Review - Samsung Galaxy Ace (GT-S5830i, 832MHz)

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Týr
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Review - Samsung Galaxy Ace (GT-S5830i, 832MHz)

Post by Týr »

I've had several cellphones, all pay as you go. The first had an extensible aerial and I forget who made it but it lasted me eight years. Then I had a succession of identical builder's bricks - the Nokia 5210 with the rubber case - there are two on my desk still with active SIMs. A few months ago I was out of town with no phone, found I needed one and paid £10 for a Samsung GT-E1230. I prefer the older Nokia.

I did, however, have an unsolved problem. I spend days at a time beyond wifi reach with a laptop but no Internet. I finally went into Phones4U and asked for something capable of tethering a laptop to a 3G data link. That was my sole requirement and I came out with their cheapest choice, a Galaxy Ace for £80, all Android phones having been able to do that since 2.3.

I put in a SIM that allows PAYG tethering, initialized everything as far as a welcome message and went into the Google Play Store where Apps live. I had one in mind which is, to my mind, worth the cost of the phone in its own right though it had nothing to do with my purchase. Google Stars, free and extraordinarily exciting. Thank you Google.

I tethered my laptop with no trouble and ignored the phone for a couple of days, then I started to learn about what I'd bought. I downloaded Firefox. I went to "Upgrade Systems Software". I hit a wall and started discovering what I didn't know. Just installing those two packages had squeezed the minimal storage space so hard that the system couldn't update in the remaining few megabytes. I uninstalled them both, upgraded the system and browsed the Internet to find out how to cope.

The storage was packed tight with crud apps from Samsung. I had no rights to delete them. I rooted the phone to get the rights, thereby voiding my warranty. I deleted a third of the storage. I added a small SMS app, M7, to replace the huge Samsung Messaging app I'd kicked out. The phone still worked as far as I could tell, but I now had room to bring back Firefox and Google Stars. I brought on another half-dozen useful apps and still have enough slack space to feel comfortable.

The micro-sd slot currently has an 8GB stick with a few books and enough music to please me. The phone will establish either a 3.5mm stereo jack or bluetooth connection to whatever amp and speakers I have to hand and I'm delighted. I bought a £20 bluetooth over-the-ear headset from eBay too and that sounds as good as my ears can cope with. I upgraded the stock 1350maH battery to 2450maH for another £5. I can get from dawn to bedtime with as much bluetooth, wifi, GPS and tethering as I need and recharge while asleep.

I've taken a couple of photos on the 5Mp camera and it's what I'd expect. I'll keep my digital compact on my belt.

One day I might feel the need for a quad-processing bigger-screen next-generation jump but I've done what I needed. I'm loath to part with my old Nokias though. I suspect I might carry on using them outside the house but I'm only two weeks into this new one, who can tell.
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Ahso!
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Review - Samsung Galaxy Ace (GT-S5830i, 832MHz)

Post by Ahso! »

How did you root the phone?
“Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities,”

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Týr
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Review - Samsung Galaxy Ace (GT-S5830i, 832MHz)

Post by Týr »

Ahso!;1429453 wrote: How did you root the phone?


Choosing who to trust isn't easy when it comes to unauthorized Android fiddles, but working it out from scratch is infeasible. I googled about until I found a consensus of where experts lived, and then I found a rooting thread in plain view that had hundreds of satisfied customers and nobody saying hey there's a botnet bedded into that. Then I opened the patch and red as much of it as I could follow. Then, having applied it, I watched the phone's outgoing firewall logs to see if it was acting surreptitiously - so far it hasn't. A small patch for rooting is bearable, I'd have no way of rationally trusting a patched kernel though and there's a lot of those out there.

For my phone, the thread was Root,Unroot,CWM,and how to Flash Galaxy Ace S5830i - xda-developers

Much the same problem arises when trusting apps in general, they're all precompiled and few are open source. I'm sticking to "millions of users" and still watching the outgoing firewall logs regularly.

I'll become better acquainted with my phone when I get a full-size bluetooth keyboard and mouse. I'll still rely on a laptop for my secure requirements though.
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Wandrin
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Review - Samsung Galaxy Ace (GT-S5830i, 832MHz)

Post by Wandrin »

I concur that xda-developers is a reliable source of info for Android phones. I've flashed a few different ROMs and am currently running CyanogenMod with wireless tether. It comes in very handy when I'm off on a wandrin road trip.
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Týr
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Review - Samsung Galaxy Ace (GT-S5830i, 832MHz)

Post by Týr »

I'd feel comfortable with an original CyanogenMod ROM, that's a respectable provenance. At the moment I'm still a long way from feeling restrained by the stock system.
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Review - Samsung Galaxy Ace (GT-S5830i, 832MHz)

Post by Týr »

Merely deleting unwanted apps isn't enough to keep the storage clear for workspace. I had to find one more thread introducing link2sd, and that's created a stable amount of empty storage.

Boost your Samsung Galaxy Ace S5830i | Michiels blog

That's a very helpful page and I recommend it.

I've chosen not to replace the stock ROM, there seems no significant advantage and several quality-control reasons not to. I'm not going to replace the kernel either, though I do think the variable clock speed is something that would be useful. If I want that I'll compile the open-source stock kernel from Samsung and apply the minor patch involved.

What is annoying is that Samsung have trimmed out support for an external keyboard and mouse from the Bluetooth Stack. Had that been successfully brought back into play in a third-party kernel I'd have jumped at it but nobody's made one. Next time I buy an android phone it'll be a requirement.
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Týr
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Review - Samsung Galaxy Ace (GT-S5830i, 832MHz)

Post by Týr »

Týr;1429995 wrote: What is annoying is that Samsung have trimmed out support for an external keyboard and mouse from the Bluetooth Stack. Had that been successfully brought back into play in a third-party kernel I'd have jumped at it but nobody's made one. Next time I buy an android phone it'll be a requirement.


To keep the story up to date, the lack of physical keyboard ended up a deciding factor. When I was presented with an alternative use for the Ace I took it and I've bought a replacement which will take a keyboard.

My new phone has a 6" FHD screen, letting me browse the Internet more adequately and use an office suite which was impractical on the Ace. It's dual SIM so I now have both my personal and business phone combined into one device.

I'll pick up a bluetooth mouse and report back on how the phone feels after a few weeks of acclimatization.
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Ahso!
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Review - Samsung Galaxy Ace (GT-S5830i, 832MHz)

Post by Ahso! »

What is it?
“Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities,”

Voltaire



I have only one thing to do and that's

Be the wave that I am and then

Sink back into the ocean

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Týr
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Review - Samsung Galaxy Ace (GT-S5830i, 832MHz)

Post by Týr »

Ahso!;1438068 wrote: What is it?


Model: ZOPO ZP990

CPU: MTK6589T

RAM: 2GB

ROM: 32GB

OS: Android 4.2

Band: 2G:GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz & 3G: WCDMA 850/2100MHz

Sim Card: Dual SIM Card Dual Standby(one micro-sim card)

Service Provide: Unlocked

Color: White,Black

Screen Size: 6.0 Inch

Resolution: 1920*1080

Buy ZOPO Mobile Phone at Official Authorized Shop

It lacks 4G support but then, as far as I know, there's no 4G in England yet. I'm not much convinced that 4G would do as much for me as WiFi does and I'm nearly always on a WiFi link.
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Review - Samsung Galaxy Ace (GT-S5830i, 832MHz)

Post by Ahso! »

Nice! That's a large phone. I use a Samsung Galaxy Note 2 which is large, but yours is larger and slightly heavier. Mine has a stylus pen, which I get use out of since I take credit cards for my business.

Enjoy!
“Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities,”

Voltaire



I have only one thing to do and that's

Be the wave that I am and then

Sink back into the ocean

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Týr
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Review - Samsung Galaxy Ace (GT-S5830i, 832MHz)

Post by Týr »

For signatures? I'd thought phone-attached credit card readers relied on a PIN. I've never had one, only seen the adverts in a bank.

The Note is what I had in mind when I went searching. What I got was what seemed right this month, the market changes so quickly. I was pleased it arrived in 7 days, UPS, with all the taxes prepaid. It wasn't particularly cheap - $430 delivered. It's still cheaper than signing up to a 24 month service contract though.
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Review - Samsung Galaxy Ace (GT-S5830i, 832MHz)

Post by Ahso! »

Yes, signatures. I don't know about others but I use square reader which requires a signature. It's a good thing these phones do as much as they do with the price we pay for them.

I like larger displays and the fact that the microphone is closer to my mouth with larger phones.
“Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities,”

Voltaire



I have only one thing to do and that's

Be the wave that I am and then

Sink back into the ocean

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Wandrin
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Review - Samsung Galaxy Ace (GT-S5830i, 832MHz)

Post by Wandrin »

I'm not a fan of the larger phones, mostly because I clip it to my belt sideways. My new phone is an HTC One. I rooted it, but am using the stock Sense ROM (for now).
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Review - Samsung Galaxy Ace (GT-S5830i, 832MHz)

Post by Ahso! »

My Note 2 is a weight in my pocket for sure, especially with the Otterbox Defender I have the phone encased in. That's something I tolerate to get what I want. The larger display is great for GPS as well as watching videos and surfing the internet.

Note: do people say "surfing the internet" anymore?
“Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities,”

Voltaire



I have only one thing to do and that's

Be the wave that I am and then

Sink back into the ocean

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Wandrin
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Review - Samsung Galaxy Ace (GT-S5830i, 832MHz)

Post by Wandrin »

Ahso!;1438130 wrote: My Note 2 is a weight in my pocket for sure, especially with the Otterbox Defender I have the phone encased in. That's something I tolerate to get what I want. The larger display is great for GPS as well as watching videos and surfing the internet.

Note: do people say "surfing the internet" anymore?


I work at home (or on the road), so the only time I'm away from my computers is when I am out to lunch or at a meeting. Both my around town and wandrin vehicles have large screen GPS systems. So, I mostly use my phone for calls, calendar, and restaurant ratings or for killing time at the doctor's office. It is my backup internet connection when wandrin though. It is amazing how many seemingly remote campgrounds are within cell data range.

I like the Otterbox. I use something similar from Seido to protect the phone and snap into my belt clip.

re Note: I still hear people say "surfing the internet" but maybe that's because I don't live very far from the coast. :)
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Review - Samsung Galaxy Ace (GT-S5830i, 832MHz)

Post by KAGE-008 »

I had this phone for almost two years. It was hard to keep the apps updated on it due to the low storage it comes with. Back in September this year, I installed CyanogenMod 11.0 to it (yes, the AndroidARMv6 team ported 4.4.4 KitKat to an old device with the BCM21553 processor, old ports were for MSM7227 devices only) but for some reason, it's faster for the first 10 minutes after the install. Then the delay in calls bug triggers, which according to the devs at XDA, it's something that can't be solved since the phone doesn't have the ARMv7 hardware to run it properly.

Had to switch to a Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini VE (GT-I8200L) because it was being harder and harder to even use my old SGA (GT-S5830M) as a daily driver.
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Review - Samsung Galaxy Ace (GT-S5830i, 832MHz)

Post by FG-administator »

I think I installed at most three or four apps, when I was running mine. Loading it beyond that did made a noticeable difference to the responsiveness. Leaving it in much the same state as it came out of the factory and it just kept on working. It still is, a friend of a friend has it now and it's still the way it was. The Ace was a well-made phone at a startlingly low price.


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Review - Samsung Galaxy Ace (GT-S5830i, 832MHz)

Post by Snowfire »

My HTC has become unusable of late and the cheapest solution was for me to purchase a Chinese smart phone (£95.00). Cubot S222 with a 5.5 inch screen. So far its behaving itself, although not quite as intuitive as the htc and samsungs in the family.

Good value methinks for a stopgap.
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