Customer Reviews

Samsung S5830 Galaxy Ace Sim Free Smartphone

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This phone delivers a great user experience, especially if you use Google services (i.e. search, Gmail, G+ , Picasa Google Talk etc). Granted this is not unique to the Samsung phone but rather generic features of android phones.
In terms of the handset itself the screen is excellent , although not as good as an Iphone's (to be expected at the lower price point). Battery life is a little disappointing but that is really nitpicking at what is otherwise a fine piece of equipment.
It sits nicely in the hand, is very light and the form factor is just right for carrying around with you all the time. It uses a standard micro-usb port to charge up which is a plus.
Accepts SD cards - I moved the SD card from my old Nokia Symbian phone over to the Ace , and was pleased to see that it automatically found all my music, video and photo files.
Works extremely well as a phone , unlike some other smartphones. Voice clarity is great and the phone dials quickly without delays.
Overall the user experience is very good - no noticeable lag during day to day use.
Highly recommended!!

I bought this phone from the Carphone Warehouse rather than from Amazon, and I think it's a great phone. My last phone worked on android and since I broke it, I wanted to get another android. The Ace is a good android phone, with most of the pre-loaded apps being rather useful and the camera on it is, in my opinion the best I've seen on a phone. It has options to change the focus mode and has a macro feature, great for taking pictures of objects close-up. The camera also has a feature allowing you to take panoramic shots, continuous shots and a smile shot feature, which recognises a smile and takes the picture when it detects one. It really is like a digital camera all packed into a sleek, good-looking and light phone.

The music player is rather good and reaches a decent volume. There is also an FM Radio which I think is a nice addition and I've used it a few times. If the pre-installed apps aren't for you then there is an endless array of apps buyable and free from the app market which you can get onto from your phone.

The text messages are set up as a thread rather than individual messages, much like the message set-up on an iPhone. I myself find this very useful, though there is no option to re-send failed messages, so re-typing a failed message is rather annoying, especially if it's a long one, though this is only a small inconvenience. Initially when the phone is new, the keyboard is set out in a QWERTY format, though this can be changed to a normal phone key pad (1=abc 2=def.. etc) in the message settings.

There are only a few drawbacks to this phone. One is that the phone occationally turns itself off, which can be rather irritating if you're waiting on a phone call or a text. This has happened a few times to me but it is only really a minor inconvenience and you just need to switch the phone back on again.

The other drawback is the horrendous battery life. Though this can be expected if you're running android apps and playing music/using the camera etc. Obviously using the android features on the phone uses more battery power than just the phone itself. If you buy this phone and use the apps on a daily basis, be prepared to charge the phone every night, or every other night if you aren't using the apps. This isn't really a major inconvenience in my eyes, though everyone is different. Overall, I think a short battery life can be expected on this type of phone.

Those are really the only bad things I can think of about this phone, and the positives majorly outweigh the negatives. If you're thinking about buying this phone, I would 100% say go for it. Great for someone who wants an iPhone without the expense. It even looks a little bit like an iPhone, and is just as good. It's a brilliant little phone, with a sleek, thin design, and it feels light. I was really happy with this phone, and would recommend it to anyone, as I'm sure they'd be really happy with it too.

- Laura

As a 50 something, I thought it was time I joined the smart phone revolution and after looking at many brands and models, I settled on the Samsung Galaxy Ace. Why this one (1)size - still small enough to fit confortably in my trouser pockets, yet with a good size screen, (2) weight/build - some of the others just felt so flimsy, (3)I have a hearing loss and many phones didn't have a high enough volume for me, I can hear on the Ace perfectly even in a noisy environment, (4)touch screen is very reactive and easy to use, (5) loads of apps, though I had to ask friends for recommendations as I was in sensory overload with the quantity available. I really love Google Street View, it will be brilliant when I next go on holiday, finding my way round new places. Also like Kindle app and screen is not too small for reading, (6) Texting is so simple and I am getting used to swype, (7) camera and video are very good, (8) have loaded some music from my I-Tunes folder, though the album covers disappeared; sound qaulity is very good. Negative points - battery runs out quickly if using the internet and some apps; phone has turned itself of a couple of times for no apparent reason. Would recommend this phone and already having a look at it's big brother the samsung Galaxy S for when my contract runs out.

i've just bought this phone as my first smartphone. i had a budget nokia beforehand and got sick of it. i wouldnt describe myself as knowledgeable with smartphones and their gadgets, although i did a fair amount of research to get this one. the close second was the HTC wildfire S. i didnt want a handset too large and the Ace is just about palm size meaning you can hold it in one hand and navigate the screen with your thumb. its practically the same size as an iPhone but significantly smaller than the HTC Desire and Galaxy i9000 S. the layout is intuitive and its just as well as the packaging doesnt include a detailed manual (although one is svailable from the Samsung website) the screen resolution isn't great and wallpaper tends to not come out very well. screen size is 3.5 inch, larger than the wildfire. there's tonnes of Android apps to install, some useful, some not so, and many are free. the phone speed is fairly good (its 800 MHz, again a marginally quicker processor than the wildfire) but you'll notice the baterry life drains pretty quick. i believe this is fairly common to smartphones as there is so much going on on the phone for the baterry to support. on the samsung, you can turn off wi-fi, blue tooth etc to save battery life. also recommended is reducing screen brightness.
in the end, i'm very happy with the phone. for the price, it's one of the best entry/mid level smartphones on the market.

Many years with simple Nokia phones behind me, I decided it was time to go for a smartphone. I wanted to phone, text, and have a camera which were on the old phones, but also I envied friends getting the internet while mobile, being able to read mail, talk with Yahoo, and play games.

I waited for the release of the I-phone 5... well, you would wouldnt you? Just in case I would regret not going for an apple I-phone. When I saw that the I-phone 5 was actually an I-phone 4 and a half, I decided that I would look for a good alternative, and I think I found it with the Samsung galaxy Ace.

I did a lot of reading, and looked at many youtube videos of the various phones available and went for the combination of features and price.

The Samsung Galaxy Ace is good value for the price - acturally I think it is better than good. It looks very like an I-phone, and the only real difference that I can see (my son has an I phone 4) is the quality of the screen resolution. Yes the Apple is MUCH sharper, but never having had it, I am happy with the resolution on the Samsung.. I havent been spoilt so it makes little difference to me. I can see everything I need to see. Reading text on the screen is fine, and the graphics on the few games I have downloaded is fine for a little screen.

The phone is light, but well built, the buttons are easy to use, the ports for the charger, earphone, smart card are solid and secure-feeling.. no wobbly connections, all firm and easy to use. The speaker quality is ok.. nothing sensational but better than I expected on a gadget this size. With Headphones its very good quality sound. (headphone and microphone supplied)

It comes with a scandisk data card to transfer stuff from my pc like pictures, music and talking books. The usb cable (supplied) will also charge it, so I can charge from my pc while downloading. Also supplied is a charger for a regular power socket, so I keep that one by my bed.

Now we come to batttery life... this is very short. I dont know how it compares with the Apple phones, but at first I was recharging twice a day (because I was playing with the new toy a lot). The battery life is the reason I only awarded 4 stars and not five. It seems VERY hungry. I got an app that helps to run the phone at its best to prolong life.. would advise you to do that. I also bought two spare batteries, so I can have one charged battery with me, one recharging and one in the phone. The battery is easy to change. I can also charge it in my car. if you leave the phone switched on it will drain so I tend to switch it off when not using it. It takes a minute or two to switch on and load from a complete shutdown, so if you want instant access this might be a problem.

However... this is the ONLY problem for me with this phone and I have found ways around to deal with it. I have no regrets about buying the phone. I have found apps that give me voice advantage from the Siri system in the I-phone 4S, so I think I have a great phone, almost as good as Apple, for a good deal less than half the price.

PLUS.. one more big plus.. I am not tied to I-tunes, and can put all my music into the phone without hassle straight from my PC....

I can think of lots of ways I can enjoy the £300 more I would have spent on an I-phone. Great :)

I purchased the Galaxy Ace for my sister who wanted an iPhone but didn't want the expense of buying one.

As I'm an Android user using the Samsung Galaxy S II, the interface was slightly different as it's using Android 2.2 but that's still fine for this device.

The screen is extremely clean and the handset itself has a good weight to it. The standard amount of apps are preloaded but these tend to be useful rather than wasteful. Good news is that the camera works a treat and the flash is an excellent edition.

On a negative the phone has switched off a few times and the only way to get it working again is to remove the battery, but this never happened to start with, the first week was a joy to use but the intermittent issue is easy to remedy and probably just needs an update to get it sorted which I must check.

Overall a good phone especially for the money, shame iPlayer doesn't work but Angry Birds plays beautifully which is a good plus.

I have had my handset from T mobile for 5 days. My handset has a problem with sending texts - 70% of my texts just get the message 'failed'. I then have to resend -sometimes up to 5 times before the text goes. Samsung is aware of this problem and advise customers to switch to 2G only setting if this happens to you. A hassle, but it does work. Samsung are working on a fix. My handset does not connect at all to wi-fi, and I have to go through 'all-share' to manually get it to recognise wi-fi networks - but it still won't connect. I don't know how common the wi-fi connectivity problem is. I have been advised my handset is faulty and needs exchanging, which is disappointing having spent time and effort loading apps. Despite the problems I love the look and feel and ease of use of this phone - it has everything I could possibly want - if only it worked. Reaction time is fast and menus are intuitive. The phone looks great and is exceptionally light weight. The black back (you get a choice of two in the box : a shiny white one and a textured black one) has built in grip so it won't slip out of your hand.

+++++++

Updated review : 3 October 2011. I returned my handset after 7 days. T-mobile advised me they had had a faulty batch and the whole batch was being returned. I got a Sony Ericsson Xperia Neo instead, as they could not offer me another Ace. The texting function on the Ace, and the Samsung predictive text, was far superior to Ericsson Neo. The menu system on the Ace was also unrivalled in simplicity and ease of use. It was a great phone, and it was a shame I just got a faulty one. I personally thought the Samsung phone support was fine - tel 08456 7267 864. I got to talk with someone without waiting and they efficiently went through all the things that could correct errors. The wifi connectivity could be a mismatch between Android 2.2 and the latest version of Netgear. Android 2.3 operating system does not have the same issues. I would have another Ace again and would not hesitate to recommend it. Even my husband (who has an iphone and is very picky) thought it was a fantastic phone in every respect (look, weight, brilliant menu systems, fab texting and unrivalled predictive text).

I've had this phone for around two months and am definitely pleased with it. It's my second Android phone so I knew what to expect in terms of UI and functionality. The niggles are:
- It has switched off of its own accord once in the time I've had it. Not bad considering most phones, especially smartphones, seem to have some instability. I haven't updated the OS and that may resolve some issues.
- I've had Android Market fail to update/install certain software - required a quick websearch to solve, but as I understand this particular issue applies to all Android 2.2 devices.
- WiFi a bit weak ie. requires a stronger signal than my other WiFi enabled devices.
- Lowest ringer volume is a bit loud for an office environment.
- Lowest brightness is a bit bright for using at night.
Other than that, the screen on max brightness is readable in sunlight, and the camera is a little treat as long as you don't expect SLR performance. Battery usage seemed around 1.5 days but now I charge it every other day - I would consider my use moderate (few calls, some wifi, GPS on always, screen usually at 100% brightness but 30s sleep). Overall I'd recommended it as an entry level smartphone.

I've had this phone for about a week now, and I really Can't Fault it! After having a very early Android device(1.6) I thought it was time for an update! I did my research on the web for a couple of months before finally deciding to buy this over a blackberry curve 9300 (I don't recommend blackberry's AT ALL! My girlfriend has one and They're terrible for freezing up a lot! This phone is great for staying in touch on social networking sites, and chatting on skype! and with Androids latest software, VERY FUN!

The good stuff - This phone is very quick to open and exit apps, even games like Angry birds which take time to load!
This is because of its large, fast processor, which works best when you have a large memory card slotted inside, (the 2DB one it comes with it Waaay too small, I downloaded four apps before it started slowing them all down, and the phone too. The loudspeaker is very good, fills a room and the mic still picks up your voice!

The bad stuff - the only thing I don't like is the battery life, but it's the same on all smartphones this price an above, the "one day charge" is to be expected.

I chose this as my first smartphone because it is cheaper than the iphone but appeared to have similar functionality. The phone is very intuitive to use. It is light and looks smart. The screen quality is fine though the camera is pretty basic - I have found it difficult to get pictures that aren't blurred. The touchscreen is very responsive though the screen saver comes on very quickly if the phone is inactive which is frustrating. You can adjust the time out but not by much. I have found the wi-fi to be really good - it connects immediately. The phone comes with lots of apps and functions and I would overall be very happy with the phone if it weren't for the fact that it turns itself off randomly.

I am actually using my second handset after returning the first because it was switching itself off so much (several times a day). I either had to hold the on button down for a long time or take the battery out to turn it on again. The replacement phone that I have still does this occasionally. Someone I know has also experienced the same problem with the Galaxy Ace so this is clearly a defect and one that is extremely annoying and not acceptable in my opinion given that the phone, although cheaper than others on the market, is still on the higher end of what I would pay. For this reason, I would be wary of recommending it.