Samsung, it appears, has finally said good-bye to the polycarbonate plastics, and has come out with new Galaxy Alpha in metal frame. But, hold, not fully. The back panel of this smartphone is still in plastic material. The back panel of the Alpha has rubberised, dotted pattern, which were also on the flagship Galaxy S5. Samsung logo and silver-edged home buttons are identical on both the Alpha and S5
Samsung has described it rightly the Galaxy Alpha as the ” evolution of Galaxy design”.The Galaxy Alpha features a sophisticated design with a metal frame, elegantly curved corners and a tactile soft matte finish back cover. Samsung’s shift from plastic to metal is welcome step and the Alpha in its metal form gives solid and luxurious look.
The Galaxy Note 4, which is round the corner to be launched in India, also comes in metal.
The Alpha is easy to carry as it is 132mm long and 65m wide; its thickness is 6.7mm and it weighs just 115 grams.The Alpha is smaller, thinner and lighter than the iPhone 6 and the Galaxy S5. But with metal frame, the Alpha has missed the feature of water resistance, which was found on S5.
Display
The Alpha features a 4.7 inch HD Super AMOLED display (1280 x 720) compared to full HD display of S5. Being a high-end device, the screen resolution of 1080p would have been more appropriate. However, the screen of Alpha does not disappoint as it is very bright and delivers rich colours, and crisp images when you run Youtube or do web browsing.
Camera
The Galaxa Alpha has a 12-megapixel rear camera compared to 16MP of S5. It also houses a 2.1-megapixel front-facing camera. The camera of this device has features like Shadow free HDR, Phase Detection and Selective focus. We will be able to test the quality of the camera when we get the device for detailed review. But one thing is sure that mere megapixels do not enhance the quality of the camera. The HDR mode found on Galaxy S5 is also available on the Alpha and with this, one can expect to get good quality of images.
Hardware
The Alpha is powered by Octa Core (Quad 1.8GHz + Quad 1.3GHz) processor, paired with 2GB RAM and 32GB ROM. There is no provision to extend the internal storage probably due to its metal design. We spent few moments with the phone at the launch event, and did not face any lag while running the phone. We will test in details the performance of this smartphone by running the high-end games, but our assumption is that since it has processor, there won’t be any issue on this aspect.
Software
This phone runs on the latest Android 4.4.4 OS with Samsung’s own TouchWiz skin on it. Although, we are not fascinated by the UI of any vendors as it complicates the usuage and slows-down the working of the device.
The Alpha incorporates S Health app, which tracks your footstep and heart-rate monitor, and a fingerprint sensor to unlock the phone, which were introduced on Galaxy S5. It also boasts of other features like Private Mode and connectivity with the latest Samsung Gear Fit, Gear Live and Gear 2 wearables.
Battery
The phone is fuelled by a removable 1860mAh battery, which appears to be smaller in capacity. Samsung, for strange reasons do not provide powerful batteries to its smartphones. The saving grace for this battery is it has Power Saving Mode and considering that the display resolution of the Alpha is less than that of S5, the battery usuage can go upto 11 hours as claimed by Samsung, but it will depend upon the usuage pattern of the users.
Colors
This phone is available in threee color variants – Charcoal Black, Dazzling White and Frosted Gold, which look ravishing.
Conclusion
From the first look and its powerful features, you will love this device. The look is great departure from the earlier devices of Samsung and when you carry it, you can say that you are the owner of different device and not the same stuff of Samsung.
The Galaxy Alpha has a price tag of Rs. 39,990, and it will start retailing in India from the first week of October.
