Samsung has been full of surprises in the recent past with its smartphone naming choices. When many expected a Galaxy S6 Mini to be released last year, instead, the company came in with a new series of Galaxy J devices.
This game continued as the South Korean tech giant further came in with the Samsung Galaxy A series. This year, there is a new Samsung Galaxy C series already in the offering.
One thing that Samsung has managed to do with the release of these new devices is to eliminate the small screens. The Galaxy A, C, and J-series devices have roomy displays that are somehow the liking of many smartphone buyers today. With the huge range of devices available today, we have narrowed down to the Galaxy A series to try and bring out the difference between this year’s Samsung Galaxy A3, Galaxy A5, and Galaxy A7.
Design and display
Being in the same family, Samsung Galaxy A3 (2016), Galaxy A5 (2016) and Galaxy A7 (2016) come with a similar design language. From a distance, you might be forgiven for thinking the Galaxy A5, for instance, is last year’s Galaxy S6. This is true because these phones have a very close resemblance – they have attractive bodies featuring metal and glass designs that give them premium looks.
These three phones start differing when it comes to their actual sizes and weight for that matter. The smallest of the three is Samsung Galaxy A3 (2016), which has a screen size of 4.7 inches and weighs just 132g. If anything, this is one of the best offerings you can get from Samsung with respect to new small-sized phones.
Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016) comes in with a screen size of 5.2 inches and a weight of 155g whereas the Galaxy A7 (2016) is the largest with a screen size of 5.5 inches and weight of 172g. You won’t find anything to do with water or dust resistance on these three phones. In addition, the screens’ quality is a slightly on the lower side when compared to the flagship Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S7.
They all come with Super AMOLED panels, however, the Galaxy A3 has a 720p HD panel as opposed to the 1080p Full HD panels you find on the Galaxy A5 and A7 models. Still, you won’t be disappointed with the crispy display you get on the smaller handset. You also get great viewing angles from the trio thanks to the excellent brightness levels the screens offer.
Performance and battery life
There is no doubt that the Galaxy A series is one of the ways you could get close to owning a flagship Samsung phone. Even though they come packed with mid-range specs, you still get amazingly smooth experiences with them.
The smaller Galaxy A3 (2016) comes with a Snapdragon 410 SoC that is still very capable when it comes to playing games and running apps thanks to the 1.5GB of RAM that it is paired with. As for the other two handsets, you will come across a Snapdragon 615 SoC, but the Galaxy A5 (2016) has a RAM of 2GB as compared to the 3GB available on the Galaxy A7 (2016).
As for the storage options, you will get 16GB of onboard storage on all the three handsets, but the good thing is that it can be expanded via a microSD card.
The smaller Galaxy A3 comes with a similarly smaller battery unit of 2300mAh. But due to the few amount of pixels it has to power, it means you get an equally great battery life as what the 2900mAh and 3300mAh units offered on the Galaxy A5 (2016) and Galaxy A7 (2016) respectively manage.
Camera, features, and price
All three handsets come with the same quality in terms of camera. You get a 13MP main camera on the trio, but the Galaxy A3 (2016) doesn’t feature OIS like the rest of the pack. Still, you will get things like autofocus and LED flash on all three handsets. The front-facing camera stays at 5MP on all three phones, with the same aperture of f/1.9 as the rear cameras.
As for the experience you get on the trio, it is all the same as they all come with Android Lollipop with Samsung’s TouchWiz on top. Reports are rife that Android Marshmallow might be coming to the phones, which will be a huge welcome. While you will find a fingerprint sensor on the Galaxy A5 and Galaxy A7, this feature is not available on the base model.
As for the pricing, the base model is valued at $279.99, the mid-range Galaxy A5 is valued at $358.99 whereas the high-end Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016) will set you back $389.99.
But for the A3 in Canada….. WHEN?!!!