Galaxy Ace Review :

Before buying this phone I was sceptic of Samsung and a fan of HTC. Reasons is because my 1st Android teh HTC Desire was the ultimate Android phone for me and I think it still is.. This because the performance and also the compatibility of apps and also amount of features the device introduced then. Till now I still tell everyone if they want to buy their 1st Android Smartphones always choose HTC..

I guess my views has changed since i bought my 1st Android Samsung Phones...the Galaxy ACE.
Just a year ago when Samsung released the Galaxy S the android market was missing a phone that could show the market that android phones is here to stay and alsowill be the formidable and leader of the smartphone of the future.

And now Samsung has released a smartphones that could even change the whole Android market not because of the specifications. But infact because the Price vs performance argument. Till now android phones was seen as an exclusive market whereby only the Geeks should have it The corporate people were always a Blackberry fan and the no brainers market goes to Nokia with its old classic Symbian.

My 1st impression of the phone was wow. At rm900 I was expecting less sexy looking plasticky phone but I fell inlove woth the phone right away. Well i can tell you this is my 2nd Samsung to be honest. I brick my 1st Galaxy after 1 hour buying it. I was rooting the phone when it hanged at Reboot. After a 2nd time and a replacement by my old trusted store ..i got this Beast to root with SOC 1.65 rather then 1.7. I really dunno what happened the 1st attemp but i was so nervous rooting my Ace that when I did root it it was a blast. I basically installed every singe Super user apps which previously on my desire on this beast. And i can tell you every single root apps worked like a charm..

The next project today was to download a suitable hacked Kernel to replaced the standard so i can play round with overclocking and also downclocking,
I thank Samsung for providing this 800MHz CPU and its really fast and has gone through every single 3D games I installed including NFS Shift.. it played flawlessly..

Also people are worried bout the low Ram! Dont be Ok? Take it from an expert.. The low ram is not an issue.. Obviously engineers in Samsung has taken play that this CPu can actually play videos at 30fps at min 360P but they have lock it so video only play at 15fps to avoid drop frame rates... not because of hardware limitation but because of the low ram could not handle HD videos playback and record..
.
The so called low ram issue..is not an issue at all if you are multitasking.. for normal users who on GPS, Internet, SMS and occasional gaming this phone is flawless and the multitasking switching on the Touchwiz 3.0 is superb compare to the Rival's Sense UI from HTC.. Touchwiz is the next success of Samsung Android GUI which will speer them to the top of Android manufacturer market..


Galaxy ACE - MALAYSIA Version. 2.2.1 Froyo ROOTED by yours truly!!!!

apps that works? :

SuperUser v2.3.6.1 Database 5
Titanium Backed Up v3.71 Donate! - Fullversion! . Able to uninstall/Freeze default Samsung and Internal Phone apps!!! and as usual the normal apps in SD
Apps2SD - Success
Droid Tweak - Success. Dalvik Cache Tweaks . Heap Size Optimize
ROM Manager -
Autokiller Memory - Success up to 140-170MB available ROM! sustain.. (note Internal ram stands at 270MB)
Swapper Configuration - Swaps Virtual Memory to SD - F'kin Works!

If you are waiting for the next budget Android phone and now wondering which one to buy.. Dont wait..Get this phone.. because its an ACE!!!!!!

READ :All the above info is only for educational purposes. In no way am I advocating people to root your device since rooting your device voids warranty!

This post has been edited by mizzdelina: Mar 6 2011, 10:37 AM

Unlocking the fps might damage your phone. Root your device and find a software solution instead. I dont want to write a guide. Im doing it because its fun and my hobby..

All your query ios alreadt in the net .. research well ok..?

Not sure bout that.. I guess you never bricked one before..

Anyways the one i had after root it just wont start.. recovery or even download mode.. AND I CALLED THAT BRICKED!

There is a trick during rooting SOC which involves enabling and disabling USD dev mode .. but after a while it make sense..
I also had to rem previous manufaturer detected USB driver and clean install Samsung USB driver before the success root.



This post has been edited by mizzdelina: Mar 6 2011, 09:15 AM

Bro.. how can you say there is something wrong with the hardware when everything was fine and working before the root attemp..

Anyways the shop sent back to HQ and the force flash it and is working fine now. But they gave me a new set..

During the 1st attempt of the root.. The SU did not successfully installed and messed with the Bootloader that looped the device. So it wont start..

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Added on March 6, 2011, 9:26 amNaah.. never used ODIN and terminal before.. but hate when that happens because i didnt have the original ROMS saved on my 7.
anyways working Samsung is rather weird and scary.. cos even the recovery looks so basic..

Here is some good joke about the terminologies: have a laugh ya its sunday!


Originally Posted by pinesal View Post
Hey, sorry to be anal about this but I just wanted to discuss out the definition of "bricked" because I see the term used incorrectly over and over and over.

What bricked really means is that your phone is a brick. So in other words:

Things a brick can't do:

display information
receive user input
make sounds

Things a brick can do:

Hold down paper
prop door open
be thown through a window


It means your phone has the same fuctionality as a brick. If you can get into the recovery mode you are not bricked.

I have never heard of ANYONE ever bricking an Android phone.

Have a nice day.






This post has been edited by mizzdelina: Mar 6 2011, 09:26 AM

Great tips.. yeah saw the roms at samfirmware need a guineapig to test it out.. so i can dump it in SD n update.zip .
To be honest i did try ODIN but the client just wont comm wih the ACE.. it just wont even goto to Download mode at all
Its totally Blank screen.

so are yours rooted and which kernel you using now.?

Be very careful here.. I would suggest to dump your default rom and save on sd first ..i made the mistake not doing this before i rooted first time round..
Before i bricked my phone.. It went to the ARM9 ROM error.. and hanged there.. Force shutdown and rebooted it gets to the Yellow Download Mode. After another reboot.. nothing else works including force combination key to Recovery or Download Mode..

So back up , Back up your default ROM.. so its kinda chicken and egg situation here you need to Root to backed your rom.. and you need a backup of your default ROm just incase you messed up on the rooting process..

I would suggest downloading Ace's default ROM from the internet instead...

Cooking Roms is not an issue have done that before.. but i need teh original image to based on my cooked ROMS..
Theres so much to do on the base level before we can dwell on the low level ROMs..

I wouldnt want to messed with that....my knowledge is limited, stillkinda waiting for XDA dev on this first but i would just want a tweaked ROM to optimize CPU and also for battery usage..ROMS are very personal thing.. a suitable Cooked ROMS for you might not be suitable for another...

I can see if only someone could work on the ROMs asap we all can sleep well.. FOr now im removing teh junks pre installed with Touchwiz and Samsung's UI's for RAM improvements.. I can see improvements but need suitable on this ...

Anyone knows of any utility that can do this kinda like Battery and Performance test comparison??

Buying a Galaxy Ace is like buying an AMD processor and tweaking it and maybe overlcloking it to the max.. i like that thought..


This post has been edited by mizzdelina: Mar 6 2011, 10:33 AM

You cant..you need root access for that to run ROM Manager.. I would suggest finding an official Ace ROM from Samsung.. just incase..

This post has been edited by mizzdelina: Mar 6 2011, 10:36 AM

This is irrelevant.. DO a real world testing!


Currently intsalling Flash Lite 4 to find the workaround for the Flash 10.1 support.
This processor and GPU cqan support flash 10. Samsung knows this!
Limitation set to ensure it stays in the midrange segment. This is a marketing strategy.

Samsung strategy to comeout this model is genius!

So far all apps that runs on my desire works on this.

Limitation on video Recording/.? wtf? this is rm880 phone.. so please dont whine!

Im sure there wil be a ROM to workaround that atleast 30fps on lower resolutions!



This post has been edited by mizzdelina: Mar 7 2011, 11:31 AM

In ACE there is to ways of achieving what you need..

1. Direct USB via the Tethering Support
2. ACE as mobile AP hotspot.

I would suggest go for no.1 if You need direct one to one linkup to your lappy.. Less latency with maximise performance due less hops through the internal gateways..
If you have more then 1 user is trying to share your network then gor for option 2.. ( i think works via Phone 3G connection only)


I use my ACE at home as router. I share internet connection via Wifi to the ACE . and ACE is set as AP.. i get extra user connecting to the ACE.
I can tell you ace can withstand the user upto 2-3 at current.

Im testing latency issues with the Handset so far im impressed.. Mind you im using UNIFI at home.. so speed is excellent!

This post has been edited by mizzdelina: Mar 7 2011, 12:47 PM

Bro still testing stages now.. theoretically it shoudl work.. even the old beta 10.1 should work any android with Eclair 2.1.
The Problem is ACE is using Froyo 2.2.1 which is the latest Froyo.

Im not sure where Samsung Block the Flash support and why? Im suspecting its not Hardware liomitation but more ROM limitation.

Now need really find out the following:

1. Should the Standard ACE ROM work with 10.1 beta which should work with Eclaire 2.1 or Higher. I can confirm that Flash 10.1 Official does not work with ACE standard ROM.

Another work around this which i am testing is to install Adobe Flash Lite 4 (actually Beta 10.1 for 2.1 and 2.2) and installing it in ACE's standard.. If it fails then it proves the limitation was on ROM side.

So another test will be downgrading to Eclaire 2.1 and installing beta 10.1 Flash. If this works then we know the limitation is set on ACE's 2.2.1 Froyo ROMS. I doubt the limitation is set on hardware.. most times Hardware spec is untouched and is always on the ROMS side.

Im thinking ACE's hardware is part of some other Samsung failed lineup in the assembly line. This failed batches are re batch int new lineup Model..e.g the ACE.. maybe the original Model has 512MB but it failed QC.. and a lock is set to have it at 320MB. Minus internal RAM allocation by Samsung ( Yes they do this ) system is set o 270MB standard..

So dont worry bout RAm availability trust me on this.. Till date i havent seen my ACE hang. If it does usually is application compatibility issue with the 2.2.1 Froyo ROM.

The biggest issue now..backing up the standard ROM.. so we can cooked a customised one for testing purposes.

This post has been edited by mizzdelina: Mar 7 2011, 12:36 PM

If you see many reviews on the net. Even the Ace s runnig 800MHz..vs teh SGS we see lots of improvement on Touchwiz 3.0 because of Froyo 2.2.1 i think..

SOC has unroot feature.. i never ever unroot. If i need to send for servicing i usually recovery to default roms..
Exactly why full root in ACE is important!!

The default Recovery ROM is teruk,, dats why need a better ROM.. so really hoping someone at XDA can cook one soon..

Get ROOT and think bout the rest later. Android without ROOT is like having a house without a door

This post has been edited by mizzdelina: Mar 7 2011, 02:07 PM

Bro this isnt a hack thread.. i woud suggest you ask at XDA..