Samsung

Galaxy A5

Review in pictures

The #1 gadget research website in India

Designed to impress

The Galaxy A5 along with its siblings, are the first unibody devices in Samsung’s

portfolio

Sports a metallic rim along its edges

Also gone are the flimsy plastic back panels and instead, the phone gets a nice back

panel, though it’s still plastic

Other than that, the smartphone looks very similar to previous Samsung devices

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Not just looks good, but feels good in the hand too

Even with the use of metal, the phone is quite slim measuring just 6.7mm around

the waist

It’s also quite lightweight and tips the scale at 123g

The device, with its 5-inch display, fits in the hand well and can be operated

single-handedly

Thanks to the matte back panel, it doesn’t gets slippery even after long periods of use

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A captivating display

The smartphone is fitted with a 5-inch display, which bears a resolution of 1,280

x 720 pixels

The Super AMOLED display panel offers true-to-life colours and ample

brightness levels

You can chose different display modes like Adaptive Display, AMOLED Cinema

and photo

A layer of Corning’s latest, Gorilla Glass 4 protects the display against scratches

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Touching base with Samsung’s TouchWiz interface

The device runs brand’s

proprietary TouchWiz UI on

Android 4.4 KitKat

The UI brings a number of

features

Along with the

homescreens, there’s a

dedicated screen to access

news content at one place in

a visually-pleasing manner

It also comes preloaded with

a number of apps such as

Galaxy apps, Memo, My

Files, etc.

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Offers some high-end software enhancements as well

With One-handed mode, you

can operate the Galaxy A5

easily with one hand

Smart Stay keeps the display

awake as long as it detects

your eyes are watching it

To secure your images, songs

or videos, you can enable

Private Mode

With Easy Mode, the device

offers a simplified interface

with enlarged icons and large

font text

Multi-window offers you the

capability to use two apps

simultaneously

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Delightful pair of snappers

Samsung devices are known

for their camera prowess, and

the Galaxy A5 is no different

It sports a 13MP rear camera

with an LED flash

At the front, it has a 5MP

shooter

The custom camera interface

is very easy to use and offer a

number of options and modes

Apart from usual modes like

HDR, panorama, etc., you can

also download more modes,

such as Sound & Shot

Both snappers can record

videos in full HD resolution at

30fps

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Shots that are full on colours and details

The cameras offer impressive

image quality

The images offer excellent colour

variance and ample amount of

detail

However, low-light images could

have been better

The 5MP sensor on the front also

does a good job of shooting selfies

or making video calls

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Zips along, but unable to zoom ahead

Running the show is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 processor, a 64-bit

chipset offering four cores ticking at 1.2GHz

The SoC is complemented by 2GB of RAM

The device performs well for usual tasks even when multiple apps are running at

the background

However, there are noticeable jitters while playing heavy games

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Generous storage that’s expandable as well

The phone comes with 16GB

of storage on board

Users will be able to access

around 11.2GB space for

installing apps and storing

personal content

In case this isn’t sufficient, you

can make use of the hybrid

secondary slot which can

accept either a SIM card or a

microSD card

Sadly, there’s no USB OTG

support on the device

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Long-lasting stamina

Fuelling the Galaxy A5 is a

2,300mAh battery

While it might not sound too

high a capacity, the device

offers an outstanding battery

life

It easily lasts more than a day,

even with the use of 3G and

GPS

It played an HD video non-

stop for a period of 10 hours

There are various battery-

saving options as well, such

as a Power Saving Mode as

well as an Ultra Power Saving

Mode

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At a glance…

Weighs 123g

Thickness of 6.7mm

5-inch display with HD resolution

1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 410

processor

2GB RAM

16GB internal memory, expandable up to

64GB

13-megapixel rear camera with LED flash

5MP front shooter

Support for FDD-LTE, Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-

Fi, NFC and GPS

2,300mAh battery

Android 4.4 KitKat

Pros and cons

Well-built and good design

Pleasing display

Impressive pair of snappers

Long-lasting battery life

Middling performance

Pricey proposition

Verdict

Price:~ Rs 24,000

“The Samsung Galaxy A5 comes across as a worthy smartphone featuring a classy design, a pleasing display, impressive snappers and an outstanding battery life. Performance is also decent, though it’s not for power-hungry users who want to play high-end games as it’s fuelled by the budget Snapdragon 410 processor. It also seems a pricey proposition considering similarly-priced phones like the OnePlus One and Xiaomi Mi 4, but it’s a great choice if you want a reliable daily driver.”