The Acer beTouch E101 is the newest addition to Acer’s line of smartphones. It is one of the cheapest Windows Mobile 6.5 phones on the market. The look has not been compromised for the low price. The beTouch doesn’t feel as solid as the iPhone, but it’s very well built overall.

The E101 weighs just 118 grams and measures 113mm x 56mm x 128mm. The phone is sleek and stylish and doesn’t sport any unnecessary buttons. They are limited to a volume rocker, a lock switch, a camera, and a power button. The main control on the front of the phone is a touch scroll wheel instead of the usual four-way keypad. This is very similar to the wheel that can be found on the classic iPod. As you pass your thumb over the wheel, it scrolls up and down. The wheel is very useful when the user tries to navigate through the menus with one hand. It also works as a standard directional pad.

It runs on a 528 MHz Qualcomm MSM 7225 processor that compares to phones like HTC’s Android and Windows. For example the HTC Magic.

The Acer beTouch C101 responds very fast. There is 512 MB of ROM and 256 MB of RAM which provide up to 5 hours of talk time and 400 hours of standby time. Featuring a hidden microSD card slot that allows for storage expansion. Unfortunately, due to the price, this phone lacks Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity, which is very disappointing. The user therefore has to rely on a slower GPRS or EDGE network connection when browsing the web. Another drawback is the resistive touchscreen, which means a certain amount of pressure has to be applied for the phone to respond. The touch screen also has a low resolution of 400 x 240 pixels.

However, Acer has included social networking applications, such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace. YouTube and Flickr are included, however the continuous buffering when playing a video can be frustrating. There’s a 2-megapixel camera that captures a maximum of 1200 x 1600 pixels, which is fine for an everyday snapper in daylight, but in dim lighting conditions the lack of flash makes for a poor image. Features also include integrated GPS. Call quality is quite good and, in fact, better than the higher-priced neoTouch S200.

Overall, the Acer beTouch E101 is an attractive and stylish smartphone that packs a lot of features that will appeal to various consumers due to its low price.