Samsung Galaxy Ace Review Part 2 - The Connectivity

This is the part 2 of the review of samsung galaxy ace phone. This post tests different connectivity options available on the phone including GPRS/EDGE, 3G, WiFi, and GPS.

Download speeds are calculated based on the time required to download a sample 5 MB file from thinkbroadband.com website.

Another speed test was carried out using the speedtest.net's android app

Naming conventions used in this post:

Kbps- Kilo bits per second

KBps - Kilo Bytes per second - 1KBps is equivalent to 8Kbps

I am converting most of the values to KBps because of the ease to understand.

GPRS/EDGE

Galaxy ace is rated class 10 for bot GPRS and EDGE. Class 10 device should be capable to offer speeds upto 8 KBps downloads in GPRS networks and upto  32KBps in EDGE networks.

The Samsung Galaxy Ace was able to provide 4.4 KBps continuous speed in a GPRS only network (GPRS only networks are not a rarity in our country).

In EDGE networks, the phone gave me about 28 KBps average download speed which is very close to the advertised speed. But this was for the downloading of the 5MB file.

The screenshot below was taken during the 5MB download in an EDGE network. You can see that, except for a couple of dips, the download mostly clocks just below 30KBps.

Network speed test using speedtest.org app provided a little bit different result. The numbers were only about 3 KBps in GPRS networks and 22KBps in EDGE networks. However normal browsing followed the speedtest.org's results as it peaked at about 20KBps.

3G

3G networks in India is fairly underpowered. Though speeds upto 21Mbps are in offer, none actually reach that standard in practice.

Network speed in Galaxy ace with 3G networks peaked around 1Mbps which actually is far lower than the theoretical capability of the phone (7.2Mbps). But I think it mostly is due to the limitation of network, not the phone.

WiFi

The phone was very quick to find available connections even when the network available was a new one. Usually I was prompted with the available connections within 10 seconds. But familiar networks were connected within 5 seconds of switching on.

WiFi has a good range too. It maintained at least 1 bar until about 25mtr indoor.

Wifi Error - Wifi wouldn't turn on until you restart. Frequency of this was reduced considerably since the update to android 2.3.4 but still occurs once in a while.
The same problem affects wifi hotspot too. Clicking on Mobile AP box(see below) won't turn on anything.

See a demonstration of Wifi error in galaxy ace

Bluetooth

Bluetooth in samsung galaxy ace is rated class 2.1+ EDR ( Enhanced data rate) which is capable of transfers upto 262KBps. A closer speed was achieved during my test with a similarly spec-d laptop the transfer speed normally hovered around 230 KBps which I think is not bad.

However transfer speed with another mobile of the same specs was around 100KBps tops. I don't know what made the difference there sure was something.

Bluetooth audio got disconnected at about 8mtrs from the galaxy ace. From this I assume that galaxy ace is equipped with a class 2 bluetooth.

Speed reduces considerably when multiple bluetooth devices are connected to galaxy ace. Transfer speed from my laptop dropped from 230KBps to 150KBps when I started streaming music to my bluetooth stereo headset

GPS

GPS was working without any problem in the original android froyo. It began taking forever to lock after the update to gingerbread 2.3.4.

In the android 2.2 days, without using any additional software I could get a lock within 20 seconds. But after the upgrade 3-4 minutes was usual even under clear sky and if I was travelling, it didn't connect at all.

Then I found a solution to the GPS locking problem on galaxy ace. I installed an app called GPS Status from the Android Market. The app worked like a charm and now GPS is working without any problem.

Note: You won't need data connection to just get a lock on GPS. But A-GPS needs data connection to work as it needs to download location data from the internet. GPS status also needs use of internet connection as it uses A-GPS to improve locking.

I tested GPS in different conditions. The locking time was as follows. (A-GPS was enabled during the test)

Stationary, clear sky - 5 seconds

Stationary, cloudy - 20 seconds

Moving at 60 KMPH, clear sky - 20 seconds

Tethering

USB tethering icon

USB tethering icon on 2.3.4 gingerbread

WiFi Tethering icon

Tethering is a method to channel the mobile data connection to other devices such as laptops. Galaxy ace supports 2 methods for tethering viz, USB and WiFi.

USB and WiFi tethering in galaxy ace is enabled from Settings >> Wireless and connectivity settings >> Tethering and portable hotspot

  You can secure the wifi hotspot by assigning a password. Coverage of WiFi also was good getting similar results as of the Wifi test.

The phone offers a variety of connectivity options and also do justice by living upto expectations.