Posted by XperiaJunkie
Samsung announces the much hyped Galaxy Alpha
The Samsung Galaxy Alpha is a high end medium sized display smartphone from Samsung. The specs of the device are of flagship quality. The Galaxy Alpha is said to be a direct rival to the iPhone 6 with both devices set for a September release.
The Samsung Galaxy Alpha flagship has a 4.7" Super AMOLED with 720p resolution (320 ppi). The phone also has the Exynos 5 Octa built up of four Cortex-A15 cores (1.8GHz) and four Cortex-A7 cores (1.3GHz) ( no mention of a Snapdragon variant). There's 2GB of RAM and 32GB of fixed storage.
It runs Android 4.4.4 KitKat with TouchWiz on top including S Health and Ultra-low power mode. The phone also has a fingerprint reader, heart-rate sensor and will be compatible with the Samsung Gear smartwatches.
The main camera is a 12MP shooter accompanied by a 2.1MP front facing camera. The smartphone has all the usual features such as 4G, NFC, and a feature from the S5 called download booster (combines wifi with 4G) to give superb download speeds. The dimentions of Alpha are very impressive, 132.4 x 65.5 x 6.7 mm and has a 1860 mAh battery. The phone will be available in range of colours starting with the normal black and white variants along with gold, silver and blue.
The Galaxy Alpha is shaping up to be a fantastic device and will launch at a very interesting time. the prices is said to be about £500 again putting it right in the firing line of the up and coming iPhone 6.
First promo video of the new Samsung Galaxy Alpha
https://www.youtube.com/watch[....]=player_embedded&v=u8OZoyHvX78
[ This Message was edited by: XperiaJunkie on 2014-08-13 13:12 ]
Posted by Bonovox
Why such a small battery??
Posted by Luca-S
A beautiful Mini device.
Just this.
Posted by XperiaJunkie
@Bono that's my thoughts as well 1860 mAh is very weak unless the CPU is very power efficient having said that the biggest power drain as with any other smartphone is the display. I feel Samsung compromised the battery by making the phone so thin also non expandable memory is a downside but most people will be happy with 32GB (approx 26GB available to user) storage. Personally I would choose the S5 Mini over the Alpha for 3 reasons, IP 68 rated an SD card slot and a slightly larger battery.
[ This Message was edited by: XperiaJunkie on 2014-08-13 11:52 ]
Posted by itsjustJOH
Announcing the Alpha almost a month before the iP6 means that Samsung does not intend it to go head to head with the next iPhone. I guess they are really confident about their Note 4.
About the Alpha, I wouldn't bet on it being a big seller. I'm pretty sure it would have a premium price tag, like S5 premium, and you only get a device with a lot of compromises to make it thinner (small battery capacity, most likely a small camera sensor, no SD card slot, no IP certifications).
Posted by XperiaJunkie
^ It is to be released the same week Apple announce the iPhone 6. I do think it is there to try and steal some of Apple's thunder but only time will tell.
Posted by XperiaJunkie
The Galaxy Alpha gets benchmarked and posted some very impressive results.
http://www.gsmarena.com/samsu[....]lpha_benchmarked-news-9329.php
Posted by XperiaJunkie
first review of the Alpha which includes camera samples and battery perfomance.
https://translate.google.com/[....]FSamsung_GALAXY_Alpha-rev.html
Posted by tranced
This Alpha resembles me the S2. Anyone?
Yet it still looking nice, the battery, as you mentioned earlier, takes my eyes off of it.
Posted by XperiaJunkie
Does anyone know the formula to calculate screen to phone size ratio ?
Posted by rikken
Lovely design
Posted by tranced
On 2014-08-13 14:44:36, XperiaJunkie wrote:
Does anyone know the formula to calculate screen to phone size ratio ?
Try this page: http://andrew.hedges.name/experiments/aspect_ratio/
Posted by itsjustJOH
On 2014-08-13 14:44:36, XperiaJunkie wrote:
Does anyone know the formula to calculate screen to phone size ratio ?
Area of the screen divided by the area of the phone (width x height), I think.
Posted by XperiaJunkie
Sorry I think we have our wires crossed I mean screen to bezel ratio. The Galaxy Alpha's main rivals are likely to be the iPhone 6 and the Xperia Z3 Compact. With the increasing demand for smaller bezels it would be interesting to to find out what the Galaxy Alphas screen to bezel ratio is.
the Z3 Compact comes in at 69.85% (Z1 compact is 61.7%)
the iPhone 6 comes in at 64.83% (iPhone 5s is 60.6%)
Both have improvements over their previous models in that area which is good to see as the overall footprint in a compact flagship is vital to the user.
[ This Message was edited by: XperiaJunkie on 2014-08-13 14:35 ]
Posted by Tsepz_GP
It's super thin, made of metal and is far more compact than most other phones with the same specs and most importantly it is a Samsung, it is going to fly off the shelves if it is getting a truly global release.
I hope the Galaxy Note 4 has the same metal frame
even more excited for the Note 4 now as this is a step in the right direction for Samsung.
Posted by badassmam
Battery is too small but given the thickness of the device, it was going to be a compromise anyway. This like the Z1C will be great in terms of benchmark scores because of the 720p screen so that's all good stuff. Lack of expandable storage is a mistake considering people can easily use that up and a SD card in no time, I've nearly filled my 64GB card on my Z1C since getting it in February!
The design. Looks like an iPhone but the raised corners of the metal frame will keep them out of court. It looks nice in gold but they need to get rid of that band aid pattern from the front and back. Every Samsung is cursed with that horrible pattern. How hard would it be to put a brushed metal front and back plate?
This is going head to head with the small sized iPhone and I'm sure the iPhone will be prettier plus with that fanbase.... If the Z3C is like the Z1C in terms of putting a flagship into a small body then that will probably beat everyone on specs. That puts the Alpha nowhere. Galaxy S and Note is what they do best and what they should focus on since they had a *relatively* poor sales year. Nobody will get this over an iPhone and will think twice when they see the Z3C.
Posted by Bonovox
I love Samsung but I doubt this will steal any sales from the iPhone 6. A bigger iPhone screen is what many want and it's going to be a huge seller. I don't think this Alpha will sell huge
Posted by XperiaJunkie
Question here for anyone who has a Note 3 or S5. How much storage does the average 4K video take say over 3-4 minutes? I've read elsewhere that it's approximately 350MB per minute of video. If this is the case the Alpha may struggle with fixed memory once you start adding apps, music, photos and videos.
Posted by rikken
http://www.phonearena.com/new[....]accurate-AMOLED-screen_id59303
Posted by rikken
http://www.phonearena.com/new[....]camera-samples-surface_id59298
Posted by XperiaJunkie
GSM arena have a quick preview of the Samsung Galaxy Alpha
http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_alpha-review-1114.php
Here is a little snippet of that preview
The exposed metal on the sides of the Galaxy Alpha gives the phone a sense or rigidity that plastic never quite manages. Even so we struggle a bit to call the Alpha a premium device - the plastic on the back and the design of the front are very much standard Galaxy affair, from mid-range to flagship.
[ This Message was edited by: XperiaJunkie on 2014-08-13 18:12 ]
Posted by cu015170
On 2014-08-13 12:40:00, Bonovox wrote:
Why such a small battery??
6.7mm thickness..
that being said, I doubt the iPhone 6 will come with anything larger than 2000mah
[ This Message was edited by: cu015170 on 2014-08-13 19:42 ]
Posted by XperiaJunkie
^ Apparently the iPhone 6 will come with a battery capacity between 1800 and 1900 mAh and the larger 5.5" @ 2500 mAh battery http://www.gsmarena.com/new_r[....]_iphone_6_models-news-8966.php
[ This Message was edited by: XperiaJunkie on 2014-08-13 19:50 ]
Posted by Tsepz_GP
Having a good laugh between here and the Rumours thread
People going on about what the Alpha lacks and forgetting what audience this is aimed at and the sort of marketing push Samsung are capable of.
This is priced under the Galaxy S5 and above S5 Mini, at the same time its a slight breathe of fresh air with a new name, new touches in terms of design and materials used, this could be exactly what Samsung needed, a blend of mid and high end in a more compact body.
Posted by rikken
+1
Posted by Bonovox
On 2014-08-13 21:20:28, Tsepz_GP wrote:
Having a good laugh between here and the Rumours thread
People going on about what the Alpha lacks and forgetting what audience this is aimed at and the sort of marketing push Samsung are capable of.
This is priced under the Galaxy S5 and above S5 Mini, at the same time its a slight breathe of fresh air with a new name, new touches in terms of design and materials used, this could be exactly what Samsung needed, a blend of mid and high end in a more compact body.
Yeah it is a good device just the battery is still too small
Posted by XperiaJunkie
I'm with Bono on this one. A fantastic setup possibly let down by a weak battery, only time will tell if it's decent and I'm sure Samsung have done their homework in getting the best out of it. The only other flaw for myself anyway is the lack of expandable memory but like I say 32GB is more than enough for the average user.
Posted by cu015170
^ if the software wasn't such a hog, 1800mah should be sufficient.. by today's standards if it lasts for around 10-12 hours/day its acceptable. The problem is that in an year, that battery will no longer be @ 1800mah but somewhere in the 1500 range and then you see people having their phones plugged in at all times
Good thing Samsung is keeping the removable back cover designs, I don't respect the company in general, but I respect that choice
On 2014-08-13 20:49:59, XperiaJunkie wrote:
^ Apparently the iPhone 6 will come with a battery capacity between 1800 and 1900 mAh and the larger 5.5" @ 2500 mAh battery http://www.gsmarena.com/new_r[....]_iphone_6_models-news-8966.php
[ This Message was edited by: XperiaJunkie on 2014-08-13 19:50 ]
That makes sense considering the rumored ~7mm thickness.. iOS should be able to use the available power better than any android version out there. Also, I forgot to add that the new A8 chip is rumored to be made using 20nm manufacturing process, which should further help power consumption.
[ This Message was edited by: cu015170 on 2014-08-13 22:08 ]
Posted by aussieland1
People should not forget that the screen is only hd not full hd- so this should help with the battery and a newer generation of CPU (28 nm) which should prove more battery efficient. In saying that I will be waiting for the battery tests as I am curious about theta battery life too
Posted by badassmam
Even if you don't compare the Alpha to any other androids, it still doesn't match with iPhone. iOS is heavily optimised and much lighter so a small battery gives a decent output while Android these days is quite demanding so the Alpha battery is too small. I have a Z1C and I get great battery life but it will drain when I start messing about too much. I was saying that the Galaxy S6 will compete with iPhone, not this. It's not a bad phone by all means but it's like Apollo Creed trash talking then getting killed by the Russian - Apple.
Posted by Bonovox
Yes it is down to software and how optimization works for battery life. The Galaxy S3 stock battery 2,100mAh was terrible and even the extended 3,000mAh battery doesn't do that well so it can be down to optimization. Sony and HTC have managed to get battery life and software optimization sorted as many say the Z2 and HTC One M8 have great battery life. But for a phone with a 720p screen the battery is still too small with all that power under the hood
Posted by cu015170
Well, like I said, at least is user replaceable by the looks of it, which is a big plus. The iPhone 6 and the z3 compact will most likely have sealed batteries.
Its a good looking device for sure.. they've done a good job
Posted by Tsepz_GP
The battery is certainly small for even for 2012 standards where we crossed into +2000mAh territory, that is also my biggest concern on this phone, but when you consider what sort of consumer they are after with the Alpha, they won't be very heavy users like us, the battery life won't be earth shattering but it should handle a day.
Posted by aussieland1
The thing is that the cpu is also a octa core which means that the power under the hood is only used for heavy stuff for lighter tasks the A7 cpu's are used
And the other thing to rememeber is like tsepz said most people are not power/heavy users like Bono so there is every chance that the battery should be fine. Also in regards to GS3 that had a 2012 cpu (40 nm if i am correct) the current cpu's (28 nm and less) are definetely more power eficient
Btw speaking of ios iphone 5 had a terrible battery life after the upgrade to ios 7 -which is not the case with the iphone 5s . That proves as well that the newer technology is more poser efficient
[ This Message was edited by: aussieland1 on 2014-08-14 07:32 ]
Posted by Tsepz_GP
To further add to your point Aussie, the Galaxy Alpha's CPU has been unveiled, it's a whole new Exynos5430 built on Samsungs 20nm process, not even 28nm
so it's even more power efficient than any other chip currently available, that could explain why Samsung went with a smaller battery.
Samsung unveils the 20nm octa-core Exynos 5430 processor
Samsung made the Galaxy Alpha official yesterday, and apart from being the first metallic Android smartphone from the Korean manufacturer, the Galaxy Alpha is also the first to be powered by Samsung’s Exynos 5430 SoC. Today, Samsung has released details on its new mobile processor. As expected, the Exynos 5430 is an octa-core chip (with four Cortex-A15 cores clocked at 1.8 GHz, four Cortex-A7 cores clocked at 1.3 GHz, and the Mali T628MP6 GPU), but it’s distinct from existing Exynos chips as it is the first to be built on Samsung’s new 20nm process, which the company says offers up to 25 percent less power consumption compared to SoCs built on a 28nm process while not compromising on performance.
The Exynos 5430 also supports big.LITTLE HMP (Heterogeneous Multi-Processing) processing – in simple terms, this means that all the eight cores of the processor can be active at the same time, and can also be individually turned on and off as and when required. Furthermore, the Exynos 5430 supports display resolutions of WQHD (2560×1440) and WQXGA (2560×1600) – the Galaxy Alpha might have an average resolution of 1280×720, but it looks like Samsung’s newest Exynos chip won’t be left wanting for power on high-resolution devices (it’s too bad the Galaxy Tab S is powered by the older Exynos 5420, resulting in a somewhat laggy experience.)
Samsung hasn’t published full specifications of the latest Exynos chipset, though you can hit up the source link for all the official details that are available as of now. Before someone asks, we should point out that the upcoming Galaxy Note 4 will be powered by the Exynos 5433 processor, and the Exynos 5430 will likely be reserved for devices that fall a tad below Samsung’s flagship phones and tablets.
SamMobile
All this just makes me more excited for the Note 4, this means it's Exynos chipset will be very efficient compared to what's currently available as most other manufacturers are either stuck with the Snapdragon 801 or 805 for their devices being announced at IFA.
Posted by cu015170
^ That's awesome.. is it the first phone to use the 20nm ?
That should bring down the power drain from the CPU quite a bit so 1800mah might be perfectly fine for most people.
[ This Message was edited by: cu015170 on 2014-08-14 08:24 ]
Posted by rikken
Hopefully Sammy knows what they're doing and that means we might have come to a point where smaller batteries give the same batterytime that we are used to from larger batteries.
Looking forward to the full review from GSMarena
Posted by XperiaJunkie
Here is another review of the Galaxy Alpha I found it on the rumours page. They claim the device nothing special for the price tag.
http://mobile-review.com/review/samsung-galaxy-alpha-fl.shtml#s4
Posted by XperiaJunkie
Great news on the CPU inside the Alpha, fingers crossed it is as good as Samsung say at being energy efficient and if it gets anywhere near 70 hours on GSM arena's battery test (the S5 scored 72 hours) then it is a massive victory for Samsung and the Alpha. In an ideal world however (possibly in the Note 4) we will see that CPU in phone with a massive battery and see how good it really is when faced with a much larger QHD display, that is something I can't wait to see as the Note 4 is and as always shaping up to be a real beast.
Posted by badassmam
I agree but in these modern times, the Alpha will be taking loads of selfies and Instagram pics so I do think the battery will drain quickly because most of the power is used by the screen. Anyway, I'd like to see the next Note with this design language but with a different material on the back. I'm wondering how the rumoured Apple phablet will be in comparison since it'll be the first true Note competitor.
Posted by XperiaJunkie
@badassmam the only thing that worries now is why haven't Samsung released any specs regarding talk time, standby time, music and video playback every other phone I've known has released that info on launch of the phone. Could it be Samsung still have some tweaking to do to maximise the battery life before it release in September or maybe they'll just keep things hush hush and release them on the quiet ?
[ This Message was edited by: XperiaJunkie on 2014-08-14 12:48 ]
Posted by Tsepz_GP
On 2014-08-14 13:48:04, XperiaJunkie wrote:
@badassmam the only thing that worries now is why haven't Samsung released any specs regarding talk time, standby time, music and video playback every other phone I've known has released that info on launch of the phone. Could it be Samsung still have some tweaking to do to maximise the battery life before it release in September or maybe they'll just keep things hush hush and release them on the quiet ?
[ This Message was edited by: XperiaJunkie on 2014-08-14 12:48 ]
Samsung almost always do last minute tweaks before a phone gets released, the most major one was when they announced the Galaxy S2 with a Dual-Core 1GHz CPU, a few weeks before release the CPU was upped to 1.2GHz. With the Galaxy S4 Samsung were mostly quiet about the CPU after announcement, until a week or so before release when they finally announced what regions would get which model CPU due to production problems with the Exynos 5410, etc etc... I'd also like to see how it performs battery wise with this new CPU.
Posted by Tsepz_GP
I'm loving how self reliant Samsung are becoming
from memory chips, CPUs, Dispalys, and more recently mobile cameras, the Alpha has been confirmed to be using a Samsung ISOCELL sensor:
Samsung Galaxy Alpha comes with ISOCELL sensor (plus more samples)
Yesterday, we showed you the first camera samples out of the 12-megapixel Samsung Galaxy Alpha camera, but we did not know much about the sensor. We are still trying to dig up more information on it, but Samsung has now confirmed that it’s using its own 12-megapixel CMOS image sensor with the ISOCELL technology and a native 16:9 aspect ratio.
ISOCELL is a technology that took years in development and it made a debut in the Samsung Galaxy S5 on a 16-megapixel Samsung sensor. Now, in the Galaxy Alpha we’re looking at some of the same features: ISOCELL (but on a 12-megapixel scale, and unknown sensor size) and phase-detection auto-focus.
In its official blog, Samsung promises that images taken on the Galaxy Alpha will come out “sharper than ever with natural colors.” Skipping the PR talk, though, we should say that ISOCELL brings a couple of important advantages over non-isolated photo cells used in traditional BSI sensors: first, crosstalk is reduced from 19% to 12.5% in ISOCELL, next, luminance signal to noise ratio improved from 150 lux to 105 lux, and finally, full well capacity increased from 5,000e- to 6,200e-.
So far, Samsung is not revealing much specifically about this 12-megapixel sensor, though. We’ve heard rumors that the Galaxy Note 4 might also feature a 12-megapixel ISOCELL camera (rumor says the Note 4 might have optical image stabilization, something that is not present on the Galaxy Alpha), so that is one possible reason why more information is not being released just yet. Good news is that the Note 4 is coming in just around three weeks, and - if all those whispers turn out true - we’ll learn more about this sensor soon.
PhoneArena
Posted by XperiaJunkie
GSMarena test the display on Galaxy Alpha
http://blog.gsmarena.com/testing-samsung-galaxy-alpha-display/
[ This Message was edited by: XperiaJunkie on 2014-08-14 16:21 ]
Posted by XperiaJunkie
OK its my day off work and I'm board so what I've done is made a list of phones which have the same resolution and a quad core CPU and still currently available to buy but have a variance in screen size. I've used the GSM arena battery test as a yardstick.
Samsung S5 mini -2100mAh battery - 4.5" display - 72h rating
Samsung S3 - 2100mAh battery - 4.8" display - 50h rating
HTC One Mini 2 - 2110mAh - 4.5" display - battery 50h rating
Sony Xperia T2 Ultra - 3000mAh 6.0" display - battery 96h rating
Sony Xperia Z1C - 2300mAh - 4.3" display - battery 65h rating
Motorola Moto G - 2070mAh battery - 4.5" display - 54h rating
As you can see the performance in battery life is quite varied, I would expect the Galaxy Alpha to perform very similar to the S5 mini given the fact that the screen is a little brighter, 0.2" larger and the battery is a little bit smaller (240mAh less) but has a more energy efficient CPU. I know this is quite a vague way of guessing the battery life but if it falls short of the S5 mini I would call the battery life average at best considering the new superior CPU. All current flagships which the Alpha is should have very good battery life but I know Samsung will be marketing this for people who just wan't something that looks good and can take a good selfie and not really care much about battery performance.
[ This Message was edited by: XperiaJunkie on 2014-08-14 18:17 ]
Posted by cu015170
Nice photos.. a bit artificial looking overall, but nice colors and low noise for the most part.
Posted by XperiaJunkie
GSM arena with a hands on video of the Galaxy Alpha
http://blog.gsmarena.com/samsung-galaxy-alpha-hands/
Posted by aussieland1
On 2014-08-14 19:03:24, XperiaJunkie wrote:
OK its my day off work and I'm board so what I've done is made a list of phones which have the same resolution and a quad core CPU and still currently available to buy but have a variance in screen size. I've used the GSM arena battery test as a yardstick.
Samsung S5 mini -2100mAh battery - 4.5" display - 72h rating
Samsung S3 - 2100mAh battery - 4.8" display - 50h rating
HTC One Mini 2 - 2110mAh - 4.5" display - battery 50h rating
Sony Xperia T2 Ultra - 3000mAh 6.0" display - battery 96h rating
Sony Xperia Z1C - 2300mAh - 4.3" display - battery 65h rating
Motorola Moto G - 2070mAh battery - 4.5" display - 54h rating
As you can see the performance in battery life is quite varied, I would expect the Galaxy Alpha to perform very similar to the S5 mini given the fact that the screen is a little brighter, 0.2" larger and the battery is a little bit smaller (240mAh less) but has a more energy efficient CPU. I know this is quite a vague way of guessing the battery life but if it falls short of the S5 mini I would call the battery life average at best considering the new superior CPU. All current flagships which the Alpha is should have very good battery life but I know Samsung will be marketing this for people who just wan't something that looks good and can take a good selfie and not really care much about battery performance.
[ This Message was edited by: XperiaJunkie on 2014-08-14 18:17 ]
Nice work !
looking forward to check your figures against the official ones to see how close you were....
Posted by XperiaJunkie
Samsung look set to launch a variant of the Galaxy Alpha with the SD801 the same CPU found in the S5. It looks like it is only heading to Asia at the moment. Here in the UK at least we've only had Samsung devices with a SD CPU, maybe that's why Samsung haven't released a full spec page on the official website yet. Could the SD 801 be heading to other countries/regions as well.
http://www.eprice.com.hk/mobile/talk/4523/178703/1/
[ This Message was edited by: XperiaJunkie on 2014-08-17 20:08 ]
Posted by aussieland1
The Samsung tab s tablets currently sold here in uk are all exynos powered.....