Samsung Galaxy A5 review – with 4G, NFC and 2GB RAM

The Galaxy A5 is slightly better than when compared to the Galaxy A3 handset. The A5 comes packed in a full metal body as seen on the A3. A5 is powered by qualcomm snapdragon chipset with 4G support and this handset also comes loaded with some extra features that are missing on the A3.

A5 Box Pack
Inside the box you will get the A5 handset, data cable, travel charger, premium quality earphone, earphone phone plug caps, user manual, warranty card and SIM tray ejector pin.

Design, Display and OS
The Galaxy A5 as mentioned, has got a full metal body with silver border that look elegant. The build quality and the finishing is very good and handset feels really tough. The rear side has got a matte finish that gives a good grip. There are dotted dotted textures (easily visible) on the front panel.

Samsung Galaxy A5 is slimmer than the A3. A5 is 6.66 mm thick and weight with battery is 121 grams. This is a dual SIM handset. For SIM slot 1 and 2 you will need nano SIMs. SIM slot 2 is hybrid it can either houses a nano SIM or a micro SD card. In case you want to use dual SIM’s you will not be able to use the micro SD card.

There are sliver borders on the buttons too. Volume rocker are placed on the right site. Micro USB, Mic, 3.5mm audio jack are placed at the bottom. There is a mic on the top (secondary mic). On the right side you will find the power button and two SIM slots.

The Super AMOLED touch screen is of size 5 inches supporting 1280 x 720 pixels resolution. Touch response is buttery smooth and viewing angles are pretty good. There is no LED notification. A5 comes loaded with accelerometer, light, proximity and magnetic sensors.

The Galaxy A5 is running Android KitKat 4.4.4 with TouchWiz UI.

Memory and Storage
There is 2GB RAM, 16GB storage and micro SD card slot that supports up to 64GB external card. Of the 16GB storage you will get about 11 GB space for apps / storage and of the 2GB RAM you will get around 1.2GB free on the first boot.

OTG is not supported and you cannot install apps on the external storage.

Performance
This handset is powered by MSM8916 64 bit cortex A53 qualcomm Snapdragon quad core processor clocked at 1.2GHz – coupled with Adreno 306 GPU. The chipset used on A5 is different from the one that is used on the A3. The A5 chipset supports 4G.

Performance is smooth, lag free and handset doesn’t heat up much.

Benchmark

Gaming
I tried Asphalt 8 in highest visual quality mode. Game played very well without lag. This game got installed on the internal storage. Check the video review for gaming action.

Camera
There is a 13MP auto focus camera on the rear and a 5MP front camera with Wide selfies option. Rear camera can shoot 1080p videos at 30fps. Camera quality is above average. Check sample images at the end.

Others
No issues found as such. Sound is loud, clear; 3G, Wi-Fi, GPS (instant lock), NFC and Bluetooth worked well. Could not test 4G as 4G is not available in my area.

Battery
This handset comes with a 2300 mAh non-removable battery that gives an estimated 4 to 6 hours of continuous (moderate to heavy) usage on a single charge.

Verdict
The A5 is a better option as compared with the galaxy A3. It also comes packed with extra features like NFC, private mode, 2GB RAM, etc. Build quality / finishing is very good. A5 is using a 64 Bit qualcomm snapdragon quad core processor with 4G support. Everything is good, except for the price – it is pricy at approx Rs. 25,500. There are cheaper options available.

Rating : 3.5 out of 5 (decimals not allowed in rating box below).

Galaxy A5 is available for Rs. 25,500.

Image Gallery

Rear camera sample images

Front camera sample images