Acer Liquid X2 review: Switchboarding

Synthetic benchmarks

The Acer Liquid X2 is powered by the Mediatek MT6753 chipset - one of those non-Helio models by the Taiwanese chipmaker. Its forte in radio connectivity aside, the SoC comes with a rather standard-issue octa-core Cortex-A53 CPU with the cores clocked at up to 1.3GHz in the X2 (Mediatek quotes a 1.5GHz maximum). There's a Mali-T720 GPU on board with four shader cores and RAM is a liberal 3GB.

Business as usual, we kick off with GeekBench, which is a reliable gauge of raw CPU performance. Here the Liquid X2 posts numbers in the middle of the pack, with the MT6753 clearly behind the Helio X10 - the 8 Cortex-A53 cores may be the same, but the 1.3GHz vs. 2.0GHz clock rate difference inevitably shows, and the Redmi Note 3 (Mediatek) obliterates the X2 in multi-core. Even the Snapdragon 650-equipped Redmi Note 3 has a clear edge.

The X2 does inch ahead of the highest-specced Zenfone 2 and also bests the Lenovo Vibe K4 Note (with the same MT6753 inside). The Zenfone Selfie and Motorola Moto X Play with their Snapdragon 615's rank even lower.

GeekBench 3 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (Helio X10)
  4537
• OnePlus 2
  4429
• Samsung Galaxy J7
  3619
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650)
  3570
• Huawei Honor 5X
  3053
• Meizu m3 note
  3028
• Oppo F1
  3014
• Acer Liquid X2
  2972
• Asus Zenfone 2 ZE551ML (Z3580)
  2887
• Lenovo Vibe K4 Note
  2745
• Motorola Moto X Play
  2608
• Asus Zenfone Selfie ZD551KL
  2582

In the single-core test the Cortex-A72 is in a league of its own - the score of the S650-powered Redmi Note 3 is more than twice as high as what a modest 1.3GHz A53 can do inside the Liquid X2. The Meizu m3 note has the A53 clocked at up to 1.8GHz, and beats the X2 comfortably, but the Vibe K4 Note is again a notch behind the Acer offering.

GeekBench 3 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650)
  1573
• Meizu m3 note
  807
• Huawei Honor 5X
  705
• Acer Liquid X2
  641
• Lenovo Vibe K4 Note
  628

Moving on to compound benchmarks, the Liquid X2 ranks in the middle of the table. In Basemark 2.0 it inches ahead of the Moto X Play, and outperforms both the Vibe K4 Note and the Samsung Galaxy J7 (last year's). The Zenfone Selfie is on top of the X2 in this one, but both Redmi Note 3's are way out of reach.

Basemark OS 2.0

Higher is better

• OnePlus 2
  1622
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650)
  1537
• Asus Zenfone 2 ZE551ML (Z3580)
  1222
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (Helio X10)
  1018
• Oppo F1
  961
• Asus Zenfone Selfie ZD551KL
  883
• Huawei Honor 5X
  874
• Acer Liquid X2
  825
• Motorola Moto X Play
  809
• Lenovo Vibe K4 Note
  729
• Samsung Galaxy J7
  709

The current Antutu 6, doesn't do the Liquid X2 any favors either. The Vibe K4 Note is slightly ahead, and you know where to find the Redmi Note 3's. Then again, the Snapdragon 616 in the Oppo F1 puts it behind Acer's phablet.

AnTuTu 6

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650)
  75051
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (Helio X10)
  45474
• Meizu m3 note
  44898
• Lenovo Vibe K4 Note
  38359
• Acer Liquid X2
  36986
• Huawei Honor 5X
  35469
• Oppo F1
  35353

The graphics department isn't where you should expect the X2 to deliver record breaking numbers. Indeed, it doesn't, but does a decent job with what it's got. For example, in Basemark X it defeats the identically equipped Vibe K4 Note, and the Exynos 7580-powered Galaxy J7. The Snapdragon 615 and its Adreno 405 redeem themselves putting the Moto X Play and the Zenfone Selfie above the Liquid X2.

Basemark X

Higher is better

• OnePlus 2
  21937
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650)
  14732
• Asus Zenfone 2 ZE551ML (Z3580)
  12426
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (Helio X10)
  8540
• Oppo F1
  5314
• Motorola Moto X Play
  5032
• Huawei Honor 5X
  5009
• Asus Zenfone Selfie ZD551KL
  4915
• Meizu m3 note
  4567
• Acer Liquid X2
  4300
• Lenovo Vibe K4 Note
  4072
• Samsung Galaxy J7
  3922

In the Manhattan bit of the GFXBench graphics benchmark the Acer Liquid X2 only manages 4.2fps in the offscreen 1080p part of the test. However, while it may be lacking in sheer graphics oomph, in practice the GPU needs to render less than half the pixels, hence the 9.1fps score in the onscreen test.

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• OnePlus 2
  22
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650)
  14
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (Helio X10)
  8.5
• Oppo F1
  5.8
• Motorola Moto X Play
  5.8
• Huawei Honor 5X
  5.6
• Meizu m3 note
  5.4
• Asus Zenfone Selfie ZD551KL
  5.3
• Acer Liquid X2
  4.2
• Lenovo Vibe K4 Note
  4.2
• Samsung Galaxy J7
  4.1

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• OnePlus 2
  22
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650)
  14
• Oppo F1
  11
• Acer Liquid X2
  9.1
• Samsung Galaxy J7
  8.3
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (Helio X10)
  7.9
• Motorola Moto X Play
  6.1
• Huawei Honor 5X
  6.1
• Meizu m3 note
  5.4
• Asus Zenfone Selfie ZD551KL
  5.3
• Lenovo Vibe K4 Note
  4.2