Galaxy a5 which color to choose. Review of Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016): successful rebirth. Appearance and ease of use

Samsung updated the Galaxy A5 in 2016 and has done a fantastic job on this mid-range Android smartphone.

Last year, Samsung put a lot of effort into revamping its top-end S series, starting with the then flagship Samsung Galaxy S6. In 2016, there was some criticism that there weren't many changes to the Galaxy S7. Now we can see that the company has focused its care and attention on the A-series. The new Samsung Galaxy A3, A5 and A7 have received a second life. Among them, the most interesting device was the A5.

Galaxy A5 gets a new look. Instead of the previous plastic exterior (actually aluminum), the back panel received Gorilla Glass 4, and the Super AMOLED display was 5.2 inches Full HD quality. A new fingerprint scanner has been integrated into the Home button, while the chassis has expanded to accommodate a larger 2,900mAh battery. The corners have become a little less rounded, the smartphone itself is a little longer.

The Samsung Galaxy A5 has also undergone noticeable changes in specifications that have impacted its performance. Last year, many were disappointed by the quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 processor inside the A5 2015, but Samsung has corrected this mistake in the new device by equipping it with an octa-core Exynos 7580 (1.6 GHz) Cortex-A53 processor, paired with 2 GB of RAM. Micro SD support from 64 to 128 GB. On the downside, you'll still only find 16GB of internal storage.

Galaxy A5 2016 launched in black, white and gold colors. The Samsung Galaxy A5 2016 costs about $50 less than last year's flagship Galaxy S6. It must be admitted that despite the fact that the Samsung Galaxy A5 is one of the company's best devices of this year, if you have some extra money you will get more bang for your buck from the S6 - it is faster, with more internal memory (although without MicroSD support) and a Quad HD display .

As we've already noted, the Samsung Galaxy A5 shares many design similarities with the Galaxy S6, with new mirror glass on the front and back and a fingerprint scanner built into the Home button. There are some subtle differences in the overall shape and dimensions (the A5 has a slightly larger screen at 5.2 inches), but the 2016 A5 looks like a great premium smartphone.

Without a removable back panel, the Galaxy A5 feels sturdy and not at all fragile, thanks to the Gorilla Glass 4 protection. Unfortunately, we see the same problems as the S6 - fingerprints are everywhere.

You'll hardly notice the increase in thickness of this year's model compared to last year's A5, but it has allowed Samsung to build in a 2,900mAh battery that offers decent battery life. The A5 is still thin at 7.9mm, but feels heavy in the hand at 155g.

The most outstanding feature is the 5.2-inch Full HD Super AMOLED display, which is enough to satisfy average multimedia needs. The Super AMOLED display not only has bright, rich colors and deep blacks, it also saves battery power since it does not require a backlight. Even so, the screen is quite bright, viewing angles are wide and detail resolution is high - the Galaxy A5 has a pixel density of 424ppi, which is even higher than the iPhone 6S.

Overall performance has improved significantly, which is reflected in the tests.

With Samsung's new Exynos 7580 processor and 2GB of RAM, the new Galaxy A5 now easily holds its own against the HTC One A9, Google Nexus 5X and Moto X Play.

The Galaxy A5 2016 scored 37,906 in AnTuTu and 3,688 in Geekbench 3. It's much faster than the A5 2015 (1,476 points), but to be fair, the slightly more expensive Galaxy S6 scored 4,438. But more importantly, The A5 2016 beat out its competitors in the price range - Nexus 5X (3528 points), HTC One A9 (3094 points) and Moto X Play (2570 points).

In terms of battery life on Geekbench, the Galaxy A5 2016 with a larger 2900 mAh battery and less demanding hardware showed an excellent result - 4709 points, which is better than the Galaxy S6 with its 4136 points. The total operating time of the device was 11 hours 46 minutes (Galaxy S6 - 6 hours 53 minutes). In the real world, you can easily expect a full day and maybe even two days, depending on usage. Wireless charging is not supported on the Galaxy A5, but like the S6, the A5 has Adaptive Fast Charging.

One of the features that shows that the Galaxy A5 2016 is a solid mid-ranger is the amount of built-in memory. The device only comes with 16 GB of native memory. The consolation is that the memory can be expanded with a Micro SD card up to 128 GB.

As for connectivity and additional features, they are standard for this price category: while the Galaxy S6 has the fastest 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1, heart rate scanner and infrared sensor, the A5 2016 is limited to dual-band 802.11n and Bluetooth 4.0 , and does not have a heart rate sensor or infrared port. But the Samsumg Galaxy A5 has no worse characteristics in another regard - it has a fingerprint scanner, support for GPS and GLONASS, NFC, OTG and 4G LTE.

The Galaxy A5 camera update brings optical image stabilization. The resolution of the main camera with LED flash is 13 megapixels (F / 1.9), and the front one is 5 megapixels (also F / 1.9). Both cameras are capable of shooting 1080p quality video at 30 frames per second.

By default, the main camera shoots in 16:9 format with a resolution of 9.6 megapixels. If you want all 13 megapixels, they're available in 4:3 mode, which means you'll lose the top and bottom of photos.

The camera app is unchanged and also has different shooting modes including Pro, panoramic and continuous shooting, HDR and night mode. There are also real-time and selfie mode effects.

While the Samsung Galaxy S7 comes with Android Marshmallow pre-installed and the update is available for the Galaxy S6, the Galaxy A5 2016 comes with 5.1.1 Lollipop. With the release of Android 7.0 Nougat, Lollipop may seem like an outdated operating system from the previous generation, but it's worth remembering that today only about 15 percent of all Android smartphones run Marshmallow, let alone Nougat.

The Galaxy A5 2016 features the usual TouchWiz settings in a drop-down menu with shortcut buttons for S Finder and Quick Connect along with a row of round icons for Wi-Fi, location, audio, screen rotation and Bluetooth (you can edit all of the above).

As usual, you'll get a suite of Samsung's own apps for web browsing, music and video playback, email, calendar and more, with access to the Galaxy Apps store as well as Google Play. Google services are also pre-installed, as are Microsoft applications - Excel, Word, PowerPoint, OneNote, OneDrive and Skype. In addition, you get 100 GB of space on OneDrive.

Verdict

The Galaxy A5 2016 is a huge step up from the Galaxy A5 2015 and now resembles last year's flagship Galaxy S6. Unfortunately, the comparison is not in its favor - it is not as fast or functional as the S6, which is reflected in its cost.

Although if you can afford to spend an extra few thousand rubles, we would recommend the Galaxy S6. But if you've already decided to buy the Galaxy A5 2016, you won't be disappointed with this excellent mid-range Android smartphone.

The design was designed with an eye on the previous generation of the A line and the flagships of last year (well, and a little more on some devices from other companies). Now in more detail, the smartphone has a metal frame, and the back side is covered with Gorilla Glass 4. What’s striking is how thin the frame around the screen is, which looks very stylish and modern. Therefore, the device will fit very well in any hand, be it a man’s palm or a woman’s. The smartphone is universal and there are a lot of color options.

Sometimes the case slips in the hand, another drawback is that it is not removable, and it’s somehow scary to drop such a smartphone, since it’s glass. And it’s quite easy to drop it, because it weighs 155 grams.

In general, the appearance was a success, the smartphone is excellent, without unnecessary bells and whistles. Premium materials used. But appearance is far from the most important thing, because not all people buy smartphones purely because of their impressive appearance. One of the design features is the presence of a fingerprint scanner; it is built into the “Home” button.

Width

Height

Thickness

Weight

Shell

Well, since we started talking about the scanner, let's continue. It works great, thanks also to the software. The smartphone with Android 5.1 (at the time of writing this review) is preparing to be updated to 6.0. There’s not much to say about the shell itself; anyone who has used TouchWiz knows all its advantages and disadvantages. For those who haven’t used it, I can only say one thing: it doesn’t look like “naked” Android, Samsung has put enough of its “own” into it. This includes a redesigned settings menu, a curtain with notifications, etc. You only need to know one thing - everything is clear and understandable. There are a lot of pre-installed services from Samsung, you can use them or not, it’s up to you to decide, although among them there are many interesting and useful things, s health, s voice, for example.

Specifications

CPU

Samsung Exynos 7580, 8 cores, 1.6 GHz
Video processor

The smartphone is moderately productive. Its power is enough for the vast majority of games, but there are games with which it will be very difficult. BUT these are games, not everyone plays them. This device is perfect as a regular smartphone for routine tasks. The interface works smoothly, there are no delays in operation.

Memory

I believe that there will be enough memory for every A5 owner, because 16 GB of internal memory, plus support for microSD (up to 128 GB) sounds quite tempting, and 2 GB of RAM is quite an acceptable figure for such a device.

Connection

You can put two SIM cards in a smartphone, but then you have to make a sacrifice by sacrificing a memory card. Yes, the A5 has a double slot, which is inconvenient. And so, everything is very good regarding networks and their support. The smartphone works with LTE standards and works great when used as a GPS navigator.

Look
updated as new information becomes available and published after careful review

In the latest version of the mid-price smartphone Samsung Galaxy A5, the spectacular glass and metal design does not come at the expense of technical characteristics. Vesti.Hi-tech found out all the pros and cons of this 2016 model.

The experiment with the fashion line of Galaxy A smartphones turned out to be quite successful for Samsung. Users, in general, appreciated the fashionable models, especially noting their interesting appearance, but in the case of the 2015 line they were not very happy with the relatively weak filling. When releasing updated devices, the company decided to preserve all the best from its predecessors, while taking into account critical comments. Using the Galaxy A5 (2016) as an example, we decided to check whether the stylish smartphone has become more convenient and functional.

Specifications

Model: SM-A510F
Operating system: Android 5.1.1 (Lollipop) with TouchWiz shell
Display: 5.2 inches, capacitive (up to 5 simultaneous touches), Super AMOLED, resolution 1920x1080 pixels (Full HD), dots per inch density 424 ppi, 2.5D Gorilla Glass 4 protective glass
Processor: 8-core Samsung Exynos 7580 Octa, 64-bit ARMv8-A architecture, ARM Cortex-A53 (1.6 GHz)
Graphics: ARM Mali-T720 (600 MHz)
RAM: 2 GB (2-channel, 32-bit, LPDDR3, 933 MHz)
Built-in memory: 16 GB (10.7 GB available); microSD/HC/XC memory card (up to 128 GB)
Camera: main - 13 MP, BSI matrix, f/1.9 aperture, autofocus, optical stabilization (OIS), LED flash, video recording 1080p@30fps; front - 5 MP, f/1.9 aperture
Communications: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n (2.4 GHz + 5 GHz), HT40, Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth 4.1, ANT+, USB 2.0, USB-OTG, NFC, 3.5 mm audio
Communications: GSM/GPRS/EDGE, WCDMA, LTE Cat.6 (up to 300/50 Mbit/s), LTE-FDD: b1 (2100 MHz), b3 (1800 MHz), b5 (850 MHz), b7 (2600) , b8 (900 MHz), b20 (800 MHz), LTE-TDD: b40 (2300 MHz)
Navigation: GLONASS/GPS, A-GPS
Radio: FM tuner
Number of SIM cards: 1 (2 in DUOS version)
SIM card type: nanoSIM (4FF)
Sensors: accelerometer, proximity and light sensors, Hall sensor, fingerprint scanner
Battery: non-removable, 2,900 mAh, fast charging function
Dimensions: 144.8x71.0x7.3 mm
Weight: 155 grams
Colors: black, white, gold, pink

Design, ergonomics

While the first generation Galaxy A models borrowed much of their glass-metal design from, then the exterior of second-generation smartphones is perhaps closer to last year’s flagship.

Externally, they are brought together not only by the classic proportions and contours of the case, but also by the shape of the frame made of a metal alloy, as well as the tempered glass smoothly “flowing” to the edges with a pseudo-volumetric effect. Let us remember that the first Galaxy A5 had a metal back panel.

Now, like the 2015 flagship, it is made of glass.

The new generation 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass 4 protects the screen and body from minor damage and scratches.

Along with the screen diagonal of the Galaxy A5 (2016), which has grown by 0.2 inches, compared to the Galaxy A5, not only the plan dimensions have increased (144.8 x 71.0 mm versus 139.3 x 69.7 mm), but also the thickness (7 .3 mm versus 6.7 mm) and weight (155 g versus 123 g).

But next to the 5.2-inch “standard”, the “renovationist” turned out to be more compact (144.8 x 71.0 x 7.3 mm versus 147.0 x 72.6 x 7.9 mm), although a little heavier (155 g versus 136 g). Note that the Galaxy A5 (2016) is offered in four colors - black, white, gold and pink. Glamor lovers will definitely appreciate the latter option.

The smartphone in a golden case that we received for testing looks very impressive.

At the top of the front panel of the case, right above the Samsung logo, a speaker grille was placed, surrounded by light and proximity sensors (left), as well as a front camera lens (right).

It is worth noting the rather narrow frames on the sides of the screen, protected by 2.5D Gorilla Glass 4 with an oleophobic coating.

Below the display are two dedicated touch buttons, Back and Recent Apps, with the signature mechanical Home key in between. Unlike its predecessor, it now has an integrated fingerprint scanner. Icon backlighting is not adjustable in the settings.

Two separate metal volume keys were placed on the left edge,

And on the right there is a power/lock button and a closed slot, which is opened with a special key-clip included in the kit. One tray of this slot is intended for installing a subscriber identification module (nanoSIM format), and the other is for a memory card. The smartphone in the 2-SIM modification (DUOS) has a universal second tray, that is, it can accept either a second nanoSIM or a microSD card.

At the top end, as before, there is only a hole left for the second microphone.

But on the bottom there is a 3.5 mm audio headset connector, a microUSB connector for charging and synchronization, a decorative grille for the “multimedia” speaker, as well as a hole for the “talk” microphone.

At the top of the glass back panel (2.5D Gorilla Glass 4), right above another Samsung logo, there are holes for an LED flash and a lens with a metal (slightly protruding) frame for the main camera.

In general, the design of the updated model is truly premium. Externally, this device, which successfully combines glass with metal, looks quite flagship-like.

The relatively small, by today's standards, case dimensions make it easy to handle the Galaxy A5 (2016) even with one hand. The frame without sharp edges does not create any unpleasant sensations when holding this smartphone in the palm of your hand.

However, it is worth considering that glass is a rather slippery material, so the chance of the device slipping out of your hands is quite high. Although the Gorilla Glass 4 protective glass “survives” a fall twice as often as Gorilla Glass 3, you shouldn’t really rely on it.

Screen, camera, sound

As already noted, the diagonal of the Super AMOLED display of the updated model has increased from 5.0 to 5.2 inches, while the resolution has also increased - from HD (1280x720 pixels) to Full HD (1920x1080 pixels). Thus, the pixel density per inch has changed upward - from 294 ppi to 424 ppi. Let us recall that in Super AMOLED displays, which differ, in particular, in a circuit with two subpixels (PenTile RGBG), there is no air gap between the touch layer and the matrix. This allows you to increase brightness, reduce light reflection, and also reduce the already economical (due to the absence of a separate backlight) energy consumption.

The capacitive screen of the Galaxy A5 (2016) supports multi-touch, and AntTuTu Tester confirmed that it only recognizes up to five simultaneous presses. To correct color reproduction, which some may find too acidic, the following profiles are available in the screen settings: “Basic”, “AMOLED Photo”, “AMOLED Movie” and “Adaptive Display”. In the latter case (this mode is set by default), the color range, saturation and sharpness of a rather “cold”-looking image are automatically optimized. However, at the same time, the manufacturer honestly warns about possible incompatibility with third-party programs. A “warmer”, calmer image is obtained in the “Basic” mode. The purpose of the two remaining profiles is already clear from their names - “Photo AMOLED” and “Movie AMOLED”.

The good anti-glare properties of the screen are complemented by a decent reserve of brightness, which makes it possible to comfortably use the smartphone, including even in sunlight. It is proposed to adjust the brightness level either manually or use its automatic adjustment using the light sensor (the "Auto" option). The Smart Shutdown feature recognizes the user's face through the front camera and prevents the screen from turning off. Other advantages of the display, in addition to its protection by the new generation Gorilla Glass 4, also include a good oleophobic coating.

The main 13-megapixel sensor is located on a BSI matrix, while the lens aperture is f/1.9, so the camera feels quite confident in low light conditions. The required set also includes an optical stabilization system (OIS), autofocus and LED flash. The maximum possible image resolution is 4128x3096 pixels (13 MP) with a classic aspect ratio (4:3) and 4128x2322 pixels (9.6 MP) for a widescreen frame (16:9). Similar parameters for the front camera with a 5-megapixel sensor are 2576x1932 pixels (5 MP, 4:3) and 2560x1440 pixels (3.7 MP, 16:9). Both cameras can record video with Full HD resolution (1920x1080 pixels) and a frame rate of 30 fps, while the content is saved in MP4 container files (AVC - video, AAC - audio). In addition, video quality is also available - HD (1280x720 pixels) and VGA (640x480 pixels). You can see examples of photos from the main camera.

The Camera application is launched from the desktop, from the application menu and from the lock screen. But to quickly call it, you need to press the mechanical “Home” key twice. The main camera, in addition to "Auto", provides the following shooting modes - "Pro", "Panorama", "Continuous shooting", "Rich tones" (HDR) and "Night". Five more (at the time of testing) additional stories from the Galaxy Apps store were available for download via the Internet - these are Sound & shot, Sports shot, Beauty face, Animated GIF and Rear-cam selfie. In turn, the front camera is limited to “Self-portrait”, “Group selfie”, “Continuous shooting” and “Night” modes.

In addition to selecting the desired image size and video resolution, in the “Pro” mode you can also decide on the white balance, ISO and exposure values, as well as the metering method for the latter (center-weighted, matrix, spot). In addition, filters are available in the settings, including Posterize, Grayscale, Sepia, and Negative. To take photos and videos, it is suggested to use a voice command (for example, “I’m taking pictures” and “Recording video”). Volume buttons can easily be assigned to release the shutter, start video recording, or digital zoom.

The “multimedia” speaker on the bottom end of the Galaxy A5 (2016) sounds quite nice and clear, but its volume headroom is not that large. In the smartphone settings, it is now possible to optimize the sound for connected headphones. As a result of a not very long procedure, it is indeed possible to hear the difference in the sound “before” and “after”. In addition, when connecting headphones or a Bluetooth headset, the SoundAlive+ option becomes available, recreating the surround sound effect and/or “Tube Amplifier”, emulating the characteristic timbre coloring. The proprietary "Music" player allows you to listen to sound files without loss of quality (lossless) with the FLAC extension without installing additional codecs. It also offers an auto-off option after a fixed (15 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, etc.) or customizable time interval. In addition, it is easy to vary the playback speed (from 0.5 to 2 times). But the Smart Volume function automatically adjusts the sound level of all songs to the same level. In turn, the SoundAlive option offers a 7-band equalizer with six presets and a customizable mode. In addition to the Voice Recorder application (with the Standard and Voice Memo profiles), the smartphone also has a Radio program for the built-in FM tuner with RDS and recording capabilities. In this case, the wires of headphones or a headset should act as a short-wave antenna.

Filling, performance

The base for the Galaxy A5 (2016) is the native Samsung Exynos 7580 Octa single-chip system, created in compliance with 28 nm design standards. It was first introduced along with the Galaxy S5 Neo smartphone early last year. Let us recall that the predecessor of the updated model was satisfied with a 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 (MSM8916) processor with four ARM Cortex-A53 cores (1.2 GHz)

The Exynos 7580 Octa already has eight 64-bit Cortex-A53 processor cores with ARMv8 architecture, which can operate at a maximum clock speed of 1.6 GHz. At the same time, graphics operations are taken over by the Mali-T720 accelerator (600 MHz) with support for OpenGL ES 3.1 and OpenCL 1.1. The basic platform of the updated smartphone is complemented by 2 GB of 2-channel 32-bit LPDDR3 (933 MHz) RAM, controlled by an appropriate controller. It is believed that the performance of the Exynos 7580 Octa is not inferior, in particular, to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 and Mediatek MT6752, also aimed at mid-range devices.

In synthetic tests AnTuTu Benchmark, as well as when assessing the amount of horsepower and the efficiency of using processor cores (Vellamo, Geekbench 3), the updated smartphone predictably took its place in the middle group.

On the Epic Citadel visual test with variable settings of High Performance and High Quality (performance at the expense of quality and vice versa), the average frame rate at a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels did not differ in values even after the decimal point (58 fps). But changing the setting to Ultra High Quality reduced the value of this parameter quite significantly (29.3 fps).

On the universal gaming benchmark 3DMark, where the smartphone was tested on the recommended Sling Shot set (ES 3.0), a result corresponding to the platform level was recorded - 336 points.

But the total number of points earned by the Galaxy A5 (2016) on the cross-platform benchmark Base Mark OS II was 807.

The updated smartphone also comes with 16GB of internal storage, of which approximately 10.7GB is available initially. You can increase the built-in storage using microSD/HC/XC cards with a capacity of up to 128 GB (the predecessor had 64 GB). Thanks to USB-OTG technology, it is easy to connect USB storage devices to your smartphone.

The cellular modem in the Galaxy A5 (2016) is designed for fourth-generation networks LTE Cat.6 (up to 300 Mbit/s), including the “Russian” LTE-FDD frequency bands (b3, b7 and b20). Let us remember that the predecessor (Galaxy A5) could only boast LTE Cat.4 (up to 150 Mbit/s). Among other wireless communications of the tested smartphone, we note Bluetooth 4.1, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n (2.4 GHz + 5 GHz) and NFC.

Despite the presence of an NFC interface, unfortunately, it will not be possible to use a smartphone to read a Troika card (for example, using the My Travel Card application from the Bank of Moscow). Let us remind you that the Mifare Classic technology (NXP Semiconductors), used in transport cards, is licensed, so not all NFC controllers support it. You can check the lack of such support, for example, using the NFC Check application.

GPS and GLONASS satellite systems are used to determine location and navigation, which is confirmed by the readings of the AndroiTS GPS Test program. An A-GPS option is also available.

The Galaxy A5 (2016) smartphone, compared to its predecessor, increased the capacity of the non-removable battery from 2,300 mAh to 2,900 mAh. At the same time, the built-in battery received a fast charging function (Samsung Adaptive Fast Charging). According to the manufacturer, this mode allows you to fill the smartphone battery 100% in about 105 minutes. Since we received the device for testing without a power adapter at all, we were unable to verify this statement. From the declared technical characteristics of the device, in particular, it follows that on one charge you can talk on a 3G network for up to 16 hours, surf the Internet via 3G/LTE/Wi-Fi, respectively, 14/14/16 hours, listen to music for up to 75 hours or watch videos for up to 14 hours.

On the AnTuTu Tester battery benchmark, the device showed a very good result of 8,696 points. Every hour of playing test videos in MP4 format (hardware decoding) and Full HD quality at maximum brightness reduced the battery charge by about 9%.

In the settings of the Galaxy A5 (2016), the “Energy Saving” and “Extreme Energy Saving” modes are available. The first of them reduces the processor speed, limits screen brightness and frame rate, turns off the key backlight, etc. You can activate "Energy Saving" immediately or when the battery charge level is 5%, 15%, 20% and 50%, respectively. The Extreme Power Saving Mode, on the other hand, conserves battery power by using a simplified grayscale Home screen theme and limiting the number of available apps.

Software Features

The Galaxy A5 (2016) smartphone runs on the Android 5.1.1 (Lollipop) operating system with the proprietary TouchWiz launcher. The update to Android 6.x (Marshmallow) has not yet reached this model.

The set of preinstalled programs, as usual for devices from this manufacturer, is quite wide. In addition to the branded “Music”, “Video”, “My Files”, S Planner, S Health, etc., on board there was an office suite from Microsoft with OneDrive and Skype attached to it. You can add to the collection of programs from the Galaxy Apps store In addition, you should pay attention to “Gifts from Samsung”, which contains special offers for the Galaxy A5 (2016).

Fingerprints obtained using a fingerprint scanner, the operation of which, by the way, did not cause any complaints, are proposed to be used not only to unlock the device, but also to log into websites (only through the Internet browser) and into your Samsung account.

Simple mode makes your device easier to use by using larger fonts and larger icons. You can also enable gestures for smart notifications, mute, and palm screenshot in Settings. But to change the backlight time for the icons of the “Back” and “Recent Applications” buttons in the range from 1 to 10 seconds (default 1.5 seconds), you need to download the Galaxy Button Lights application from Google Play.

Purchase, conclusions

Having received a more impressive appearance thanks to the glass back panel, the updated Galaxy A5 (2016) has surpassed its predecessor in terms of filling. In particular, the size (5.2 inches versus 5 inches) and screen resolution (Full HD versus HD), main camera parameters (optical stabilization, aperture f/1.9 versus f/2.0), processor power (Exynos 7580 Octa versus Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 ), maximum capacity of an additional memory card (128 GB versus 64 GB), battery capacity (2,900 mAh versus 2,300 mAh). It is also worth noting the presence of a fingerprint scanner and improved communication capabilities (LTE Cat.6 versus LTE Cat.4) of the new device.

Despite the increased processor power, the main limitation of the updated Galaxy A5 (2016) model is still its average performance, which, however, is quite enough for most applications. It's unfortunate that the device doesn't have an LED charging/notification indicator. Well, in the 2-SIM (DUOS) version of the smartphone, the disadvantages also include the alternative installation of a second subscriber identification module (nanoSIM card) and a memory card.

According to Yandex.Market, at the time of testing they asked for about 25 thousand rubles for the Galaxy A5 (2016). For the existing filling, this may be a bit much, but here you should take into account the stylish, and in the pink case - simply glamorous, appearance of the updated device, which is not inferior to the flagship. By the way, the 5.2-inch “standard” is estimated at approximately the same range. But while it lacks support for microSD memory cards and has a smaller battery capacity (2,900 mAh versus 2,300 mAh), it is clearly inferior to the Galaxy A5 (2016) with its modest plastic exterior.

Results of the review of the Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016) smartphone

Pros:

Attractive case design
Bright Super AMOLED screen, now with Full HD resolution
Camera with optical stabilization
Good autonomy
Availability of LTE Cat. 6
Fingerprint scanner
Fast charging

Minuses:

Average performance
Alternative installation of a second SIM card and memory card
No charging/notification LED

For Samsung, 2016 promises to be another year of testing and struggle for profit and smartphone market share. 2015 was a good year, although it did not live up to the “fat” year of 2013. The South Korean manufacturer even decided on a certain change in strategy, which included the release of metal smartphones. The first sign was the Galaxy Alpha, but it only had a metal frame. Where did Samsung go next with the release of the Galaxy A series?

All Galaxy A smartphones are made of metal. Completely and completely, including the back cover. Three models A3, A5 and A7, differing in characteristics and screen diagonal, began to be positioned as fashion products, and this does not mean the lowest cost. However, their sales were higher than expected. It’s not surprising that in 2016 Samsung decided to continue the successful line.

The second generation Galaxy A was named simply and unpretentiously - they added the postscript “(2016)”. Yes, just like that and in parentheses. The new items also received three modifications, and at the same time their design underwent changes. In this review, we take a look at the middle representative of the series – the Galaxy A5 (2016), also known as the SM-A510F model.

Galaxy A5 (2016) video review

As always, we'll start with a video review. Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016) is a very interesting phone, and therefore it is worth watching the video.

Design

It was Samsung that relied on design in the Galaxy A series. Although it would seem that where is Samsung and where is design - its smartphones for a long time were simply “nothing” in this parameter. Not scary, but boring and uninteresting. Although they all used and still use a certain unified design concept, which is why the devices have become well recognizable.

The first Galaxy A looked like a typical Samsung, but with pointed edges and was made of metal. Moreover, the body became non-separable. These tubes feel great in the hand; the metal, as always, pleasantly cools the hand. What about the 2016 models? Well, at least the metal hasn't gone anywhere.

True, there is noticeably less metal - it is now only on the side ends. However, do not panic ahead of time - a glass plate was installed at the back, like on tubes. The designers clearly took inspiration from 2015's flagship products.

It turned out to be really interesting, even quite interesting. Someone reproached the Galaxy S6 for its similarity to the iPhone 6, but such thoughts simply do not arise about the Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016). It would seem that it has a lot in common with the Galaxy S6: chopped sides, the bottom end with a speaker, 2.5D glass protruding from the body. But the device still has its own individuality, which is absent from all other Samsungs. The new product has a thinner round screen frame and is designed more strictly.

On the back, under the glass, the Galaxy A5 (2016) does not have metal shimmering in different colors, as was done in all the flagships Galaxy S6 and. The coloring is solid, without any frills. In our case, it is black, but the phone is available in at least four different versions: Galaxy A5 (2016) black, Galaxy A5 (2016) white, Galaxy A5 (2016) pink (pink - hello iPhone 6s!) and Galaxy A5 (2016) gold.

Another thing worth noting is the increase in size and weight of the Galaxy A5 (2016) relative to its predecessor. This is partly due to the increase in screen diagonal (from 5.0" to 5.2"), and partly due to the installation of a larger battery (2900 mAh instead of 2300 mAh). As a result, the thickness of the device increased from 6.7 to 7.3 mm, and the weight increased from 123 to 155 grams. In principle, nothing critical, but if you take two tubes at once, the difference between them will be visible. However, I am glad that the width and height have grown literally by a couple of millimeters, so in terms of ease of use, nothing has changed.

And, finishing the section on design, let’s add that the build of the Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016) is simply excellent. However, it is easier to achieve this result with a non-separable case. On the other hand, we are talking about an expensive fashion series, so we didn’t expect anything else.

Connectors and controls

Despite the design update, the ergonomics of Samsung smartphones continue to remain unchanged, which is an additional plus for fans of these products.

Above the screen there is a speaker, a front camera, light and proximity sensors.

Below, under the screen, there are touch-sensitive buttons for the task manager and back, as well as a traditional mechanical home button. The latter this time is located close enough to the screen, so that sometimes pressing on it, the finger touched the sensor on the display. And so it now has a built-in fingerprint scanner - this is another difference compared to the previous generation Galaxy A.

The fingerprint sensor parameters are set in the settings in the “Lock screen and protection” section. As always, the fingerprint is added with a few taps, and after that it can be set to unlock the smartphone. In case you are unable to use it, you are prompted to enter a backup password.

And Samsung also offers to use fingerprints for authorization on websites and in your Samsung account. Our short video will show you how this all looks in practice:

The touch buttons are backlit. Without it they are not visible at all.

At the back, all elements are grouped at the top. In particular, this is the manufacturer's logo, a slightly protruding camera lens and an LED flash.

Volume control buttons are placed on the left side. They are also metal.

On the right is the power button and a compartment for SIM cards and microSD cards. We were dealing with the Galaxy A5 (2016) Duos.

The card holder is removed using an ejector or a thin paper clip. Two important details should be noted here: only nanoSIM cards are supported and a memory card is installed instead of one SIM card. That is, you can choose one of two options: SIM+microSD or SIM+SIM. Our short video will show you how to properly install SIM cards and a microSD card in the Galaxy A5 (2016):

The top end is almost empty. Antenna inserts and a microphone for noise reduction are located here.

At the bottom there is a second pair of antenna inserts, and an external speaker, a conversational microphone, a microUSB port and a 3.5 mm mini-jack for headphones and headsets are also moved here. Note that placing the audio connector at the bottom is a very good solution - it’s much more convenient.

Overall, we are completely satisfied with the ergonomics of the Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016). All the buttons are in the usual places, the connectors are located as conveniently as possible, and the manufacturer did not refuse a slot for a memory card. The only pity is that the case is not removable.

Case for Galaxy A5 (2016)

At the time of writing this article, few covers for the Galaxy A5 (2016) had been released, which is logical - the device is quite new.

There is a book-like case for the Galaxy A5 (2016) immediately on sale, which you can buy for about 900 rubles.

We are sure that over time there will be a fair number of cases, including from Samsung itself.

Screen

Galaxy A is a series of fashion smartphones, that is, not cheap. Of course, the emphasis is on design and materials, but equipping the handsets with a bad screen would not be comme il faut at all, especially for Samsung. So even the first generation of the A line is equipped with Super AMOLED screens, but different versions of the phones differed in resolution. And in this parameter, the Galaxy A5 (2016) has grown significantly.

The point is that the resolution has increased from 1280x720 for the first Galaxy A5 to 1920x1080 pixels for the current one. At the same time, the diagonal has also grown from 5.0" to 5.2", but the screen frame has become thinner, so the dimensions of the devices are extremely similar. The display provides a final pixel density of 424 ppi (versus 294 ppi for its predecessor), which, although not the maximum by modern standards, is still quite a decent figure.

The screen of the Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016) is very cool. This is if it's subjective. It can easily be compared with the matrices used in the company's flagships like the Galaxy S6. Undoubtedly, the latter has a better display, but unless you put both smartphones next to each other, you are unlikely to notice the difference. So the new Galaxy A5 performs well in the sun, has a decent amount of brightness, deep blacks and wide viewing angles.

More specifically, we measured the screen brightness at 374.35 cd/m2, which is quite good. Due to the peculiarities of OLED technology, it is pointless to measure the brightness of the black point - it can be said to be zero. In other words, black looks truly black, and contrast tends to infinity.

The color gamut of the AMOLED display may vary depending on the profile selected in the settings. By default, Samsung phones are set to Adaptive. As you can see, in this case its coverage significantly exceeds the sRGB color space and approaches professional AdobeRGB. The image in this case is very bright and saturated. If you are attracted to the calmer shades typical of IPS matrices, then it is better to choose the “Main” profile. Even though the color gamut narrows to sRGB, you still won’t see the difference.

Another advantage of the “Basic” profile is that the color temperature is closer to the optimal value. Let us remind you that a value of 6500K is considered comfortable, and in the “Basic” profile it varies in the range of 6400-6900K. That is, the picture looks warmer and more natural. The “adaptive” profile, in turn, provides a higher color temperature at 7800-8000K, that is, the image is cooler.

The screen's gamma curves look good. They almost merge with the reference curve 2.2, only the “Main” profile curve barely protrudes in the middle. That is, image fragments with average brightness (gray and the like) are displayed a little lighter than necessary. It's still not noticeable to the eye.

The screen recognizes up to five simultaneous touches, which is strange - usually AMOLED displays have support for a dozen touches. It is possible that this is a software limitation.

Screen settings, and in particular changing the profile, occur in the “Display” section of the system settings. Next you need to go to the “Screen Mode” subsection. There are also profiles “Movie AMOLED” and “Photo AMOLED”. From their name it is clear which one is intended for what.

As you can imagine, we liked the screen of the Galaxy A5 (2016). It has good resolution, excellent color reproduction, wide viewing angles, it is protected by Gorilla Glass 4, and it also has the ability to change the color profile.

Camera

The camera resolution of the Galaxy A5 (2016) has not increased compared to the first model - it is 13 MP. However, this did not stop us from installing a more advanced sensor and lens. In particular, the new smartphone’s camera is equipped with an image stabilizer.

The camera app is standard on Samsung phones. However, compared to flagships, it is lighter on the Galaxy A5 (2016). But the most basic effects and features are present here, including the popular HDR mode.

But there are clearly fewer shooting modes than top products. And in Pro mode, you can only adjust white balance, ISO sensitivity and exposure compensation. In the “full” version, you can also adjust the color palette, focusing distance and shutter speed.

The resolution can be changed in the settings. Another noticeable difference from the flagships is that the maximum image resolution is achieved with a screen aspect ratio of 4:3, rather than 16:9.

Photos from the camera of the Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016) look pretty decent. Sometimes she has mistakes with focusing, but for the most part everything is decent for an “above average” rating. Everything looks especially good in daylight, but that's not surprising. In poor lighting conditions, if you try not to move your hands, the shots will turn out more than successful.

Video resolution, unfortunately, is also artificially limited to Full HD, while 4K is still left to flagships.

The video looks decent, with good white balance, not overexposed, and quite clear.

The front camera has its own shooting modes, although there are even fewer of them. But the “Group Selfie” will definitely not be out of place.

The resolution of the facial sensor is 5 MP and it is also achieved with an aspect ratio of 4:3 frames.

The shooting quality of the front camera is very decent. Photos are quite sharp, not overexposed, without disturbing the white balance. Only the night shots are blurry and noisy.

The video resolution is the same as the rear camera - Full HD. For a front sensor this is a very good option.

You know, it’s not so easy to distinguish video from the front camera from video from the main, rear camera. Overall it looks no worse.

Overall, we liked the cameras of the Galaxy A5 (2016). They take good pictures, even in poor lighting conditions. Photos and videos turn out clear, with the correct white balance and the work of the stabilizer is visible.

Characteristics of Galaxy A5 (2016)

The Galaxy A lineup for 2016 largely consists of the previous core models: A3, A5 and A7. At the same time, there are also A8 and A9 for individual local markets. They are not yet supplied to us and it is not clear whether they will be. At the same time, the Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016) is available in both a version with one SIM card and two (Galaxy A5 (2016) Duos). The model we received was SM-A510F/DS.

The Galaxy A5 (2016) has a lot of changes compared to its predecessor. This includes an improved processor, a new video card, a screen with a higher resolution, and at the same time a larger battery. Add to this list a completely different design. In general, the new product has a lot of arguments to switch to it from the older model.

The processor in the Galaxy A5 for 2016 uses a relatively new one, Samsung Exynos 7580. We first met it in the summer of 2015. This is a chipset for mid-range smartphones, equipped with eight Cortex-A53 cores operating at 1.6 GHz. In principle, a fairly productive solution for a wide range of products. It will certainly be faster than the quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 installed in the Galaxy A5 for 2015.

The only complaint about the Exynos 7580 is its graphics card. Mali-T720 MP2 is a modern accelerator, but it is based on the architecture for inexpensive chipsets. In addition, only two execution units are installed there. Competing solutions from MediaTek usually add a Mali-T760 graphics chip to eight similar Cortex-A53 cores, which is noticeably faster. No, we don’t want to say that the proposed option is slow, but to balance the power it should still be made faster.

There is 2 GB of RAM - no progress has been made here. However, it is not required here yet, since 3 GB is still a relevant volume for flagships, which the Galaxy A5 (2016), despite its parameters, is not. Exactly the same can be said about the amount of built-in memory, which is 16 GB. It’s too early to install 32 GB in a mid-level smartphone, even a fashionable one. But, unlike the Samsung flagships of 2015, the memory in our phone can be expanded with microSD cards.

Otherwise, the capabilities of the Galaxy A5 (2016) are quite consistent with the positioning. In terms of communication, everything you need is supported: Bluetooth 4.1, 802.11n, LTE category 6 and NFC. Let us also remind you that there is a fingerprint scanner, which the first generation A5 does not have. So we have a modern smartphone with good characteristics, decent design and excellent performance. But how fast is he really?

Performance testing

Unfortunately, we were not able to get acquainted with the first Galaxy A5 in due time, and therefore we will present the test results in comparison with. This smartphone has many of the same characteristics as the A5 - they only have different amounts of memory, which does not fundamentally affect performance during testing.

The old Smartbench 2012 test showed parity in system-wide tasks, obviously not being able to effectively use many processor cores, and in games it gave victory to the Galaxy A5. Apparently, the Mali-T720 is not such a slow video card.

Another “old school” benchmark, Quadrant Standard, was able to distribute the load more efficiently and clearly showed the victory of the Galaxy A5 (2016) - the difference is almost twofold.

But Basemark II, on the contrary, somehow could not “cope” with all the cores of the Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016) and showed a significant lag.

However, according to the SunSpider browser test, it is clear that the new Galaxy A5 is still faster.

The old Nenamark2 gaming test, despite its relative “simplicity,” was still able to reveal the winner in the “fresh” smartphone Galaxy A5 (2015).

The new and up-to-date 3DMark shows yet another superiority of the current phone. In general, although the Galaxy A5 (2016) and its Mali-T720 MP2 graphics card are not the best, their speed will be sufficient for most use cases.

At one time, the Galaxy J5 and especially the Galaxy J7 surprised us with their autonomy. The Galaxy A5 (2016) should also have a decent battery, given the capacious 2900 mAh battery - this is noticeably more than the 2300 mAh of its predecessor. And so it happened – the autonomy of the new smartphone is at a very decent level. It's not as good as the J5, but on average it's better than most of its peers.

Here you have a “weak” video card. As you can see from the diagram, it is 3D games that account for the maximum energy consumption. Next in terms of gluttony is surfing the Internet via Wi-Fi or a cellular network, as well as two-dimensional games. Video and reading consumption are approximately the same, no matter how strange it may sound.

In the settings you can view statistics on battery usage. There is also an extreme power saving mode, which allows you to get several hours of operation with a low battery charge. True, in this case everything will become black and white - a feature of AMOLED screens is used, in which only that part of the display that is active, that is, other than black, consumes energy.

Overall, the Galaxy A5 (2016) is a smartphone with good performance and decent battery life.

Gaming on Galaxy A5 (2016)

In theory, games on the Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016) should not slow down. However, do not forget that the smartphone’s video card is not top-end, and the screen resolution is high, Full HD.

Riptide GP2: excellent, the game does not slow down;

Asphalt 7: excellent, the game does not slow down;

Asphalt 8: excellent, the game does not slow down;

Modern Combat 5: Blackout: excellent, the game does not slow down;

N.O.V.A. 3: Some delays are visible;

Dead Trigger: excellent, the game does not slow down;

Real Racing 3: excellent, the game does not slow down;

Need For Speed: Most Wanted: excellent, the game does not slow down;

Shadowgun: Dead Zone: excellent, the game does not slow down;
Frontline Commando: Normandy: did not start;
Frontline Commando 2: did not start;
Eternity Warriors 2: did not start;

Eternity Warriors 3: excellent, the game does not slow down;

Eternity Warriors 4: Some delays are visible;

Trial Xtreme 3: excellent, the game does not slow down;

Trial Xtreme 4: excellent, the game does not slow down;

Plants vs Zombies 2: excellent, the game does not slow down;

Iron Man 3: excellent, the game does not slow down;
Dead Target: did not start.

Minor "lags" have occurred in N.O.V.A games. 3 and Eternity Warriors 4. But these games are quite heavy in terms of graphics, so it’s not surprising. And don’t pay attention to several games marked “won’t start” - our copy of the smartphone had a non-final firmware version, which is why they didn’t want to start. The retail version should be free of this flaw.

BY

The Galaxy A5 (2015) comes with a new one, which is almost guaranteed to be updated to - in this regard, Samsung behaves very well, especially when dealing with expensive smartphones.

As always, the TouchWIZ shell is installed on top of the Google system. Samsung has one for all smartphones, but its content differs from pre-installed applications.

There's even a dedicated Galaxy Essentials section in the Galaxy Apps app store. Here are links to download the translator S Translator, text recognizer Optical Reader, children's mode, audio editor Soundcamp. It should be noted that Samsung flagships have even more applications, and at the same time there is a Galaxy Gifts section with a complex of subscriptions to various services.

And so the set of pre-installed applications has something from the flagships.

In particular, this is the S Health sports activity diary application. True, on top Samsung products you can still measure your heart rate here, while the Galaxy A5 (2016) does not have a built-in heart rate monitor.

There is also the S Voice voice assistant, which the South Korean company continues to develop, despite Google Now and the release of Microsoft Cortana on Android. Moreover, according to the latest information, Samsung does not yet intend to curtail this development.

Smart Manager is no longer “exclusive” - it is the norm for all Samsung devices. Let us remind you that this application allows you to monitor the consumption of RAM, built-in flash drive, battery consumption, and at the same time includes the Knox application, which allows you to increase the security of your device.

Microsoft applications on Samsung smartphones and tablets are also nothing special - they are here by agreement between the companies. Moreover, Word, Excel and PowerPoint will have to be downloaded separately, for which special thanks - they take up a lot of space! Also pleasing is 100 GB of space in the OneDrive cloud.

A set of standard applications, consisting of a file manager, calculator, clock, calendar, voice recorder, FM radio, and so on, is also present. In a special redesigned version from Samsung.

The notification panel, compared to Android 5.x, has been noticeably changed. More precisely, the quick settings panel has been replaced - it does not slide out by pulling it down, but scrolls horizontally. Notifications are displayed as usual.

There is also the traditional MultiWindow mode, which allows you to run two applications on the screen at once. Moreover, you can drag and drop data between them. Something like this has long been expected as a standard feature in Android, but it certainly won’t appear there before Android 6.1.

The settings have been redrawn and offer their own version of the interface. In particular, a customizable list of quick parameters is displayed at the top, and then follows their full set.

In terms of software, the Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016) is a slightly “simplified” version of the company’s flagship. There is a proprietary shell, some proprietary software, and in the future we can expect the release of Android 6.0 for the Galaxy A5 (2016).

Conclusion

We like the Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016). Just like a good smartphone - it immediately attracts attention, you want to pick it up, touch it yourself, see what’s installed, and so on. From a design point of view, everything is good here: metal and glass, everything is stylish and beautiful, so the effect is appropriate. It's really nice to hold the handset - it feels like a reliable metal bar.

At the same time, the smartphone turned out to be more than practical. For the sake of appearance, the designers did not compromise, giving up ease of use. The only complaint here is the non-separable case and the inability to change the battery yourself. And so, compared to Samsung flagships of 2015, even memory cards are supported!

In terms of speed, the Galaxy A5 (2016) is not a record-breaker, but its performance is high, thanks to the 8-core Samsung processor. Although its characteristics are not maximum, they are enough for games and smooth interface animation. The phone is excellent for everyday use from all points of view, including in terms of autonomy - everything is fine here. But how much does the Galaxy A5 (2016) cost?

Galaxy A5 (2016) price

It was not possible to buy the Galaxy A5 (2016) at the time of publication of this article. However, you can still estimate its cost - it will be somewhere between the Galaxy A7 and Galaxy S6, that is, about 25-28 thousand rubles. Quite a lot, but this is to some extent a simplified version of the flagship. What alternatives are there for this amount?

Samsung's flagship from 2014 may well compete with the Galaxy A5 (2016). Let us remind you that it has a very productive 8-core processor, an excellent AMOLED screen with Full HD resolution and a diagonal of 5.1", an excellent camera, a heart rate monitor, a fingerprint scanner and even moisture protection. A good device, and not very expensive at the price - around 23-25 thousand.

This 2015 flagship from Huawei also looks decent. The P8 has a metal body, a good 5.2-inch Full HD screen, a good 13 MP camera, a fast 8-core processor and 3 GB of RAM. But it costs more – around 30 thousand so far.

Sony Xperia M5 is no longer quite a flagship, but a little lower in positioning, like the Galaxy A5 (2016). The device is made on the basis of an 8-core top-end MediaTek Helio X10 processor, has 3 GB of RAM, a 21 MP camera, and a 5-inch Full HD screen. But believe me, the screen on a Samsung smartphone is noticeably better. And the Xperia M5 costs a decent amount – around 27-28 thousand.

Pros:

interesting design;
glass and metal body;
excellent assembly;
fingerprint scanner;
good cameras;
high performance;
excellent SuperAMOLED screen;
good autonomy;
Conveniently located bottom audio jack.

Minuses:

non-separable body;
The video card could be more powerful.

The Galaxy A series can be considered unique not only for Samsung, but also for the Android smartphone market in general. Typically, manufacturers try to cram more powerful hardware into mid-priced smartphones, and their design is made according to the residual principle. The first generation of Galaxy A devices had exactly the opposite: the appearance was interesting, but the hardware let us down. Technically weak smartphones made of metal and glass managed to receive a lot of negative reviews from the press, and yet these devices were popular. This is understandable and even expected: there are not many smartphones with an interesting design for 20-25 thousand rubles; “fashionistas” who don’t want to spend money on a flagship model don’t have much to choose from.

Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016) in pink - official photo. White, black and gold colors will also be available for new products.

Now the Galaxy A family has been updated, and the leitmotif of this “update” was to improve the technical characteristics of the devices, since the capabilities of previous gadgets did not even reach the unspoken middle-class standards. The new generation has solved this problem - at least “on paper” the characteristics of the Galaxy A3 and A5 look very good. What are they like in practice? We will answer this question after thorough testing of both devices. It is noteworthy that the previous A3 and A5 remain on sale along with the new ones, while the older Galaxy A7 of 2016 pushed its parent off the shelves. We'll talk about it in detail another time.

⇡ Technical specifications

	Samsung Galaxy A3 (2016)	Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016)	Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016)
Touch screen	4.7 inches, 1280 × 720 pixels, pixel density 312.5 per inch; Super AMOLED matrix;	5.2 inches, 1920 × 1080 pixels, pixel density 423.6 per inch; Super AMOLED matrix; Capacitive, up to ten simultaneous touches	5.5 inches, 1920 × 1080 pixels, pixel density 400.5 per inch; Super AMOLED matrix; Capacitive, up to ten simultaneous touches
Protective glass		Corning Gorilla Glass 4 front and back	Corning Gorilla Glass 4 front and back
Air gap	No	No	No
Oleophobic coating	Eat	Eat	Eat
Polarizing filter	Eat	Eat	Eat
CPU	Samsung Exynos 7578: four ARM Cortex-A53 cores (ARMv8-A); frequency 1.5 GHz; 28 nm HKMG process technology; There is also a version with Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 MSM8916*, but it is not officially supplied to Russia.	frequency 1.6 GHz; 28 nm HKMG process technology; support for 32-bit and 64-bit computing.	eight cores ARM Cortex-A53 (ARMv8-A); frequency 1.6 GHz; 28 nm HKMG process technology; support for 32-bit and 64-bit computing. There is also a version with Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 MSM8939*, but it is not officially supplied to Russia.
Graphics controller	ARM Mali-T720MP2, 600 MHz * Qualcomm Adreno 306 @ 450 MHz	ARM Mali-T720MP2, 600 MHz	ARM Mali-T720MP2, 600 MHz * Qualcomm Adreno 405 @ 550 MHz
RAM, GB	1,5	2	3
Flash memory	16 GB + microSD	16 GB + microSD (memory card is installed instead of the second Nano-SIM)	16 GB + microSD (memory card is installed instead of the second Nano-SIM)
Connectors	1 × Micro-USB 2.0 (MHL) 1 × Nano-SIM	1 × Micro-USB 2.0 (MHL) 1 × 3.5mm headset jack 1 × Nano-SIM 1 × Nano-SIM/microSD (combined)	1 × Micro-USB 2.0 (MHL) 1 × 3.5mm headset jack 1 × Nano-SIM 1 × Nano-SIM/microSD (combined)
cellular	2G/3G/4G	2G/3G/4G One SIM card in Nano-SIM format, the second instead of microSD	2G/3G/4G One SIM card in Nano-SIM format, the second instead of microSD
Cellular connection 2G	GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 MHz	GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 MHz	GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
Cellular 3G	DC-HSPA (42.2/5.76 Mbps) 850/900/1900/2100 MHz	DC-HSPA (42.2/5.76 Mbps) 850/900/1900/2100 MHz	DC-HSPA (42.2/5.76 Mbps) 850/900/1900/2100 MHz
Cellular 4G	LTE Cat. 4 (150/50 Mbit/s) 2600/900/800/2300 MHz)	LTE Cat. 6 (300/50 Mbit/s) band 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 20, 40 (2100/1800/850/ 2600/900/800/2300 MHz)	LTE Cat. 6 (300/50 Mbit/s) band 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 20, 40 (2100/1800/850/ 2600/900/800/2300 MHz)
WiFi	802.11b/g/n, 2.4 GHz + Wi-Fi Direct	802.11a/b/g/n, 2.4 and 5 GHz + Wi-Fi Direct	802.11a/b/g/n, 2.4 and 5 GHz + Wi-Fi Direct
Bluetooth	4.1 + A2DP + LE + EDR	4.1 + A2DP + LE + EDR	4.1 + A2DP + LE + EDR
NFC	Eat	Eat	Eat
IR port	No	No	No
Navigation	GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS	GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS	GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS
Sensors	Light sensor, proximity sensor, accelerometer/gyroscope,	magnetometer (digital compass)	Light sensor, proximity sensor, accelerometer/gyroscope/pedometer, magnetometer (digital compass)
Fingerprint's scanner	No	Eat	Eat
Main camera	ƒ/1.9; Autofocus, LED flash	13 MP, back-illuminated sensor, minimum relative aperture ƒ/1.9; Autofocus, LED flash	13 MP, back-illuminated sensor, minimum relative aperture ƒ/1.9; Optical stabilization system; Autofocus, LED flash
Front-camera	ƒ/1.9; No autofocus, no flash	5 MP, back-illuminated sensor, minimum relative aperture ƒ/1.9; No autofocus, no flash	5 MP, back-illuminated sensor, minimum relative aperture ƒ/1.9; No autofocus, no flash
Nutrition	Non-removable battery: 8.7 Wh (2300 mAh, 3.8 V)	Non-removable battery: 11.02 Wh (2900 mAh, 3.8 V)	Non-removable battery: 12.54 Wh (3300 mAh, 3.8 V)
Size, mm	134×65 Case thickness: 6.9	145×71 Case thickness 7.3	151×74 Case thickness 7.3
Weight, g	132	155	172
Housing protection	No	No	No
operating system	Android 5.1.1 Lollipop	Android 5.1.1 Lollipop Samsung's own TouchWiz shell	Android 5.1.1 Lollipop Samsung's own TouchWiz shell
Average retail price	About 20 thousand rubles	About 25 thousand rubles	About 28 thousand rubles

⇡ Appearance and ergonomics

Of course, Samsung fans will appreciate the fact that the current Galaxy A series smartphones are very similar to the flagship Galaxy S6. This was achieved through the use of similar body proportions, close corner radii and identical color schemes for both flagships and mid-rangers. Indeed, it’s easy to confuse the 2016 Galaxy A5 and the Galaxy S6 with each other, even from a short distance.

However, what the new product has in common with the flagship model is the use of tempered Corning Gorilla Glass 4 on the rear panel. The previous generation Galaxy A had a metal back, while the new one has a glass back. This is, perhaps, more beautiful, and Gorilla Glass 4, as we know from experience with other smartphones, is resistant to minor damage and scratches: you can carry devices in the same pocket with keys and coins. But you shouldn’t drop them - the glass will most likely break after the first fall. This is perhaps the main and only disadvantage of using glass instead of metal. By the way, the front panel of the devices is also covered with the same glass - with an oleophobic coating and an anti-glare filter.

The Galaxy A3 and A5 themselves are very similar to each other. The main difference, of course, is the dimensions. The “Five” turned out to be larger: its display is half an inch larger, which could not but affect its weight - it weighs 155 grams, while the “three-ruble” weighs only 132 grams. To be honest, my hands don’t get tired of both smartphones - their weight is acceptable. The younger model turned out to be thinner - 6.9 versus 7.3 mm. In general, the Samsung Galaxy A3 is a compact smartphone that is convenient to use with one hand; To reach all four corners of the A5 display, you will have to hold the device in your hand, like most modern Android gadgets.