Released for Sprint, the Samsung Ace is the sleekest world phone with Windows Mobile 6. Running on Windows Mobile 6, the Ace keeps track of contacts and schedules through Outlook Mobile, accesses the web using Internet Explorer Mobile and views Word, Excel and PowerPoint files using File Viewer. Thin and lightweight, the QWERTY smartphone lets users make or receive calls, access email, view documents, surf the web, and sync Outlook calendars in over 100 countries. Operating in the U.S. on the Sprint's network, the Ace offers voice calls, PDA capabilities and access to Sprint TV with over 50 channels of live television and on-demand video. With quad-band capabilities, the Ace operates globally on CDMA and GSM/GPRS networks where Sprint has international roaming agreements.
Samsung Ace (I325) Features
Supports both CDMA and GPRS/GSM networks so travelers can use one device both in and out of North America
Windows Mobile 6 supports many forms of email including HTML, mobile versions of Microsoft Applications, and the ability to easily transfer digital multimedia from a Windows-based PC
Experience broadband-like download speeds using EV-DO technology
ActiveSync offers PC to mobile device sync for easier configuration with faster data transfer and sync accuracy
Integrated QWERTY keyboard provides a familiar interface for quick and efficient input of information including backlit keypad to work in low light conditions
Shoot digital pictures with the embedded 1.3-megapixel camera with 5x digital zoom lens; use the built-in camcorder to record video clips and play them on the screen
Stereo Bluetooth lets users listen to music on the go or listen to music using compatible accessories without wires
Samsung Ace (I325) User Reviews
1. Posted by penguinpages
Wed Apr 09, 2008 2:48 pm
Pros:
As a linux guy I was rather impressed with this phones features. The interface was very user friendly. I was forced from a SPH-i500 palm and though the damage was about $200 out of pocket, think the features are very nice.
Cons:
Store knowledge was VERY poor on this phone and documentation is too marketing centric (hense why I joined this forum). Main issue is battery. Second issue is battery. and third major issue is battery. I do my best to set the "memory" on the battery properly so as to guarantee the unit longest life possible. The issue is that the mail sync function trolls for mail all day / night long till your phone is dead in a matter of six hours or so. The manual was not very helpful, and Sprint's tech support said "sorry but no way to set mail to manual vs continual troll". I think I may have found this setting in changing active sync to manual but jury is still out. See battery notes for more details.
The only other downside is phone number buttons. Hard to call while walking or driving when you have to focus on such small buttons.
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Details about each feature: (will update as I get more play time)
Screen: Crisp and nice. No touch screen but that is just the way it goes
Wheel Scroll: Nice feature but useless as the scroll feature of the main button is faster. I would look to a wheel when the "button" is not fast enough. This renders this feature null.
Buttons for calling: useful. Good tactile response.
Buttons for typing: A bit small but trade-off of a smaller phone. Good response once you get use to size and locations. Feature of "fn" button for characters vs "shift" for caps is a bit querky when it sticks.
Cable to USB: useful. Good length. good key on how to plug in quickly. Charges phone though this is a very slow process it seems.
Battery: Sucks. Lifetime is hard to tell with text and mail vs just as a phone as I have to have those features on it would seem. At this time you get about six hours. The phone also has this "feature" where it may still have enough juice to use as a PDA but it turns itself off as a phone. I would FAR rather it let me be as a phone till it's last gasp of power. Yes I have a PDA / Phone. no I can not call 911 as it would rather I have my contacts about me on my death bed
Battery Charging: Lame at best. It takes a good three hours for dead to "done". They would rather let me have a graphic with lots of colors about it charging vs "CHARGE FASTER YOU POS SO I CAN GET MY MEETING CALLIN NUMBER!" Which the phone does not seem to listen to. Oh. and best of all you can not power it on until some seemingly random charge state in the carging cycle. I figured I would just do like I did with my old phone, hook it up to laptop, boot it up, get what I want from it (or use PAM and get online and get details), but. NOOOOoooooo you must wait young padwin, your information is sooo close but you can not get it till it is done charging. Grr.
Ringers / Vibrate: Lots of annoying rings for those who wish. Good options to get different rings for different functions. Don't care as I always have mine to vibrate so as not to interrupt conversations or meetings. Vibrate feature of different vibrates for diff messages / notifications is a nice feature that I was pleasantly surprised to get.
Lock and Unlock: Took me a bit to realize that top button on phone was the main avenue for this feature. Once I figured that out it is ok. Would prefer that you did not have to do "right menue button + *" combo vs simply "right menu button + left menu button" or some other larger button. This combo makes it a bit annoying to unlock.
Speaker Phone: Good. Not much else to say as I have not had time to use it more.
Headset: Free one that comes with it is sufficient. Looking forward to paying off my $200 so I have some funds for a bluetooth set to test that.
BlueTooth: ATM I am poor. see above
Camera: been very impressed with it. Good zoom. Good anti-wiggle feature. Crisp pictures. Good light responsiveness.
Software: Active sync. As good as I expected it. It does its job but leaves five TSRs around all day looking for the phone (miss my palm's lean and mean software).
PAM (phone as a modem): This is one of the main reasons I purchased this phone. Sprint is clueless about what this does etc. but that is a different story. Speed is good. In sync mode the phone uses a private IP subnet to computer. In PAM mode it bridges your phone's IP to your computer. This means you can not sync with active sync as it is on a different "LAN/ Network". I have not gotten to test how this impacts your ability to receive text messages and the like when in PAM mode.
Phone Holster: Non existent. Sprint provides none. I had to literally scrounge in a bin of garbage returns to get ANY that worked, and it is ugly. I will post on options once I find one myself.
Third part software: Hmm. kinda new to windows mobile platform. Two things I use on a regular basis were a SSH client (putty for mobile was VERY bad experience, BSOD) and a Bible (yes. THAT book) which I have not found replacements for (hense my joining the forum).
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Summery: Overall I would recommend the phone. I have only one week of street time with it so I have a lot of hacking to do with it. I am sure my option will change as I get into more features (misses old phone). The jury is still out on the battery situation. I was use to a phone with 3day charge cycle and so I am stunned when my phone is dead. Maybe I am spoiled and need to realize additional the features vs battery trade-offs before I am happier.
I am brutally honest about technology when it inhibits use, but hopefully this may improve its design.
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2. Posted by DaveClose
Mon Dec 01, 2008 11:19 pm
I've been using the ACE for about a month. In general I agree with the comments above but want to add a few additional notes.
1. As a "Linux guy", I too want to make PAM (phone as modem) work. Upon connection, it is identified by Fedora as a network device, not a serial device. This means PPP doesn't work in the usual way. The private addresses used for the PC/phone link don't pass any traffic beyond the phone, so far as I can tell. Anybody got a cookbook to make it work?
2. I too set my phone to vibrate. However, I don't see any way to disable the silly tunes the thing plays when you shut it down or power it on. That means I and everybody near me has to listen to that crap when I fly.
3. Unlock is a /three/-key sequence, not two. The first one wakes up the phone so it can hear the keys. The second is the proper first key, left menu. The third is the *, which is very hard to find on the tiny keyboard. Something like the space bar or the right menu would have been a more friendly choice.
4. Are there any Linux applications available to manage this phone? The usual suspects don't seem to identify it.
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3. Posted by photoblogger
Tue May 06, 2008 9:15 pm
This was my first smartphone-- I was looking forward to graduating from t9, and I am pretty impressed with the full qwerty combined with predictive text. Also, an unexpected bonus was how simple it is to "switch between tasks" on a dime and return just as quickly. All of the above is probably common of any WM6 smartphone, but it is nice to note.
However, for as much as this phone has going for it (you can read features anywhere), I'm disheartened by its speed: why so much lag between operations? Is the OS too beefy for the simple device? Would increasing external memory help like maxing out ram on a PC does?
Samsung ACE fails for Photoblogging:
I am gravely disappointed in how extremely slow the camera operation is; couple that with a complete lack of simple sharing (for photo-blogging) like I'm used to on my old a960. What I'm used to is: press camera button once, point, press it again and SNAP, my pic is stored; click Share, select blog email, optionally type a title, and click Send again.
But with the ACE: Press and hold the side button.. wait. wait.. point, click a different button and hold to avoid blurring, because it's not clear exactly when the image is captured, hear the Click, and click Save; now, click End; now click Contacts, choose blog contact, click email, choose an email/smtp account, type title/body, click Send.
The image quality is fine, assuming your subject hasn't moved, but the process itself is quite belabored and frustrating-- especially when you just want to capture that simple nothing in passing. It's almost enough to force one to be judicious in his subject!
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4. Posted by paul2k147
Wed Aug 19, 2009 11:57 am
After a year with the ACE, I've found the following:
Very useful for getting messages when away from home (my home voicemail provides a wave file via email, which the ACE readily plays).
Very nice that it trolls for email constantly, so I never miss a message by more than a few moments.
Very NOT nice that the battery lasts 3-5 hours on a *good* day.
30-40 minute battery life on speakerphone makes it mostly useless in the car, as the bluetooth headsets are impossible to hear (even with the volume turned up to the maximum).
Bottom line - great to get messages, useless as a phone. Will be replaced as soon as the ETF from Sprint expires.
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