Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 review

Tackling the space between the entry- and mid-market handsets

Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 review
The Galaxy Ace is reborn, but how does it match up to the original?

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Surprising for a handset with such an appealing price point and less than revolutionary collection of specs, the video recording capabilities of the Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 are nothing to be sniffed at with strong recording rates, colour management and customisable features on offer.

Capable of shooting 720p HD video recording content at an impressive 30-frames-per-second, the Galaxy Ace 2's integrated video recorder produces strong video content with concerns of heavy pixelisation, motion blur and weak audio all forgotten following the first use that see's the middle of the road Samsung handset gain a foothold on a number of its competitors.

Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 review

Further bolstering the handset's video abilities, the device's inbuilt LED flash can be used to illuminate dark shooting areas whilst a selection of effects allow you to adopt the classic array of grayscale, sepia and negative shooting stances.

Despite the handset's strengths, the video capabilities of the Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 are not without fault. Lacking the contrast ratios and depth of colours of a selection of its high-end rivals, the Ace 2's video recorder produces results that are of largely block colours with content occasionally coming across more segmented than in real life.

On the plus side, however, the Ace 2's inbuilt microphone is surprisingly strong and capable of picking up a selection of background noises that add depth and atmosphere to videos whilst not detracting from the main subject matter.

As with virtually all smartphone-based video recorders, however, in areas of high winds, distortion to the captured content's audio can become a nuisance with no noise isolation to block it out.