Also launches E5 and E7 series in India.
By Dileep Thekkethil
BENGALURU: Samsung India launched today the company’s slimmest smartphones in the mid-range segment called Galaxy A5 and Galaxy A3 with 100% metal unibody design.
Along with the launch of the slimmest smartphones, Samsung also launched Galaxy E5 and E7 in India, making a total of four new mid-range smartphones for 2015.
Asim Warsi, VP – Marketing, Mobile & IT, Samsung India, said during the launch event, “India is the first country for the launch of Galaxy E5 and E7, reaffirming its position as a key market for Samsung globally. The launch of new dual-slim smartphones will further strengthen Samsung’s product portfolio in the mid-range segment.”
While Samsung has priced E5 and E7 at Rs 19,300 and Rs 23,000, respectively, the slim models A5 and A3 are priced at Rs 25,500 and Rs 20,500, respectively.
Galaxy A5 and Galaxy A3 are just 6.7 mm and 6.9 mm thin, making the phones the thinnest in Samsung’s mid-range smartphones.
Specification of Galaxy A5 and Galaxy A3
Galaxy A5: The ultra-thin Galaxy A5, like majority of Galaxy series smartphones, has a 5 inch Full HD Super AMOLED display, developed by Samsung. The phone is powered by a 1.2 GHz Quad-Core Processor coupled with 2 GB RAM for speedy processing.
Coming to the camera department of the Galaxy A5, it has a 13 MP auto-focus primary camera with flash, along with a 5 MP front camera, offering selfie enthusiasts better image quality image while clicking own photos or during video chat.
Samsung had featured 5 MP front camera in some of their early models such as Note 4 with added features like Wide Selfie, Palm Selfe, Animated GIF, Beauty Face feature etc.
Galaxy A5 is 4G LTE enabled with CAT6 antenna, which allows the phone to access 4G on the higher frequency 2.6GHz band.
A5 has an internal storage capacity of 16 GB which is expandable to 64 GB using MicroSD card. The new smartphone from Samsung runs on the latest version of Android KitKat 4.4 out-of-the-box will be upgradable to Lollipop over-the-air later in coming weeks.
Samsung provides a 2300 mAh battery for Galaxy A5, which could have been improved considering the other high end specification of the phone including the 4G LTE feature, which can easily drain the barratry if used continuously for a few hours. So it is advised to carry a power bank if the user is an avid net surfer or game enthusiast.
Other connectivity features of Galaxy A5 are Bluetooth: 4.0, WiFi, NFC. The phone also has a slew of sensors such as Accelerometer, Proximity, Geo-magnetic, RGB ambient light, and Hall Sensor.
Galaxy A3: Galaxy A3 is a slightly inferior smartphone when compared to the Galaxy A5. Samsung made major cut downs in the display and camera department of Galaxy A3. The size of the display got reduced to 4.5 inches and the quality of the screen has been downgraded to qHD Super AMOLED. The rear camera of Galaxy A3 has just 8 MP, but Samsung has maintained the 5 MP for the front camera. Samsung has compromised on the battery to make the device slim, 1900 mAh battery of the device could well fall short of completing a full day circle if users are avid gamers or surfers.