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.

DNBT Series - Panasonic Cordless 3600 phone review

Learn about the Do Not Buy This series here


Product : Panasonic Cordless Phone 3600


This is a basic and the cheapest cordless phone from Panasonic. Here is a quick round up of Pros and cons of Panasonic cordless 3600.


Cons: ( This is a do not buy series remember)

1. The base unit has no battery: This is the most tiring of all problems. In a country like India where there is no guarantee of continuous power supply, this is a big problem. You won't be able to take a call during a power outage and if the power goes out while in a call, it gets immediately disconnected.
2. No LCD display: There is no LCD display on the handset so you cant be sure about the numbers you are punching in. Of course no basic phone has this funcationality but it feels kinda awkward on a handset may be because of the resemblance to cell phones.
3. Ring volume too low : there are very few incremental steps for the ringing volume and even the topmost one isn't particularly loud.
4. Virtually no feedback on the buttons : keyboard feels more like a cushion than a button. No clicks,
5. no sudden resistance nothing.
6. Loudness of the headpiece: speaker in the headpiece is not much loud. You might get trouble hearing clearly in a busy room or outside home.

Pros of this product include its low price and good build quality.


If you are planning to buy this phone, do yourself a favor and find another one. I got mine as a gift from EBay so I didn't lose any money on it. I think panasonic cordless 3600 does not qualify as a product you can spend your money on.



Price of Panasonic cordless 3600 in India ranges from 1300 to 1700 INR.

Battery widget for android user review

A perfect definition for battery widget for android would be "A simple battery indicator applet with additional power control options".

The battery widget for android is created by 'geekyouup' and is available for free in the android market. As of writing this, the app is just 55.94kb in size.

Functions

Besides being a good battery level indicator on the home screen occupying only a 1 x 1 space, the app provide additional buttons to control wifi, bluetooth and GPS. The picture below shows the options available for the app shown when you tap on the battery widget on home screen.

Of the above buttons only wifi is a toggle button(wifi on/off button) others are links to their settings menu. Battery button provides link to see which all app used the battery from the point of disconnection from the power source. GPS button opens the location and security settings and BlueTooth button named as BT open up the wireless and network settings.

Battery Use

This app uses negligible battery. There was no apparent difference in battery life with and without battery widget.

Popularity

This is one of the most popular apps in Android market. By the time I am writing this the app has received 99,820 ratings and is at more than 4.5 stars rating.

Compatibility

This app is compatible with almost all android phones including Samsung Galaxy S, galaxy S II, HTC incredible, EVO 3D, galaxy ace etc.

Samsung Galaxy Ace User Review Part 1 - The basics(Update: Gingerbread review included)

Samsung Galaxy ace is a mid-range(High-end in our country) Froyo powered android smart phone. I am writing this post after regular use of this phone for one month.

The Looks and Feel

Samsung Galaxy ace is definitely a looker. It is sure to steal some eyes when you take it out of your pocket or bag. There is an indisputable resemblance to iphone 4 but not to an extend as to mistake it. The chrome covering on the sides give the phone a very high class look.

Samsung Galaxy Ace

The Galaxy Ace feels lighter than it looks. When you take the phone in your hands it has more of a plastic feel than a solid feel and even the buttons on chrome bezel feel plasticky. But still hats off to the design guys at samsung who made a classy look with cheaper components.
Front panel is claimed to be made of Gorilla glass. The panel is like museum for fingerprints as every touch is preserved safely until replaced by another touch. The panel needs constant cleansing if you want the perfect looks. Otherwise the glossy finish makes the fingerprints very obvious even in a flash. I am not sure about the gorilla glass thing but my phone does not have any scratches after one month of normal usage and two accidental drops.
Back panel by default is a textured one. The texturing gives holding the phone a lot secure feel. The accessory back cover is a white one with smooth finish and a low-class plastic feel.
Update: Turns out the build quality of the phone isn't so bad. Here is a drop test of samsung galaxy ace 

The Screen

Galaxy ace sports an HVGA screen ( 480 x320 resolution). The LCD display in galaxy ace is inferior to the AMOLED ones but definitely good at doing its job.

Lowest setting of brightness is more than enough for indoor usage. But in strong sunlight you won't be able to clearly distinguish the texts. Sunlight legibility is moderately acceptable only in the highest brightness setting, which renders the screen more pixelated. High brightness setting in low light condition strained my eye a little bit so I suggest you use a low brightness setting indoors.

There are two ways for controlling the brightness. One is through the power control widget on home screen which controls brightness in three stops and other is by brightness option in the display settings which offer finer control over brightness.

The Call

Finding the network and connecting to it is plainly easy for this phone.The phone gets quickly connected to a network after coming out of a airplane mode. I never had to wait more than 6 seconds after disabling flight mode to connect to my network. The phone also maintains this connection without drops most of the time.

Samsung Galaxy ace's ability to handle calls in a low-intensity network area better than any other phones I used.  The area where galaxy ace performs poorly is call handling while on movement. Most of the calls I made during my travel by train dropped and many a times call dropped repeatedly. I don't know if it is the problem of the carrier or the phone.

The virtual touch pad for making call is equipped with smart dialing function. For Eg. if you press 2 and 3 the dialer will search for combination of 23 and all the combinations of letters represented on these buttons ie A to F. This was a pretty useful function for me as I could start typing as soon as the dialer comes up, without any confusion.

Galaxy ace default dialer

Emergency dialer is the dialer you can access from the lock screen which is a bare skeleton of the original dialer. I don't know why the letters are given along with the numbers in the emergency dialer as the smart dialing and access to the phone book are absent. See the emergency dialer below

Voice quality of the calls perceived at my end is good but the phone is not loud enough to hear clearly when I am in a noisy area. I think the in built microphone does a decent job as I had multiple instances of enquiry about milder surrounding noises, a sign of good sensitivity (may also be showing absence of noise cancellation, but I never had a complaint of not hearing me).


The in-call screen has options to hold the call initiate another call and an additional touch pad to punch in numbers for IVRS (interactive voice response system , like the customer care of your carrier) calls.
Below is a sample call screen.

Dialing screen

In-call screen

One nice touch by the graphics team is the change in the appearance of the call screen on ringing and the person picking it up. Nice green hue and appearance of a timer and hold button tells you that the other person has picked up the call . So you do not have to bring the phone to ear until the person picks up the call and that too without the usage of a loud speaker ( In the pic loud speaker is on because I had to take screen shot while talking in a call) .

Speaking of the loud speaker, the one in my Galaxy ace is malfunctioning. Sound is poorer than any $5 speaker. Sound begins trembling when the volume is punched up above the half way. There are only two or three ring tones that I can set without making the listener think of a crap phone before seeing my phone. I am planning for a visit to customer care on this.

One thing that is missing from the call function is the ability to record phone calls. I don't know why this function is omitted in android as most other phones from $40 price range has this.

Update : Gingerbread 2.3.4 update actually removed the different coloration of the dialling and in-call screen. The gray hue is now present in both the screens.
The emergency dialler and the default one stayed the same.

SMS

Combined sms and mms screen

The combined SMS  and MMS application is an intuitive one. Attaching a multimedia file automatically converts an sms in to mms, and on removing the file it gets converted back.

Only mild glitch I had with this app was the close proximity of the send button which I accidentally pressed more than twice, sending half baked sms to the receiver.

SMS sending even while connected as a hotspot appeared fine to me, as I was unable to find any noticeable break of connection of data network.

The Battery

The battery of Samsung Galaxy Ace is quoted at 1350 mAh, But in reality it doesn't do justice to the label. Squeezing it to even one complete day with the use of mobile data network(EDGE in here, no 3G) is a daunting task. Turn on the GPS and WiFi, and you got a dead battery in half a day.

Above screen shows the results of typical battery usage. Battery level was 30% , GPS and wifi were off but data syncing with 2G network was on, till the time of taking this screenshot.

You can see that 73% of the charge was used for network standby, which amounts to about 15 hrs. Doing the math I assume a maximum life of 30hrs of normal usage with one full recharge.

Update: When I upgraded the phone to gingerbread, I first got  drop in battery performance which got me wondering the cause of this. Because the update promised an improved battery life.

After a little bit of installing and uninstalling I found that a Network monitor app started draining the battery more that it did on the froyo. After uninstalling it things got back to an improved state as was promised. And now the battery is staying for some more time than the previous froyo.

Battery Charging Time

Samsung Galaxy Ace supports USB charging and it does not need a switched-on device at the other end for charging. Means if your laptop has powered USB ports you can charge the mobile using USB cable even when laptop is in shut down state. But you won't be able to switch off the USB charging to preserve the laptop battery.

Typical USB charging time is approximately 2hrs and 30 minutes  (From 10% to fully charged, without any breaks or calls.)

Charging Time with the supplied charger is on an average 2hrs 15 minutes for me with the settings same as above.

The battery charge status indicator is a highly inaccurate one in samsung galaxy ace. When the charging is started the level indicator quickly rise upto 53 or 54% in about 15 minutes and then ascends slowly. There is one more quick jump I noticed many times is the jump from 88 to 100%. It continued for about 40 minutes as '100% and charging' status and then only showed the advice to unplug the charger.
See the battery graph

See the 'Battery fully charged' notification for samsung galaxy ace below

100% indicator in notification bar

Full charge Alert

Read the complete battery review of samsung galaxy ace
Conclusion

Galaxy Ace excellent mobile with poor stamina. The phone serves the basic functions quiet easily without many glitches.  But expanding the horizons of mobile use by experimenting with this phone is slightly limited because of the battery.

Update: The connectivity options in Galaxy ace is reviewed in part 2 of this post