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As with every smartphone, the Galaxy Ace 3 is likely to be used more to send messages to contacts, rather than to make voice calls.
Android devices come with many messaging options, with some preinstalled and some available from the Play Store. But first, let's take a look at the keyboard.
Previous Samsung Galaxy devices have tended to struggle, although things seemed to have been remedied since the introduction of the Samsung Galaxy S4. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for the Galaxy Ace 3.
This is down to a combination of things, including a smaller screen and poor autocorrect. In fact, it barely qualifies as autocorrect, as you have to manually choose the correction should you find that you've mistyped.
The smaller screen size also makes it more comfortable to use when typing in landscape mode, if a little stretched still, at least when aiming my digits at the middle keys. The keyboard wasn't overly impressive, but I didn't feel forced to download a third-party app.
SMS and MMS messaging is handled, rather unsurprisingly, by the Messaging app. The blue and yellow bubbles are there again, but these can be switched out for something a little different. You can also change the background. Small contact photos also sit next to the bubbles.
Part of the TouchWiz customisation has made its way over to the email app, which is smartly designed and functional.
The clean UI makes it easy to use, and the support for multiple accounts and an aggregated inbox makes it a lot more intuitive.
Google has also bundled its Gmail client in with Android devices. With the latest update bringing in contact photos, and swiping to archive messages, the app is more packed and more intuitive than ever. It also brings across all the features that has made the desktop client so powerful.
ChatON
ChatON is a feature that now graces every Samsung device. It sends instant messages to your contacts, making it a rival to WhatsApp, BBM and iMessage. You can also use it to send voice messages, as well as pictures.
Samsung has clearly given its platform some thought, and it's rather good. Unfortunately, it's unlikely to catch on: when I tested it, I found that I had all of three contacts. The rise of the cross-platform WhatsApp and BBM won't do ChatON any favours.
Overall, the messaging experience on the Galaxy Ace 3 is neither particularly impressive nor notably disappointing. For users who spend a lot of time tapping out emails and texts, a third-party keyboard might be necessary.
