Samsung Galaxy Ace review

While all eyes may be on Samsung’s impressive dual-core Galaxy S2, the Galaxy stable has been rounded out with a new budget entry. The Ace looks similar to the S2, but it’s about a centimetre shorter and 5mm narrower, as well as being slightly thicker. It lacks the front-facing camera of the S2, but retains a similar texture on the rear of the case that makes it easy to grip.

Despite its similar looks, it specification shows it to be a much more modest beast. It uses an 800MHz, single-core processor and has a 3.2in TFT screen with a 320×480 resolution. It’s not a patch on the S2’s AMOLED display, but it’s still bright and colourful. Its 5-megapixel camera also has an LED flash, and we found snaps taken with the Ace’s camera to be as sharp as the S2’s, although it’s not capable of capturing 1080p video. We preferred the Ace’s microSDHC card slot, which is mounted on the side of the phone behind a flap rather than under the back cover, and a flap also protects the microUSB slot from dust.

The Ace has less software installed as standard, which makes sense as its smaller screen isn’t ideal for reading ebooks, watching movies or playing games. It’s a shame it doesn’t come with Samsung’s Kies Air app, which lets you access your phone’s contents remotely through a browser – instead, you’ll need to download the 74MB Kies application for Windows if you want a PC sync tool. We prefer simply using Google’s cloud synchronisation, which is half the reason for buying an Android phone in the first place.

At the time of writing, the Ace still runs Android 2.2, but an update to Android 2.3 is in the works. Sadly, the phone’s internal memory – space available for apps – is limited to just over 150MB, so you’ll soon run out of space, especially as you can’t uninstall Samsung’s pre-installed apps. Its battery life in our light usage test was acceptable at just over 23 hours – as with most smartphones, you’ll need to top up the battery every night if you regularly use Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or GPS along with 3G data.

The Ace’s iPhone-like design is smart, it has a decent screen and camera and the operating system feels snappy. We found it for £20 per month with an unlimited data plan, and you can buy it SIM-free for just over £200, making it great value, as long as you don’t plan on installing a lot of apps. However the Motorola DEFY has a larger screen and costs the same on contract, so remains our choice for a Budget Buy.