Samsung Galaxy Ace Duos review Pair of Aces

This sure looks like a pair of ducks but a good player can play it as an ace. And its got nothing to do with luck. You cannot always hold the best cards but you can try and make the best of the cards youre dealt. And they may as well be SIM cards.

While the popularity and practicality of dual-SIM devices can vary, there are certain markets where single-carrier coverage is incomplete, making the use of two SIM cards almost a necessity. Not to mention the money that can be saved by combining different plans.

The ever-popular Galaxy line from Samsung is one of the most versatile ever, offering devices which range across all sorts of specs and sizes. It offers more and more dual-SIM handsets too, keeping with the Samsung strategy to cover every segment of the market. In the past few years the Koreans have cooked up a dual-SIM solution for almost every taste but its dual-SIM smartphones that have shown big potential for growth.

We are now looking at the dual-SIM version of the Galaxy Ace, while the entry level Galaxy Y line has two of those already. Even the premium Galaxy S series will soon enlist a dual-SIM, so Samsung must be serious about two-in-one smartphones. The Samsung Galaxy Ace Duos builds on the Galaxy Y Duos but tries to keep within budget. Here it is at a glance:

Key Features

Dual-SIM, calls received on both cards, simultaneous calls and data
Quad-Band GSM (both SIMs) and dual-band 3G support (only one SIM at a time)
7.2 Mbps HSDPA
3.5" 256K-color HVGA TFT touchscreen
ARMv6 832MHz processor, 512MB RAM
Android OS v2.3 (Gingerbread) with TouchWiz v3.0 UI
3GB internal storage, hot-swappable MicroSD slot
5 MP auto-focus camera with VGA videos @ 30fps
GPS receiver with A-GPS
Stereo FM radio with RDS
3.5mm audio jack
Document editor
Accelerometer and proximity sensor
Swype text input
MicroUSB v2.0
Stereo Bluetooth 3.0
Good audio quality
Main disadvantages

Sub-par ARMv6 CPU limits performance and choice of apps
Mediocre display
No hardware shutter key, no flash
No secondary video-call camera
No HD video recording
Abysmal video codec support
A look at the spec sheet tells us that the Ace Duos is marketed towards a budget-minded crowd. It looks to convert yet more of those die-hard featurephone enthusiasts into the smartphone game, with a device that provides the functionality theyre used to (in this case, two SIM cards simultaneously), without the monetary burden of a premium device.