Samsung Galaxy Ace Arrives in Australia via Telstra

Australian carrier Telstra has just announced the availability of the mid-entry Galaxy Ace Android-powered smartphone. Starting this week, Aussies can purchase Samsung's device via Telstra's stores or online for $528 off-contract.

In addition, the phone can also be obtained for free on Telstra's $59 Freedom Connect plan. It is also worth mentioning that the Galaxy Ace is available with several Telstra business plans as well.

Unveiled earlier this year along with Galaxy Fit, Galaxy Gio and Galaxy mini, the Galaxy Ace has been showcased at the 2011 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and was initially launched in UK.

“Building on the success of the Galaxy range, the Samsung Galaxy Ace offers a unique take on the Android smartphone experience, combining performance and functionality in a sleek design,” said Tyler McGee, vice president of telecommunications at Samsung Australia.

“We are excited to be partnering with Telstra to launch the Galaxy Ace and provide customers with the latest in Samsung smartphone design and innovation.”

Dubbed as a mid-entry handset, the smartphone features a large 3.5-inch TFT capacitive touchscreen with 16 million colors and 320 x 480 pixels resolution.

The phone is equipped with a single 800 MHz ARM 11 processor, which is complemented by an Adreno 200 GPU (graphics processing unit).

Telstra customers will be happy to find that Galaxy Ace is delivered with Android 2.2 Froyo out of the box.

The Galaxy Ace packs 158 MB of internal memory, but users will be able to expand it up to 32GB thanks to the microSD card slot included.

Telstra is also offering a free 2 GB memory card, which can be found in the phone's sales package.

Users have multiple connectivity options at their disposal, such as HSDPA, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, DLNA and GPS with A-GPS support.

On related news, Samsung fans who are not in a hurry to purchase an Android device should wait a bit more, as the manufacturer is expected to launch its highly-anticipated Galaxy S II on May 26.