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Samsung Galaxy A5 – A good mid-range device
As we posted earlier Samsung showcased its two new mid range devices at the CES 2015. One was the Galaxy A3 and the other was the Galaxy A5. Although, these devices weren’t successful in gathering in more crowd at the CES but it doesn’t mean that they aren’t even worth noticing. Especially targeted for the Asian markets the Galaxy A3 and the Galaxy A5 possesses decent specifications and would prove to be a good mid range Android device from Samsung. Let us find out.
Built & Design:
The Samsung Galaxy A5 is the first phone from Samsung which has a full metal body
The Samsung Galaxy A5 is the first phone from Samsung which has a full metal body. Samsung says that the design of the A5 is innovative and luxurious. Well, the A5 definitely feels more premium in hand than the rest of the Samsung devices. The company was mostly criticized for the use of plastic in its devices which, well, felt cheap for many users. So, the latest offering from Samsung has learnt from the past and is covered by a full metal body. The Galaxy A5 has a 5 inch display so it has to be a big device and it is. But the use of metal chassis and frame makes device feels light, weighing just 123g. It also feels very premium to hold and is very thin too (6.7mm). We are happy and satisfied with the way Samsung has built the new Galaxy A5.
Physical Overview:
The new Samsung Galaxy A5 gets a 5 inch Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 720p. The front of the device is designed in a typical Samsung manner. Below the display we have a physical home button. It feels nice and provides good feedback. On the left and right side of the home button there are capacitive multi tasking and back touch buttons respectively. Above the display we have an ear piece, a few sensors, a notification LED light and a 5MP front facing shooter.
Samsung Galaxy A5 gets a metal chassis and frame and feels very nice in hand
On the right bezel of the Samsung Galaxy A5 we have a power button and two SIM card slots which will take in only Nano SIMs. On the other side there are the volume rockers. At the bottom there is a 3.5mm headphone jack and a charging port.
Samsung Galaxy A5 has a 13MP main camera with a LED flash
At the back of the A5 there is a 13MP shooter with an LED Flash on its one side and on the other there is a single speaker. This isn’t something new here; we have seen such arrangement on other Samsung devices as well. The speaker would get covered at times when you would be holding the A5 in landscape mode while playing games or watching videos. It is just a decent speaker and nothing great is being expected from it. Then almost at the middle of the back panel there is the Samsung logo and further down we see a ‘Duos’ label as well.
Display:
Samsung Galaxy A5 has a 5-inch Super AMOLED display
Samsung is known to produce some of the best displays out there. The Galaxy A5 is blessed with a 5 inch Super AMOLED display which is 720p and not a FullHD display. Well, as it is a mid range device we weren’t expecting a 1080p display on it. The A5 has got a 71% screen-to-body ratio. Thanks to nice build quality and metal frame, the A5 doesn’t seem big for a 5 inch device. It feels well balanced and ergonomically well built. You wouldn’t have to do a lot of hand gymnastics to operate it but saying that it could be easily used by one hand would be true. But it is definitely more compact than many 5 inch devices out there in the market.
Samsung Galaxy A5 is just 6.7mm thick
The display, being a 720p, gets a pixel density of 294ppi. But it is an AMOLED display which means the color reproduction and viewing angles would be great. The saturation level does tend to be on a higher scale but that is how the AMOLEDS are usually made to deal with the colors. It is their beauty. The display looks bright, sharp and crisp. If you wouldn’t be too much attention on it you wouldn’t notice any visible pixels. The Galaxy A5 would be a perfect handheld device for you if you’re looking for a good device for media consumption, just get a good set of earphones or headphones because the speaker of the A5 wouldn’t match up to the display quality.
Hardware:
Samsung has used the newer Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 chipset in the Galaxy A5. This CPU on the device is a quad-core 1.2 GHz Cortex A53. The A5 is provided with 2 gigs of RAM on board. This makes the Galaxy A5 a good performer. The Snapdragon 410 is pretty fast and it provides a lag free experience on the A5. Doing daily usual activities on the A5 would be a breeze. Then the 2 GB of RAM will take up all the multi tasking easily. Opening and closing applications, switching between applications, etc wouldn’t be a problem either. The Galaxy A5 performs seemingly fast until you do not deliberately push it off its limits. The GPU on the A5 is Adreno 306 and it would handle pretty high end games.
Samsung Galaxy A5 comes in three different colors – white, black and gold
The Samsung Galaxy A5 does have a micro SD card slot in case the on board 16 GB of internal storage would not be enough for you. The A5 supports micro SD Cards up to 64 GB. So, storage shouldn’t be a problem here.
Camera:
Apart from using the phone for basic activities like SMS, IM, Calls, etc. most of use it to click pictures. Thinking to have a 13MP shooter in your pocket which can make also make calls doesn’t make you a good photographer. Anyway, we won’t be drifting away from the topic. As Samsung is also known for providing excellent cameras in their smartphones, the Galaxy A5 isn’t an exception. It has a 13MP rear facing camera with an LED Flash. It, obviously, has auto focus feature. The pictures take from it in day light were great. The color reproduction was decent and they don’t seem to get blurred or grainy while zooming in. The Galaxy A5 performed well in artificial light as well. The pictures were clear and crisp. However, in dim light or low light conditions the camera tends to produce some grainy images. They weren’t the best which you could click with a smartphone today, in 2015, but they weren’t the worst either. They were decent. The shutter speed on the Galaxy A5 is very fast and it didn’t take no longer than a second to capture images.
The main attractive feature of the A5 is its full metal body, premium look and finish and light weight
The camera interface on the A5 is similar to what we’ve seen on other Samsung devices. But it doesn’t have many modes to pick from; like you have in the Samsung Galaxy S5. Well, we shouldn’t be comparing the A5 with the S5, but we’re just saying, you know.
The front facing camera on the Samsung Galaxy A5 is a 5MP unit which seems to be great for capturing selfies but it isn’t. It is decent. It lacks a wide lens so most of the work has to be done by the software and this is the reason the images tends to lack quality. On the other hand, there are many extra features like Hand Gesture, Voice recognition, etc which allows you to take selfies easily.
Software:
Samsung uses its own customized user interface pasted on top of Android. It is, as most of you would be aware of, called the Touch wiz UI. It is criticized a lot for providing a very slow and unresponsive user experience. There were many lags and stutters even in normal usage. Samsung has learnt from the past and the new Touch wiz UI doesn’t feel laggy at all. The powerful Snapdragon 410 chipset and 2 GB of RAM provides enough power to make the Galaxy A5 a lag-free device. Well, for most of the time. A few stutters here and there could be seen but they are negligible.
Samsung Galaxy A5 is a dual SIM phone and supports Nano SIM cards only
The new Touch wiz UI on the Galaxy A5 is running on top of Android 4.4.4 KitKat and as Samsung likes it, there are many features to customize your handset. We do not know whether Samsung would provide an upgrade to Android Lollipop for the Galaxy A5 but we think that it would because the Galaxy A5 is more of a premium device rather a mid range handset.
Verdict:
The new Samsung Galaxy A5 is yet another good phone from Samsung. It packs a good range of specs and features a good camera. The main attractive feature of the A5 is its full metal body, premium look and finish and light weight. It just doesn’t feel like holding a mid range device. Samsung has definitely progressed in terms of build quality, design and material. It has also improved its Touch wiz UI and has tried to offer a great user experience. Overall, the Samsung Galaxy A5 is a very good device. But it comes with a price tag of Rs 25,500 and that could become a hurdle in its path to success. At this price there are other high end devices available. Even now Samsung’s own flagship model, Galaxy S4, is available at a lesser price. Then we have the Chinese manufacturers who are bringing commendable handsets with great specifications at this price range. Xiaomi has recently unveiled the Mi Note, OnePlus has its One. So, we think that the Samsung Galaxy A5 is a bit over priced being a mid range device. Had Samsung priced it around 16-18k then it would have been a good deal. Anyway, if you like Samsung devices and you switch phones after a few months, then, perhaps, the Galaxy A5 would be the one for you. It is available in three colors-white, black and gold.
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