Acer Predator 6 and Jade Primo hands-on

The gaming-centered Predator line of mobile device was far from the only treat Acer had for us at MWC 2015. If you tagged along with the presentation then you surely noticed the impressive Windows 10 Continuum for Phones demonstration that was held on stage. The device that powered that particular experience is the new Acer Jade Primo and, you guessed it, it runs on Windows 10 for phones.

So, how is this phone any different from the other Acer Windows models – the Liquid M330 and M320 and what makes it so special? Well, for one, it is a more powerful offer all around and packs a Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 SoC. It also has a bigger and better 5.5-inch AMOLED display and a nice 21MP camera with dual-LED flash. This can easily be considered flagship-grade material, especially in the Windows realm, where most mobiles tend to be underpowered.

Acer Jade Primo

But the Jade Primo actually needs all this extra power for more than simply running Windows 10, which has already proven it can function quite happily on as little as 512MB of RAM. As demonstrated on stage, the Jade Primo is an ambassador to a new breed of windows devices that will be capable of achieving Microsoft ultimate dream of a full PC-grade experience within a smartphone.

The project in question is called Continuum for Phones and is an exciting new feature in Windows 10 that will theoretically allow you to dock the phone to a keyboard, mouse and monitor setup and use it as a capable PC-grade device. This was actually showcased during Acer's presentation and it definitely managed to captivate imaginations and spring thoughts of a simpler tomorrow yet again. We say this because the concept is far from new. At least a few parties have tried to achieve similar results throughout the year, most-notably Ubuntu, which has been pushing an almost identical docking concept for quite some time now.

Acer Jade Primo

However, Microsoft seems to be the first one to actually take the technology beyond the mere concept level. The idea is to leverage the power of the new universal apps that can seamlessly run across a range of Windows devices and create a scalable uniform experience.

From the looks of it, it does work quite well and once Windows 10 becomes officially available for phones, there will be more and more devices like the Jade Primo that could act as a PC replacement. In order to do this, the Primo needs all the power it can get, definitely a lot more that most current Lumia devices have and more-importantly – the proper hardware to support proper resolution digital video output. This is where the Snapdragon 808 comes into play and is truly utilized by the Jade Primo.

As for the phone itself, it has a rather plain exterior, which is not necessarily a bad thing and if clean is what you are after, then it should be right up your alley. Materials and build quality are also perfectly adequate but nothing really special or premium. Just an ordinary-looking device, but one with an important mission of introducing Microsoft's concept of a more convenient future.

Acer Jade Primo

As for the software, as already mentioned the Jade Primo runs on the eagerly-anticipated Windows 10. Consequently, it is, just as expected, in beta state and therefore not entirely usable. It did, however, run fairly smoothly, but most features were sadly rendered unusable due to the lack of an internet connection on the demo unit. Still, as already mentioned the Jade Primo is important for entirely different reasons, so the software was just as finished as it needed to be to properly show off.