Samsung has officially unveiled their midrange Galaxy A series in Malaysia. Being one of the company’s first moves into the budget-premium market, the original Galaxy A series was fairly well received and Samsung hopes to replicate that success with the 2016 versions.
Much like the original Galaxy A smartphones, these 2016 models feature a premium metal body that is reminiscent of the electronics giant’s flagship Galaxy S6 smartphone. The glass panel on the backs of the devices definitely gives them an air of exceptional build quality.
Today, they unveiled three phones — the Galaxy A7, Galaxy A5, and Galaxy A3 — which are differentiated by price. As these phones are not created as equals, the more expensive Galaxy A5 and Galaxy A7 have a fingerprint sensor embedded bellow the home button, a big feature that is missing on the Galaxy A3. However, they do share several key features.
The first, and most notable of which, is that all three devices — even the little Galaxy A3 — sports a 13-megapixel f/1.9 aperture primary shooter plus a 5-megapixel f/1.9 front-facing selfie camera. What separates them is that the Galaxy A3’s primary camera unit does not have OIS while the bigger two do.
All three devices also have support for dual-SIM plus an expandable microSD storage slot. Except for the Galaxy A3, the devices don’t use a hybrid-SIM set up so you can use two SIM cards and a microSD card simultaneously. On the Galaxy A3 you will have to sacrifice one SIM for storage expansion.
Galaxy A7
The king of the hill among the Galaxy A lineup, the Galaxy A7 sports a large 5.5-inch full HD Super AMOLED display on the front of the phone. Inside, it’s powered by an octa-core processor clocked at 1.6GHz with 3GB of RAM and 16GB of expandable internal storage (via microSD up to 128GB). Giving this smartphone juice is a large 3,300 mAh battery.
Galaxy A5
What is basically a shrunken version of the larger Galaxy A7, the Galaxy A5 comes in at only 5.2-inches, but sports the same Super AMOLED full HD panel found on the Galaxy A7. It packs a 1.6GHz octa-core processor mated with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of expandable internal storage. For battery, the Galaxy A5 gets a respectable 2,900 mAh unit in the back.
Galaxy A3
Finally, we arrive at the runt of the family, the Galaxy A3. It comes with a small 4.7-inch HD Super AMOLED display and a quad-core 1.5GHz processor on the inside. Helping you with running apps is 1.5GB of RAM and 16GB of expandable internal storage. Since it’s the smallest device here, Samsung have fitted it with a small 2.300 mAh battery to keep things going.
It is worth noting that none of these devices will come running Android 6.0 Marshmallow out of the box. Instead, they will default to the older Android 5.1 Lollipop, though we do expect them to receive the Marshmallow update sometime in the future.
If you want to get your hands on these three devices, the Galaxy A7 will go for RM1,899 while the Galaxy A5 retails for RM1,599 and the Galaxy A3 will set you back RM1,299 including GST. All of these devices can be purchased at the official Samsung retailers from 28 January onwards.
All purchases will be bundled with a 32GB microSD card free of charge. The devices will come in four colours — Black, Gold, White and Pink Gold.
From today until 31 January 2016, there will be a roadshow at Sunway Pyramid’s Blue Concourse for the general public to experience the features that the Galaxy A Series 2016 has to offer. A number of units are up for grabs for lucky winners.
For more information please visit Samsung’s website.
