Samsung Galaxy Ace Android phone

Samsung Galaxy Ace review: The Galaxy Ace is mid-range Android smartphone that offers a slick user experience, but is overpriced compared to its rivals

Samsung Galaxy Ace
  • Samsung Galaxy Ace
  • Samsung Galaxy Ace
  • Samsung Galaxy Ace
  • Expert Rating

    3.50 / 5

Pros

  • Comfortable design and build quality
  • Slick user experience
  • Swype keyboard

Cons

  • Comparatively expensive
  • No Flash capability
  • Low resolution screen

Bottom Line

The Samsung Galaxy Ace offers a slick user experience and a comfortable design. However, it is comparatively overpriced compared to some of its rivals. We definitely recommend shopping around before choosing the Galaxy Ace as your next phone.

Would you buy this?

  • Price

    $ 528.00 (AUD)

The Samsung Galaxy Ace is the latest in the company's Galaxy range — it's a mid-range Android phone that has a 3.5in capacitive touchscreen and a 5-megapixel camera, and is available exclusively through Telstra in Australia. The Galaxy Ace performs well and has reasonable features, but we think it's overpriced compared to its competition.

Read our guide to the best upcoming smartphones in 2011 and see other top Samsung phones.

Samsung Galaxy Ace: Design and display

We get sick of comparing every phone with the iPhone, but there is no mistaking the fact that the Samsung Galaxy Ace looks remarkably similar to the iPhone 3GS. It has the same rounded edges, the same gloss edging, the same size 3.5in touchscreen and the same physical home button below the display. The result is a phone that is light and comfortable to hold, and the Galaxy Ace also feels well put together despite its largely plastic construction. We like the rear battery cover, which uses a grippy surface that makes the phone easy to hold, and the volume and power/lock buttons are well placed, and easy to press.

The Samsung Galaxy Ace's 3.5in capacitive touchscreen is responsive to touch, but its low resolution of 320x480 means it isn't as crisp or clear as more expensive phones, particularly when displaying text. The screen is also tough to see in direct sunlight and although it's bright at full volume, the lack of an ambient light sensor is an annoyance.

Samsung Galaxy Ace: Software and performance

The Samsung Galaxy Ace runs the 2.2 'Froyo' version of Google's Android operating system, and features Samsung's TouchWIZ UI layer on top of the standard Android interface. TouchWIZ equips the Galaxy Ace with up to seven home screens for live widgets and shortcuts. There's nothing that's truly groundbreaking, but the Galaxy Ace includes a number of pre-loaded apps such as Navigon's full turn-by-turn GPS navigation app, the ThinkFree Office suite, Exchange Active Sync compatibility for corporate e-mail, and the Swype keyboard that allows you to draw your fingers over the letters you want to type in a single motion.

The Galaxy Ace also comes with Samsung's Social Hub app that combines social networking (Facebook, Twitter and MySpace), contacts, calendars and messaging activity into a single inbox. As with all Android-powered smartphones, the software is highly customisable via third-party apps which can be downloaded through the Android Market — Google's answer to Apple's App Store.

The excessive amount of Telstra customisation built into the software is an annoying aspect of the Samsung Galaxy Ace, but the user experience feels snappy and smooth. The inclusion of multitouch aids web browsing, even if the Galaxy Ace is a little sluggish when loading graphically intense web sites, but there is no Flash support, which is a key feature of Android 2.2. The exclusion of Flash is a little surprising, but given the Galaxy Ace's position as a mid-range handset, Samsung has likely excluded it to maintain performance. The now standard connectivity set of Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 3G are all present.

Samsung Galaxy Ace: Battery life and other features

The Samsung Galaxy Ace has a 5-megapixel camera with autofocus, and a single LED flash on-board. It also doubles as a video recorder, but only in standard and not high definition. The camera produces photos good enough for the odd happy snap, but notable image noise and poor colour reproduction means that the Galaxy Ace isn't capable of anything more. The Galaxy Ace has limited internal memory (158MB), but the microSD card slot makes up for it, and the phone comes with a 2GB microSD card in the box.

Battery life is reasonably good: the Galaxy Ace will easily last a full day, and even stretched close to two days during testing, though this will depend on your usage patterns.

The Samsung Galaxy Ace is available through Telstra stores or online. It sells for $528 outright or can be purchased for $0 upfront on Telstra's $59 freedom connect plan. The plan includes $550 worth of calls, unlimited text messages and 1.5GB of data per month. The Galaxy Ace is also available on a range of Telstra business plans.

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