Camera Phone Reviews

Samsung ACE from Mobile ESPN

The Samsung ACE™ features a slim design, measuring just over a half-inch thick and weighing only 3.53 ounces. Made of lightweight magnesium that is both durable and fashionable, the Samsung ACE™ features ESPN's signature look and feel with a red and black keypad, complete with ESPN's trademark logo and unique numerical font style.

"The Samsung ACE from Mobile ESPN delivers the fastest sports information fans want on a slim, yet powerful cell phone," said Manish Jha, senior vice president and general manager, Mobile ESPN. "Samsung is a leader in quality, design and innovation. With custom features developed just for Mobile ESPN, together we'll deliver sports fans with the best in technology and content in a fashionable phone."

Peter Skarzynski, senior vice president, Samsung said, "The Samsung ACE™ is the perfect companion for Mobile ESPN. This versatile handset combines style with substance, and with broadband-like speeds, it is the ultimate phone for viewing high-quality video with stereo-quality sound."

The Samsung ACE's™ large QVGA display and stereo speakers are ideal for watching sports clips with full-motion video and rich sound quality. The user interface features easy-to-read icons that instantly link users to the Mobile ESPN sports application, downloads, digital camera features and messaging capabilities.

With the convenient "E" button located in the center of the keypad, users can launch their mobile sports experience with the touch of a button. This exclusive Mobile ESPN feature takes sports fans directly to their personalized sports content, including ESPN BottomLine scores and headlines; favorite teams and player statistics; Gamecast - a live, graphical game representation; customized Mobile ESPN video clips and game highlights; ESPN commentary and analysis; real-time scores; sports alerts and fantasy team management.

With the Samsung ACE™, sports enthusiasts will be free to cheer on their favorite teams, thanks to a high-quality speakerphone and built-in Bluetooth® wireless capability. The handset also includes enhanced voice recognition, voice memo and a personal calendar - ideal for meetings and reminders.

Key Features of the new Samsung ACE™ from Mobile ESPN include:

* One-Touch Personalized Access to:
o - Real-time scores, statistics and breaking news alerts
o - Interactive fantasy team management
o - Exclusive columns from Bill Simmons, John Clayton and more
o - High-quality contextual audio and video, including game highlights, analysis and reporting
o - ESPN Radio updates every 20 minutes
o - Daily SportsNation polls and trivia
o - Downloadable team logos, fight songs, ESPN The Magazine covers, ring tones and more
* 1.3 megapixel camera with built-in flash and digital zoom lens
* Camcorder which captures video in up to 30-second intervals
* Built-in Bluetooth® wireless capability
* Large, full-color QVGA Screen - Vibrant 1.8" x 1.4" main TFT display with 262K-colors
* Speakerphone
* High-speed data access
* EVDO Support
* Enhanced voice recognition
* MP3/AAC music player
* Built-in productivity tools, including task list and calendar

Samsung Ace Reviews

CNET reviews the Samsung Ace and writes, "Picture quality was pretty decent. Objects were clearly defined and the color wasn't perfect, but definitely better than other camera phones we've seen. That said, we found that there's a bit of delay from the time you press the capture button to the time it actually takes the picture, so be sure not to move your hand, otherwise you'll end up with a blurry shot. Sadly, video recordings did not fare well. Clips were choppy and the color was off."

InfoSync reviews the Samsung Ace and writes, "If you are already using Windows Media player to manage all of your music and videos, the Samsung Ace will play nicely with your setup. Of course, the memory slot tops out at 2GB, which is less than we're seeing on the newest smartphones, but not too bad. For multimedia services, Sprint goes about halfway, maybe less, giving the phone access to Sprint TV, but not the Sprint Music store, which is unfortunate, or the more rarified Sprint Movie store. The phone paired easily with our stereo Bluetooth headphones, but we would always prefer a standard 3.5mm headphone jack so we can use any pair of cans we have lying around."

Mobile Burn reviews the Samsung Ace and writes, "While the 1.3 megapixel camera in the Samsung SPH-i325 lacks the resolution that many smartphone cameras have today, it takes a decent photo and has a very nice user interface. Also, it seems that the camera starts up faster than we have come to expect from past Samsung devices, which is nice. Settings range from the typical white balance and resolution controls to a self timer and a configurable shutter sound, which can be disabled completely. The camera can also be quickly switched into video mode, which lets it record QVGA resolution video clips."

CrunchGear reviews the Samsung Ace (Sprint) and writes, "The backside of the device features a speakerphone and 1.3-megapixel camera (no flash) that’s capable of recording and playing MPEG4, H.263, and WMV video formats...Despite its drawbacks — my biggest gripe being the proprietary connections — I found the SPH-i325 to be a great phone, one I’d be more than happy to use on a day to day basis. The form factor and the keyboard are especially excellent and the middling speed and battery life wouldn’t be enough to deter me from using it regularly. If you’re in the market for a solidly-built Windows Mobile phone for keeping up with e-mails and surfing the net, you’ll be pleased with the SPH-i325."

Wired reviews the Samsung Ace and writes, "While the Ace feels just right physically, metaphysically it feels like much of the same. There’s nothing about that handset that is a far-and-away improvement over the BlackJack series. A Palm or Mac OS is far superior to the bloated Windows Mobile 6 the Ace insists on using. Worse yet, there’s a conspicuous lack of features on this device found in similar handsets. Where are my touchscreens, my gigabyte-juiced internal memory, my Mac compatibility, and my greater multimedia options and features? Come on Samsung, we know you’re trying to offer a smartphone for less, but the competition out there is fierce...1.3-megapixel camera good for sharp pics."

The Washingtonpost reviews the Samsing Ace and writes, "The 1.3-megapixel camera captured decent snapshots, but the shutter speed was a little slow (as with most camera phones). The Internet connectivity is zippy, and the oversize Web search bar is a nice touch when you're dealing with the small font size. Among the other included features are stereo Bluetooth, a memory card slot, and Windows Media Player 10 Mobile with support for Windows Media music sync."

PC World reviews the Samsung Ace and writes, "The 1.3-megapixel camera captured decent snapshots, but the shutter speed was a little slow (as with most camera phones). The Internet connectivity is zippy, and the oversize Web search bar is a nice touch when you're dealing with the small font size. Among the other included features are stereo Bluetooth, a memory card slot, and Windows Media Player 10 Mobile with support for Windows Media music sync."