Well, that flip phone is an amazing concept, and am sure most of the rich kids are looking forward to lay their hands on it. But speaking(or writing rather) about phones, there is one model which caught my attention when it was announced for sale in India this week. The new smartphone from the Samsung stables is the Samsung Galaxy Ace S5830. For people who have been following the smart phone development in Samsung, the model number might be just an anagram of numbers(remember that Samsung had launched the Wave II S8530 very recently), and you might mistake one for the other. But there is nothing to get confused about. The galaxy and the wave series are two different smartphone lineages, with a clear distinction between. The former runs on Android OS by Google while the later runs BADA OS which is developed by Samsung.
As soon as I read about a launch/release of new smart phone, I immediately checked the specifications, and compared it against the price, and though I am not an expert in this matter, I am confident that Samsung Ace, priced at around 15000 rs. in India, will give other smart phones, including those from nokia(huh!! smartphone!!!), and Sony Ericson(I was one die heard fan of Sony Ericson, and would swear by their phones some years back. Not any more.), something to think about. I am sure that, had this phone been launched a few months back, I would have been an owner of it now, since it suited most of my requirements, and fitted within my budget P-E-R-F-E-C-T-L-Y!!
I was truly amazed that Samsung has cared to launch a smartphone with Android 2.2 Froyo, out of the box, at this price. Even their flagship phone the Galaxy i9000 doesn’t get the update out of the box.The specifications are no less-interesting either.
For beginners, the screen is a good 3.5” TFT capacitive touchscreen, with accelerometer control, multi touch and swype text input. A 2GB card is bundled in the box while the phone supports 32 GB(if you buy this phone, get at least 16GB card. Smartphones deserve huge storage).
The Froyo is run on a 800 MHz ARM 11 processor, Adreno 200 GPU, Qualcomm MSM7227 chipset. The previous 800 MHz phone around this price was Spica, which vanished from the market quite early.
On connectivity front, Ace supports GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA @ 7.2 mbps, wifi 802.11 b/g/n with Digital Living Network Alliance Support(DLNA), Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP, and micro USB version 2.0. No HSDPU!!
The camera has quite impressive specification, that of being a 5 mp one with LED flash. The ACE records videos at QVGA@15fps. What this phone misses is a front camera for video calls. Radio, music player, video player and all the other stuff and software, associated with an Android phone, are standard.
The battery provided is a 1350 mAh, which the company claims to give more than 6 hours of 3G calls and more than 11 hours of normal calls.
Though the phone doesn’t manage all the features which a standard smartphone should pack, ACE does provides enough for the price. Anyone who is looking for a smartphone experience, at an earthly price, can think of this phone.
This phone manages to fill the void that was created by the stoppage of production of the Samsung Galaxy Spica I5700.
Pros:
- Android 2.2 Froyo, out of the box.
- 800 MHz processor.
- 2GB card included.
- Multiple connectivity options.
- Value for Money.
Cons:
- Missing front camera.
- No HSDPU.
- Video recording at low resolution.
- Screen resolution 320 x 480 pixels, bit low for a 3.5” screen.
- No FM recording.
All in all, a good entry level smart phone for the price. At 112.4 x 59.9 x 11.5 mm and 113 gms, this phone should fit nicely in you pockets, without lightening your wallet. Check out at your local stores.
Check the specifications at gsmarena. And here’s a good video.