Galaxy Ace 4 packs 4G and quad-core, but needs to be cheap to compete
The fourth Galaxy Ace packs a 5-megapixel camera and Android 4.4 KitKat. Read on for all the facts.
Samsung loves sequels. The latest pony to be led into its Galaxy stable is the Galaxy Ace 4, a follow-up to last year's Ace 3, which proved to be a moderately tempting mobile with a highly disappointing screen. Unfortunately, this year's model looks set to repeat that pattern.
Disappointing display
The Galaxy Ace 4 has a 4.3-inch display. That's much smaller than fancier Samsung phones like the Galaxy S5 or Note 4 , and is also a bit more petite than the excellent and very cheap Moto G 4G , which has a 4.5-inch screen. Size isn't the issue however -- more galling is that the Ace 4 has a 480x800 resolution, a highly ordinary pixel count in this day and age.
Because the display is on the smaller side, you might not notice that low pixel count, which will take some of the punch out of on-screen photos and video. But with the Moto G 4G costing a mere £149, the Ace 4 will need to be extremely cheap to compete.
Elsewhere the Ace 4 is more shades of ordinary. There's a 5-megapixel camera on the back, a 1.2GHz quad-core processor on the inside and Android 4.4 KitKat handling all your apps and software needs.
The Ace 4 does pack Category 4 LTE, which is a breed of 4G that offers higher theoretical speeds of up to 150Mbps, though network limitations mean you've currently got no chance of getting near that limit. 4G is great for faster downloads and streaming video (providing your network offers a healthy amount of data), but the Ace 4 isn't unique in offering this -- both the Moto G 4G and the EE Kestrel can handle these higher speeds, too.
The Ace 4 hits the UK on 17 October, available in Samsung's own-brand shops and from EE. Later on it'll be on sale from O2. With very ordinary hardware, we'll be looking for a price tag so low it could make a world limbo champion blush. Stay tuned for the full review.