General characteristics
Type
Deciding on the type of device (phone or smartphone?) is quite simple. If you need a simple and inexpensive device for calls and SMS, it is recommended to choose a telephone. A smartphone is more expensive, but it offers a wide variety of options: games, videos, the Internet, thousands of programs for all occasions. However, its battery life is significantly less than that of a regular phone.
smartphone operating system Android OS version at the start of sales Android 4.4 Case type classic Housing material steel and plastic Management mechanical buttons SAR level 0.4 Number of SIM cards 1 SIM card type
Modern smartphones can use not only regular SIM cards, but also their more compact versions micro SIM and nano SIM. An eSIM is a SIM card integrated into the phone. It takes up virtually no space and does not require a separate tray for installation. eSIM is not yet supported in Russia. Glossary of terms for the category Mobile phones
nano SIM Contactless payment yes Weight 115 g Dimensions (WxHxT) 65.5x132.4x6.7 mmScreen
Screen type color AMOLED, 16.78 million colors, touch Touch screen type multi-touch, capacitive Diagonal 4.7 inches. Image Size 1280x720 Pixels per inch (PPI) 312 Aspect Ratio 16:9 Automatic screen rotation There isMultimedia capabilities
Number of main (rear) cameras 1 Main (rear) camera resolution 12 MP Photoflash rear, LED Functions of the main (rear) camera autofocus Face and smile detection Recording videos There is Max. video resolution 3840x2160 Max. video frame rate 30fps Front-camera yes, 2.1 MP Audio MP3, AAC, WMA Headphone jack 3.5 mmConnection
Standard GSM 900/1800/1900, 3G, 4G LTE, LTE-A LTE bands support 1900, 850, 2600, 1800, 2100, 900, 800 MHz Interfaces
Almost all modern smartphones have Wi-Fi and USB interfaces. Bluetooth and IRDA are a little less common. Wi-Fi is used to connect to the Internet. USB is used to connect your phone to a computer. Bluetooth is also found in many phones. It is used to connect wireless headphones, to connect your phone to wireless speakers, and also to transfer files. A smartphone equipped with an IRDA interface can be used as a universal remote control. Glossary of terms for the category Mobile phones
Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth 4.0, USB, ANT+, NFC Satellite navigation
Built-in GPS and GLONASS modules allow you to determine the phone's coordinates using signals from satellites. In the absence of GPS, a modern smartphone can determine its own location using signals from cellular operator base stations. However, finding coordinates using satellite signals is usually much more accurate. yes A2DP profile yes Sensors Light, proximity, Hall, gyroscope, compass, fingerprint reading Flashlight yes USB-host yes
Additional Information
Peculiarities 8 cores: 4 cores 1.8GHz + 4 cores 1.3GHz; hand motion sensor, heart rate sensor Announcement date 2014-08-13 Sales start date 2014-09-18Before purchasing, check the specifications and equipment with the seller.
Galaxy Alpha from Samsung is of particular interest, oddly enough, because of the case materials, because this is the first (to my memory) smartphone from the manufacturer in a metal case. Or rather, with a metal frame, but this does not reduce the effect. You take the alpha in your hands and understand: “Why wasn’t it done this way from the very beginning?” Nothing can replace the feeling of real metal.
But this is not the only interesting thing about a smartphone. as if it was specially created to be conceptually similar to the iPhone 6. It is expensive, has a 4.7″ display, a metal body, a slot for a nano SIM card, and does not have a slot for a memory card. Why isn't it a competitor to the iPhone? It remains to figure out which of them is better.
I'll start with tactile sensations and practicality. The iPhone 6, although made of all-aluminum, is very soapy. Basically, if you use it without a case, it will try to slip out of your hands every now and then. This is due to the rounded edges and low thickness. And aluminum itself is not a tenacious material at all. In Galaxy Alpha the situation is much better: firstly, the edges are rougher and have small protrusions that the palm easily clings to; secondly, the back cover is made of soft-touch plastic; it literally sticks to the palm of your hand. There is no feeling that the smartphone will slip out.
But, oddly enough, even despite this practicality, the body feels more pleasant in alpha. With the same display sizes in the iPhone 6 and Galaxy Alpha, the dimensions and weight of the latter are smaller. Moreover, the sizes are smaller on all fronts. This means that Galaxy Alpha is just one of those smartphones that lovers of compact devices like. Two years ago Samsung would have said: “We put a 4.7″ display in a 4.3″ body!” And, in fact, they would be right.
The arrangement of the elements is standard, there is nothing to draw attention to here. Except that the quality of all the buttons is very pleasant, but it could hardly have been otherwise; it’s still not a budget model. I even noticed the vibration response from the touch keys under the display; it is more pleasant than in the manufacturer’s previous smartphones, and does not have any echo, as if from a spring. And there is a fingerprint scanner, like in SGS5.
The only thing that disappointed me was the lack of a memory card slot. But the slot for a nano-SIM card seems to hint that everything was done to make it easier for iPhone users to switch to the light side.
Display
It seems to me that the screen on a smartphone is its weakest point. The Super AMOLED matrix has excellent viewing angles, brightness, contrast, perfect black color... But the resolution of 1280x720 pixels on a 4.7″ diagonal, and even with a pen tile pixel structure, makes it possible to view the pixel grid even from a distance. The pixel density is 312 ppi, which seems to be quite a lot, but for a fairly high price segment this is not enough. Although a picky user is unlikely to find anything to complain about, especially .
Camera
On the contrary, the camera pleased me. Main – 12 MP, with an aspect ratio of 16:9, front – 2.1 MP. Technically, it is inferior to that of the Galaxy S 5: there are fewer pixels and autofocus is slower. But the photos clearly come out of no worse quality, I really like them.
The camera performs especially well in low-light conditions. The video is recorded in 1080p, 30 fps and 720p 120 fps. But the latter mode clearly does not work the best; the video is most likely interpolated, the real resolution is less than 720p.
Photo examples
Video examples
1080p, HDR
720p 120 fps
Specifications and software
I was pleased with the performance of the smartphone; the performance is enough for literally everything. The Exynos 5 Octa 5430 processor has a total of eight cores, it consists of two 4-core processors: 4 Cortex-A15 cores (1.8 GHz) and 4 Cortex-A7 cores (1.3 GHz), as well as Mali-T628 graphics MP6 provide smooth and fast performance everywhere. Plus 2 GB of RAM. Built-in memory – 32 GB. At the same time, oddly enough, the smartphone behaves more stable than the iPhone, iOS8. Probably one of the most unstable versions of iOS in history. And touchwiz has already been well tested and works well. We won’t argue about the design, to each his own, but the fact is that Android is now more stable. The operating system version here, by the way, is 4.4.4.
The only thing that upset me about the technical specifications was the battery capacity. Whatever one may say, 1860 mAh will not be enough for a day of active work. In my mode of use, in which the Galaxy Note did not last for 3 days, the smartphone had to be charged twice a day. If the use is more or less moderate, then the battery life will be enough for a day, but I would like to see a battery with a larger capacity. Although, most likely, it would simply not be possible to cram more into this size.
So, Samsung has officially announced the Galaxy Alpha and we have already waited for all the clarifications regarding its characteristics and features. Now the Korean company has begun to work on its serious mistakes, because it has long been criticized for the build quality of smartphones and the choice of materials. The plastic coating clearly does not correspond to the status of flagship smartphones and their characteristics. The indignation reached a particularly extreme level with the advent of the Galaxy S5.
Finally, Samsung took the hint and released a smartphone whose characteristics match the build quality and design. One can even optimistically call the Galaxy Alpha the ideal smartphone from the Korean company, if not for several disadvantages - an HD display, the lack of a slot for microSD cards and a weak battery. But first things first in the review.
Display
The screen of the Samsung Galaxy Alpha leaves mixed impressions. This is a 4.7-inch Super AMOLED screen with a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels and a density of 312ppi. However, why did Samsung choose HD and not at least Full HD? This step surprises us, since Alpha immediately loses its chance to catch up with top Android smartphones, which have long been standard to have a display with Full HD resolution.It would seem that the image quality would suffer greatly because of this, but 312ppi, and even the updated Super AMOLED, guarantee bright, vibrant and natural colors with fairly good picture quality. There was a time when Super AMOLED was synonymous with images with oversaturated colors, but Samsung has worked hard on this over the years to strike a balance between vibrant and natural colors.
Also, the image quality is greatly influenced by the screen diagonal - this is only a 4.7-inch display, which has enough HD resolution. If the Galaxy Alpha had a screen with a diagonal of 5 inches or larger, the picture quality would be noticeably worse. So we now have a smartphone with a compact body and a small, convenient screen. By the way, these display characteristics are probably comparable to the iPhone 6, which will appear very soon. So I approve of Samsung's decision.
Design
The real highlight of the Samsung Galaxy Alpha is its updated “Galaxy design”. For many years, Samsung has used plastic frames on smartphones that have been coated with a special paint to create the illusion of a metal frame. However, now the difference has become all too obvious - this is a true premium smartphone with a very thin body, high-quality materials and an updated style.The Galaxy Alpha turned out to be extremely thin, as I noticed - only 6.7 mm, and its weight is 115g, which makes it significantly lighter than the Galaxy S4 (145g) and only 3g heavier than the iPhone 5S.
But so far, not everyone has appreciated Samsung, considering the Galaxy Alpha still not a smartphone that can immediately stand on the same level as the iPhone 5S or HTC One M8. Basically all the complaints again come down to the plastic back cover. Still, for the Koreans, this is a significant step forward in the right direction and bodes well for future Samsung phones.
Performance
There are actually not many smartphones with eight-core processors, especially on sale here, but the Samsung Galaxy Alpha will appear very soon. I don't take into account the fact that it has been on pre-order for a long time. This smartphone will appear on the market in two versions - with a quad-core Snapdragon or with an eight-core Exynos. With a processor from Qualcomm, in principle, everything is quite clear and there are no surprises. You also don’t have to worry that the Exynos 5430 will constantly put a large load on the battery, since only 4 out of 8 cores are working at the same time. Thus, for demanding tasks a group of 4 cores with a frequency of 1.8 GHz will be used, and for less demanding tasks the processor – 4 cores with a frequency of 1.3 GHz. I think you don’t need to explain anything about big.LITTLE again.
In practice, this means that the Galaxy Alpha still won't be as fast as the LG G3 or even the Galaxy S5, despite having a newer processor. Alpha cannot use all 8 cores at the same time, no matter how much we would like.
Still, the new premium smartphone turned out to be quite powerful, although it only has 2GB of RAM, which can sometimes lead to memory shortages. This is not the most productive Android smartphone, but it still feels like a flagship, because in fact the differences are not that many and they are insignificant.
Camera
The Samsung Galaxy Alpha has a very good, but not great camera. It has a 12-megapixel module, which performs noticeably worse than the 16-megapixel camera on the Galaxy S5. If we talk about some photo quality standards, then Alpha with its camera will confidently take its place somewhere above the average positions.
Sample shot from the Galaxy Alpha camera
A little more impressive is the camera's performance when shooting video - it can shoot at 2160p at 30fps and 1080p at 60fps. There is also an adequate 2.1-megapixel front camera, which is suitable for those who like to take selfie photos of their loved ones.
Peculiarities
The Samsung Galaxy Alpha has two significant features - it also has a heart rate monitor (like the Galaxy S5) and a fingerprint scanner. Both features will help it stand out from the variety of smartphones. If you care about your health and monitor it, then you will now constantly know how much your heart rate has jumped. Although I would not recommend using it for medical purposes, since it is not accurate enough.
The fingerprint scanner is also useful because you no longer have to enter a password or pattern to unlock your device or log into PayPal for a purchase. This option may not be as convenient as we would like, but it is still faster than typing a password.
Battery life, memory and connectivity
The Samsung Galaxy Alpha has a 1860mAh battery, which is not the best feature of the smartphone. The presence of an energy-efficient processor and Ultra Power Saving Mode corrects the situation, but you won’t be able to use it all the time. Judging by preliminary tests, this smartphone shows above average results.Internal memory has also never raised questions, since Samsung almost always releases smartphones with a microSD slot, but not this time. There is no way to increase the amount of internal memory. This is truly surprising, since even the HTC One M8 has this feature. Fortunately, we have access to the Alpha model with 32GB of memory, which is quite enough.
Among the options, it is worth noting support for Wi-Fi, 3G, 4G LTE, Bluetooth 4.0 and NFC, so the Galaxy Alpha will not cause any problems.
Results
The Samsung Galaxy Alpha is impressive in many ways, thanks to its premium design, high-end specs and many additional options, but the smartphone may come with additional options already on sale, as Samsung may change things with an update.
We wanted to see a Galaxy S5 with a metal body, but Samsung decided to do everything its own way, so we'll have to settle for literally less for now - less powerful, not as good a screen and a few other shortcomings, including a small battery and lack of a card slot microSD
But still, the Samsung Galaxy Alpha is still a premium smartphone with an excellent design and a compact screen. If you were unhappy with the flagship Galaxy S5 precisely because of this, then you will definitely like the Alpha.
Samsung Galaxy Alpha Specifications:
- Dimensions: 132.4 x 65.5 x 6.7 mm
- Weight: 115 g
- Display: 4.7-inch Super AMOLED (720 x 1280) with 312ppi pixel density
- Processor: Octa-core Exynos 5430 - 4 cores at 1.8GHz and 4 cores at 1.3GHz
- RAM: 2 GB
- Internal memory: 32 GB
- Camera: 12 megapixel main 2160p@30fps, 1080p@60fps, 2.1 megapixel front
- Operating system: Android 4.4.4
- Support 3G / 4G LTE: Yes / Yes
- Bluetooth / NFC: Yes / Yes
- Battery: 1860 mAh
- Available colors: Charcoal Black, Sleek Silver, Dazzling White, Frosted Gold, Scuba Blue
- Sales start date: September
The Samsung Galaxy Alpha smartphone was the first in the family to receive a metal frame, which only added to its premium feel. This fashion model is also distinguished by its compact size and light weight. Vesti.Hitek found out how the “iron” appearance affected the functionality of the filling.
Unlike other smartphone manufacturers, who have long used metal and glass in the design of their devices, premium Samsung models, including even the 2014 flagship Galaxy S5, still successfully use textured plastic. This has more than once been the subject of malicious jokes from not only competitors, but also users. The inclusion of the Alpha model with a metal frame exterior into the Galaxy family was, to some extent, a response to such criticism. A stylish device in an elegant body is intended primarily for those for whom the premium appearance of a smartphone is important. Let's see what can be said about the technical capabilities of the new product.
Samsung Galaxy SpecificationsAlpha
- Model: SM-G850F
- Operating system: Android 4.4.4 (KitKat), TouchWiz interface
- Display: 4.7 inches, capacitive Super AMOLED, resolution 1280x720 pixels, dots per inch density 312 ppi
- Processor: 8-core Samsung Exynos 5 Octa 5430 (4 cores ARM Cortex-A15, 1.8 GHz and 4 cores Cortex-A7, 1.3 GHz), big.LITTLE GTS
- Graphics: ARM Mali-T628 MP6 (600 MHz)
- Memory: 2 GB RAM, 32 GB internal
- Camera: main - 12 MP, BSI sensor, f/2.2 aperture, EGF 31 mm, autofocus, video recording 2160p@30fps, 1080p@60fps; front - 2.1 MP
- Communications: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4 and 5 GHz), VHT80, MIMO (2x2), Bluetooth 4.0, USB 2.0, OTG USB, NFC
- Communication: GSM/GPRS/EDGE, WCDMA, LTE-A (Cat 6)
- Navigation: GLONASS/GPS/Beidou
- SIM card type: nanoSIM (4FF)
- Sensors: proximity, light, accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetic field sensor, heart rate, hand motion, fingerprint (PayPal certified)
- Battery: removable, lithium-ion, 1,860 mAh (3.85 V; 7.17 Wh)
- Dimensions: 132.4x65.5x6.7 mm
- Weight: 114 grams
- Colors: silver, black, white, gold
Appearance, ergonomics
The new smartphone joining the Galaxy family is often called a flagship in design. It’s not for nothing that before the official announcement it was known under the code designation Galaxy F (Fashion - fashion, style). The shaped metal frame running along the perimeter of the case changed the appearance of the device, while its raised protrusions and chopped edges provided the exterior with an additional premium look. However, we note that the external design changes compared to the current year's flagship - Galaxy S5 - are still not so significant. In addition, for some reason the “duper” was not provided with dust and moisture protection. But the new product is not only the thinnest among its brothers in the “galaxy”, but also with the same screen size it turned out to be smaller in size and weight of the next “style icon” iPhone 6 - 132.4x65.5x6.7 mm versus 138.1x67x6.9 mm and 114 g versus 129 g, respectively.
At the top of the front panel of the Galaxy Alpha, right above the Samsung logo, there is a speaker grille, light and proximity sensors, as well as a front camera lens. Below the display are two dedicated touch buttons for Back and Recent Apps, with a mechanical Home key in between. The fingerprint scanner is built into this button, which has retained its oblong shape.
On the right edge of the device there is a rather thin metal power/lock button, and on the left there is a metal volume rocker. At the bottom end of the case there is a microUSB connector, a “conversational” microphone hole and a “multimedia” speaker grille. The noise reduction microphone and 3.5 mm audio output jack are located at the top end.
The thin back cover is absolutely non-marking and, thanks to a special recess, can be easily removed. This panel is made of soft-touch plastic that is pleasant to the touch and is reminiscent of the Galaxy S5, although the texture of the Galaxy Alpha is finer. At the same time, the pattern of “crosses”, unlike the flagship, is preserved on the front panel.
Above the embossed Samsung logo on the back cover there are holes for the main camera lens, flash and heart rate sensor. In addition, hidden underneath is a removable battery with a built-in NFC antenna and a nanoSIM slot. This form factor for the subscriber identification module is a completely understandable gesture towards possible “defectors” from the iPhone. Note that the nanoSIM card cannot be removed from the slot without removing the battery.
Thanks to its compact dimensions, the device fits comfortably in almost any hand - both male and female. And, of course, it easily fits into most pockets and handbags. In general, quite practical unisex. The build quality of the Samsung smartphone is, as always, excellent. Well, you can guess that its back panel is removable, except perhaps from the absence of a slot for a SIM card on the side edges of the device.
Screen, camera, sound
The new smartphone has a 4.7-inch capacitive Super AMOLED display with a PenTile subpixel arrangement. Note that both of these technologies save battery power. With such a display diagonal and HD resolution (1280x720 pixels), the pixel density per inch is 312 dpi. The screen features improved viewing angles, high brightness and accurate color reproduction, which in turn depends on the selected mode, including "Main", "AMOLED Photo" and "AMOLED Movie". Turning on Adaptive Display automatically optimizes color range, saturation, and image sharpness across multiple apps, including Gallery, Camera, Web, and Video.
Multi-touch technology allows you to process up to ten simultaneous clicks, which is confirmed by the results of the MultiTouch Test program. Thanks to the presence of a light sensor, the brightness level of the display, which has a good margin, can be set not only manually, but also using automatic adjustment. Enabling the appropriate option, which increases the sensitivity of the touch layer of the screen, allows you to work with the smartphone while wearing gloves. In bright sunlight, although the display fades, it is still readable. Overall, the HD screen is perhaps one of the Galaxy Alpha's strongest points.
The main camera of the Galaxy Alpha received a 12-megapixel BSI sensor and a 31-mm lens with an f/2.2 aperture. Autofocus and LED flash are also available. The maximum possible image resolution is 4608x2592 pixels (12 MP) with an aspect ratio of 16:9 and 3456x2592 pixels (8.9 MP) with a 4:3 frame aspect ratio. Examples of photos. By the way, shooting in low light is clearly not the Galaxy Alpha's strong point.
The front camera of the new product is content with a 2.1-megapixel sensor, thanks to which you get quite good selfies, which are also easy to correct (Retouch mode). Accordingly, the maximum resolution for “yourself” here is 1920x1080 pixels (2.1 MP, 16:9), and with the classic aspect ratio (1.6 MP, 4:3) - 1440x1080 pixels.
The control menu in the Camera application, as always with Samsung, is simple and clear. So, in addition to the universal one (“Auto”), you can also assign specialized modes here, for example, HDR, “Retouching,” “Snapshot, etc.” (a series of pictures that are improved using available effects), “Panorama”, “Virtual Tour”, “Two-way shooting”. In addition, you can download additional modes from the Samsung Galaxy Apps store. But the so-called “selective focus” option allows you to highlight objects against a distant (at least 150 cm) blurred background.
One of the features of the main camera was the shooting of 4K, or UHD, video (3840x2160 pixels, 16:9) at 30 fps. Hidden under the name “Smooth Motion” is a mode that provides Full HD quality with a frame rate of 60 fps. From the front camera, the best video is obtained only in Full HD (1920x1080 pixels, 16:9) and a frame rate of 30 fps. All content is saved in MP4 container files (AVC - video, AAC - audio).
The acoustic capabilities of a smartphone are the most ordinary. So it’s better to listen to music through headphones, especially since the kit includes a good stereo headset with helium ear pads, and, importantly, with a flat, supposedly tangle-free wire. There is no FM tuner in the device.
Filling, performance
Under the hood of the Galaxy Alpha lies the Samsung Exynos 5 Octa 5430 chip, which is made taking into account the 20 nm design standards. The architecture of this chip - big.LITTLE GTS (Global Task Scheduling) includes eight processor cores, four of which - ARM Cortex-A15 operate at a frequency of 1.8 GHz, and another four ARM Cortex-A7 - at a frequency of 1.3 GHz .
Let us recall that this architecture, which provides the so-called heterogeneous multiprocessing HMP (Heterogenous Multi-Processing), allows the use of all chip cores simultaneously. Graphics loads in Exynos 5 Octa 5430 are handled by the ARM Mali-T628 MP6 (600 MHz) accelerator with six execution units. The basic configuration also includes 2 GB of RAM. Note that the flagship smartphone Galaxy S5 uses a similar 8-core chip (Octa 5 Exynos 5422), but still made using 28 nm technology, while the maximum clock speed of the ARM Cortex-A15 cores is 1.9 GHz.
In the synthetic tests of AnTuTu Benchmark X 5.0 (September release), the new product from Samsung was assessed too optimistically and, as a result, was called a “monster”, since, having scored 48,915 “virtual parrots”, this device did not leave a single chance for its rivals. Lagging behind Galaxy Alpha here is such a well-known “metalhead” as .
But already in the Vellamo 3.0 benchmarks, the new smartphone could not remain the undisputed leader. So, when assessing “horsepower” on the processor test (Metal), it missed ahead of the Chinese “flagship killer” OnePlus One, and in multi-core tests it was only third, after the same OnePlus One and .
Perhaps the latest processor remained underrated in the Epic Citadel visual test. If with variable settings High Performance and High Quality (performance at the expense of quality and vice versa), the average frame rate differed only in values after the decimal point - 55.9 and 55.3 fps, then when changing the setting to Ultra High Quality this parameter decreased quite significantly (up to 39.1 fps).
The Galaxy Alpha also demonstrated average, but expected, performance on the universal gaming benchmark 3DMark.
Perhaps the greatest disappointment awaits users who want to expand the 32 GB of memory built into their smartphone. Unfortunately, this feature is simply not provided in Galaxy Alpha. Why Samsung abandoned the microSD card slot is anyone's guess. Some consolation is the ability to connect external flash drives using an OTG USB cable (not included).
The communication capabilities of the Galaxy Alpha are quite consistent with the flagship level. In particular, the smartphone works with technologies such as NFC, Bluetooth 4.0, ANT+, Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac. In the latter case, two frequency ranges are supported (2.4 and 5 GHz), as well as 2x2 MIMO mode, when data is received and transmitted in two streams. An undoubted advantage of the Galaxy Alpha is the possibility of high-speed data transfer in LTE-Advanced networks (up to 300 Mbit/s).
The results of the AndroiTS GPS Test program turned out to be quite good even indoors. At the same time, American, Russian and Chinese satellites (GPS, GLONASS, Beidou) offer their services in navigation and location determination.
Galaxy Alpha received a removable lithium-ion battery with 1,860 mAh (3.85 V; 7.17 Wh). Let us remind you that the flagship Galaxy S5 has a significantly larger battery - 2,800 mAh. However, screen technologies with HD resolution, as well as a new energy-efficient platform (20 nm design standards) allow the smartphone to achieve good battery life. For example, a mix of videos at full brightness in HD quality played continuously for just over 7 hours. However, under “heavy” loads, in particular games, the situation is not so rosy.
Thus, in the AnTuTu Tester 2.1 battery tests, the smartphone earned only 4,844 points, falling behind, for example, the 2013 flagship with a 5-inch screen (Full HD) and a 2,600 mAh battery.
Galaxy Alpha settings include two power saving modes, the first of which includes restrictions on background data (downloading content from the Internet, playing and sharing multimedia files) and/or performance (processor speed, frame rate, brightness, backlight, GPS), and refusal of a color image of the interface. Extreme Power Saving Mode uses a simplified grayscale Home screen theme and limits the number of available apps.
The advantages of a small battery include its fast charging via a proprietary adapter, when in about half an hour the battery is almost half full, and the 100% level is reached in less than two hours.
Software
Galaxy Alpha runs the latest version of Android 4.4.4 (KitKat) with the proprietary TouchWiz shell, which has remained virtually unchanged compared to the flagship Galaxy S5.
Two of the most interesting features of the new smartphone are due to its hardware features, in particular, unlocking the device using a fingerprint scanner and measuring heart rate using a special sensor.
Generally speaking, there are four scenarios for using fingerprints: to lock your tablet, log into websites, verify your Samsung account, and when paying with PayPal. Note that the built-in software allows you to scan and remember images of three different fingers.
The pre-installed application that allows you to monitor your own health is called S Health. It claims to be a personal trainer or an indispensable assistant for those who lead an active lifestyle and want to always be in shape. In particular, with S Health it is easy to control not only the number of calories received and burned, but also your heart rate.
Purchase, conclusions
Finally, in the new smartphone from Samsung, users got, if not an all-metal body, then at least a steel frame. At the same time, the lightweight and compact device has received not only an updated design, but also pleasant ergonomics. Well, among other things, the very fast Galaxy Alpha also boasts a high-quality HD screen and a removable battery. The only pity is that this smartphone does not have memory expansion. Yes, and unlike the flagship Galaxy S5, it must be protected from water and dust.
The Galaxy Alpha smartphone went on sale at a recommended price of 24,990 rubles. This, of course, is difficult to classify as one of the advantages of the new device, even taking into account its premium “iron” design. True, it should be taken into account that the Galaxy Alpha was created, first of all, to spite the iPhone 6, the price tag of which on Russian shelves so far goes off scale well over 30 thousand rubles.
Results of the review of the Samsung Galaxy Alpha smartphone
Pros:
- Premium Design
- Compact size and light weight
- High performance
- High-quality HD screen
- Removable battery
Minuses:
- High starting price
- Small battery capacity
- Inability to expand internal memory
- Lack of protection from dust and water
Samsung Galaxy Alpha
The year 2014 became famous for the fact that it was during this period that the Samsung company released quite a lot of different devices that were interesting for their attractive characteristics and incredible design at that time. Both flagship and regular smartphones were released with flagship prices but completely different specifications. Now we will talk about a smartphone called Samsung Galaxy Alpha, which turned out to be one of the thinnest devices from the company.
The exact release date of the smartphone: August 13, 2014. But now many people want to feel nostalgic and buy old products from famous manufacturers, although they do not know whether it is worth buying them now and whether it will be a mistake. This is exactly what today's review of the almost flagship called Samsung Galaxy Alpha will show.
Specifications
Options and packaging
Samsung Galaxy Alpha equipment
The box is made not in the style of wood, but in the color of the Samsung Galaxy Alpha case. At the top you can find the name of the Galaxy Alpha smartphone, and the characteristics of the device are printed on the bottom of the package. Inside, all accessories are located in separate places and covered with protective films. You can compare the equipment in smartphones from 2017–2018. and the delivery package of previous years - the difference is significant. The elements are neat, equipped with branded films and emblems.
Actually, the package consists of the following components:
- documentation, which includes instructions for use and a warranty card for the country of origin of the device;
- MicroUSB cable;
- headphones with microphone and button;
- charger with an output current of 1.55 A;
- a special cloth for cleaning the gadget screen;
- additional attachments for headsets for different ear canal diameters;
- battery.
Interestingly, even the battery is sealed in a special sealed bag, like all other Samsung Galaxy Alpha accessories. By the way, the device itself is also completely covered with films out of the box, on which there is a description of the most important characteristics of the device - a beautiful and practical solution, because during transportation the screen of the device can be scratched. Films prevent this from happening.
Video
Appearance and design
Will be useful
Samsung Galaxy Alpha was named by many IT portals as the most beautiful and well-built smartphone of the company in 2014. This is not surprising, because it is not completely plastic - its frame is made of anodized aluminum. Naturally, opinions about the appearance of the device can differ significantly from person to person - our editors think that the device is not very stylish, but the reader of the review may not think so. However, the design of the smartphone is similar to that of the Samsung Galaxy S4 and other flagships of the company from 2013-2014.
Rear panel of the smartphone
As already mentioned, the device came to the mobile market in five colors: black, blue or light blue, gray, white and gold. Below you can see different versions of the device cover. The front panel in all of them is painted to match the main color of the body, which is very noticeable and stylish.
The body of the device is made of polycarbonate and only the frame is made of metal. Overall, the build of the Samsung Galaxy Alpha is top notch. The device does not creak, the buttons do not play and are not too hard to press, but not very easy either. The back cover is removable and is very difficult to remove. You literally have to tear it out of the case to get to the battery. At first glance, this is good, but then you realize that by using a little more physical force, you can tear off the latches, which will significantly affect the assembly of an expensive device.
The lid is soft and non-slip, and has an interesting textured style - it contains many small recessed dots. It is because of this that the back panel is not slippery. Don't be afraid that the gadget will fall and it will end. The front panel is covered with third generation Corning Gorilla Glass.
note
The dimensions of the Samsung Galaxy Alpha case are 132.4x65x6.7 mm - as you can see, the gadget has a very small thickness and is one of the thinnest smartphones on the market in 2014. The weight of the gadget is only 115 grams - acceptable.
The volume rocker is located on the left side of the smartphone
On the back there is the Samsung logo, main camera, LED flash and heart rate sensor. Sensors were installed on the front, a front camera, a 4.7-inch screen, two touch buttons below it and a main key, which returns the user to the main screen and plays the role of . By the way, the front side is also made in the form of a huge number of dots (this, of course, does not concern the screen).
At the bottom you can find a perforation area for the main multimedia speaker, a microUSB connector and a hole for the main conversational microphone. On top, the company placed a headphone jack and a hole for an additional noise-canceling microphone, which picks up all environmental noise and increases the sound quality during conversations. On the right side there is a power key, and on the left edge you can find volume buttons.
It is important to know
There are also very unpleasant moments for which the design should be completely criticized - the lack of any symmetry and the incorrect arrangement of the body elements. For example, on the bottom edge the microUSB connector is for some reason pushed so far towards the rear panel that Samsung had to make a protrusion above the body. Naturally, the 6.7 mm thickness of the case disappears and turns into 7 mm or more. The same situation applies to the headphone jack. Was there really no room to install these parts exactly in the center?
The phone has a removable back cover
Otherwise, the design is normal, it can be given 5 points out of ten, but it is considered a disadvantage of the device - after all, the Samsung Galaxy Alpha is a premium smartphone, and the lack of symmetry in appearance does not look serious.
Display
On the front panel of the Samsung Galaxy Alpha there is a not very large, but quite interesting display with a diagonal of 4.7 inches. Its resolution is 1280x720 pixels, and the matrix is made according to tradition using Super AMOLED technology, which Samsung uses to this day. The frames around the display are not very thick and are only 3.5 mm. The display is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3. The sensor is responsive and supports up to ten simultaneous finger touches.
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In 2014, the Super AMOLED matrix was something special, but it was not without its pitfalls. Samsung applied PenTile RGB pixel production technology to the production of the display module, which are not visible at 2K or Full HD resolution, but at 720 p resolution they are very visible. Because of this, the pixel grid is visible to the naked eye and this is frustrating, since the price of the device is high. Yes, the screen is of high quality, made of good materials, but Samsung’s policy remains unclear: why make an HD resolution matrix and use PenTile? To only increase eye fatigue?
The front panel of the Samsung Galaxy Alpha features a 4.7-inch display
The screen goes into warm and green colors. At the same time, the eyes get tired quickly, but this is a subjective opinion, since different people may have different attitudes towards Super AMOLED panels.
But the picture is of high quality. If we talk about assessing the quality of the matrix, then there are no dead pixels. Back then, Samsung Galaxy smartphones were the best in terms of displays, since even Apple could not step over the Korean manufacturer. One drawback of Samsung displays is their strong acidic colors and lack of any adequate balance.
But in defense of the screen, it is worth noting the software settings, thanks to which you can set the optimal contrast, brightness and color temperature depending on the current environmental conditions.
Software
Samsung Galaxy Alpha runs on Android 4.4.4 KitKat operating system. By tradition, the Korean company has preinstalled its proprietary Samsung TouchWiz shell, which is absolutely no different from the same shell, but in the Samsung Galaxy S4, S5 and smartphones. If it didn’t look very good back then, the shell from Samsung gave the OS more bright colors, various features and settings. This is what makes TouchWiz one of the most beautiful software shells at the time of 2014–2015.
Android 4.4 KitKat
All icons have been redrawn, and the curtain has also been changed. Everything looks colorful and stylish; you really want to use the Samsung Galaxy Alpha smartphone just because of the shell. Out of the box there are pre-installed Google services. You can add various interesting widgets, and all applications are located in a separate item called “Menu”. Among the most important features, it is worth noting free applications or services immediately with the purchase of a Samsung phone. If you have to pay money for cloud storage in DropBox, then in Samsung Alpha the Samsung company “paid” for you - you get as much as 50 GB of cloud storage for free.
Will be useful
There are also tons of free magazine subscriptions, apps including MapMyFitness, Easily Do Pro, 3 months of LinkedIn premium and 1 terabyte of Bitcasa cloud storage. This is not the entire list of pre-installed applications and free subscriptions - only the main and popular ones are listed.
The fingerprint scanner is located in the home button
There is support for a fingerprint scanner. Unfortunately, it has not been improved by Samsung - if your fingers are wet or you hit the Home button incorrectly, the fingerprint scanner will not recognize you, but in other cases it helps confirm payments in PayPal and other applications related to banking transactions or electronic payments online.
If you are interested in learning more about the software shell, you can refer to our early reviews of Samsung gadgets.
Sound
On the bottom edge of the Samsung Galaxy Alpha there is one main multimedia speaker, which sounds average. Yes, it’s a plus that the sound is not distorted, because in a smartphone, no matter how it is positioned on the table, the perforation zone is not blocked by the horizontal surface of the table or your palm. Low frequencies are not audible at all, but the sound is loud and clear, there is no wheezing. For such a price it is quite normal, Samsung even installed a separate sound chip - that’s good.
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It is worth criticizing the earpiece, which does not produce the most pleasant sound. It’s muted here, as if someone stuffed cotton wool into the perforation area above the display. But it is clear, you can hear the intonation and clear speech of the person on the other end of the line. There are two microphones here, they are at the highest level and perform acceptable for a premium device. One takes away all extraneous sounds and noises, and the second qualitatively captures the speech of the Samsung Galaxy Alpha user.
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
On the bottom edge of the Samsung Galaxy Alpha there is one main multimedia speaker, which sounds average
In the shell, it is worth noting the presence of a separate proprietary music player from Samsung with support for the SoundAlive equalizer, the functions of which cannot always be activated without headphones or a headset. The player is ordinary and there is nothing supernatural in it. Among the shortcomings of the sound, it is worth noting the lack of FM radio, but now it is becoming a thing of the past, so this moment is not critical.
Performance
The “brain” of the Samsung Galaxy Alpha is a single-chip system produced by a Korean manufacturer called Samsung Exynos 5430 Octa. It contains an eight-core Cortex-A15 and Cortex-A7 processor, 8 cores of which operate at frequencies of 1.8 and 1.3 GHz, respectively. The graphics capabilities of the premium gadget are provided by the Mali chipset – T628MP6, the clock frequency of which is only 600 MHz.
You can store data only on the built-in 32 GB storage. 2 GB allows you to store a large number of applications in the background, and Android 4.4.4 KitKat allows you to do this. But why Samsung has so limited the choice of modifications for 16 and 64 GB of ROM and 3 GB of RAM is unclear.
It is important to know
The main drawback that will upset many is that there is no slot for microSD memory cards, so with 100% probability you will not have enough built-in memory even for several games, music, other media files, and there is no need to talk about applications at all - just Microsoft Word weighs more than 200 megabytes.
It’s possible, but it’s inconvenient to use it all the time in the literal sense of the word. Now about the tests. In the Antutu Benchmark 5.1 program, the smartphone scores as much as 48,330 points and outperforms its competitors from HTC in the form of the One M8T, Xiaomi - Mi 3W, as well as the company's internal products: Samsung Galaxy S5 and Galaxy Note 3. In Geekbench tests, the Samsung Galaxy Alpha scored 940 and 3165 points respectively in single-core and multi-core runs of processor cores.
Such results are very worthy even now, but, unfortunately, at the moment there are alternatives to the Galaxy Alpha even for 100–150 bucks: Xiaomi Redmi 4X, Redmi 5 and 5 Plus. In games the situation is more than excellent. At the highest settings with a resolution of 1280x720 pixels, the FPS in the Epic Citadel program was 35.4 frames/second. At high settings the figure was 50.5 FPS.
