Month: February 2015

For a smartphone that has a reasonable amount of features for a fair price, the Samsung Galaxy Ace offers users a decent option. It comes with an FM radio, a digital player, and a digital camera that are all rather useful. The 3.5 inch touchscreen is centered in the middle, but it is a bit small when compared to the overall size of the phone. Offering HVGA resolution and access to the social hub that Samsung has set up to provide news updates, this “cousin” of the primary Galaxy phones takes a minimalistic approach that could pay off big for your today.

How Is the Performance of the Samsung Galaxy Ace?

This smartphone is designed to provide users with just enough power to have a smooth operating experience. It starts with the 800 MHz processor that provides relatively quick web browsing and some limited multitasking. Although the Galaxy Ace isn’t going to compare to the quad core processors that can be found in premium phones today, it is good enough to accomplish most jobs. Users will be able to download apps when they wish, share content with their friends quickly, and thanks to the Wi-Fi, even do that outside of its data plan.

The touchscreen is a TFT capacitive Gorilla Glass screen that offers users a 165 PPI pixel density. There is support for 16 million colors, so the quality of the image is decent enough. Images just aren’t as crisp as some users might expect with a modern smartphone. It runs on Android’s Gingerbread operating system.

The Swype technology that has been included with the virtual keyboard allows for faster texting and document composition once users get used to the system. By connecting the pattern of keyboard hits, the interface attempts to determine what you’re saying without lifting your finger from the screen. When combined with the predictive inputs, the experience is fairly accurate, even if finger placement isn’t 100% accurate.

A final advantage in using the Samsung Galaxy Ace is the inclusion of ThinkFree straight out-of-the-box. This gives users the opportunity to create, modify, or read Microsoft Office documents, spreadsheets, and PowerPoint presentations. If you’ve got a PowerPoint presentation to give in an hour and need to alter it, the Galaxy Ace is going to allow that to happen.

How Do the Specs of the Samsung Galaxy Ace Compare?

The 5 MP camera is a point of contention for those who use this smartphone. Although using the camera is relatively easy to do, the imaging qualities of the images that are taken are somewhat lackluster. Video recording only occurs in 480p, which means it falls behind the capabilities of other smartphones that are at lower price points.

On the other hand, users won’t have to fall for the temptation of having a different colored phone introduced to them after they purchase the stock model of this one. That’s because the Galaxy Ace comes with a pair of back panels that are interchangeable so that the look of the phone can be changed. The visual aesthetics of the phone itself are reasonably appealing, although the blocky menu button in the central button is a bit oversized when compared to the touchscreen that is a bit undersized.

The button placement is a bit of an issue with this phone. If the touchscreen were 4 inches instead of 3.5 inches, the button placement would be reduced just a little and placed a little lower on the phone. This would prevent many of the accidental button pushes that tend to happen when trying to take a call with this phone. Most people will wind up holding the phone in such a way that the sleep button is depressed, further adding to a learning curve that could be quite frustrating.

What About Its Battery and Other Features?

The Samsung Galaxy Ace has been equipped with a reasonably strong lithium-ion battery that has a 1350 mAh rating. In practical terms, it means that this phone has about 6 hours of talk time on a single charge if connected to a 3G network. Using an Edge or 2G network will about double the amount of talk time that users will receive. Standby times are about 400 hours on a 3G network or about 600 hours for a 2G network.

This phone is GPS equipped and offers Bluetooth and a stereo FM radio with RDS as well. It plays most multimedia files, so it can double as an MP3 player if desired. Connected to a charger or computer with the mUSB v2.0 port and save your data by connecting to Wi-Fi.

The memory and internal storage of the phone, however, are minimal at best. It has just 278 MB of RAM, so some of the latest apps aren’t going to run very well on the Galaxy Ace. There’s only 158 MB of internal storage as well, but the mSD slot recognizes up to 32 GB of external storage. A 2 GB external storage card is included with the purchase of the phone.

What the Verdict on the Samsung Galaxy Ace?

The Galaxy Ace is designed to be an affordable alternative in the Galaxy series of smartphones. Affordable is the key word here as the options and features are definitely downgraded, even from mobile phones of other brands at this price point. If you are partial to the Samsung brand and want an entry level smartphone, then the Galaxy Ace is a viable option to consider. The document and photo editing capabilities are nice to have on hand, even if the video recording is only at 480p in total.

It’s a good first smartphone or backup phone in case the primary mobile phone goes missing or needs to be replaced for some reason. It has just enough features to be useful and a fairly affordable price. Is it the best phone at this price point? That’s something that each shopper will need to determine on their own because the Samsung Galaxy Ace is designed to meet specific niche needs.

One of the most exciting editions to the Samsung line of mobile phones as of late is the Galaxy A3. This smartphone offers an aluminum frame for users to enjoy instead of a plastic one, is beautifully lightweight, and has the super AMOLED display that many have come to expect from Samsung. In short, this particular smartphone looks just as good as it sounds like it does.

Specifications

Here are some of the specs that make this phone stand out.

It’s just 6.9 mm thick, offering users a slim design that is comparable to the Apple iPhone 6.

The 4.5 inch touchscreen offers a 540p resolution and a 245 PPI pixel density for reasonably good images.

A 1.2 GHz Cortex A53 quad core processor helps to keep this phone moving quickly.

1.5 GB of RAM comes standard, as does 16 GB of internal storage, and the mSD slot can support an additional 64 GB of storage.

The Galaxy A3 also comes in a wide variety of models. There’s even an LTE model for those who wish to have that network capability. All of this means that one thing is for certain: this smartphone was designed with the average user in mind.

What Are the Features of the Samsung Galaxy A3?

The standard features that come with the Galaxy A3 are comparable to about any other smartphone at this price point. A digital compass and proximity sensor come included with the design. The accelerometer is responsive and changes the screen perspective quickly when the phone is turned. Threaded view SMS and MMS compliment the email and instant messaging features quite nicely. It’s equipped with a standard HTML5 browser and a Java emulator will help gamers be able to enjoy a diversion when needed.

The battery is a lithium-ion 1900 mAh battery, but it is non-removable, which will disappoint some buyers. Most users will find that they can get 1-2 days of normal use out of the Galaxy A3 before it needs to be charged again. Data consumption will reduce battery life, but not as dramatically as seen in other smartphones. Connect through the mUSB port or Bluetooth for file transfers and turn on the FM radio if you need something to listen to during the day.

Wi-Fi has been included with the Samsung Galaxy A3, as has hotspot functionality, but there isn’t any dual-band support on the phone. This smartphone is GPS enabled as well and offers users the ability to assign MP3 files or WAV files as their ringtones. All in all, it is a feature rich smartphone that might not compare completely to the premium smartphone market, but it comes pretty close.

If you have online photo albums, like on Facebook or Picassa, and you keep your phone connected to a data source, then it is possible to browse through all photos that have been taken whether they are online or local. Facial recognition will help to filter out images so that certain shots can be instantly recognized and then accessed.

A Functional Dual Camera Design For One?

Many smartphones that are equipped with dual cameras have one decent primary camera and an almost worthless front-facing camera. The Galaxy A3 offers users two very functional cameras instead. The primary rear-facing camera has an 8 MP resolution and offers face detection, panoramic shots, touch focusing, and an LED flash. The front-facing camera offers similar features and a 5 MP resolution, so selfies have been made easy with this mobile phone. Switching back and forth is with one touch ease.

The one issue that may come up is a slow video chat connection because of the resolution of the front-facing camera. Slower network or internet connections could make image viewing nearly impossible at times.

The rear facing camera actually sticks out from the back of the phone, so the 6.9 mm thickness isn’t entirely accurate if the camera is taken into account. The extra spacing is protected by metal framing, so damaging the camera by slipping the phone into a pocket isn’t really an issue. Users can record videos in 1080p and then quickly upload them to their preferred social network or send them to a home email account for future distribution.

An added advantage that’s been incorporated into the user interface of the Galaxy A3 is a private mode. This privacy selection will help to password protect voice recordings, photographs, videos, and other files that you don’t want anyone else to be able to see if they get their hands on your phone. Apps do not have the ability to access these files unless the private mode has been unlocked and it works separately from the locking security features that are on the main screen.

What’s the Verdict on the Samsung Galaxy A3?

Android phones tend to drain life out of their batteries quickly, which means the two different power saving modes on the Samsung Galaxy A3 are a nice feature. The ultra power saving mode is especially nice when battery levels reach less than 10%. It will eliminate all of the advanced functions of the phone and even alter the appearance of the home screen so that power reserves can be maximized.

Users will also like the ability to alter the different sound frequencies that are heard in the music being played. Bass and clarity can all be adjusted to provide a fairly authentic sound, all things considered. When these final features are combined with all of the other advantages that are provided by the Samsung Galaxy A3, it’s easy to see why this phone has become a top model.

It’s durable with the metal case. It offers easy connections to social networking, multimedia, and online photo albums. The sound quality is excellent and adjustable. It’s thin, has two functional cameras, and offers enough processing power and memory to allow for a reasonable level of multitasking. For those who are in the market for a new and modern smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy A3 provides a lot of value for a very fair price.