Samsung launches the Galaxy Alpha
by Andrei Frumusanu on August 13, 2014 4:51 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Samsung
- Mobile
- Galaxy Alpha
Samsung today announces the new Galaxy Alpha, a mid-range "premium" built device that creates a new range in Samsung's lineup. The Alpha totes a 4.7" 1280x720 AMOLED screen, coming with either a yet unnanounced Exynos 5430 SoC with 4 A15 cores running at 1.8GHz and 4 A7 cores running at 1.3GHz and a Mali T628MP6 GPU for the international market, or with a Snapdragon 801 SoC for select markets such as the US. Both versions come with 2GB of memory on board.
A new 12MP rear sensor and a 2.1MP front camera can be found.
The device comes in a new aluminium frame, marking this as a change in build material from Samsung's usual plastic. The phone is extremely thin at only 6.7mm and weighing a lightweight 115g. The footprint of 132.4 x 65.5mm matches the 4.7" screen format of the phone. The back cover is removable and sports a 1860mAh replaceable battery. Strangely, Samsung omitted a microSD card slot in this device which comes at a standard 32GB of internal storage space. We find the same fingerprint and heatbeat sensor as on the S5, however it lacks the waterproofing of the former. It's shipping with Android 4.4.4 KitKat version with the same TouchWiz iteration as the S5.
More interestingly the international version of the device should sport LTE-A category 6 with help of an Intel XMM7260 modem. This would be the first device announced with Intel's new LTE modem and mark a break from Qualcomm's dominance in the sector.
The Alpha is an intriguing device that apparently to wants to fill in a gap in Samsung's lineup which has seen device size go up with each iteration of the S-series. The 720p screen, its slimness and design seems to target directly the iPhone instead of other high-end Android handsets, pricing should also end up in the higher end.
Source: SamsungTomorrow
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londedoganet - Wednesday, August 13, 2014 - link
If only they would produce a charger that can charge both the phone and the spare battery simultaneously.melgross - Wednesday, August 13, 2014 - link
Hah! My old Samsung i300 and i330 phones had a charger that had two slots. The front one for the phone with battery, and a rear slot for the extra battery. This was the first color Palmphone. The standard battery was pretty useless, giving about two hours on a charge, but the heavy duty one that also came with it gave about three and a half hours. That was without using data services, which used a very slow version of edge. It used to take a good five minutes to download what was called a mobile web page. Just the name of the site, and some folders with names of articles.A full 4MB RAM! Don't remember what the storage number was. You really had to whack the screen with the stylus. Handwriting recognition was done below the usable portion of the screen. A full 160x160 Rez with 256 colors. No upgradable OS. Buggy programs (yeah, we were still calling them that) that were a pain to buy and load, and that cost an average of $20 for anything half serious.
Boy, those were the days!
robertkoa - Tuesday, August 19, 2014 - link
Lonyo-good points on battery.But I would rather have a thicker
Alpha Pro (hopefully) to address this in near future...
9 or 10 mm thick, 2500Mah Battery , SD Card , Camera from S5 or Note 4 , USB 3.0 .
Would you mind thicker Device ?
Would you mind $725. or whatever price Note 4 is ?
Cygni - Wednesday, August 13, 2014 - link
It's 2014, youre gonna have to let go of that microSD full of bad anime MKVs and go to cloud or streaming at some point.phoenix_rizzen - Wednesday, August 13, 2014 - link
At least with a removable battery there's the possibility that someone will sell an "extended" battery+back case for it. With a built-in battery, you're stuck with whatever shipped with the phone.This is basically an upgraded Nexus4/Optimus G. Same size screen, same resolution, better SoC, better baseband/modem. Will be interesting to see how it performs compared to the Nexus4/Optimus G, and even the Nexus5/G2.
It's about time someone paired an upgraded SoC (S801 with Adreno 330) with a lower-resolution (720p) display. This thing should fly through graphics benchmarks and games.
jbwhite99 - Wednesday, August 13, 2014 - link
Reading this article, and the one last week on the Lenovo Vibe Z2 - it is easy to figure out which phone I would rather have (come on Lenovo, get a deal worked out with Motorola and bring them here!) Metal case, 4x the resolution of this phone, light weight, and 4000 MaH battery.All I can hope for on this phone is a snarky Samsung ad poking fun at all of the iPhonies waiting in line for the new, bigger iPhone. Perhaps the barista will be back. I will admint that I carry a GS4, but I won't be back for a GS6 in 15 months unless it is knock your socks off.
iwod - Wednesday, August 13, 2014 - link
The only interesting piece here is the Intel Modem. Really want to know how Intel 7260 stack against Qualcomm 9x35. The are mostly the same except Qualcomm support CDMA, and is built on advanced 20nm node.dabotsonline - Thursday, August 14, 2014 - link
I would also like to know this. The G5 Broadband LTE-A (Korean version) and the Note 4 would be good comparisons.devashish90 - Wednesday, August 13, 2014 - link
1. The Exynos 5430 SoC, is probably built on a 20nm process(the first one for an mobile AP AFAICS). This roughly amounts to a ~25% better power efficiency, and delivering better performance as well.2. 26% less pixels to power when compared to full HD S5.
3. Combine points 1 and 2, Galaxy Alpha is set to be roughly 38% less power hungry than S5, so it needs a 1700mah battery to be alive for the same time a Galaxy S5 does with a 2800 mah battery.
So, actually, Samsung have made this device to last presumably longer than an Exynos Galaxy S5. Even Snapdragon 805 is still on 28nm die.
thesavvymage - Wednesday, August 13, 2014 - link
1280x720 is less than half as many pixels as 1920x1080. not sure how you calculate "26% less pixels to power than S5"