Last Updated on November 8, 2015 by Mathew Diekhake
Even though we saw the Apple budget iPhone 5 C perform poorly over 2013 to the point where it likely won’t be back again this year, the general conception is that a budget smartphone should always do well enough to be considered successful because there is always a high demand for cheap products. That is arguably where Apple went wrong because their version of the budget wasn’t that cheap at all. Samsung will not be making that same mistake with the 2014 Galaxy Ace Style.
The Galaxy Ace Style, announced on the 3rd of April, will come cheap and packed full of more features than you would expect in a cheaper version and that is why we love it. It will run Android 4.4 KitKat out of the box and that is a modern OS that is just about fit for a flagship under the same Sammy business. Furthermore, it will also have a 1.2 GHz dual core processor which gives it enough power to satisfy just about anyone that isn’t a hardcore gamer.
Now days consumers are a lot savvier than the used to be and even if they do not know all the hardware specs, most of them will at least want to know what version of Android the operating system is. We expect the fact that they managed to equip this one with the chocolate variety will pay big dividends for them.
Where it gets left behind a little bit compared to other modern-day smartphones is the screen size. All flagships this year, and most others for that matter are coming with big displays. That means more money on shells and displays because there is physically more of them. The Galaxy Ace Style will stay at a modest 4 inches which are roughly an inch smaller than the Galaxy S5 and we have not seen an iPhone this small for a few years. The South Korean multinational conglomerate company will also cost cut with a 5 megapixel camera, but when we shop for something of this price we are not expecting super high-res pictures anyway.
I personally love the way Sammy has decided to produce this phone. It is impracticable to keep everyone satisfied and give tremendous specs for less cost, but I feel like they’ve acted wisely and chosen the right things to have good quality and the best things to leave out.
Other features worth noting are the Dual SIM which is beneficial for crowds who commute across multiple countries like it is common to do in Europe. When passing through different countries it is illegal to use the same SIM card in parts of Europe so they need to have two of them. Owning a Dual SIM device means that they do not feel the necessity for buying a totally new smartphone. Better yet, being able to kill all of those birds with the one cheap stone is fantastic.
Moreover, it also has NFC that is new connectivity technology that all flagships are coming with these days. NFC stands for Near Field Communication and it allows the smartphone to be connected with other technology from a close distance.
Additional features that have been mentioned in the announcement include a native ChatOn experience that also is an application that received an update the other day that allows for some cool new things such as being able to delete sent messages. It will come in two colors: Cream White and Dark Gray and is expected to be priced anywhere from €200 – 300.