Acer Inc (宏碁), the world’s No. 4 PC brand, yesterday announced that its first cloud computing-enabled smartphone had received the prestigious International Forum (iF) design award in Munich, Germany.
According to an Acer statement, the CloudMobile handset will be unveiled at the Mobile World Congress exhibition at the end of this month in Barcelona, Spain.
The Taipei-based company unveiled its first cloud computing service, dubbed AcerCloud, in August last year following the acquisition of Silicon Valley-based cloud computing firm iGware Inc for US$320 million.
CloudMobile is the first smartphone to offer AcerCloud technology, the company said in its statement.
Similar to services being provided by Apple Inc and Google Inc, the AcerCloud automatically synchronizes data and files between mobile phones, personal computers and tablet devices.
For instance, users can upload photographs and music files to and from CloudMobile and are able to access their collections wherever they are, whenever they want. They can also access and browse all recent Office files from CloudMobile and print wirelessly with AcerPrint service.
However, the company did not provide details about the CloudMobile smartphone, such as how much it will cost or how much internal storage it will offer.
Acer only said in the statement that the ultra-slim CloudMobile — which is less than 1cm thick, includes Dolby sound technology, a 4.3-inch display and runs on Google’s Android 4.0 operating system — would become available to consumers in the third quarter.
Separately, Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), the world’s fifth-largest PC manufacturer; Dirotech Corp (鉅輪實業), a Changhua County-based bicycle maker under the brand name of Birzman; and Taipei-based China University of Technology received iF gold awards for their product and communication designs on Friday.
Asustek was honored for an LED projector that features sophisticated mesh air vents to maximize cooling, a flip-out stand and precision lens controls.
Birzman bicycle was recognized for a specialist wrench set that utilizes a simple ergonomic shape in concert with hard-wearing materials, while China University of Technology was recognized for a typography development that helps analyze the differences between Chinese and Western characters in form, sound and meaning.
Additional reporting by CNA
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