Samsung Galaxy A5, we have tested it

The success of the Samsung Galaxy Alpha in the market may have been more than debatable, but with the new Galaxy A3 and Galaxy A5 the South Korean company Samsung is willing to try again to introduce a range of premium- designed smartphones . We are talking about the Samsung Galaxy A3 and Samsung Galaxy A5 , two mid- range smartphones that are presented with a metal body in which both the sides and the back cover are made of metal.

We have had the opportunity to thoroughly test the Samsung Galaxy A5 , the highest of the range of these two smartphones, whose starting price is set at 400 euros . Among its features are a screen Super-AMOLED of five inches with 1280 x 720 pixel resolution, a processor Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 , 2 gigabytes of RAM , 16 gigabytes of memory (with microSD ), a main chamber 13 megapixels , OS Android 4.4.4 KitKat and a battery with 2,300 mAh capacity.

Let's discover in this test of the Samsung Galaxy A5 -with video-analysis in Spanish included- if its characteristics are up to what Samsung promises .

Video analysis of the Samsung Galaxy A5 

T-bpQbU_l_M

screen

Five-inch Super AMOLED screen. 1,280 x 720 pixel resolution. 294 ppi pixel density on screen. 16 million colors .

The first thing we come across when holding the Samsung Galaxy A5 is a five-inch screen . In terms of size, it is not at all unreasonable to say that five inches is the standard screen size in the smartphone market. Therefore, the feeling that the screen of the Samsung Galaxy A5 transmits is that it is neither too big nor too small ; it has a size suitable for any use.

But it is impossible to talk about a screen without mentioning its image quality. In the case of the Samsung Galaxy A5 , we are facing a Super AMOLED screen , and therefore the first thing that surprises us when turning on the screen of this mobile is the vivid colors it shows. The quality of the image showing the screen of the Samsung Galaxy A5 is really good , especially when you consider we're talking about a resolution of 720 pixels .

Pictures of the Samsung Galaxy A5 playing the trailer for the movie "Minions" with a quality of 720 pixels [ Click on the thumbnails to view images full size ]

The 294 ppi of pixel density on the Samsung Galaxy A5 screen is not scarce , even taking into account that they represent a significant difference compared to the 432 ppi that the screen of the Samsung Galaxy S5 incorporates (which is also noteworthy that it is 5.1 inch and has a resolution of 1,920 x 1,080 pixels ). In general, we do not highlight any complaints regarding the screen of this smartphone.

Until 2014 , the fame that Super AMOLED screens dragged directly pointed to saturation as one of the biggest problems of the colors that were displayed on them. For this reason, for some time Samsung has incorporated a section in its mobile phones that allows you to choose the image mode to suit the user. In the case of the Samsung Galaxy A5 they have not forgotten this option, and from the " Screen Modes " section (in the Settings application ) it is possible to choose between four different image modes: Adaptive display , Cinema AMOLED , Photo AMOLED and Basic. The first one shows very vivid colors, while the last one has a much duller tone compared to the first (which is the one that is activated by default).

Detail of the four screen modes available on this mobile, from left to right: Adaptive display, Cinema AMOLED, Photo AMOLED and Basic [ Click on the thumbnails to see the images in full size ]

Design

Metal body. 139.3 x 69.7 x 6.7 millimeters, 123 grams of weight. Available in white, black, gold and gray .

Metal, metal and more metal. The Samsung Galaxy A5 incorporates a metal body accompanied by metal edges . The side edges have a very well polished finish, conveying the feeling that we are really looking at a smartphone built with what we could call premium materials .

In the back cover the appearance of the terminal is somewhat lighter . The case is painted with a slightly duller color compared to the colors of the rest of the case (or at least that is what we have seen in the white unit that we have been able to test). In any case, the finish of the Samsung Galaxy A5 leaves no room for doubt at first glance that we are dealing with a metal smartphone .

And what sensations does the Samsung Galaxy A5 convey in your hand? The Samsung Galaxy A5 is surprisingly light , especially if we have never had a mobile with metallic finishes in hand. It weighs 123 grams , so it's no wonder it conveys that feeling. This same lightness never translates into a feeling of fragility, since the Galaxy A5 - probably thanks to its side edges with very sharp angles - feels firm and safe in the hand.

The physical buttons of the Samsung Galaxy A5 are very well distributed on both sides of the terminal, regardless of whether we plan to use it with the left hand or the right hand. The lock button is on the right side, while the volume button is on the left side. In this way, no matter how we take the mobile, both buttons are always easily accessible through the index finger and thumb.

On the front of the Samsung Galaxy A5 , specifically below the screen, we have the Start button . It is somewhat shocking that this button is made of plastic when the rest of the smartphone is dominated by a metallic design; Furthermore, when we press the button, it is likely that we will immediately notice the difference in touch with respect to the rest of the terminal. Beyond this small detail, the button responds correctly to the keystrokes, and does not present excessive play.

Another striking feature of this smartphone is the design of the main camera . This camera is surrounded by a metal ring that protrudes noticeably above the housing . This metal ring, beyond its striking design, does not generate major problems when supporting the mobile on a completely flat surface.

One aspect of the design of the Samsung Galaxy A5 that we cannot forgive - or at least leave unremarkable - is the absence of the fingerprint reader . We are talking about a 400-euro smartphone , a terminal that goes on the market in the middle of 2015 ... why doesn't it have a fingerprint reader on the Start button , as its older brothers from the Galaxy range are used to ? It could be understandable that the Samsung Galaxy A3 does not come with this feature, but a terminal like the Galaxy A5 would turn out to be much more complete if it incorporated this small detail.

Camera and multimedia

13 megapixel main camera. Maximum resolution in photographs of 4,128 x 3,096 pixels. 1080 pixel video recording at 30 frames per second. LED flash. 5 - megapixel front camera .

The Samsung Galaxy A5 comes with a main camera of 13 megapixels that in the least about the theory, should guarantee us a remarkable quality pictures. In practice, the quality of the snapshots offered by this smartphone is good , although it is not surprising.

The pictures taken by the main camera can achieve a maximum resolution of 4,128 x 3,096 pixels ; Although that is only true in the 4: 3 format , since in the 16: 9 format (the format that is generally used in most mobiles when taking a photograph) the resolution reaches 4,128 x 2,322 pixels . Movies are recorded at a maximum resolution of 1,920 x 1,080 pixels at a rate of 30 frames per second .

Click on the thumbnails to see the images in full size

Sharpness ,  contrast and  speed are words that the main camera of the  Samsung Galaxy A5 does not hide. The camera's autofocus works precisely, allowing you to take pictures without the need to manually focus the image at any time. In addition, once the image is focused, the time between you press the photo button and stored image is minimal .

Although, on the other hand, if there is a word that makes this camera red, it is the word  night . Photographs taken at night outdoors leave a lot to be desired . Of course, we are talking about a problem present in the vast majority of smartphone cameras, although this does not prevent us from highlighting it as a negative aspect of this smartphone camera.

Camera app screenshots

The Camera application of the Samsung Galaxy A5 incorporates different options. On one hand, we can choose the size of the image between the following alternatives: 13 megapixels , 4128 x 3096 pixels ( 4: 3 ); 9.6 megapixels , 4128 x 2322 pixels ( 16: 9 ); 9.6 megapixels , 3096 x 3.06 pixels ( 1: 1 ); eight megapixels , 3264 x 2448 pixels ( 4: 3 ); six mega pixels , 3264 x 1836 pixels (16: 9 ) and 2.4 megapixels , 2048 x 1152 pixels ( 16: 9 ). We can also apply filters before taking the photograph, filters that include these effects: Vintage , Poster , Blue , Red / yellow , Gray scale , Sepia and Negative .

And besides the filters, this application also includes different camera modes : Automatic , Selfie Alarm , Panoramic , Night , Animated GIF and other modes that can be downloaded from the official Samsung store . These modes are complemented by the following customizable settings : Exposure value , Press for photo , location storage , view photos / videos , ISO , Video Size , Grid , Reset Settings, White balance , Recording mode , Voice control , Metering modes , Location labels and Volume key .

Processor and memory

Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 processor (model MSM8916) with four cores (Cortex-A53) running at 1.2 GHz. Adreno 306 graphics processor. 2 GigaBytes of RAM, LPDDR3 type .

One of the biggest points of discussion regarding the Samsung Galaxy A5 resides in the components that this smartphone hides under its casing. The processor chosen in this case is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 , and the RAM offers a capacity of 2 GigaBytes . We may not be facing surprising data if we compare them with other mobiles -especially high-end ones-, but in our test we have been able to verify that the Samsung Galaxy A5 moves fluently .

The transition between one application and another is very smooth, and we have not detected any traces of the usual fears that are usually generated by the fact that a mid-range smartphone incorporates the heavy layer of personalization of TouchWiz .

Although the internal storage capacity with which the Samsung Galaxy A5 is advertised is 16 GigaBytes , the actual space that remains available to users is 11.5 GigaBytes . This space can be expanded using an external microSD storage card of up to a maximum of 64 GigaBytes . The external storage card is inserted on the right side of the mobile, specifically in a slot that is removed through a metal tip included with the mobile (that is, exactly in the same way that the Nano-SIM card is inserted ) .

Operating system and applications

The factory installed operating system on the Samsung Galaxy A5 corresponds to Android in Android version 4.4.4 KitKat . Would we prefer it to be Android 5.0 Lollipop , the latest version of this operating system? Yes, but being true to reality, we must emphasize that the presentation of this smartphone has practically coincided with the distribution of Lollipop around the world, so it would have been very difficult for Samsung to develop this update for the Galaxy A5 in time. .

We do not know if this smartphone will be updated to Lollipop , but the truth is that the interface that incorporates inside the Samsung Galaxy A5 is not exactly short of options . On the one hand, the quick accesses of the notification panel are completely customizable, so it is possible to choose between always having accesses available such as WiFi , Sound , Ultra-saving , Airplane Mode , NFC , Screen Mirroring or Smart Stay , among many others. On the other hand, options such as Blocking Mode (to block some incoming notifications),Private mode (to hide certain content) or the Energy Saving make let 's not exactly a higher version of the operating system.

An interesting section of the interface of the Samsung Galaxy A5 resides in the option of " Themes ". It turns out that this smartphone incorporates an option that allows you to customize the interface . This option includes five different interface designs that can be activated and deactivated to suit the user: Samsung Basic , Natural , Crafts , Classic and Sweet . We are talking about a particularly interesting option in that it allows you to largely customize the design of the TouchWiz interface that this mobile incorporates from the factory.

Applications that brings factory installed the  Samsung Galaxy A5 are:  Phone ,  Contacts ,  Messages ,  Internet , Gallery ,  Camera ,  Music ,  Video ,  Clock ,  Calendar ,  Email ,  Calculator ,  Settings ,  Recorder ,  My Files ,  GALAXY Apps ,  Flipboard ,  Dropbox ,  Chrome ,  Gmail , Google+ ,  Maps ,  Play Music ,  Play Movies ,  Play Books ,  Play Newsstand ,  Play Games ,  Drive ,  YouTube ,  Photos ,  Hangouts ,  Google ,  Voice Search ,  Play Store ,  Google Settings ,  Study ,  Notes ,  S Voice and Smart Tutor .

Some of the applications that this smartphone comes installed as standard are completely expendable . The best example is in Fliboard , and specifically in the Briefing complement that accompanies this application. This add-on is installed as standard on the left side of the main screen, in such a way that if we move the Start screen to the left, what will automatically open is a summary of the day's news. Luckily, this screen can be removed.

Battery and autonomy

The battery houses inside the Samsung Galaxy A5 has a capacity of 2,300 mAh and, of course, talking about a battery non-removable . The capacity of this battery may not be particularly high, but we can be sure that with conventional use of the mobile we will get more than seven or eight hours of use . In other words, we are talking about a mobile phone that has conventional autonomy, and we could include it within the category of mobile phones that offer an average day of use .

Beyond this capacity, the Samsung Galaxy A5 includes among its configurations two different power saving modes : Power Save and ultraahorro Power Mode . The first slightly adjusts some functions of the terminal to reduce its battery consumption (restrict data in the background, restrict performance, etc.), while the second transforms the colors of the screen into black and white, in addition to practically reducing the options to a minimum. of the mobile.

Price, availability and conclusions

The Samsung Galaxy A5 is available in Spain for a price of around 400 euros . We could talk at length about whether we are facing a price that is justified with the materials that this smartphone is made of, but in this review of the Samsung Galaxy A5 we have wanted to focus on simply analyzing the positive and negative aspects of this terminal taking into account its characteristics.

Therefore, if we put the pros and cons of the Samsung Galaxy A5 on a scale, on one side we will highlight the versatile size and good image quality of the screen , the metallic design and the optimal performance of the processor , while in the On the other hand we have to mention the absence of the fingerprint reader and the slightly overloaded interface of TouchWiz applications . And, in the center of the scale, we will highlight the price of this smartphone (400 euros) , a feature that we leave to the decision of the readers.

SAMSUNG GALAXY A5 datasheet

screen

Design

Camera

Multimedia

software

Power 

Memory

Connections

Autonomy

+ info

Price: 400 euros