Samsung Galaxy Alpha Review – It’s small, beautiful and big

The recently launched Samsung Galaxy Alpha is comparatively a smaller phone sporting a 4.7 inch Super AMOLED screen. It is light weight, got a beautiful metal frame and is big when it comes to features. The Galaxy Alpha is a premium phone that carries a premium price tag.

Box Pack Content
The Alpha is available in Frosted Gold, Charcoal Black, Chrome and Dazzling White colour options. I got the Frosted Gold for the review. Inside the box you will find the Galaxy Alpha, warranty card, user guide, travel charger, very good quality earphone and data cable.

Design and Display
When it comes to the design Samsung has finally made some changes and it started with the Alpha. The Galaxy Alpha comes with a metal frame though the rear cover is still made of plastic. The Metal frame comes with a matte finish and the edges are polished. It gives a unique look to the handset, and definitely enhances the traditional design that Samsung has been following. The rear panel comes with plus sign texture different from as seen on the Galaxy S5.

Weigh with battery is 114 grams, pretty light, easy to carry and the handset doesn’t really feel fragile thanks to the metal frame. The sides are slightly inwards while the 4 curved edges are slightly out that also helps get a better grip and brings about more confidence while holding the handset. Dimensions are 66.38mm x 132.28mm x 6.70mm. This is a single SIM handset with 4G LTE support, it’s a nano SIM slot.

Power buttons is placed on the right, volume rockers on the left, micro USB port / Mic / Speaker out vent is placed at the bottom and 3.5mm audio jack / Mic on the top. There are dual Mic for noise cancellation.

The touch screen is with some protection though the same has not been specifically mentioned on the box. It’s a 4.7 inch Super AMOLED screen with 1280 x 720 pixels resolution. Colour reproduction, viewing angles and touch response are just great.

There are Gyro, magnetic, accelerometer, step counter, light and proximity sensors. There is LED light for notifications.

Memory and Storage
The handset houses  2GB RAM and 32GB of internal storage. Well that’s it, there is no micro SD card slot. OTG however is supported. On the first boot you will get about 1.1GB free RAM and 25GB space for apps / general storage.

Performance
This handset is using the Exynos 5 Octa Core 5430 chipset clocked at 1.8GHz – it is a combination of Cortex A15 1.8GHz quad core and Cortex A7 1.3GHz quad core. The GPU used is Mali T628 (MP6). Performance is lag free and pretty smooth.

Benchmark scores

Camera
There is 12MP AF camera on the rear and a 2.1 MP on the front. Rear camera can record 4K UHD videos 3840 x 2160 at 30fps. The front camera can shoot 1920 x 1080 videos at 30fps. Still images and video quality is very good. You can shoot slow motion and smooth motion videos. Smooth Motion option is awesome, the output is smoother. The camera can focus objects instantly. Check the sample images at the end.

Gaming
I played Modern Combat 5 and Asphalt 8 and both the games did very well. Check the video review for the same.

Others
No issues found with 3G, could not check 4G as it is not available in my city. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth worked well and GPS lock was almost instant. There is NFC too and motion and gestures are also supported.

Additional features – Multi Window, Ultra power saving mode that will extent the battery backup drastically and toolbox.

Air View is included; you can have a quick look at the events, gallery, videos, messages etc by simply hovering your finger without touching the screen. This way you can view the details without opening it.

There is finger print and heart rate sensor. You can easily operate the handset with single hand. This device can also act as your personal health assistant. It can monitor your steps, calories burned, calories you have taken, your heart rate and stress levels. You don’t need a wearable fitness device, though for example the gear fit can work with the Alpha.

Battery
There is removable battery of 1860 mAh capacity. Here are the test results.

You can expect battery backup of 3 to 5 hours with moderate to heavy continuous usage.

Verdict
The Samsung Galaxy Alpha not only looks good but also performs equally well. With a 4.7 inch touch screen area it is easier to operate it with a single hand. The Frosted Gold Alpha I guess looks the best.

The Alpha is priced at approx Rs. 38,000. It is pricy, probably the price may drop after few month. Still, If you can afford go for it.

Samsung Galaxy Alpha best price Rs. 37,999.

[ Rating 4.5 out of 5]

Galaxy Alpha Image Gallery

Sample Images shot using the Alpha handset

Front camera sample