Swapping wallets for smartphones

Google Inc is trying to nudge consumers and merchants into a world where the smartphone has replaced the wallet as the container for credit cards, coupons and receipts.

In Google's vision shoppers will touch their phone screen to select a card, then tap the phone to a credit-card reader in a store or restaurant. Google would make money by selling coupons and advertising that come along with the experience.

It's a goal shared by others. The Internet search and advertising company faces tough competition from cellphone companies, payment card issuer Visa Inc, eBay Inc's PayPal payment service and others. All of them want to play the central role of tying together phones, retailers and banks into a new payment system.

This isn't Google's first attempt at electronic payments. The company, based in Mountain View, California, introduced an online payment service called "Checkout" five years ago. It hasn't posed a serious threat to PayPal.


Google views its digital wallet as a way to sell advertising at a pivotal moment: When shoppers are in stores, ready to spend money and even more receptive to coupons and other discount offers.

Nick Holland, an analyst at Yankee Group, said that although all parties stand to benefit from Google's system, Google itself has the most to gain. That's because the Google Wallet would allow the company to "own" the market for advertising that's tied to the user's location.

Google said it's launching a Google Wallet trial in San Francisco and New York in co-operation with Visa rival MasterCard and Citibank. It will open up the system to consumers later in the summer. It then plans to expand across the country.

There has been talk of smart payment systems for years, and Google faces the same hurdles that have stifled previous trials.

One is that Google Wallet will initially work on only one smartphone, the Google Nexus S 4G carried by Sprint Nextel Corp.

Several smartphone makers, including Research In Motion Ltd, maker of the BlackBerry, are ready to bring out more phones with chips for so-called Near-Field Communications, or NFC, but it's uncertain if they'll work with Google's system.

Another hurdle is getting retailers to invest in terminals that can talk to the phones. Google Wallet will connect only to MasterCard PayPass terminals. There are more than 135,000 of those in US stores and restaurants, but that's only a small fraction of the total number.

Google's carrot is that retailers will be able to put loyalty cards and coupons in the Wallet, helping them track and engage with their customers. Partners in the trial include Macy's, RadioShack, Subway, Toys R Us, Duane Reade and Walgreens.

Hurdles

Yet another problem: Google needs to get cellphone companies on board. Its partner Sprint is the country's third-largest. AT&T Inc, Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile USA, the rest of the four biggest national carriers, have formed their own consortium to create a wallet that will compete with Google's.

The final obstacle is persuading consumers to take the leap. Phones might one day offer slightly faster checkouts, but the benefit would be small.

Google calls Wallet a "single-tap solution," but in a demonstration on Thursday at Google's New York office, a Google executive had to tap his phone twice to a terminal provided by retail partner American Eagle Outfitters Inc, then sign on the screen to get a purchase of a pair of denim shorts through.

Osama Bedier, Google's vice-president of payments, said it was up to the retailer to decide if the shopper has to sign on the screen.

"Consumers and businesses don't have a compelling need for changes in payment methods," a recent study by the Federal Reserve said. It nevertheless concluded that there are substantial benefits to reap for everyone involved if mobile payments become a reality.

One of the potential benefits is increased security compared to cards with magnetic strips, which can be copied surreptitiously.

The Wallet will initially work with a MasterCard from Citigroup Inc and with a prepaid debit card issued by Google, but the intent is to let the wallet accept any card.

"This is about creating a compelling model and asking folks to join," Bedier said.

Banks and payment processors such as MasterCard and Visa like the idea of mobile payments, but have their own designs on the space.

Visa already has announced plans for its own wallet. MasterCard is collaborating with Google but is working on its own projects.

"Today's announcement is another early salvo in what will be a long and hard-fought battle to change consumers' payment behaviour and, as a potential result, the makeup of the payments landscape," said Forrester Research analyst Charles Golvin

Swapping wallets for smartphones

Google Inc is trying to nudge consumers and merchants into a world where the smartphone has replaced the wallet as the container for credit cards, coupons and receipts.

In Google's vision shoppers will touch their phone screen to select a card, then tap the phone to a credit-card reader in a store or restaurant. Google would make money by selling coupons and advertising that come along with the experience.

It's a goal shared by others. The Internet search and advertising company faces tough competition from cellphone companies, payment card issuer Visa Inc, eBay Inc's PayPal payment service and others. All of them want to play the central role of tying together phones, retailers and banks into a new payment system.

This isn't Google's first attempt at electronic payments. The company, based in Mountain View, California, introduced an online payment service called "Checkout" five years ago. It hasn't posed a serious threat to PayPal.


Google views its digital wallet as a way to sell advertising at a pivotal moment: When shoppers are in stores, ready to spend money and even more receptive to coupons and other discount offers.

Nick Holland, an analyst at Yankee Group, said that although all parties stand to benefit from Google's system, Google itself has the most to gain. That's because the Google Wallet would allow the company to "own" the market for advertising that's tied to the user's location.

Google said it's launching a Google Wallet trial in San Francisco and New York in co-operation with Visa rival MasterCard and Citibank. It will open up the system to consumers later in the summer. It then plans to expand across the country.

There has been talk of smart payment systems for years, and Google faces the same hurdles that have stifled previous trials.

One is that Google Wallet will initially work on only one smartphone, the Google Nexus S 4G carried by Sprint Nextel Corp.

Several smartphone makers, including Research In Motion Ltd, maker of the BlackBerry, are ready to bring out more phones with chips for so-called Near-Field Communications, or NFC, but it's uncertain if they'll work with Google's system.

Another hurdle is getting retailers to invest in terminals that can talk to the phones. Google Wallet will connect only to MasterCard PayPass terminals. There are more than 135,000 of those in US stores and restaurants, but that's only a small fraction of the total number.

Google's carrot is that retailers will be able to put loyalty cards and coupons in the Wallet, helping them track and engage with their customers. Partners in the trial include Macy's, RadioShack, Subway, Toys R Us, Duane Reade and Walgreens.

Hurdles

Yet another problem: Google needs to get cellphone companies on board. Its partner Sprint is the country's third-largest. AT&T Inc, Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile USA, the rest of the four biggest national carriers, have formed their own consortium to create a wallet that will compete with Google's.

The final obstacle is persuading consumers to take the leap. Phones might one day offer slightly faster checkouts, but the benefit would be small.

Google calls Wallet a "single-tap solution," but in a demonstration on Thursday at Google's New York office, a Google executive had to tap his phone twice to a terminal provided by retail partner American Eagle Outfitters Inc, then sign on the screen to get a purchase of a pair of denim shorts through.

Osama Bedier, Google's vice-president of payments, said it was up to the retailer to decide if the shopper has to sign on the screen.

"Consumers and businesses don't have a compelling need for changes in payment methods," a recent study by the Federal Reserve said. It nevertheless concluded that there are substantial benefits to reap for everyone involved if mobile payments become a reality.

One of the potential benefits is increased security compared to cards with magnetic strips, which can be copied surreptitiously.

The Wallet will initially work with a MasterCard from Citigroup Inc and with a prepaid debit card issued by Google, but the intent is to let the wallet accept any card.

"This is about creating a compelling model and asking folks to join," Bedier said.

Banks and payment processors such as MasterCard and Visa like the idea of mobile payments, but have their own designs on the space.

Visa already has announced plans for its own wallet. MasterCard is collaborating with Google but is working on its own projects.

"Today's announcement is another early salvo in what will be a long and hard-fought battle to change consumers' payment behaviour and, as a potential result, the makeup of the payments landscape," said Forrester Research analyst Charles Golvin

Swapping wallets for smartphones

Google Inc is trying to nudge consumers and merchants into a world where the smartphone has replaced the wallet as the container for credit cards, coupons and receipts.

In Google's vision shoppers will touch their phone screen to select a card, then tap the phone to a credit-card reader in a store or restaurant. Google would make money by selling coupons and advertising that come along with the experience.

It's a goal shared by others. The Internet search and advertising company faces tough competition from cellphone companies, payment card issuer Visa Inc, eBay Inc's PayPal payment service and others. All of them want to play the central role of tying together phones, retailers and banks into a new payment system.

This isn't Google's first attempt at electronic payments. The company, based in Mountain View, California, introduced an online payment service called "Checkout" five years ago. It hasn't posed a serious threat to PayPal.


Google views its digital wallet as a way to sell advertising at a pivotal moment: When shoppers are in stores, ready to spend money and even more receptive to coupons and other discount offers.

Nick Holland, an analyst at Yankee Group, said that although all parties stand to benefit from Google's system, Google itself has the most to gain. That's because the Google Wallet would allow the company to "own" the market for advertising that's tied to the user's location.

Google said it's launching a Google Wallet trial in San Francisco and New York in co-operation with Visa rival MasterCard and Citibank. It will open up the system to consumers later in the summer. It then plans to expand across the country.

There has been talk of smart payment systems for years, and Google faces the same hurdles that have stifled previous trials.

One is that Google Wallet will initially work on only one smartphone, the Google Nexus S 4G carried by Sprint Nextel Corp.

Several smartphone makers, including Research In Motion Ltd, maker of the BlackBerry, are ready to bring out more phones with chips for so-called Near-Field Communications, or NFC, but it's uncertain if they'll work with Google's system.

Another hurdle is getting retailers to invest in terminals that can talk to the phones. Google Wallet will connect only to MasterCard PayPass terminals. There are more than 135,000 of those in US stores and restaurants, but that's only a small fraction of the total number.

Google's carrot is that retailers will be able to put loyalty cards and coupons in the Wallet, helping them track and engage with their customers. Partners in the trial include Macy's, RadioShack, Subway, Toys R Us, Duane Reade and Walgreens.

Hurdles

Yet another problem: Google needs to get cellphone companies on board. Its partner Sprint is the country's third-largest. AT&T Inc, Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile USA, the rest of the four biggest national carriers, have formed their own consortium to create a wallet that will compete with Google's.

The final obstacle is persuading consumers to take the leap. Phones might one day offer slightly faster checkouts, but the benefit would be small.

Google calls Wallet a "single-tap solution," but in a demonstration on Thursday at Google's New York office, a Google executive had to tap his phone twice to a terminal provided by retail partner American Eagle Outfitters Inc, then sign on the screen to get a purchase of a pair of denim shorts through.

Osama Bedier, Google's vice-president of payments, said it was up to the retailer to decide if the shopper has to sign on the screen.

"Consumers and businesses don't have a compelling need for changes in payment methods," a recent study by the Federal Reserve said. It nevertheless concluded that there are substantial benefits to reap for everyone involved if mobile payments become a reality.

One of the potential benefits is increased security compared to cards with magnetic strips, which can be copied surreptitiously.

The Wallet will initially work with a MasterCard from Citigroup Inc and with a prepaid debit card issued by Google, but the intent is to let the wallet accept any card.

"This is about creating a compelling model and asking folks to join," Bedier said.

Banks and payment processors such as MasterCard and Visa like the idea of mobile payments, but have their own designs on the space.

Visa already has announced plans for its own wallet. MasterCard is collaborating with Google but is working on its own projects.

"Today's announcement is another early salvo in what will be a long and hard-fought battle to change consumers' payment behaviour and, as a potential result, the makeup of the payments landscape," said Forrester Research analyst Charles Golvin

Full Review of Galaxy Ace: Android Phone

The Galaxy Ace is aimed at those who are looking to own an Android phone on a budget.

SAMSUNG is looking to repeat the success of its Galaxy line of smartphones with its latest Android smartphone, the Galaxy Ace S5830.

In terms of design, Samsung's Galaxy Ace closely resembles the Apple iPhone - in fact the two phones look almost identical when placed side-by-side though the Ace is slightly smaller.

But don't get us wrong; the Galaxy Ace is still a good-looking slim and compact smartphone in its own right.

Though it is mostly made of plastic, it has a solid build quality and is ergonomically shaped so it feels nice to hold.

Much like modern touchscreen-based phones, the Galaxy Ace has few physical buttons including a single home button on the front while the rest such as the power button and volume rocker are located on the side.

SLIMLINE: The Galaxy Ace keeps a slim profile and has a handy microSD card slot on the side for easy access.

You'll also find a microSD card slot on the side for easy access. The phone heavily relies on external microSD cards for content storage, as it only has a paltry 158MB of internal memory.

The 3.5in screen is quite decent in terms of brightness and colour. It is also responsive when in use. However, considering that the screen only has a 320 x 480 resolution, it does pale in comparison with Samsung's AMOLED equipped smartphones.

On the positive side, we liked the matte textured rear panel that, unlike the iPhone's glossy surface, provided a better grip.

On the back is a 5-megapixel autofocus camera which is complemented by an LED flash and a tiny slit for the loud speaker.

Adding their own touch

Looks aside, the Galaxy Ace is up to speed with the latest Android smartphones as it runs on the latest Android 2.2 (Froyo) operating system.

The smartphone runs Samsung's TouchWiz 3.0 interface on top of the stock Android interface which gives it a slightly different look and feel. Despite the changes on the Samsung driven interface, it still runs like a regular Android smartphone but with a few added enhancements.

USEFUL: The Galaxy Ace has several built-social media widgets for Facebook and Twitter that allows users to stay connected with friends.

Holding down the home button brings up a window showing all applications running in the background. It also doubles up as a handy task manager for killing unwanted applications to conserve battery life.

The customised drag-down notification area also houses handy switches for turning on/off WiFi, Bluetooth, rotation lock and mute settings.

Similar to Windows Phone 7's People tile, the TouchWiz 3.0 address book also syncs with your friends from Facebook, where you can even check and comment on their recent activities directly from the address book.

Functionality

As a phone, the voice call quality was loud and clear, and the speakerphone mode was sufficiently audible when used in a car.

Text messaging, however, still feels like a chore on the phone's virtual Qwerty keyboard because of the keys that are placed too close together. The auto-correction system is also quite poor and often results in mistyped words. The experience does improve slightly when used in landscape mode but not by much.

The Galaxy Ace does however offer an alternate method for text input using the aptly named Swype. This feature basically allows users to enter a word by sliding their finger from letter to letter.

Admittedly, it does feel weird at first but it is surprisingly accurate at predicting words that you use. In fact, we felt that we could "write" faster using Swype than the regular Qwerty keyboard.

The Ace's 800MHz processor isn't the fastest around but it gets the job done running most basic applications.

Social media buffs that can't live without Facebook, Foursquare or Twitter can breathe easy as the Galaxy Ace can run them without any problems.

ERGONOMIC: The Galaxy Ace fits the hand nicely.

However, the phone's limitations really show as there's a noticeable lag even when you perform simple tasks as dragging icons around on screen.

Certain games like Angry Birds even lagged as we played through the levels while more graphic intense games like 3D racing game, Asphalt 5, are not supported on the phone.

The web browsing experience is average at best - even though pages load relatively quickly on the phone, the low-resolution screen makes reading text a little difficult.

But the biggest problem we had with the browser was its inability to wrap text around the screen when zoomed in.

This forces you to constantly scroll from side-to-side to read a full paragraph of text.

Despite running Froyo, the web browser doesn't support Flash but this doesn't surprise us considering it is an entry level phone after all.

In terms of battery life, the Ace managed to last us for at least a full day of usage before needing to be recharged.

Not so great for media

Truth be told, the Galaxy Ace isn't great for watching videos as it misses out on common file formats like AVI and is restricted to playing MP4 formatted files. On the other hand, the music player isn't half bad and does a decent job of keeping your songs in order.

Samsung has also provided an AllShare function that allows you to stream media from the Galaxy Ace to a connected WiFi player such as a computer or network-connected HDTV.

GOOD GRIP: The textured matte rear panel provides better grip than other smartphones with glossy surfaces.

We honestly don't see this feature being that useful aside from streaming music because of the lack of HD video playback and poor video quality from the camera.

The 5-megapixel camera is decent at taking still images that are acceptable for online use. The autofocus speed is quick when outdoors but is slow when shooting indoors.

It comes with several nifty features like smile detection and a panorama sweep mode (which dials the resolution down to 0.3-megapixels) but the picture quality won't blow you away and the colours appear a little washed out.

The LED flash helps illuminate close subjects fairly well in low light situations, but it isn't going to cut it for lighting up a room.

You will probably want to skip using the video recording feature as its only capable of taking QVGA quality (320 x 240-pixel) videos.

Conclusion

The Samsung Galaxy Ace is a very much a scaled-down version of Samsung's higher-end Galaxy phones. Its target definitely isn't the high-end user who is looking to upgrade their Android phone but rather those who are contemplating buying their first Android smartphone.

Despite its name, the Ace compromises on several key features - it doesn't have a brilliant AMOLED screen and the slow processor can't run certain games.

The on-board camera is decent for still photos and it has a few extras like smile detection, but the video recording quality is poor.

However, it does get the job done if all you want to do is to browse the Web, check e-mail and keep you up to date in your social networks.

Another positive is the Swype text input method that makes texting on the small screen easier.

Pros: Affordable; runs on Android 2.2 Froyo; compact and light; TouchWiz 3.0 interface; camera is decent for still photos.

Cons: Slow processor; limited on-board storage; QVGA quality video recording; low-resolution screen.

GALAXY ACE S5830
(Samsung)
Smartphone
NETWORK: EDGE/GPRS 850/900/1800/1900, HSDPA 900/2100
OPERATING SYSTEM: Android 2.2 (Froyo)
DISPLAY: 3.5in TFT capacitive touchscreen (320 x 480-pixels)
CAMERA: 5-megapixels; autofocus; LED flash; QVGA quality video recording
CONNECTIVITY: Bluetooth 2.1, WiFi 802.11 (b/g/n), USB 2.0
MEMORY: 150MB
EXPANSION SLOT: microSD (up to 32GB)
STANDBY/TALK TIME: 421 hours/6 hours
OTHER FEATURES: FM radio, Swype text input, A-GPS, ThinkFree, Exchange ActiveSync
DIMENSIONS (W x D x H): 112.4 x 59.9 x 11.5mm
WEIGHT: 113g

Full Review of Galaxy Ace: Android Phone

The Galaxy Ace is aimed at those who are looking to own an Android phone on a budget.

SAMSUNG is looking to repeat the success of its Galaxy line of smartphones with its latest Android smartphone, the Galaxy Ace S5830.

In terms of design, Samsung's Galaxy Ace closely resembles the Apple iPhone - in fact the two phones look almost identical when placed side-by-side though the Ace is slightly smaller.

But don't get us wrong; the Galaxy Ace is still a good-looking slim and compact smartphone in its own right.

Though it is mostly made of plastic, it has a solid build quality and is ergonomically shaped so it feels nice to hold.

Much like modern touchscreen-based phones, the Galaxy Ace has few physical buttons including a single home button on the front while the rest such as the power button and volume rocker are located on the side.

SLIMLINE: The Galaxy Ace keeps a slim profile and has a handy microSD card slot on the side for easy access.

You'll also find a microSD card slot on the side for easy access. The phone heavily relies on external microSD cards for content storage, as it only has a paltry 158MB of internal memory.

The 3.5in screen is quite decent in terms of brightness and colour. It is also responsive when in use. However, considering that the screen only has a 320 x 480 resolution, it does pale in comparison with Samsung's AMOLED equipped smartphones.

On the positive side, we liked the matte textured rear panel that, unlike the iPhone's glossy surface, provided a better grip.

On the back is a 5-megapixel autofocus camera which is complemented by an LED flash and a tiny slit for the loud speaker.

Adding their own touch

Looks aside, the Galaxy Ace is up to speed with the latest Android smartphones as it runs on the latest Android 2.2 (Froyo) operating system.

The smartphone runs Samsung's TouchWiz 3.0 interface on top of the stock Android interface which gives it a slightly different look and feel. Despite the changes on the Samsung driven interface, it still runs like a regular Android smartphone but with a few added enhancements.

USEFUL: The Galaxy Ace has several built-social media widgets for Facebook and Twitter that allows users to stay connected with friends.

Holding down the home button brings up a window showing all applications running in the background. It also doubles up as a handy task manager for killing unwanted applications to conserve battery life.

The customised drag-down notification area also houses handy switches for turning on/off WiFi, Bluetooth, rotation lock and mute settings.

Similar to Windows Phone 7's People tile, the TouchWiz 3.0 address book also syncs with your friends from Facebook, where you can even check and comment on their recent activities directly from the address book.

Functionality

As a phone, the voice call quality was loud and clear, and the speakerphone mode was sufficiently audible when used in a car.

Text messaging, however, still feels like a chore on the phone's virtual Qwerty keyboard because of the keys that are placed too close together. The auto-correction system is also quite poor and often results in mistyped words. The experience does improve slightly when used in landscape mode but not by much.

The Galaxy Ace does however offer an alternate method for text input using the aptly named Swype. This feature basically allows users to enter a word by sliding their finger from letter to letter.

Admittedly, it does feel weird at first but it is surprisingly accurate at predicting words that you use. In fact, we felt that we could "write" faster using Swype than the regular Qwerty keyboard.

The Ace's 800MHz processor isn't the fastest around but it gets the job done running most basic applications.

Social media buffs that can't live without Facebook, Foursquare or Twitter can breathe easy as the Galaxy Ace can run them without any problems.

ERGONOMIC: The Galaxy Ace fits the hand nicely.

However, the phone's limitations really show as there's a noticeable lag even when you perform simple tasks as dragging icons around on screen.

Certain games like Angry Birds even lagged as we played through the levels while more graphic intense games like 3D racing game, Asphalt 5, are not supported on the phone.

The web browsing experience is average at best - even though pages load relatively quickly on the phone, the low-resolution screen makes reading text a little difficult.

But the biggest problem we had with the browser was its inability to wrap text around the screen when zoomed in.

This forces you to constantly scroll from side-to-side to read a full paragraph of text.

Despite running Froyo, the web browser doesn't support Flash but this doesn't surprise us considering it is an entry level phone after all.

In terms of battery life, the Ace managed to last us for at least a full day of usage before needing to be recharged.

Not so great for media

Truth be told, the Galaxy Ace isn't great for watching videos as it misses out on common file formats like AVI and is restricted to playing MP4 formatted files. On the other hand, the music player isn't half bad and does a decent job of keeping your songs in order.

Samsung has also provided an AllShare function that allows you to stream media from the Galaxy Ace to a connected WiFi player such as a computer or network-connected HDTV.

GOOD GRIP: The textured matte rear panel provides better grip than other smartphones with glossy surfaces.

We honestly don't see this feature being that useful aside from streaming music because of the lack of HD video playback and poor video quality from the camera.

The 5-megapixel camera is decent at taking still images that are acceptable for online use. The autofocus speed is quick when outdoors but is slow when shooting indoors.

It comes with several nifty features like smile detection and a panorama sweep mode (which dials the resolution down to 0.3-megapixels) but the picture quality won't blow you away and the colours appear a little washed out.

The LED flash helps illuminate close subjects fairly well in low light situations, but it isn't going to cut it for lighting up a room.

You will probably want to skip using the video recording feature as its only capable of taking QVGA quality (320 x 240-pixel) videos.

Conclusion

The Samsung Galaxy Ace is a very much a scaled-down version of Samsung's higher-end Galaxy phones. Its target definitely isn't the high-end user who is looking to upgrade their Android phone but rather those who are contemplating buying their first Android smartphone.

Despite its name, the Ace compromises on several key features - it doesn't have a brilliant AMOLED screen and the slow processor can't run certain games.

The on-board camera is decent for still photos and it has a few extras like smile detection, but the video recording quality is poor.

However, it does get the job done if all you want to do is to browse the Web, check e-mail and keep you up to date in your social networks.

Another positive is the Swype text input method that makes texting on the small screen easier.

Pros: Affordable; runs on Android 2.2 Froyo; compact and light; TouchWiz 3.0 interface; camera is decent for still photos.

Cons: Slow processor; limited on-board storage; QVGA quality video recording; low-resolution screen.

GALAXY ACE S5830
(Samsung)
Smartphone
NETWORK: EDGE/GPRS 850/900/1800/1900, HSDPA 900/2100
OPERATING SYSTEM: Android 2.2 (Froyo)
DISPLAY: 3.5in TFT capacitive touchscreen (320 x 480-pixels)
CAMERA: 5-megapixels; autofocus; LED flash; QVGA quality video recording
CONNECTIVITY: Bluetooth 2.1, WiFi 802.11 (b/g/n), USB 2.0
MEMORY: 150MB
EXPANSION SLOT: microSD (up to 32GB)
STANDBY/TALK TIME: 421 hours/6 hours
OTHER FEATURES: FM radio, Swype text input, A-GPS, ThinkFree, Exchange ActiveSync
DIMENSIONS (W x D x H): 112.4 x 59.9 x 11.5mm
WEIGHT: 113g

Full Review of Galaxy Ace: Android Phone

The Galaxy Ace is aimed at those who are looking to own an Android phone on a budget.

SAMSUNG is looking to repeat the success of its Galaxy line of smartphones with its latest Android smartphone, the Galaxy Ace S5830.

In terms of design, Samsung's Galaxy Ace closely resembles the Apple iPhone - in fact the two phones look almost identical when placed side-by-side though the Ace is slightly smaller.

But don't get us wrong; the Galaxy Ace is still a good-looking slim and compact smartphone in its own right.

Though it is mostly made of plastic, it has a solid build quality and is ergonomically shaped so it feels nice to hold.

Much like modern touchscreen-based phones, the Galaxy Ace has few physical buttons including a single home button on the front while the rest such as the power button and volume rocker are located on the side.

SLIMLINE: The Galaxy Ace keeps a slim profile and has a handy microSD card slot on the side for easy access.

You'll also find a microSD card slot on the side for easy access. The phone heavily relies on external microSD cards for content storage, as it only has a paltry 158MB of internal memory.

The 3.5in screen is quite decent in terms of brightness and colour. It is also responsive when in use. However, considering that the screen only has a 320 x 480 resolution, it does pale in comparison with Samsung's AMOLED equipped smartphones.

On the positive side, we liked the matte textured rear panel that, unlike the iPhone's glossy surface, provided a better grip.

On the back is a 5-megapixel autofocus camera which is complemented by an LED flash and a tiny slit for the loud speaker.

Adding their own touch

Looks aside, the Galaxy Ace is up to speed with the latest Android smartphones as it runs on the latest Android 2.2 (Froyo) operating system.

The smartphone runs Samsung's TouchWiz 3.0 interface on top of the stock Android interface which gives it a slightly different look and feel. Despite the changes on the Samsung driven interface, it still runs like a regular Android smartphone but with a few added enhancements.

USEFUL: The Galaxy Ace has several built-social media widgets for Facebook and Twitter that allows users to stay connected with friends.

Holding down the home button brings up a window showing all applications running in the background. It also doubles up as a handy task manager for killing unwanted applications to conserve battery life.

The customised drag-down notification area also houses handy switches for turning on/off WiFi, Bluetooth, rotation lock and mute settings.

Similar to Windows Phone 7's People tile, the TouchWiz 3.0 address book also syncs with your friends from Facebook, where you can even check and comment on their recent activities directly from the address book.

Functionality

As a phone, the voice call quality was loud and clear, and the speakerphone mode was sufficiently audible when used in a car.

Text messaging, however, still feels like a chore on the phone's virtual Qwerty keyboard because of the keys that are placed too close together. The auto-correction system is also quite poor and often results in mistyped words. The experience does improve slightly when used in landscape mode but not by much.

The Galaxy Ace does however offer an alternate method for text input using the aptly named Swype. This feature basically allows users to enter a word by sliding their finger from letter to letter.

Admittedly, it does feel weird at first but it is surprisingly accurate at predicting words that you use. In fact, we felt that we could "write" faster using Swype than the regular Qwerty keyboard.

The Ace's 800MHz processor isn't the fastest around but it gets the job done running most basic applications.

Social media buffs that can't live without Facebook, Foursquare or Twitter can breathe easy as the Galaxy Ace can run them without any problems.

ERGONOMIC: The Galaxy Ace fits the hand nicely.

However, the phone's limitations really show as there's a noticeable lag even when you perform simple tasks as dragging icons around on screen.

Certain games like Angry Birds even lagged as we played through the levels while more graphic intense games like 3D racing game, Asphalt 5, are not supported on the phone.

The web browsing experience is average at best - even though pages load relatively quickly on the phone, the low-resolution screen makes reading text a little difficult.

But the biggest problem we had with the browser was its inability to wrap text around the screen when zoomed in.

This forces you to constantly scroll from side-to-side to read a full paragraph of text.

Despite running Froyo, the web browser doesn't support Flash but this doesn't surprise us considering it is an entry level phone after all.

In terms of battery life, the Ace managed to last us for at least a full day of usage before needing to be recharged.

Not so great for media

Truth be told, the Galaxy Ace isn't great for watching videos as it misses out on common file formats like AVI and is restricted to playing MP4 formatted files. On the other hand, the music player isn't half bad and does a decent job of keeping your songs in order.

Samsung has also provided an AllShare function that allows you to stream media from the Galaxy Ace to a connected WiFi player such as a computer or network-connected HDTV.

GOOD GRIP: The textured matte rear panel provides better grip than other smartphones with glossy surfaces.

We honestly don't see this feature being that useful aside from streaming music because of the lack of HD video playback and poor video quality from the camera.

The 5-megapixel camera is decent at taking still images that are acceptable for online use. The autofocus speed is quick when outdoors but is slow when shooting indoors.

It comes with several nifty features like smile detection and a panorama sweep mode (which dials the resolution down to 0.3-megapixels) but the picture quality won't blow you away and the colours appear a little washed out.

The LED flash helps illuminate close subjects fairly well in low light situations, but it isn't going to cut it for lighting up a room.

You will probably want to skip using the video recording feature as its only capable of taking QVGA quality (320 x 240-pixel) videos.

Conclusion

The Samsung Galaxy Ace is a very much a scaled-down version of Samsung's higher-end Galaxy phones. Its target definitely isn't the high-end user who is looking to upgrade their Android phone but rather those who are contemplating buying their first Android smartphone.

Despite its name, the Ace compromises on several key features - it doesn't have a brilliant AMOLED screen and the slow processor can't run certain games.

The on-board camera is decent for still photos and it has a few extras like smile detection, but the video recording quality is poor.

However, it does get the job done if all you want to do is to browse the Web, check e-mail and keep you up to date in your social networks.

Another positive is the Swype text input method that makes texting on the small screen easier.

Pros: Affordable; runs on Android 2.2 Froyo; compact and light; TouchWiz 3.0 interface; camera is decent for still photos.

Cons: Slow processor; limited on-board storage; QVGA quality video recording; low-resolution screen.

GALAXY ACE S5830
(Samsung)
Smartphone
NETWORK: EDGE/GPRS 850/900/1800/1900, HSDPA 900/2100
OPERATING SYSTEM: Android 2.2 (Froyo)
DISPLAY: 3.5in TFT capacitive touchscreen (320 x 480-pixels)
CAMERA: 5-megapixels; autofocus; LED flash; QVGA quality video recording
CONNECTIVITY: Bluetooth 2.1, WiFi 802.11 (b/g/n), USB 2.0
MEMORY: 150MB
EXPANSION SLOT: microSD (up to 32GB)
STANDBY/TALK TIME: 421 hours/6 hours
OTHER FEATURES: FM radio, Swype text input, A-GPS, ThinkFree, Exchange ActiveSync
DIMENSIONS (W x D x H): 112.4 x 59.9 x 11.5mm
WEIGHT: 113g

Samsung Infuse 4G with Big Screen and 1.2 GHz Processor

Big screen trend in smartphones seem to be getting popular in 2011. The presence of Samsung Infuse 4G, can make confused about whether this smartphone or tablet. Because the screen size is 4.5 inches!

Yes, the Samsung infuse 4G is newly announced its presence in the United States by AT & T. The phone will be capable of running on a 4G network which is held by AT & T in the land of Uncle Sam.

Super-large screen display technology that brings the latest from Samsung that is Super Amoled Plus, a new generation of Super Amoled. Super-thin screen is claimed to produce very good color. S Amoled subpixels Plus has 50% more for added clarity.

Quoted from Cnet,infuse 4G adopt Android version 2.2. While the processor highest among other Samsung phone, the 1.2 GHz Hummingbird. There is also a dual camera, rear camera with a resolution of 8 megapixels.

With a 4.5 inch screen, Infuse 4G straddling other Android phones that actually has a big screen. Call it the X Droid Motorola measuring 4.3 inch. Not yet known when infuse 4G will be marketed and at what price.

Samsung Infuse 4G with Big Screen and 1.2 GHz Processor

Big screen trend in smartphones seem to be getting popular in 2011. The presence of Samsung Infuse 4G, can make confused about whether this smartphone or tablet. Because the screen size is 4.5 inches!

Yes, the Samsung infuse 4G is newly announced its presence in the United States by AT & T. The phone will be capable of running on a 4G network which is held by AT & T in the land of Uncle Sam.

Super-large screen display technology that brings the latest from Samsung that is Super Amoled Plus, a new generation of Super Amoled. Super-thin screen is claimed to produce very good color. S Amoled subpixels Plus has 50% more for added clarity.

Quoted from Cnet,infuse 4G adopt Android version 2.2. While the processor highest among other Samsung phone, the 1.2 GHz Hummingbird. There is also a dual camera, rear camera with a resolution of 8 megapixels.

With a 4.5 inch screen, Infuse 4G straddling other Android phones that actually has a big screen. Call it the X Droid Motorola measuring 4.3 inch. Not yet known when infuse 4G will be marketed and at what price.