THE Galaxy A5 and Galaxy A3 are handsets for those who place a premium on style and social networking. The new handsets, which Samsung describes as “trendy”, are extraordinarily slim (the A5 is 6.7mm thick and the A3 and 6.9mm), use plastic in favour of a quality metal unibody, and are aimed at young connected consumers.
So as well as a premium feel, the handsets both boast very generous 5-megapixel front-facing cameras for facilitating selfies, which are supported by a host of features such as auto focus and auto face detection and remote shutter release to ensure the best self or group portrait. An LTE/4G connection plus enhanced social networking features means that once the picture has been captured and sufficiently manipulated, sharing it is simple.
“The Galaxy A5 and A3 offer a beautifully-crafted full metal unibody, slim design, superior hardware and the best possible social media experience,” said JK Shin, CEO and Head of IT & Mobile Communication at Samsung Electronics. But as well as camera tricks, the handsets have good screens — the A5 boasts a 5-inch full HD super AMOLED display and the A3 a 4.5-inch qHD Super AMOLED display and decent enough internal specifications that everything moves smoothly.
A larger screen isn’t the only difference between the two handsets. The Galaxy A5 also has 2GB of RAM and a 1.2GHz quad-core processor — the A3 has just 1GB — and its rear-facing camera clocks in at 11-megapixels (8 megapixels for the A3). Still, both handsets support NFC and feature a microSD port for memory expansion up to an extra 64GB.
They are available in a host of colours meant to chime with younger users, including Pearl White, Midnight Black, Platinum Silver, Soft Pink, Light Blue and Champagne Gold, and the handsets will run Android KitKat 4.4 out of the box. There is no word as to when they will receive the recently-launched Android Lollipop update.
