mobile phones india

Samsung Galaxy Ace – Review

If you don’t have a iPhone, you can very well have Samsung Ace and save some bucks. Apple might be irritated with Samsung Ace coz it has striking resemblance to iPhone and also some of the widget placement is similar to the Apple’s baby. It’s just that Ace is little smaller and plasticiky though the screen size is exactly same as iPhone.  Now, let’s keep aside the iPhone and discuss about Samsung Galaxy Ace today.

As always a quick strip down on the phone first.

• Capacitive  full touch bar smart phone
•  3.5” screen
• TFT display with 320 x 480 screen resolution
• Processor 800 MHz
• Runs on Android 2.2 Froyo
• Weight 113 g
• 3G connectivity and includes wireless connectivity features in the form of Wi-Fi , microUSB v2.0, Bluetooth v2.1
• 5MP camera with LED flash
• Memory: 158 MB internal memory + microSD card expandable up to 32 GB
• 5 Home screens

Holding Galaxy Ace is a delight, it fits well in the hand. At 113 g, neither it’s too light nor too heavy for its size and thanks to the textured back side it cozies well in our palm.

The capacitive touchscreen is responsive thanks to the its overlay,  Samsung’s Touchwiz 3.0  UI that is now the standard with almost all Samsung models , though the latest Galaxy S 2 uses the latest version Touchwiz 4.0

And fiddling around the sides and front you will find the following:

• Top of the phone sports a 3.5 mm jack
• Micro USB charging socket also nests on the top and comes with a sliding cover for dust protection
• On the right side is the power button that also acts as the screen lock
• On the top left side is the volume rocker.
• A main button on the front that lands you in the homescreen
• Right side has the MicroSD card , by default the phone is bundled with a 2 GB card

Coming to the interface like the rest of the Galaxy series, you will find at the bottom of the screen nested neatly:

• Calling
• Contacts
• Messages
• Menu

Most of the screen navigation and widgets are similar to the rest of the Galaxy series and quiet easy to navigate. Especially you will find the quick access to the Wi-Fi , Blue tooth, GPS, Silent mode sitting conveniently on the top bar and just a drag down away. This widget placement is also found in the rest of the Galaxy series including Fit and Pro.

Galaxy Ace  is powered by 800 MHz processor which is better than Galaxy Fit and Pro but lesser than the S1 and much wanting when compared to the latest dual core S 2.  But for most smart phone users, this is pretty good while running facebook, twitter and IM all together along with the push mail service. If you are a serious gamer, you will find the performance bit lagging though Ace could handle most of the available game in the market decently well. With the Android market with tons of free apps and also Samsung apps to dig upon, you have lots to fiddle around with Ace  in hand. 5 home screens in the phone is a happy play ground to pack widgets and  Samsung has pre-loaded some of its own widgets to kick start the usage. Ace also comes with four pre-installed games and unfortunately you cannot uninstall,  in case you want to get rid of them.

Ace comes along with the now standard Samsung smart phone fixture, Social Hub Premium. What it means for you is a seamless access to all your social networking messages in one single access be it from facebook, twitter or mails from multiple accounts also you can directly view all communications for a contact in the phonebook itself.

Browsing is not entirely a delight owing to its 320 x 480 screen resolution and screen size and you might have to pinch zoom to read text heavy sites but one positive note is thanks to the TouchWiz UI pinch zoom and auto rotation is pretty good.

The 5 MP camera with a flash LED and 2x digital zoom is pretty good and comes with variety of modes to choose from like party mode, landscape mode, indoor flash and no flash, outdoor etc and the modes are handy and effective too. I only wish Samsung had a camera button on the sides for quicker access rather than to search for the widget.

The battery is a standard Li-ion 1350mAh. Battery life is average depends on your mobile usage. Many android apps are power hungry and might drain the battery pretty soon.

GingerChai Verdict: Ace looks pretty good and very stylish. Infact, among the Galaxy series, design wise its my pick of the lot. With newer and higher processor speed been coming up, 800 MHz might seem like under-performer but for an average user, I feel it is more than enough. At around current selling price of 15K, it definitely a good phone to own.

Mobile phone for Visually Impaired people

To make telephony easier for the visually challenged people, Intex Technologies has launched a Braille phone.  Called Intex Vision (In 2020 Vision), this dual Sim phone has a large Braille keypad for easy dialing. Also for those visually challenged people who do not understand Braille, the phones come with a voice Dial+ Speaking sound. What this second feature effectively does is like a Talking keypad, as the user dials the key, the key is voiced.

Phone highlights:

• Braille key pad with big fonts
• Voice Dial + speaking sound
• Display is Braille supported
• Hearing Aid earphone
• Wireless FM Radio + Audio player
• Dual Sim
• Expandable memory upto 2 GB
• Emergency SMS key

This candy bar shaped phone is very practical to use for the targeted group and thoughtfully made for their special needs. The nine numbers are single dial keys for easier dialing and also have the feature to voice the number pressed.  Also the display screen is Braille supported. By touching the screen, the user can read the SMS.

The phone comes with a inbuilt SOS key in the back panel.  During any emergency situation, the user can press the key, and an SMS automatically goes to 4 numbers that the user has preset.

The phone claims a talk time upto 3 hours and a standby time upto 460 hours.

The phone is priced at Rs.2, 600. For the members of the National Association for the Blind, the phone is available at a discounted price of Rs. 1,800.

Samsung Champ – A pocket friendly touchscreen phone

As touch screens are becoming a mainstay, the price barrier has been crashed and we have touch screen phones at very affordable prices. So if you want a stylish phone with touch screen, owning it is lighter on your pocket now. Let’s look at Samsung Champ C3303 , the musicgiri phone.

Samsung has been aggressively flooding the market with plethora of products to suit different needs, technology and budgets. With Samsung Champ it aims to attract the budget conscious buyer looking out for a stylish touch screen and music experience.

The USP of the phone apart from the affordable stylish touch screen is that it is a music phone with sound-alive 3D effect which delivers wide, dynamic & surround mode music (only with earphones) and  with a dual loudspeakers.

Samsung Champ is small, cute with a shiny chassis that the company claims to be similar to premium crystal design chassis found in high-end Samsung TV’s. It comes in 5 colors – Black, White, Wine red, Espresso brown and Pink.

The Champ sports Samsung’s Cartoon UI, coupled with the TouchWiz Lite 2.0, it allows seamless menu navigation. For the price range, the touch screen was quiet impressive and responsive. Touchwiz Lite 2.0 interface allows easy and fast navigation.

Another selling point of the phone is its music capabilities. The phone comes with an internal FM receiver with a built in antenna and supports FM with recording. So goodbye to ear set plugin to listen FM. The phone also comes with 3.5 mm audio jack so listening music is more pleasurable now. With an expandable memory up to 8 GB with microSD card you have more than enough space to store all your favorite songs. The box comes with a 1 Gb memory card. It supports MPEG4 video format.

With more and more people looking for social networking features, C3303 also supports it with direct access to 7 Social Networking Sites including Facebook, MySpace, Photobucket, Flickr, Twitter and Picassa. You can also download free apps from the Samsung Apps store.

C3303 sports a 2.4” TFT screen which might be marginally smaller when compared to the bigger cousins in the market but then don’t forget it is an entry level touch screen phone. The 2.4” screen comes with a handy stylus pen. It has a VGA camera which supports video recording. Though of course some of you might be let down by the 1.3 megapixel camera.

The C3303 Champ comes with a customisable home screen which supports up to 7 pages enabling you to highlight the most frequently used widgets for easy access. The handset supports connectivity via Bluetooth 2.1(A2DP) and microUSB.

GingerChai Verdict: At the selling price of Rs.4099 and with an overall good, decent functions and performance, champ is a champion at this price range.