Samsung's lower midrange champion, the Galaxy Ace line, got a third generation entrant this year with the aptly named Galaxy Ace 3. It is not a huge upgrade over its predecessor, however, as is the habit with Samsung's annual updates, and the phone mainly got a 0.2" screen bump and a tad faster processor.
Another ace up its sleeve, pun not intended, is that the Ace 3 runs the newest Android 4.2 and is splattered with the newest TouchWiz Nature UX interface from Samsung. Is this enough to warrant your upgrade, or make you choose it before the sea of Android midrangers out there? Read on to find out...
Design:
Molded in the tried and true chubby plastic traditions of Samsung, the Ace 3 hasn't gotten much prettier in its third iteration than the previous two. We have the LTE version of the phone for review, which is slightly thicker and heavier than the 9.8mm 3G version.
The typical soapy shape with tapered sides and metal-like rim around the front panel do look decent, though, and the dark blue patterned plastic on the back is a nice change from Samsung's glossy black covers of yesteryear.
The phone has become slightly taller compared to the Ace 2, to accommodate the larger screen, but the side bezel has shrunk and the width has been kept almost identical, so the phone is very easy to hold and operate with one hand as well.
The volume rocker on the left and the power/lock key at the right are thin, but not uncomfortably so, and are very easy to feel and press, with good tactile feedback, as is the large physical home key underneath the display.
Display:
We get a 4” LCD screen with the Galaxy Ace 3, which sports 480x800 pixels of resolution, ringing in a decent for this class 233ppi pixel density. The screen sports good color representation and very nice viewing angles.
The panel's brightness is not very high, and its reflectivity is about average, meaning that outside under direct sunlight you'll have trouble telling what's going on, even at maximum luminance.
The numbers below represent the amount of deviation in the respective property, observed when a display is viewed from a 45-degree angle as opposed to direct viewing.
The CIE 1931 xy color gamut chart represents the set (area) of colors that a display can reproduce, with the sRGB colorspace (the highlighted triangle) serving as reference. The chart also provides a visual representation of a display's color accuracy. The small squares across the boundaries of the triangle are the reference points for the various colors, while the small dots are the actual measurements. Ideally, each dot should be positioned on top of its respective square. The 'x: CIE31' and 'y: CIE31' values in the table below the chart indicate the position of each measurement on the chart. 'Y' shows the luminance (in nits) of each measured color, while 'Target Y' is the desired luminance level for that color. Finally, 'ΔE 2000' is the Delta E value of the measured color. Delta E values of below 2 are ideal.
The Color accuracy chart gives an idea of how close a display's measured colors are to their referential values. The first line holds the measured (actual) colors, while the second line holds the reference (target) colors. The closer the actual colors are to the target ones, the better.
The Grayscale accuracy chart shows whether a display has a correct white balance (balance between red, green and blue) across different levels of grey (from dark to bright). The closer the Actual colors are to the Target ones, the better.
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