One of the driving factors behind the phenomenal growth of Android devices has been the numerous budget handsets available. Samsung is responsible for a good selection of these, and ahead of next week's Mobile World Congress they have released details of two forthcoming devices, the Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 and Samsung Galaxy Mini 2.
Despite being level-entry devices, these two handsets have a good set of features, offering very good value for money.
The quad-band Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 weighs in at 122g, and has a 480 x 800 TFT touchscreen, measuring in at 3.8 inches.
Onboard storage on the Ace 2 is limited to 4GB, however there is a Micro SD card slot, support cards up to 32GB in size.
Powered by an 800 MHz Dual Core Processor, the Ace 2 runs Android 2.3, and utilises Samsung's proprietary TouchWiz UI. Imaging is handled with a 5.0 Megapixel autofocus camera, which supports Geotagging, Face detection and smile detection, and can record 720p HD video at 30 frames per second. A secondary front facing camera is included, for video calls and self portrait shots.
High speed data is supported with HSDPA up to 14.4 Mbps available, as well as WiFi b/g/n, with DLNA support included, along with WiFi Direct and WiFi Hotspot.
Additionally the Samsung Ace 2 offers GPS, with A-GPS, Bluetooth 3.0, full media player and all the usual Google Android features such as Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Talk, Picasa, YouTube and Google Search.
The Samsung Galaxy Mini 2 is slightly smaller than the Ace 2, and weighs in at just a touch over 105g. Sporting a 320 x 480 display, measuring in at 3.27 inches, the Galaxy Mini 2 also includes 4GB onboard memory, which can be expanded with Micro SD memory cards up to 32GB in size.
Powered by a single core 800 MHz processor and running Android 2.3, the Mini 2 offers a 3.2 Megapixel camera, and records VGA video at 25 fps.
High speed data is covered via HSDPA up to 7.2 Mbps, plus WiFi, with support for DLNA and WiFi Hotspot.
The device has full SNS integration, helping you to keep on top of all the latest updates from a variety of social networks.
The quad-band Galaxy Mini 2 also offers a full media player, with Stereo FM radio and RDS, along with GPS, A-GPS, email client, full web browser, plus image and video editor as well as a document viewer for viewing email attachments.
Commenting on the two new devices, Simon Stanford, Head of Samsung UK and Ireland, said: “The Galaxy Ace and Galaxy Mini have been hugely successful handsets for us since they launched last year so we are excited to be bringing our customers refreshed versions of both devices. Anyone who buys one of these new devices will benefit from even more functionality, including improved processing speeds so they can quickly connect to and browse the internet when they are out shopping, travelling to work or our with friends.”
Both of the Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 and Samsung Galaxy Mini 2 are set for an imminent release, and should be available to buy from March 2012.