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While the Galaxy SIII seems to be stealing all the limelight at the moment, Samsung has snuck out another great Android smartphone, this time one aimed at the more price-conscious buyer.
The Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 is an improved sequel to the massively popular Galaxy Ace, which many saw as a cheaper alternative to the iPhone. The sequel stays as portable and hand-friendly as its predecessor but ups the screen size from 3.5-inches to 3.8-inches.
That screen features the same crisp 800 x 480 resolution as the Galaxy S2, although the screen type used isn’t of the Super AMOLED variety, so it won’t be as bright and colourful.
Samsung has also upped things in the speed department, planting a dual-core 800MHz CPU at its core. On the back of the phone is a 5-megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash and Full HD 1080p video recording capabilities, with 4GB of internal storage plus a micro SD card slot for saving everything.
The Ace 2 runs on Android 2.3, otherwise known as Gingerbread, with Samsung’s signature TouchWiz user interface over the top, adding things like the Social and Games Hubs. Samsung hasn’t yet confirmed if this phone will make the jump to Android 4.0 – aka Ice Cream Sandwich – but from the specs it seems to stand a good chance.
UK network Three has the Galaxy Ace 2 on sale from today, giving you the chance to pick one up for free on a 2 year deal paying £22 per month. For your pounds you get a decent 500 minutes, 5000 texts and 250MB of data. If you want more data, Three also offers 1000 minutes, 5000 texts and unlimited data for £27 per month.
If contracts aren’t your thing, the Galaxy Ace 2 will set you back a reasonably affordable £230 on pay as you go, which makes it more expensive than other budget payg blowers such as the Nokia Lumia 710 and the newer Sony Xperia U.
UPDATE: As confirmed in one of Samsung’s official promotional videos, the Galaxy Ace 2 will be updating to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. We just don’t know when.
You can also check out our “Compare Phone Prices” tool for the best Contract, Pay As You Go and SIM free deals by clicking the tab above.
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