Samsung Galaxy Ace review

Despite microSD cards being a relatively cheap and readily accessible storage option, the lack of internal storage in the Samsung Galaxy Ace grates as an irritating omission.

Quashing the saying that the best camera is the one you have to hand, the Samsung Galaxy Ace's complete lack of innards means that without a microSD card, not a single snap can be stored on the device.

Featuring an inbuilt music player and FM radio, the Samsung Galaxy Ace has the potential - like most smartphones - of being a media hub. Sadly, thanks to a lacklustre inbuilt speaker, these possibilities are likely never to be fulfilled.

Detracting from its capabilities, the Samsung Galaxy Ace's speaker's poor performance sees little bass and tinny tones result in a poor audio experience that fails to bolster the uninspiring screen's imaging abilities when watching a film, rescued only by its placement.

Unlike many smartphones with speakers in unfriendly positions for holding the device without depleting the output, the Samsung Galaxy Ace has seen Samsung shift the audio provider to the rear central portion of the phone, meaning uninterrupted sounds are possible.

Video and music files are stored in separate applications (gallery and music respectively), which means if you want to watch a music video after a music track, you have to come out of one application and into another.

Video files are arranged in date order in the gallery and play in landscape mode only.

The Samsung Galaxy Ace is not the phone to be picking up if you want a dedicated video player on the go. It has the capability to playback a variety of media files, which is a bonus, but the combination of the poor, low-res screen and lack of internal memory means you'll need to invest in a microSD card before you even think about a movie marathon.

It's not a deal breaker at the price, but don't go thinking you'll get anything like the experience of a Galaxy S3 on this phone, as it's not even got an OLED screen to write home about.