Samsung has announced updated Galaxy range of smartphoes running on Android Lollipop 5.1 OS. These three smartphones are: Galaxy A3 (2016), Galaxy A5 (2016) & Galaxy A7 (2016). These phones will start selling in China in mid-December and will be rolled out in other global markets later on. Samsung has not revealed the prices and exact availability schedule for other markets except China.
All the three devices have metal and glass design with narrower bezel, which Samsung is offering of late to all its premium phones. The second generation Galaxy A (2016) also come equipped with enhanced camera features such as Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) to prevent image blurring, as well as a front and rear F1.9 lens to enable users to click images even in dark conditions. The camera also incorporates Quick Launch feature by which by double clicking the home button, the camera can be launched in less than a second. The front camera also boasts of Wide Selfie, Palm Selfie and Beautifying Effects features for clicking the best possible selfies.
All the three new phones have Dual-SIM options.
Galaxy A7 (2016) – It features a 5.5-inch FHD (1920×1080) Super AMOLED display. It is packed with 1.6GHz Octa Core processsor paired with 3GB RAM and 16GB of internal storage, which can be further expanded upto 128GB via microSD card. This phone is equipped with a 13MP rear camera with LED flash and OIS. It also houses a 5MP front camera.
This phone is packed with a 3300mAh battery with fast charging feature. This phone supports 4G LTE Cat. 6 networks and also offers other connectivity options of Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth v 4.1, ANT+, USB 2.0 and NFC. It comes with Accelerometer, Proximity, Geomagnetic sensors and Fingerprint scanner.
This phone has dimensions of 151.5 x 74.1 x 7.3mm and its weight is 172grams.
Galaxy A5 (2016) – This phone has almost all the features of A7 (2016) and difference is in screen, RAM, battery and design sizes. This phone has screen size of 5.2 inches with same pixels resolution and FHD Super AMOLED display as of A7. It comes with 2GB RAM and is fuelled by a 2900mAh battery with fast charging. This phone has dimensions of 144.8 x 71.0 x 7.3mm and its weight is 155grams. Rest of the features are identical with A7 (2016).
Galaxy A3 (2016) – This phone comes with 4.7-inch HD (1280×720) Super AMOLED display. It is driven by a 1.5 GHz Quad Core processor combined with 1.5GB RAM and 16GB of internal storage extendable to 128GB. This phone is backed by a 2300mAh battery. It has dimensions of 134.5 x 65.2 x 7.3mm and its weight is 132 grams.
The other noticeable difference is that the camera of this phone does not have OIS feature and this phone does not have fingerprint scanner and the battery does not have fast charging feature. Rest of the features are identical with A7 (2016).
Commenting on the launch, JK Shin, CEO and Head of Samsung’s IT & Mobile Business, said, “At Samsung, we are committed to continued innovation, inspired by the feedback and needs of our wide range of consumers. With the introduction of the Galaxy A (2016), we took the consumer feedback on our original Galaxy A models and made thoughtful and impactful improvements offering consumers a seamless convergence of style and performance for their everyday lifestyles.”
