If the DX900 was an entry level business phone from Acer, the M900 is more advanced and polished but comes costlier than its predecessor. The phone is supposedly at par with the Samsung Omnia HD and the HTC Touch Pro 2 and comes some very noticeable features for a Windows phone. The phone comes with a 5 MP camera, a slide out full QWERTY keypad and a resistive TFT touch screen. Though it runs on Windows Mobile, the features and screens have a long way to go before they can catch up with HTC.

The phone is good, if you can handle some imperfections in design and a few flaws in the software. Acer still has to fine tune its mobile products which are still not comparable with the best.

At first glance, the design looks impressive. The jet black matte finish body, curved edges and the large 3.8 inch touch screen do succeed getting those jealous glances. However the joy is short-lived as soon as you pick up the phone. Man, this phone is heavy. Standing at 188 Gms the M900 is at least 10 Gms heavier than its peer the HTC Touch Pro2. The huge 3.8 inch touch screen is perhaps the reason for the phone’s huge body but there is absolutely no justification for the weight.

The screen works well in normal light with crisp images and clear text but morphs into a mirror as soon as it comes in contact with bright sunlight. The screen makes any legitimate viewing absolutely impossible. Below the screen are the send and end buttons, the GPS shortcut and the home key. The fingerprint sensor replacing the traditional d pad is a nice touch. The sensor also doubles up as an authenticator which is again a nice replacement for the traditional password authentication.

The entire screen slides back to reveal a full QWERTY keypad. They keys are comfortable and easy to use but are hard on the fingers. The engineers still have some work to do on the phone’s design.

On the right are the shortcut keys for camera shutter, reset, voice command key and the main power button whereas the left side houses the jog dial, mini-USB port and microSD card slot.

The phone features the Acer Shell v2.0 which runs over the Window Mobile operating system. The shell though easy to navigate, is not comparable with HTC’s TouchFlo or Samsung’s TouchWiz. Acer has a long way to go before can bring its phones even close to the leading touch screen manufacturers.

The 5 MP camera is better than average, obviously. We found the picture quality impressive and the LED flash and autofocus help in keeping it that way even in the dark or from a distance. The camera interface is again well designed and is quite easy to handle.

A small VGA camera is also provided for video calling and self portrait.

For a Windows Media Player phone, the M900 delivers some exceptional results. The sound quality is impressive but the lack of an external headphone jack is a real turn off for the music lover.

Videos are handled efficiently and the MP4/H.264 videos we tested played efficiently and without any hitches.

The M900 has been touted as a business phone and it lives up to this image perfectly. Enjoy full connectivity to the internet via HSDPA/HSUPA and Wi-Fi, browse the internet on the internet explorer or check out maps via the built in GPS with the SiRF star III chipset.

Email support is again commendable as has been the case with Windows phones. Support for POP3 and IMAP along with enterprise mail support places the phone in the top league.

The Windows organizer along with the calendar is one of the best there is in the Smartphone world.

Display: 3.8 inch TFT screen with a resolution of 480 x 800 pixels and support for 65K colors.
Dimensions: 119 x 62 x 17.1 mm.
Weight: 188 Gms.
Camera: Main camera – 5 MP, 2592?1944 pixels, autofocus, LED flash.
Secondary camera – VGA video call camera.
Audio: Music player with support for MP3, AAC, AAC+, WMA, AMR.
Video: WMV, divx, MP4.
Messaging: SMS, MMS, Email, Instant Messaging.
Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP, miniUSB.
Internet: GPRS, EDGE, Wi-Fi, 3G HSDPA and HSUPA, Internet Explorer.
Games: Built-in and downloadable.
Memory: 128 MB internal with support for microSD.
Battery: Standard battery, Li-Ion 1530 mAh with talk time of 5 hours and standby of 160 hours.
Extras:
* Microsoft Windows 6.1 Professional.
* Slide out full QWERTY keypad.
* Voice memo.
* GPS through Serf Star III chipset.
* Pocket Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, PDF viewer).
* Widget based UI.
* Fingerprint sensor.
* Accelerometer.
* FM Radio with RDS.
* Handwriting Recognition.
* Voicemail.