Microsoft is keen for manufacturers to build smartphones for its Windows Phone 8 OS, but Acer isn't willing to bite this time.

Acer isn't alien to the Windows Phone game as it launched the Windows Phone 7.5-toting Allegro in 2011, but it's yet to venture into the latest version of platform.

Allen Burnes, Acer's VP of Smartphones for EMEA told TechRadar: "We are looking at Windows Phone 8, we think it's a great OS. The integration with Xbox is nice, the enterprise suite is nice, but I think no one knows about it."

Burnes continued: "You'll find everyone in our smartphone team would really like to deploy Windows OS, but in relation to where we are as a company we have to make our decisions in relation to what we think will sell out.

Waiting game

"We've made the decision not to launch a Windows Phone 8 device this year. Next year, depending on how we see the growth go this year, we may well do."

Acer wants to hear more from Microsoft on the new platform. "What they [Microsoft] has to do is communicate. They can't rely on Nokia, which has its own challenges of rebuilding its brand, to do it for them," he said.

The Taiwanese firm is also looking at the bigger picture when it comes to Windows, with clear benefits across its PC, laptop, tablet and smartphone divisions.

"The way WP8 integrates in with the rest of the Windows ecosystem is phenomenal," Burnes says, "so yes we are looking at Windows Phone 8, yes we do believe in it, it just doesn't sell enough at this moment, otherwise we would deploy it this year."

Sony Mobile UK has just sent out an invite for an event in London on June 25, where it promises that we'll "see the next breakthrough in the Sony design story".

The invite continues: "join us as we unveil the newest addition to the Xperia range. Discover our unique approach to design as we share our focus for 2013 and beyond."

It's thought that there's a phablet in the offing going by the name Sony Xperia ZU, although early rumours noted it as the Sony Togari.

Germany and France have already received separate invites for local events on June 25 and July 4 respectively, so it's no surprise the UK is getting in on the action.

What's that coming over the hill?

Rumours suggest the Xperia ZU will sport a monster 6.44-inch full HD display and 2.3GHz quad-core processor which would seriously set it apart from the likes of the Samsung Galaxy Note 2, Huawei Ascend Mate and ZTE Grand Memo.

In terms of a potential Xperia ZU release date and price, well we're still in the dark as Sony hasn't even announced it yet, but we'd expect it to hit shelves in the next month or two.

TechRadar will be at the event to bring you all the details on what Sony has to offer, including any potentially oversized smartphone.

It looks like the HTC Butterfly is about to become very real, and some leaked candid snaps show the new specimen giving the camera an early teaser.

The dimensions of the new handset appear to be then same as the original Butterfly, however the speaker on the rear has become stereo speakers on the front.

HTC's BoomSound feature, as it's known, first appeared on the HTC One, and later on the Desire 600. The leak appears to show that the phone is keeping the 5-inch 1080p display, and that Sense 5 will also be showing itself again.

Butter me up

It was VR-Zone that spotted the new handset. We don't know many other specifics of the device, though it's rumoured to be running on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor.

The camera is expected to use the One's UltraPixel technology too, but there's nothing in the pictures to tell us if this is a sure thing.

We expect to hear the official word on the Butterfly S from HTC on June 19, when the Taiwanese company is holding a special media event, so hold tight.

Phone manufacturers love a good Android overlay, just take a look at Sense 5.0 on the HTC One, TouchWiz on the Samsung Galaxy S4 or even the Emotion 1.5 UI on the Huawei Ascend P2 - they just can't let Google's creation be - but that's not the case over at Acer.

The Taiwanese firm spoke to TechRadar and explained that it would rather not get tied up in the whole Android UI business and instead focus on enhancing some core aspects.

"We found from our previous experiences of creating Android UIs that they are very difficult to maintain, especially keeping track with Google's migrations," explained S T Liew, the President of Acer's global smartphone division.

"Android actually does a great job at serving up the right user experience and it allows people to migrate from one Android phone to another with relative ease.

"With each phone we assess its main features and we enhance those experiences with small UIs, such as the camera app or the note taking capabilities and multi-tasking tools on the Acer Liquid S1."

Easy to do, lots to gain

For Acer this approach makes business sense too, as the various enhancements generally don't require too much input for a decent return.

"We don't have to rewrite Android," said Allen Burnes, Acer's VP of Smartphones for EMEA, "the overhead we put into that is relatively low, but the consumer benefit is very high.

"People know Android, they like it, and we don't want to try and change their behaviour."

The Android overlay debate will probably always divide people, but we're not surprised that some manufacturers are looking at toning down their involvement in the software.