Samsung Ace Cell Phone Review - Hardware

Keypad

Text Words Per Minute (9.89)
We were able to type an impressive 49.43 words per minute (WPM) on the Samsung Ace's keyboard using two hands. You can see from the chart below that this is significantly faster than average and also faster than any of our comparison phones except the Samsung Blackjack II.

Despite this good score we're not particularly enamored of the Ace's keyboard. We found that the design of the keys, where they slope up from the top and bottom to a peak, caused our fingers to slide off them easily. Combined with how tightly packed together the keys are this led to more mistakes while typing than we're comfortable with. We much preferred the keyboard layout on the Blackjack II or even the Sure-Type keyboardon the BlackBerry Pearl 8130. For more information on how we conduct this test see this article.

T9 and Auto Complete (5.0)
The Samsung Ace doesn't support predictive text entry, as you would expect since it sports a full QWERTY keyboard rather than a standard keypad. It does support word completion however. This means that while you're typing you will get a pop-up list of words that you might be writing. Select the word you want from the list and hit enter and it will be automatically inserted. The software will also learn phrases and words that you use often.

One-Handed Typing (5.76)
We know a lot of people like to type out quick messages on their phone with only a single hand, as such we do our words per minute (WPM) test again but this time using only a single hand. As is typical amongst QWERTY devices there's a significant drop-off when you switch to one-handed typing, we were only able to manage 28.8 WPM in our test, more than 20 WPM slower than using two hands. This is because QWERTY keyboard tend to be too wide with buttons too small to easily manage using a single hand. On the Ace these problems are exacerbated by how closely together the buttons on the keyboard are, which led to many mistaken presses as we tried to type. We don't recommend using one hand to type on the Samsung Ace. For more information on how we conduct this test see this article.

Keypad Backlighting (7.0)
The Samsung Ace's keypad backlight does a good job, with all the symbols and letters on the keys evenly and clearly illuminated with a white light. There is no light sensor on the Ace to control when the backlight comes on, instead it comes on when you first press a button, but there are timing controls so you can set how long it stays on. These controls can be set to turn the backlight off between one and ten seconds.

Controls

D-Pad/Joystick (7.0)
The Samsung Ace's D-Pad sits in the center of the control keys above the QWERTY keyboard and below the display. It's comfortably situated for use while holding the device, and even those with small hands should not have a problem using it. We like that it's raised above the surrounding keys, this makes it unlikely that you will accidentally press another button instead of the D-Pad, a problem with the original Blackjack. We also like that the edges of the D-Pad are slightly raised and that the center select button can be easily found by feel without being too prominent. It's not the best D-Pad we've ever seen, it's a little smaller than we would like, but it does a solid job and most people should have no problem with it.

Touch Screen (0.0)
The Samsung Ace does not have a touch screen.

Jog Dial (7.0)
Like the Blackjack the Samsung Ace has a scroll wheel on the right side of the device. It's comfortably situated for right-handed users but left-handed users might find it a little more awkward. The scroll wheel moves easily and has a set of ridges on it so you can grab it easily. Pressing in on the scroll wheel acts just like the center select key on the D-Pad, and we found that it is resistent enough to avoid accidental presses, although this may change with a lot of use. Windows Mobile Standard is not optimized for the scroll wheel, for example on the home screen you can't move left/right to select different programs from the recently used list and you cant's move left/right to choose between email and sms in the messaging plugin. It does come in handy in some situations, however, like quickly moving through email messages. There is a back button just below the scroll wheel so you can more easily navigate the interface.

Soft Buttons (4.0)
The soft buttons on the Ace are located to the left and right of the D-Pad and sit above the Home and Back keys respectively. The buttons are slightly raised near their top, helping you find them easier by feel, however they are not well differentiated from the buttons sitting below them, which may lead to an occasional mistaken press. We also found the buttons a little small and they did not provide a lot of key travel or tactile feedback when pressed. We think Samsung could have done better here, especially considering that the soft keys are used so much in the Windows Mobile Standard interface, but they're not terrible.

Volume Control (3.0)
The volume controls on the Samsung Ace are located on the left side of the device near the top of the phone. The buttons themselves are just average. It's a rocker key with the top and bottom sitting ever so slightly higher than the center of the rocker, which should help a little with controlling by feel. The button is a little small, however, and we think it could be prone to mistaken presses. The biggest problem, however, is that just below the volume control is the universal port that is used for data, power and headphones. This last is a partciular problem because when you have a pair of headphones plugged into the device it makes the volume key hard to get at.

Power and Standby (7.0)
The power button on the Samsung Ace is located on the top of the device on the left side when looking at it from the front. The button sits flush with the surrounding plastic and is not easy to find by feel, but it's also not likely to be hit accidentally, and important factor for any power button. When you press it a single time you get a Quick List, which allows you to access some functions like the Wireless Manager, Lock the keypad and change your profiles. A long press will turn the device off. When off a short press will turn it back on. We like the Quick List and any trouble you might have finding the button is trumped by the fact that it won't get pressed by accident.

Other Buttons (11.0)
In addition to the buttons discussed above the Samsung Ace has quite a few additional buttons to help you navigate about and access various functions. Below the soft keys and flanking the D-Pad are the typical Windows Mobile Standard Home and Back buttons. A long press on the Home button will bring up the task manager, the Back button has no secondary function. There's a second back button on the right side of the phone that also acts as a back button when you're using the scroll wheel, but it also has a secondary function when you press and hold. By default this is assigned to launch the camera, but it can be reassigned in the settings. At the bottom right of the QWERTY keyboard are two more shortcut keys. One is assigned to the camera and can't be changed. It also requires a press and hold. The second is a messaging key that will launch your SMS inbox with a short press or take you to a new SMS composition window with a long press. Both of these functions can be changed in the settings, although you are limited to messaging options so you can't reassign it to another program altogether.

Probably the most interesting option available to those who love buttons to act as shortcuts, however, is that the Samsung Ace allows you to assign an application to the combination of the Function key on the lower left of the QWERTY keyboard and any letter. For example by default Function + B will launch Bluetooth settings. This basically gives you an unlimited set of keyboard shortcuts, albeit they will only work on the home screen. Still, we liked this functionality and will be awarding two additional points for it.

Display

Primary Screen Gross Resolution (8.0)
The Samsung Ace has the typical QVGA (320 x 240) resolution display found on most Windows Mobile devices. Although QVGA should be fine for most uses, we can't help but be impatient for the time when VGA (640 x 480) becomes the standard. As you can see from the table below only the iPhone has a better resolution amongst our comparison phones.

Primary Screen Pixels per Inch (8.70)
Pixels per inch (PPI) is a measure of pixel density. Higher pixel density leads to sharper images on the display and richer colors. Lower pixel density can make a disply seem pixelated and washed out. The Samsung Ace's pixel density is 173.9 PPI, which is slightly above average but generally in line with what we see from our comparison phones. As you can see from the chart below only the HTC Touch had a pixel density significantly lower, and that's because it has the same resolution but a slightly larger display. The pixel density on the Ace is sufficiently high that you shouldn't have any problems with pixelation or colors being washed out.

Screen Physical Size (5.75)
The Samsung Ace's display measures 2.3 inches diagonal. Although larger than the 2 - 2.2 inch displays found on most regular phones, this isn't very large for a smart phone. We would have liked to see at least the 2.4 inch display we see on the Blackjack II. Frankly the display looks a little small on the device as it takes up very little of the actual front of the phone.

Screen Brightness (5.2)
To measure screen brightness we point the browser at a blank white page, turn the brightness up to maximum and then use a lux meter to measure the brightness from a couple of inches away. The Samsung Ace's display measured 79 lux in our tests, which is slightly above average but not overly bright by any means. You can see below that the iPhone and HTC Touch's displays were significantly brighter. For most purposes the Ace's display should be sufficiently bright. The Ace lacks a sensor to automatically adjust the backlight depending upon conditions, but it does offer you five brightness levels in the settings.

Screen Bright Light Performance (2.0)
To see how the Samsung Ace would handle bright light situations we shone 3000 lux of light onto the screen, equivalent to a bright sunny day, and judged how legible it was. We were not impressed, you could just make out features on the display but reading text was almost impossible and no detail was evident. You'll want to go find some shade if you're trying to use the Ace under bright lights.

Color Depth (6.0)
Color depth measures how many colors a screen can display. The Samsung Ace is capable of displaying sixty-five thousand colors, which is the current maximum supported by Windows Mobile. This should be sufficient for most uses, but we're starting to see phones with many more colors, as you can see below the Nokia N82 is capable of displaying sixteen million colors and a lot of phones are capable of 262 thousand colors.

Power & Data Ports (2.0)
The Samsung Ace uses a single proprietary port for both power and data. Let's just get it out there, we don't like proprietary ports. We like standard pots like Mini USB because you can have a single charger or cable that can be used on multiple devices. Samsung's adherence to their proprietary standard forces people to buy their proprietary accessories, good for the, bad for you. As an added bonus of suckiness USB charging is not supported. You can see our disdain reflected in our score.

Headphone Compatibility (4.0)
Speaking of proprietary the same proprietary port used for power and data is also used for headphones. Just reread the previous section and you'll see what we think of this. On the plus side the Ace does support Bluetooth Stereo headphones, which you might want to use because in addition to requiring proprietary headphones the Ace also inconveniently places the port on the left side of the device, which increases the width whenever you have something plugged in.

Internal Storage (1.5)
The Samsung Ace has a fairly generous 192 MB of internal storage. Although not enough to store a serious amount of multimedia, it will be plenty for all of your PIM data, applications and even a few dozen photographs. It's no iPhone, but a lot of phones ship with far less storage.

Expansion Slot & Format (6.5)
If you do want to store a lot of multimedia like music or videos on the Ace you'll want to invest in an external memory card. The Ace supports Micro SD, which is pretty much the standard for mobile devices. Unfortunately it does not support the newer high capacity Micro SD cards, so your maximum storage will be 2GB, not a lot in this day and age. The Micro SD slot is found on the right side of the phone near the top. It's protected by a tethered cover that conveniently rotates out of the way when you open it, making it fairly easy to get cards into and out of the spring loaded slot.

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