Samsung Ace Cell Phone Review
By Alfredo Padilla
Reviewed.com Editorial Staff
Published on May 14, 2008
The Samsung Ace from Sprint is a Windows Mobile smart phone that resembles the Samsung Blackjack devices from AT&T. Like those handsets, the Ace features a full QWERTY keyboard for the e-mail and texting crowds. It’s also a slim handset, for a smart phone, measuring only 0.47 inches in width. Probably the most interesting feature of the Ace is its support for both Sprint’s CDMA network and international GSM networks, making it a good choice for globe trotters. We do have some concerns about the price; at $199.99 with a two-year contract it’s twice what you’ll pay for the Samsung Blackjack II.
The Ace embeds the number keys for dialing in the QWERTY keyboard. This means the keys are small and somewhat fiddly to use. Once you get used to them, however, you can dial a number fairly quickly, faster than the average speed we see in our reviews. As a Windows Mobile device the Ace provides users with very good organizational features. Your address book, calendar, and task applications all provide more features than the average cell phone, and they can also synchronize with your PC or wirelessly with an Exchange Server. This is definitely a phone that can replace a PDA.
The audio sent and received by the Ace is good, with only a few minor issues that most users won’t notice. Side tone, the small amount of your voice piped back into your ear so you can judge how loudly you are speaking, is not as good. You’ll find it sounds like your voice is too low, which means you may speak more loudly than you should to compensate.
The Ace sports a 1.3-megapixel camera, fairly standard fare for a modern phone, but you shouldn’t expect to take very good photos with it. The camera produces blurry photos with poor color accuracy. As a music and video device the Ace performs better, with the built-in Windows Media Player software providing good functionality. Unfortunately you won’t be able to store much media on the device, as it only supports Micro SD cards up to 2GB in size.
The QWERTY keyboard on the Ace telegraphs its purpose as a messaging device. The Ace can handle up to six e-mail accounts and provides good text messaging functionality. Unfortunately the software doesn’t load very fast, taking almost eight seconds to create a new e-mail message in our test. Once you do get to a new e-mail message you’ll be able to type things out quickly – we’re able to manage 49.3 words per minute. Strangely the Ace lacks support for multimedia messages that allow you to send photos and videos to other cell phones.
The Windows Mobile Standard operating system the Ace runs is very flexible, with thousands of third-party applications available to extend its already impressive capabilities. The Ace does not have a touch screen like some Windows Mobile devices, but we didn’t find this an impediment as the control keys let you move through the interface quickly. The Ace, however, lacks the Office Mobile suite found on most Windows Mobile devices. This means you can’t edit Word or Excel documents, although software is included to view these files.
Battery performance for the Ace is a mixed bag. Call time is below average, but not terrible at 4 hours and 24 minutes. Most users probably won’t be bothered, but heavy talkers will find the battery runs out a little too quick. Music playback time is very good at 9 hours and 42, while web browsing time is also a little below average at 4 hours and 21 minutes.
The Ace is a device that’s difficult to peg. Some Sprint users will be attracted to its support for international phone networks, making it a good choice for world travelers. Windows Mobile is a powerful operating system and will be attractive to business users, which seems like a good marriage. The Ace fails to impress in many areas, however, including the lengthy time it takes for the messaging software to launch, terrible camera, and slightly below average talk time. When compared to its close cousin, the Blackjack II, the Ace just doesn’t perform as well in a lot of areas, and at twice the price you wonder why you wouldn’t just go with the other device. If you’re stuck with Sprint and want a smart phone that will let you make calls overseas the Ace is probably a good choice. Otherwise you’ll find devices like the BlackBerry Curve or Blackjack II provide more for less.For a more in-depth review, visit the Samsung Ace Review at our partner WirelessInfo.com
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