Samsung Galaxy Alpha – the long-awaited (in the words of the most high-profile Internet grumblers) firstborn company with metal housing. Concurrently, he is also the thinnest smartphone Samsung and one of the thinnest on the market at the time. Although the specification model can not be called the most advanced and cost it is firmly in the top three (the most expensive smartphones Samsung). What else, besides the model looks interesting Galaxy Alpha, you will learn from this review.
What is
The next flagship smartphone Samsung in 2014. Notable for its ultra-compact dimensions (thickness of only 6.7 mm) and the presence of metal chassis components – border around the edges and the volume control keys and the lock screen. The device has a diagonal of 4.7 inches, that is a compromise between their flagship smartphone and mini-versions (similar to the iPhone 6, leaks about the size of which were known before the announcement of the Galaxy Alpha). Thus its size it should satisfy both fans of “blades”, and admirers modest diagonals.
What it is interesting
Samsung Galaxy Alpha – one of the most productive smartphone Samsung, and one of the most “fast” models on the market. This was achieved thanks to the display with HD-resolution (ie less than in FullHD Galaxy S5 and QHD in Galaxy Note 4), 2 GB of RAM and productive eight-processor (architecture big.LITTLE) processor Exynos 5 Octa 5430. smartphone has a low battery by modern standards, capacity (1860 mAh), but this disadvantage is partially offset by the processor feature – it is powered by a 20-nm process technology, which means better energy efficiency compared to other modern mobile processors. Valuable qualities of the Samsung Galaxy Alpha, in addition to housing, high performance, and Android 4.4.2 of the “box” is a strong camera and the ability to rapidly charged.
What good body
Often describing his new items manufacturers strongly overpraise their main advantages. In the case of the Galaxy Alpha to praise the cabinet is virtually impossible. It is compact iPhone 6 (otorrhea in screen also 4.7 inches), HTC One Mini 2 (screen 4.5 inches), thinner Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini, much less Galaxy S4 and Galaxy S5 and only comparable to the Huawei Ascend P6. Unlike Galaxy S5 and small versions, the protection from dust, moisture, this model no.
Even the metal casing is made so as to enhance the potential weaknesses, but does not take up unnecessary space. Pay attention to the twists and thickening in the microUSB-socket.
Speaker lonely, so loud and quality. And his hand is not close.
The back of the body remains a plastic cover is flush with the frame.
plastic itself deserves a lot of compliments. Firstly, to it’s fantastic nice touch. Secondly, it is practical – does not scratch and does not collect fingerprints, non-slip. Thirdly, it interesting pattern as on the rear side …
… and on the right. Yes, it’s small crosses. Why crosses – is unclear, but still much better than “band-aid” Galaxy S5 and interesting “skin” Galaxy Note 3.
For the sake of audio jacks metal edging also had to slightly expand, and the camera lens sticks out and does (but on a horizontal surface at a slight angle, he should not be scratched).
Housing cover, though subtle, but no flex under your fingers.
The battery is tiny, thinner than Galaxy S5 Mini. SIM-card format supported nano, and a slot for memory card and not at all.
A features – rougher than the flagship Samsung first half of 2014 can compare it next to the Galaxy K Zoom.
What’s on the front panel – front camera, light sensors and proximity, the navigation unit is not changed.
In terms of design and quality of housing Galaxy Alpha – the best on Android, which came out of the pen of Samsung. And in general, one of the nicest smartphones this year on the market. But at the same people who in general do not like the design of this manufacturer of smartphones, this model does not seem pretty. Because all the “rethinking of design” in Galaxy Alpha remains within traditsiotsionnogo brand book for Android-powered devices Samsung.
As it to the screen?
The smartphone is equipped with 4.7-inch Super AMOLED with all the consequences – flashy colors, deep blacks. The pixel density is 312 dpi. C the one hand this is sufficient to ensure that the pixels are not visible to the eye. On the other – less than the time of the flagships of the best screen resolution affects the performance of the device.
Screen Galaxy Alpha has a great oleophobic coating, the presence of which can determine not only the study of the characteristics of tablets, but to the naked eye. Display brightness is more than enough to work with your smartphone on a sunny day. Auto backlight works like a clock. In the display settings, you can enable increased sensitivity to support the work gloves, as well as – choose one of the color modes. By default, the adaptive (it should adapt to the color of the environment).
For those who want to know more
Our research colorimeter showed that the brightness of the white box in Model Samsung Galaxy Alpha is 352.5 cd / m 2 . Black – 0 (as in all AMOLED). Display infinitely contrast. Used in the Galaxy Alpha matrix demonstrates gamut Adobe RGB, which pulls on the excess, as for comfortable perception of the mobile screen enough sRGB, it’s not a monitor for graphics work. Color temperature and the value of ΔE is far from ideal, as it usually happens in mobile devices, the blue color dominates over the others, due to what the image looks cooler than it is. All in all – screen calibration is the same as in most flagship smartphones on the market.
How often have to charge?
As often as the Galaxy S5. If you use a smartphone intensively (and thus afford to 8 hours of sleep), read a lot of books with him, and the news, use the GPS, to connect to the Internet via Wi-Fi or 2G, is about three times in two days. With an average load – every day. For a smartphone with a large and bright display, as well as funny capacity battery is a good result. But by the standards of the smartphone for the 9 th. UAH – ridiculous. That’s because in a beautiful slim body larger battery would not climbed.
In addition to the question of how often it is necessary to charge this smartphone, and questions about how quickly it happens. Even if you use the charger of unknown origin smartphone very smartly makes its energy supplies – a full cycle takes just over an hour. In Galaxy Note 3 and tablet Samsung Galaxy Note PRO 12.2 for faster charging unused connector microUSB 3.0, which has not caught on. Here the usual microUSB.
What it performance?
The speed and smoothness of the interface Galaxy Alpha bypasses their tribesmen. Smartphone cope with any challenge that may arise in modern Android-based device, and will satisfy any mobile gamer. Although if you do not compare the raw numbers of benchmarks, and the living experience of the smooth interface, the novices from the line of Sony Xperia Z3 still nimble turning over.
For those who want to know more
Galaxy Alpha is equipped with eight cores proprietary Samsung – Exynos 5 Octa 5430 (architecture big.LITTLE, quad-core 1.8 GHz Cortex-A15 for “heavy” tasks and four core 1.3 GHz Cortex-A7 for tasks that do not require high performance) , the performance is comparable to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 801, that is one of the best at the time of the model. And given that the screen of the smartphone has only HD-resolution, so altogether superfluous. The amount of RAM – 2 GB, which is, in principle, also missing from the head, even for a voracious monster as TouchWiz. Characteristically, even intense heat (in the model are heated mainly metal ends, even though the device is thin enough that there were fears that under load it will burn your fingers), Galaxy Alpha does not fall in prostration.
What is interesting interface?
We have written about the interface top smartphone Samsung’s Android 4.4. I do not want to repeat. Especially the difference between TouchWiz for Android 4.4.2 and 4.4.4 is only in the arrangement of the setup menu. There is no fancy dropdown lists with cloud icons – all the settings are as sardines in a bank in the same list. The advantage of Android (and in my opinion, a valuable advantage over Windows Phone) is that all options are initially grouped logically to an untrained user is not lost. Here and there – are grouped not grouped, it is still not lost. As for the rest – it’s our old friend TouchWiz, bright and colorful, tricky as the spaceship. Someone loves him in its current form, someone hates for an abundance of options, but with him as with the design of the smartphone Samsung. If he initially did not like, no metal thin handsome Galaxy Alpha, made by the same canons, does not seem attractive. If you have been to the liking of the prerequisites, the minor cosmetic changes is not exactly repel.
For those who want to know more
Our full-length project with Samsung Galaxy S5. You can get detailed information about the possibilities of the interface.
How good is the camera?
Samsung and LG, equip their smartphones best cameras in the segment. Regardless of the number of megapixels (for example, in the chamber of their Galaxy Alpha 12 and not 16 as in the cells of other flagships of the company). In addition to the resolution of the flagship for the worse Alpha camera is fast shooting – 0.3 seconds here and does not smell. Shooting is fast, the camera quickly focuses, but not as much as it is able Galaxy S5 and HTC One (M8). Interface from model to model in the last couple of years does not change. He is comfortable enough in itself, especially for “dummies”, contains a number of ready mode (panorama, dual camera, a “virtual tour”, “beautiful face”), true HDR mode moved to the settings, which is unusual. On the Quick settings moved to shooting mode with selective focus (the same function lets you change the focus to the ready-made images). Samsung moved away from an abundance of preset modes and the most frikovskie sent in your application store – and the user is not confused by his appearance, and give another reason to have some curious photographers Account Samsung Apps, if they have not already. The camera interface is as follows.
The advantages of the camera Samsung Galaxy Alpha especially appreciate the fans take pictures indoors or in the dark, as well as fans of every kind of macro. Night shots are less noisy than could be performed even good camera smartphone, evening – almost no soap in the room colors come not as hopeless yellow when shooting objects near the camera focuses quickly and correctly. Well, of course under normal circumstances it is also gorgeous. Examples of photos in their original resolution can be seen in a special gallery on Torba.
A competitors who?
Thoughts on what devices are competitors of this model led me to a dead end. According to the characteristics – a Huawei Ascend P7, Alcatel One Touch Idol Alpha. But both can not boast the same camera, or competitive performance or closest possible interface or the catchy name of the manufacturer. If you look in the direction of the flagships in the case of high-grade materials, the eye encounters a HTC One (M8) or Sony Xperia Z2. But they are for the same money and offer the user a high-end specifications (sorry ultrapikseli HTC One (M8), to you this is not true), and a more attractive autonomy. It turns out, Galaxy Alpha was alone with himself and his fellow countrymen. C Galaxy S5 in the ground and a little – with Galaxy S5 Mini. With the first model in a comparable price tag. If the top-end device manufacturers to offer to pay for the excess characteristics, the Galaxy Alpha – for dimensions and materials. Someone thinks a rational price equalization unfair, but it seems that in the coming months (if not years) in the segment of mobile devices, which reached a ceiling characteristics only, and will remain that sell beauty and style. Many announcements IFA 2014 swirled around it. Aesthetes will have plenty of space for debate on the Internet about the tastes.
The bottom line
Samsung Galaxy Alpha – a smartphone for those who are willing to pay for aesthetics and not for excess capacity. However, compared with the current flagship Samsung noticeable (well, not really, even imperceptibly) was cut only display resolution and slightly – its diagonal. Everything else – I’m talking about performance and price – from such a move will only benefit (and let me not sulk in the corner fans smartphones IP67 – you are still a minority). Against the background of the arms race, and partly because of course, the thought of having to lay out for the “beautiful” model are the same price as for a “smart” is a bit confusing. But given the fact that in terms of technology producers there is nothing to spoil us, and ultrakompatny body Alpha with full performance draws on the deed of engineers, the price of this model is not much poburchish. As for battery – the other would have not got here, and this thanks to the energy-efficient processor behaves better than one would expect. If you are not from those who are willing to pay extra for a piece of metal or a smartphone for you autonomy above all else, you just do not here. If you have small fingers and a big draw to the Q of things (well, and Samsung smartphones you consider attractive), then think, perhaps, Galaxy Alpha – this is for you.
4 Reasons to Buy Samsung Galaxy Alpha:
- and you’re all here waiting for a Samsung smartphone with metal ends;
- top-end performance;
- awesome compactness and an enviable ratio of usable space (ie the screen) to the size of the body;
- screen supports gloves.
2 reasons not to buy the Samsung Galaxy Alpha:
- high price;
- low autonomy.
| Specifications Samsung Galaxy Alpha | |
|---|---|
| Operating System | Android 4.4. 4 |
| Sim-card | nanoSIM, one |
| Display | Super AMOLED, 4,7 inch, HD (312 ppi), to support the work gloves |
| Case | dimensions 132x66x6,7 mm, weight 115 g |
| Processor | Exynos 5 Octa 5430, 4 core Cortex-A15 (1,8 GHz), 4 core Cortex-A7 (1,3 GHz), graphics Mali-T628 MP6 |
| Memory | 2 GB |
| Flash memory | 32 GB |
| Camera | 12 MP, autofocus, video recording 1080p, flash, HDR-mode, front camera 2.1 MP |
| Wireless | Wi-Fi a / ac / b / g, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC |
| GPS | yes |
| Battery | 1860 mAh |
No comments:
Post a Comment