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A bitter warning! Read this before buying!

Hi ALL,
A warning .Please read this or be stung! From my bitter experience, DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT BUYING A GALAXY ACE!!!
I have now spent 2 weeks trying to get he thing to work, with the main instruction manual and ploughing through these forums [and they confirm my findings].
The device is a fraud - it does NOT work as described or advertised.
Yes, the phone works, and after trouble some pictures and music can be loaded, and radio works.
As for obtaining any new apps, IMPOSSIBLE. Neither Samsung nor android market will recognise phone. It is as if the phone is not suitable for android,
It will NOT link through a PC as described in manual, either as the 'mass storage' connection. [Instruction book shows keying that do not even exist!] and KIES is as bad- when it even connects.

Without apps it has no book reader or even basic notepad etc - useless.
I have to work on the phone through my PC as bad phone signal here. It is supposed to link through a PC. Rubbish!

If a phone will not connect to it's own maker's website, or the google android market specifically for it. It is a fraud. I note neither google, nor Samsung offer any assistance AT ALL.
Only this forum has been any help, and answers there have been variable, since what works for one person's phone seemingly does not for others!

IF ANYONE out there DOES know how to link to download apps via PC reliably I'd be VERY pleased to hear from them- if they can tell me, and others in non jargon language!

Be warned and avoid!
Robin
 
Hi Robin,
Although I can't give you any directions (it seems like you have tried everything) I'm sorry to hear about your experiences. Yes, lots of people seem to have problems with the Galaxy Ace (as with all the smartphones, take a look at other forums!). I've had my Ace for three months now, and no problems of any kind. Guess I'm lucky.
But I think it won't help you very much using all the terms you do in your post (such as "fraud", "useless", "rubbish" and all the capitals. People in this forum are very willing to help, but could you try to calm down a bit?
 
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The Ace, like just about every other smartphone out there, gets good to mixed reviews.

There have been very few true lemon releases by the Android manufacturers. It doesn't look like the Ace is one of those lemons.

I'm thinking that, as mentioned before, you've got yourself one of those mis-manufactured/ill inspected phones that slip through and have issues right off ("infant mortality" it's called in various tech trades). ;)

Exchange? Send in for repair? Grab another Ace or some other device? Up to you. ;)
 
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lmao is this guy serious? my ace does more then its supposed to, and the possibilities are still endless, the market works fine and only the apps compatible with my device..

the ace works period.

as Gammer says "Rather stupid posting in a galaxy ace forum telling people to avoid it who are perfectly happy with it"
I am more than satisfied with my galaxy ace. There will always be noobs...!

After posting, I realised... Guys don;t post in this thread.. let it sink to the depths of hell!! :D
 
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@Robin Davies Like a post above mentioned you probably have a dud piece & should get it exchanged/repaired. I cannot give you much advise as I am a newbie to Ace myself but for connecting to your PC to load music etc try MyPhoneExplorer FJ Software Development as I mentioned elsewhere on this forum it can do everything KIES does except update your phone firmware & connect to Samsung apps. Its strange you don’t have a ‘Memo’ or ‘Thinkfree Office’ pre loaded on your phone. You should also try re installing KIES on your pc. BTW you don’t need KIES to connect to Android Market.
 
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Here is my thoughts on what you said (also a new user).

Not tried to get apps yet, but if it were the case thats apps couldnt be downloaded this would surely be all over the net and it isnt, so your situation seems unique.

I couldnt get the radio to work, I tuned it, but no sound came out, but its possible I did something wrong as I didnt spend much time on it.

Manual? what manual ;) this phone just came with a quick start guide and I had no manual at all with it.

I have used KIES and I used it to add my contacts to the phone as well as upload photos (since I found no way to transfer them), however KIES would say "no device found" when I tried to upload music files. So for me was partially buggy.

Due to the KIES failure I have also used the usb mass storage mode which did actually work fine.
 
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Robin Davies
the ACE is a very good phone, I'm very happy with it, unless you bought some pirated copy it should work well and very easy to understand there's no need to use any manual.
If a phone will not connect to it's own maker's website, or the google android market specifically for it. It is a fraud. I note neither google, nor Samsung offer any assistance AT ALL.
do you have a gmail account? and the phone is synchronizing with google services (android market) with the same gmail account on the phone?
also did you enable in settings
 
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Ace is a very good phone. Value for money. Simply check other threads in this forum. No one has issues like this.
Galaxy Ace is one of the best Mid range mobile phones. Ace has all the functions for what we paid for.

I admit the fact that many android phones are not very much user friendly for the first time users. But after few days you will learn how to use all the functions.

If your device has some manufacturing defect, Go to Samsung Service Center immediately and get it fixed or get a new device. One my friend has some WiFi connection problem with Ace and he got it fixed free of cost from a Samsung Service Center.

One More thing - Please check whether you have a proper WiFi or data connection. Without an internet connection Android Market won't work.
 
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Here is my thoughts on what you said (also a new user).

Not tried to get apps yet, but if it were the case thats apps couldnt be downloaded this would surely be all over the net and it isnt, so your situation seems unique.

I couldnt get the radio to work, I tuned it, but no sound came out, but its possible I did something wrong as I didnt spend much time on it.

Manual? what manual ;) this phone just came with a quick start guide and I had no manual at all with it.

I have used KIES and I used it to add my contacts to the phone as well as upload photos (since I found no way to transfer them), however KIES would say "no device found" when I tried to upload music files. So for me was partially buggy.

Due to the KIES failure I have also used the usb mass storage mode which did actually work fine.
Hi Chrcol,
If you should want an extended manual, google around a little bit. I found one (in Dutch), and found it helpful. There must be a lot of places where you can find one if you should want to.
 
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Rather stupid posting in a galaxy ace forum telling people to avoid it who are perfectly happy with it. :rolleyes:

Well, I'm not sure it's "stupid," in this case anyway. ;) It appears to be more an expression of frustration with the apparent lemon the OP purchased.

It does seem ironic, though. If I wanted to influence Android purchasers away from a certain model I'd go into a generic area such as the Android Lounge, rather than into the very device area representing the one I had given up on. :D
 
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Hi,
Thanks to all those who replied, though i'm no further forward.
:)A full instruction manual is available on the net if you look on Samsung site.

I too bought the phone [totally genuine] because it was supposed to be about the best in this price range.
:(That may still be true, but if they will not tell you how to work it, it is still useless!
Not everyone is an established expert, most, like me, just want to use the device fully.
:thinking:Yes, I have a google account, no it will not recognise my phone if i try to download market apps via my PC [I HAVE to use that route at home].
Nowhere does it tell you how to add a phone - though I would have thought it might have 'read' it anyway.

My seller has been helpful, but claims phone is not faulty.
That could be true, but if there are no instructions or real helplines ANYWHERE on how to use it, it may as well be faulty.
That is why it is a fraud!
Certain features are very good, but any links though a PC do NOT work as claimed, and I cannot get any market apps- just off market [and potentially risky] ones.
I DID get a 3rd party site Adobe reader on [ adobe themselves] - and it works fine [just PDFs]. I enabled 'install off market apps'.

:thinking:I was able to download a free app from Samsung via kies as a test. That did down load to my PC, with phone syncd - but I cannot install it on the phone - the 'install' is greyed out. How do I get it to my phone? It was supposed to install itself.

:thinking:If anyone can answer the 2 queries above in plain language it will be appreciated.

I have to repeat though if a device cannot do what it claims for an ordinary user after 2 weeks of trying it is not 'as described' - a fraud.
Sending insulting names to people who are not computer geeks does not help.

Hope for some useful advice.
Thanks
robin
 
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Hi,
:thinking:Yes, I have a google account, no it will not recognise my phone if i try to download market apps via my PC [I HAVE to use that route at home].
Nowhere does it tell you how to add a phone - though I would have thought it might have 'read' it anyway.


To add a phone, you should connect the phone to internet. You can't connect phone to internet via PC or Kies. You must need a WiFi or Data connection. If you don't have WiFi @ home, you can get it @ your workplace, school/college or at WiFi hotspots. Otherwise contact your connection provider to get a 2g/3g data connection in your phone. After connecting to internet just open Gmail, g'talk or Android Market. It will ask google account login details - enter username and password. Phone will be added to your google account automatically.

After that you can login to Android Market from PC. You can see your phone below the install button.

One important thing - You cannot download Apps from Android market to PC. Your phone must be connected to internet to install apps. You cannot install Android Apps via Kies. Actually you don't need to use Kies at all.

Galaxy Ace comes with a preinstalled app for reading PDF and office documents - I think it is Thinkfree reader. No need of installing adobe reader.
 
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Hi,
Thaks to pixaro - that helped a bit.
Elsewhere on these forums it says you CAN download apps to phone via PC. Can someone give a definitive answer,, please?
The manual is vague but implies you can! Since i have no net link here, or wifi I need to use PC to easily access new apps by this indirect route.
I found a wifi spot and opened to internet there, and tried to sign in phoneto the google account set up on my pc earlier. It refused, saying it did not exist!
[Same with Kies - though as someone noted it may not be needed much, though no firmware upgrade is possible without it?]
Do i have to set up another new google account just for the phone?
If the phone is so user unfriendly as this is, has no proper instructions or needs a forum as large as this to use it, then it is faulty, since only 'experts' can use it without extra voluntary help!
It is supposed to be a straighforward consumer device! not a specialist device.
Thanks for help so far, but can anyone advise on above questions/
Robin
 
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Elsewhere on these forums it says you CAN download apps to phone via PC. Can someone give a definitive answer,, please?
once your phone is synchronized on the google market with the gmail account connect it to any wifi network, on the computer login in with the gmail account to android market choose the app and click the install button the app will automatically be transferred and installed on the phone, sometimes the automatic install may fail if that happens open the market app on the phone and go to my applications, on the bottom you will find the app you choose on the computer waiting for install.
[Same with Kies - though as someone noted it may not be needed much, though no firmware upgrade is possible without it?]
kies for me is useless, I don't have it anymore, there are a lot of better ways connecting the phone to PC using wireless network, also for official Samsung firmware upgrade you can use the phone wifi, in fact kies is not needed at all for anything.
I found a wifi spot and opened to internet there, and tried to sign in phoneto the google account set up on my pc earlier. It refused, saying it did not exist!
this is the easiest thing to do, connect phone to wifi internet, open the gmail app and enter your gmail account and the correct password, the phone does the rest registering with google services, I fail to understand why you say the phone is user unfriendly!
 
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These problems you're having are due to 1) bad phone or 2) (more likely) to you not knowing how to use it.

Ofcourse the market works. As does everything else on this phone.

It is a bit slow and has little storage memory, but that is the problem of mid class Android phones, period. People expect to pay 200EUR and get the same experience as for a 600EUR phone. If you buy a cheap Subaru, you can't expect it to drive as fast or be confortable as a BMW.

The main problems with Ace are slow processor and little storage. Slow processor can be lived with, sometimes it takes a couple of seconds (or 10) to react, but this is no big deal. Worse is it's small storage on which you can't install anything because it keeps filling it with temp files (have to use cache cleaner) and even with big SD card, not all apps can be installed on SD card (I know a method to move all apps, but they simply don't work then, ie. all apps that have widgets must be on internal storage memory)... so this phone is good for people that won't be installing a lot of sw. If you want all bells and whistles, just buy Galaxy S 2....

D.
 
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These problems you're having are due to 1) bad phone or 2) (more likely) to you not knowing how to use it.

Ofcourse the market works. As does everything else on this phone.

It is a bit slow and has little storage memory, but that is the problem of mid class Android phones, period. People expect to pay 200EUR and get the same experience as for a 600EUR phone. If you buy a cheap Subaru, you can't expect it to drive as fast or be confortable as a BMW.

The main problems with Ace are slow processor and little storage. Slow processor can be lived with, sometimes it takes a couple of seconds (or 10) to react, but this is no big deal. Worse is it's small storage on which you can't install anything because it keeps filling it with temp files (have to use cache cleaner) and even with big SD card, not all apps can be installed on SD card (I know a method to move all apps, but they simply don't work then, ie. all apps that have widgets must be on internal storage memory)... so this phone is good for people that won't be installing a lot of sw. If you want all bells and whistles, just buy Galaxy S 2....

D.

"In a nutshell" D...... couldn't have put it better myself!! :cool:
As with most things in life, you get what you pay for! :(
Most of the fun of owning an Android phone is playing with it to see what it can do & with the right apps there is nothing the Ace can't do!! Graham
 
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