Acer DX900, the new phone just might be the very first mass-market Windows Mobile handset with dual-SIM functionality.

Physically, the phone looks cleanly styled and is 100% identical with the Eten DX900 (save for the branding). It remains bulky, however, despite packing in limited hardware features and a considerably average-sized 2.8-inch touchscreen.

For indoor use, the display performs well enough, even coming with a stylus to help save you when fingers just won't do the job.  Under direct sunlight, however, the display is barely usable, even with a supposed light sensor aboard the unit.  It runs Spb Shell on top of Windows Mobile 6.1.  While the layer is good, its changes aren't implemented across all menus.  As such, you occasionally get the hard-to-use Windows menus, depending on which functions you're using.

The two SIM card feature works well enough on the device.  The implementation is such that you define one as the main SIM while the other plays second fiddle via the options.  If you're picky about which accounts you'll use to call or SMS particular contacts, you'll end up having to work with the settings a lot.  Overall, it's the standard Chinese phone implementation of dual SIMs - not exactly what I was hoping for.

Call quality is topnotch, while messaging suffers from the same interface problems as most Windows Mobile handsets - WinMo is just something you'll have to tolerate, instead of enjoy.  Multimedia playback is good, with decent support for a bunch of formats, including DivX.  Camera is just about average for WinMo smartphones, which should peg it on the lower end of the scale.  There's a GPS tuner on board although no software comes preinstalled, so you'll have to manage that yourself.

Overall performance can be annoying if you've used better smartphones in the past (such as the newer HTC models).  The interface can be slow and there is a definite lag with almost every function you try to use.  As one of the cheapest smartphones out there, though, the phone's failings may be forgivable, especially if you could really use the dual SIM feature.

If a dual-SIM smartphone appeals to you, there's basically not much of a choice - this is the unit to get.  For other purposes, though, and assuming you have the budget, it might be wiser to look elsewhere.

Photo Credit: GSM Arena