Acer appear to be chasing both form and function with their latest budget smartphone the Acer Liquid Mini. With its dinky 11 x 6cm curved body available in five colours (blue, silver, yellow pink, and, of course, black), this move into multiple colours has the distinct whiff of the 2008 iPod Nano about it.

Beneath the glossy shell the specs are acceptable, with find a 5MP camera, WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth, 512MB of memory and a 600GHz processor, as well as a 3.2-inch touchscreen and Android 2.2.

There's no word yet on pricing or a release date, but given the relative successes of HTCs own budget Android phone the HTC Wildfire and the multi-coloured iPod Nanos of yesteryear, we reckon this could turn out to be a winner for wannabe smartphone owners who balk at paying £35 a month for a top-end blower.