Samsung Galaxy Alpha Review: Specs and Features Overview
Those who love the performance and reliability of a Samsung phone often point to one thing that takes away from making an otherwise impressive device almost perfect—it's plastic, conservatively shaped body. But those who have seen or held a Samsung Galaxy Alpha can attest that the metal smartphone is one of the most beautiful handsets that the Korean company has produced in a while. But will Galaxy Alpha's premium looks match up to what's inside?
The Samsung Galaxy Alpha looks and feels like an entirely different device from the Galaxy S5. It has a full metal body, and the back panel is covered in a rubberized, dotted pattern. It's also a bit smaller than the S5 as it has a 4.7-inch frame, is 6.7mm thick and weighs 4.03 ounces. However, because its body is made of metal, it's not water resistant like the S5, and it doesn't come with a microSD card slot to expand its 32GB internal memory.
The Galaxy Alpha has a 4.7-inch 720p Super AMOLED display. Though it's not as impressive as other premium phones, which have Quad HD screens, the pixel density of the Galaxy Alpha is 312 pixels per inch, which result in clear images, but the edges are not as sharply defined compared to those viewed on the S5's screen. Color quality is also somewhat oversaturated.
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The device is powered by a 2.5GHz quad core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 with 2GB of RAM and runs on the Android 4.4 Kitkat with TouchWiz UI on top. The phone's camera is also not quite up there with the S5's shooters, as the Galaxy Alpha has a 12MP rear-facing camera while the front shooter is a 2.1MP camera. The device's camera does come with the S5's default modes such as Panorama, Beauty Face, Dual Camera and more.
As beautiful as the Galaxy Alpha is, its price, which is $613 off contract, may be its downfall as the S5 is more superior when it comes to features. But Samsung is clearly making bold steps to make their upcoming devices more attractive, so the next Galaxy Alpha could come with better specs and features, and not just a pretty shell.
