Cell phones are an integral part of IT technology. Samsung deservedly occupies a leading position in the world of sales of electronic devices. They can rightly be called the best manufacturers of these products. The Galaxy family of smartphones, developed on the Android platform, are the most famous. The most popular Galaxy models are the J, A and S series devices. The Galaxy family is represented in all price segments (budget, mid-range and fashion). The letter designations of the series correspond to each price range.
The J-series are budget models made from inexpensive materials and equipped with a simple case, but at the same time they have good stuffing. A-series models are in the middle price and quality category. And the S-series gadgets belong to the fashion version.
Samsung in January 2017 introduced the third generation of Galaxy A-series smartphones to the general consumer. Among the novelties of this line stands out samsung galaxy A5. The average price for the Samsung Galaxy A5 in Russia is approximately 27,900 rubles.
The functionality of the Samsung A5 (2017) turned out to be generally good, but it seems that it was deliberately limited so that it would not be compared with the flagship S-series devices.
Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017)
The A5 is similar in many ways to other devices in the Galaxy family: it also has rounded corners, a square camera eye and an oval fingerprint scanner on the home key. On the sides of it are still the illuminated "task" and "back" keys. But instead of plastic, the case is now made of glass and metal. The 2017 model weighs a little more than last year's (157g), but thanks to its rounded shape, it is comfortable to hold in your hands. Not only the front but also the back panel is made of 2.5D glass. Above the display there is a panel where the speaker is located in the center, and on the sides of it are a light sensor eye and a camera.
The back of the A7 is similar to the Galaxy S7, an advanced model from 2016, with the camera and flash rounded off at the edges. On the right side is the speaker mesh, which used to be located on the bottom, and below it is the power key. On the left is a tray for one SIM card, which can be removed with a hairpin. Above are the volume buttons. At the bottom, there is a 3.5mm headphone jack, a microphone hole, and a USB Type C port. In addition, the A5 is equipped with plastic strips to separate the antennas. At the top is a slot for a SIM card and a flash drive, as well as a hole for a second microphone.
A5 (2017) is available in four colors - black (black sky), blue (blue fog), gold
(golden sand) and peach.
Specifications
Operating system - Samsung A5 runs on Android v6.0.1 Marshmallow OS with the manufacturer's proprietary interface. The curtain is better designed and combines in color with standard applications. In the previous version of Android, it is dark gray, and messages, dialer, contacts and settings are made in white.
Single sim is used as SIM cards ( nano sim) or dual sim (nano sim, dual stand by).
The RAM memory capacity is 3 GB (and it is packed with LPDDR3 chips). At the beginning of work, 1.5 GB are already occupied, and while using the smartphone, about 1 GB remains free, but there is nothing to worry about. The operation of Android is based on the Linux kernel. According to the policy of this OS, RAM memory should not be empty, and if there is nothing there, then it must be loaded with secondary programs. But if the owner decides to play some heavy game, the system will immediately allocate the necessary space for it. The transition between different tasks is carried out smoothly, imperceptibly for the user.
Built-in memory capacity - 32 GB, of which 23.5 GB is allocated to the user section. There is also a separate microSD slot for cards, their capacity can be up to 256 GB. USB OTG function is also supported.
A5 (2017) has the following dimensions: 71.4mm * 146.1mm * 7.9mm (width-height-thickness).
Equipped with an eight-core processor with a frequency of 1900 MHz.
NFC and MST technologies support the function Samsung Pay, which allows the owner to pay for purchases with a smartphone in all shopping centers and generally make any payments. All transactions made are protected by a fingerprint, so payments are absolutely safe.
The A5 (2017) has two separate SIM card slots. They support all European networks from 2nd to 4th generation. WiFi networks supports wireless module. To determine the location, the navigator uses GLONASS and GPS satellites. Stereo sound transmission and energy-saving mode provides Bluetooth version 4,2. USB port Type C charges and connects various accessories.
Touch finger scanner
Built into the main hardware button. It was created to unlock your smartphone, make Samsung Pay payments and use the secure folder.
To set up the scanner, you must first set a password or graphic key to unlock your phone.
Connection
The smartphone supports three navigation systems: American JPS, Russian GLONASS and Chinese BeiDou. Navigation works great both outdoors and indoors.
Design
A5 (2017) has a smart ergonomic design that makes it easier for a person to interact with this smartphone and reduces the likelihood of damage to it. It is made to the size of the hand, and therefore all its elements on the body can be controlled without problems. And if it’s still difficult to manage with one hand, then you can turn on a special mode in which the menu will decrease in size. The scanner is located on the front panel and works smartly. The camera does not protrude from the case, which reduces the likelihood of damage. In addition, the phone can be placed on any surface without fear of dropping it, it will lie flat.
But the main advantage of the case is its dust and water resistance. The smartphone has the maximum protection against dust and moisture according to the IP68 standard. The last property is generally unique for such devices: A5 (2017) will withstand immersion in water to a depth of up to 1.5 m and up to half an hour, and nothing will happen to it! True, this applies only to fresh water.
After the smartphone has been in the water, the following text appears on the screen: “Checking the port. Moisture detected. To charge the device, the charging/USB port must be dry” (see photo).
There is nothing wrong with this message. In order to continue using the smartphone, the user simply needs to dry this port.
Sound
Water-resistance is great, but it makes the sound a bit muffled, especially bass. For a call, the sound will be sufficient, and for listening to music and movies, you can use the speakers and headphones. The saturation of the sound will depend on the quality of the headphones. For more fine tuning Sound has an equalizer with preset settings. The set includes quite decent earplugs. Of course, there is an FM radio.
Screen
The screen diagonal is 5.2 inches. The display is made by technology Super AMOLED, has a resolution of 1920 * 1080 pixels (FullHD). There is touch control, type of touch screen- multi-touch, i.e. it simultaneously supports several touches (this device has 5 of them).
A5 (2017) is also equipped with a light sensor. The number of colors in the device is 16 million, and selected bright and juicy shades. True, they look like this if you look at the screen directly, and the picture “floats” a little from the side, but hardly anyone will look at it like that.
The device has an Always On Display function, i.e. the screen is always on. When the phone is locked, the time and latest notifications are displayed.
In addition, this mode also displays two buttons for calls and photos. Thanks to Super AMOLED technology, this function consumes very little energy.
In addition to the color variety, the A5 screen (2017) has one more important advantage- It saves battery life. This is achieved due to the fact that in AMOLED matrices, not the entire panel is illuminated at the same time, but each pixel is autonomous. The battery is consumed in a sparing mode, since the black pixels do not light up. In this case, the correct transmission of black color occurs. Therefore, compared to other smartphones with a similar battery, the A5 (2017) will last much longer. So, in economy mode, this phone (like other Samsung models, by the way) is simply beyond praise.
Brightness is regulated by PWM (pulse width modulation), its flickering is noticeable at reduced brightness, and at full brightness the human eye does not see it (but this does not mean that it does not notice it). Thanks to the adaptive brightness on the AMOLED display, information in the sun is perceived and read much better than on an IPS display (another smartphone display technology).
The sensor is covered with a particularly durable glass with an oleophobic coating that protects against smudges and dirt.
cameras
Samsung A5 (2017) is equipped with two cameras, rear and front, both 16 megapixels. Since the lens does not protrude from the body, it is necessary to use ISOCELL modules with small pixels (1 µm). There is autofocus, the focal length of the camera is 27 mm. There is an LED flash.
The main camera during the day takes very decent pictures, however, in somewhat chilly shades (the white balance is not quite adjusted). At night, unfortunately, the pictures are not as good as during the day. However, this applies to all mid-budget employees. Great night photos are only being taken so far flagship samsungs S-series.
The A5 (2017) has digital stabilization but no optical. This means that the pictures will be beautiful only if you shoot motionless, and when shooting on the go, the picture is slightly blurred.
Thanks to the wide selection of filters available, any user of the Galaxy A5 (2017) will feel like a professional photographer.
There is a smart button, thanks to which it has become very easy to take selfies. You just need to choose the position of the shutter button on the screen.
Here is an example of a photo taken during the day:
And here is how he photographs at night:
Picture taken at night
The A5 (2017), like other smartphones, has standard applications.
In addition to the usual ones, it has the following applications installed
- Office suite Word, Excel, OneNote, PowerPoint, voice-to-text voice recorder.
- HTML5 (but no Java, which is used for almost all mobile applications).
- Payment Samsung systems Pay and uBank.
- Search engines Google and Yandex.
- Not only shop Google Play Store, but also the store of Samsung itself.
- Samsung club apps - gifts from Samsung, Samsung Members, essentials, notes.
autonomy
From the socket A5 (2017) is charged at 100% in about an hour and forty minutes. It will take 7-9 hours to charge from a computer. Accumulator battery has a capacity of 3000 mAh. When viewing sites on the Internet and sitting in the social. networks, he will work for a day and a half. For games, the charge is enough for less than a day.
In emergency mode, the phone will be able to work for the maximum time, if necessary, you can send a message or your coordinates.
On A5 (2017) you can play almost all games, all new items work fine. Just do not forget that with games the charge will end much faster than when reading some information on the Internet. By the way, A5 (2017) has no problems with the Internet, navigation is fast, sites do not freeze.
What's new in 2018?
As already mentioned, the A5 (2017) smartphone runs on Android 6.0.1. In August last year, it was updated to Android 7.0, and in April 2018, smartphones of this line based on Android 8.0.0 were launched.
Advantages and disadvantages of the A5 smartphone (2017)
Advantages:
- High Internet speed;
- According to various users, the processor and display are just great;
- Large storage capacity (32GB built-in memory + microSD with a maximum capacity of 256GB);
- Two cameras that allow you to take quite high-quality pictures;
- Waterproof (in fresh water);
- With Samsung Pay, you can make various payments directly from your smartphone.
Flaws:
As you know, they are often a continuation of the merits, and this is once again confirmed by the features of A5 (2017).
- Due to the protective membranes that provide water resistance, the sound comes out muffled, and the bass suffers more;
- Of course, thanks to the bright color palette the quality of AMOLED displays is unrivaled, but many consumers complain that their eyes get tired quickly;
- As the same users write in their reviews, they were sometimes let down by the fingerprint sensor.
In general, summing up, we can say that the Galaxy A5 (2017) is the best choice in terms of price and quality.
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Samsung has released the updated 2017 smartphones of its mid-range smartphone lineup. Samsung Galaxy A5 2017 is universal device with compact size and interesting camera. In this article, we want to pay special attention to the Samsung Galaxy A5 2017 camera. We will full review cameras, as well as provide video and photos from the Samsung Galaxy A5 2017 camera.
The new Galaxy A5 2017 is equipped with a 16-megapixel main camera, as well as an 11-megapixel front camera with an impressive f/1.9 aperture.
One of the main features Galaxy cameras A5 2017 is optical image stabilization (OIS) Sorry, dear readers, you made a mistake. Samsung has gone to great lengths to reduce visible camera noise to zero. In general, similar results were achieved on all three smartphones of the A series in 2017.
Samsung Galaxy A5 2017 camera review: user interface
Another distinctive feature Samsung smartphone Galaxy A5 2017 against the background of devices in 2016, as well as the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, is a significantly redesigned user interface cameras. Now it has more convenient navigation between modes and functions.
The camera app screen consists of standard video and photo buttons, a gallery icon, flash controls, and more. However, you can now move between video, photo and gallery modes with a swipe left and right.
Swipe left and you'll get eight basic filters and eight beauty filters. All of them work in real time. Swipe to the right allows you to switch modes. And, while it's a stripped-down interface compared to flagship smartphones companies, you still get Hand Control Mode, HDR Mode, Night Mode, and even a dedicated Food Mode for Instagram fans.
You can also download additional filters and modes from the Samsung Apps Store.
There is a button on the screen to switch to the front camera, but more convenient way turn on the selfie camera is to swipe down.
Samsung Galaxy A5 2017 camera photo
As we said, the Samsung Galaxy A5 2017 has a mid-range camera with a 16-megapixel main sensor. It allows you to shoot nice colorful pictures in all conditions, including in low light conditions. Taking photos in high contrast scenarios is one of the biggest Galaxy problems A5 2017 as the camera struggles to display details at the edge of its dynamic range. However, the HDR mode does a great job of bringing out colors and details that would otherwise be lost.
Galaxy A5 2017 camera focuses quickly even when taking macro photos. In this case, you get well-exposed shots in an artificial or poorly lit environment.
The front camera also takes detailed photos. What's more, 11 beauty modes will make any girl skyrocket with happiness.
Note: We have added compressed photos from the camera of the Samsung Galaxy A5 2017. You can see the photo in full resolution by clicking this link.
Samsung Galaxy A5 2017 camera video
The new smartphone shoots video in 1080p HD resolution at 30 frames per second from both the front and rear cameras. A 60fps video mode would be very useful, but instead you get 1:1 recording, presumably for apps like Instagram.
The actual video quality from the Samsung Galaxy A5 2017 camera is pleasant for the most part. The camera does an excellent job of processing colors and exposure on the fly. However, even with OIS in place, we did notice slight judder in the video. If you shoot video on the spot, then the focus is quite fast, but while moving it jumps from one object to another.
Samsung Galaxy A5 2017 camera review: Summing up
As you can see, Samsung has paid a lot of attention to the camera in the new Galaxy smartphone A5 2017. It seems that the company has added exactly the features that users expect from a mid-range smartphone.
Photos from the Samsung Galaxy A5 2017 camera show that the quality is really very good.
A simplified interface and a large set of functions mean that the user can quickly and easily take high-quality photos. However, the price remains the main drawback of the Galaxy A5 2017. For about the same price, you can buy the Honor 8 with more interesting and varied camera settings, or the OnePlus 3T, which shoots RAW photos, 4K video and offers optical stabilization Images.
The Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017) is a cute but not original looking 5.2-inch smartphone. Outwardly, it is similar to - with the same body shape and layout of controls (touch and physical keys, fingerprint scanner). Phones are noticeably different only at the back - the novelty has a flatter back, and the camera lens is smaller and does not stick out. From the little things: the card slot has moved to the left side end, and speaker grilles appeared on the right - a very unusual solution.
The declared dimensions of the Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017) are 146.1 × 71.4 × 7.9 mm. So, it has become slightly larger than its predecessor, the Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016). The phone is shorter at the same but slightly thicker than competitors such as Huawei P9 Lite or . The weight of the novelty is still unknown.
The manufacturer does not declare the case materials, but most likely it is metal and non-separable. Perhaps, main feature The entire line of Galaxy A 2017 is protected from water and dust according to the IP 68 standard. Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017) will be available in four colors - black, gold, blue and pink.
Screen
The Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017) has a fairly clear Full HD screen (1920 × 1080 pixels) on an AMOLED matrix. With a 5.2-inch diagonal, the pixel density is 424 per inch. I am glad that the company did not go too far and overestimate the resolution in vain. The screen is protected by Gorilla Glass. No further information about the display is announced, but based on the type of matrix, you can expect high contrast, wide viewing angles and good image readability in the sun.
Performance
The speed of the Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017) promises to be quite high.
3 GB is responsible for the performance of the model random access memory, Exynos 7880 octa-core chipset (frequency up to 1.9 GHz) and Mali-T830MP2 graphics accelerator. It looks especially good compared to its predecessor with a not-so-impressive chipset. These parameters are quite enough for the smooth operation of the interface, applications and most games, although not all. This can be seen in the example and in which the same graphics accelerator was used.
cameras
Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017) received high-quality cameras, both 16 MP.
Unfortunately, the manufacturer claims only the aperture width - f / 1.9 for the main and front at once. Other information such as the size of the sensor or the ability to record 4K video in Samsung has not yet been disclosed. But it is logical to assume that the camera will receive the optical stabilization system that the Galaxy A5 (2016) had.
Communications
The phone got quite a decent set of communications:
- high-speed and dual-band Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac
- economical Bluetooth 4.2 with A2DP profile support
- fast LTE Cat. 6 (up to 300/50 Mbps)
- A-GPS with GLONASS support
- NFC chip along with Samsung Pay
- FM radio.
For a complete set, only the infrared port that was in was missing, but there is a radio that has not been favored in premium smartphones lately. The USB Type-C connector is used for charging and connecting to a PC. The Galaxy A5 (2017) is expected to have both single-SIM and dual-SIM versions. Given the non-separable case, the slot for the second card will most likely be combined, but there is no official information about this yet.
Battery
The autonomy of the Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017) promises to be quite high. Firstly, it has a rather capacious battery for a 5.2-inch diagonal - 3000 mAh, the same as the Samsung Galaxy S7 or. Secondly, it has a relatively fresh chipset, and thirdly, an economical type of display. In addition, the manufacturer claims to support fast charging but without any details.
Memory
Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017) received 32 GB of permanent memory, twice as much as its predecessor. In our opinion, this is quite enough to store photos, music and applications. But if you really shoot or listen a lot, then the amount of memory can be expanded using a microSD memory card (up to 256 GB).
Peculiarities
The Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017) is also running the company's own interface. There is no information about the prospects for the phone yet, but most likely the company will update the smartphone a little later.
We will call special in the device the protection of the case from water and dust, the front camera immediately at 16 MP and the presence of several colors of the case. Other features like a fingerprint scanner, fast charging or curved glass are already found in almost every model in this price segment.
Price
The manufacturer has already announced the price for the Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017). The smartphone can be bought for 429 euros, or about 27-28 thousand rubles.
Metal sidewalls, not filled with glass, now have the same color as the front panel. That is, the smartphone became completely black - we had the Galaxy A5 (2017) black. There is also a pink Galaxy A5 (2017) pink, a gold Galaxy A5 (2017) gold and a light blue Galaxy A5 (2017) blue.
Also, the main camera, the Home button with a built-in fingerprint scanner remained without a lighter edging.
There were no extra holes in the smartphone. Moreover, he adopted from the older model also water resistance according to the IP68 standard.
The materials of the smartphone are of high quality. It is quite heavy, but not heavy. It's nice to hold it in your hand.
The glass surface looks beautiful, pleasant to the touch, but it can potentially be scratched, fingerprints remain on it, and in general the device turned out to be quite slippery, so for the Galaxy A5 (2017) we would definitely recommend buying some kind of case.
Connectors and controls
On the front Samsung panels The Galaxy A5 (2017) also shows no fundamental changes.
It is completely filled with glass, in which a hole for the voice speaker is cut out at the top and the Home button at the bottom. At the top right of the speaker is the front camera. But there is no light indicator of events - it was left only to the flagships.
The hardware button has been preserved, although according to preliminary information, Samsung intends to get rid of it in the Galaxy S8.
To the right and left are two more standard Android sensor(back and application manager), but without highlighting they are not visible. Touching them is not fixed, so they are very easy to hurt.
The fingerprint scanner is configured in the "Lock screen and security" section of the settings. To add a fingerprint, you need to touch the sensor several times, the display will show the progress of the scan.
If the fingerprint is not recognized with a few touches, then it is suggested to protect the screen with a gesture or a pin code. With a large number of mismatches, the phone may prohibit touching the scanner for 30 seconds.
The fingerprint is also used to verify payments in Samsung Pay and access the "secure folder". You can also see how the scanner works in our video:
On the back, no change. The camera is located in the upper part of the body in the middle, to the right of it is a flash.
On the right sidewall there is a button to turn on the screen / smartphone. There is also a stereo speaker grille. Previously, she was at the bottom end.
On the left side are two volume buttons, just like in the A5 (2016). There is also a slot for SIM-1.
NanoSIM is used. It opens with a special key, which should be included.
At the top end there is a combined SIM-2/microSD slot.
Unlike other smartphones with combo slots, this one can fit nanoSIM and microSD at the same time. You can watch the video of installing SIM cards in Galaxy A5 (2017):
At the bottom there is a USB Type-C connector, a microphone hole and a headset jack. USB Type-C runs at full speed - it's not USB 2.0 with a new type of connector.
As you may have noticed, the case of the Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017) is non-separable. We have long been accustomed to this, but you will have to change the battery in service center.
Case for Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017)
Buying a case or cover for the Galaxy A5 (2017) in early 2017 is difficult, but this will change over time. Judging by the declared dimensions, the 2017 version will differ from the 2016 version by literally a couple of tenths of a millimeter, so you can expect that almost any cover for the Galaxy A5 (2016) will fit the Galaxy A5 (2017), but we still recommend that before you buy, try on the phone, especially if we are talking about a more or less hard case. Rubber, silicone, or soft plastic bumpers are likely to work. The Galaxy A5 (2017) will be 0.2mm thicker rather than thinner than its predecessor.
It was also reported that Samsung is going to release translucent Clear Cover cases for models of the Galaxy A line, which are now available for Galaxy S. The picture shows such a case.
Screen Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017)
The screen of the Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017), like its predecessor, is made using Super AMOLED technology, which promises us good colors, acceptable brightness and true black. The 2016 Galaxy A5 had it all, and so does the 2017 model.
The screen resolution is 1920x1080 pixels and has not increased in a year. This gives a dot density of 424 ppi, which is generally good.
Samsung has also equipped the smartphone with Always On mode. When the display is off, it continues to show current time, date and battery level. Battery consumption is minimal, since AMOLED technology allows you to turn on only a couple of tens of pixels necessary for the mode to work.
The screen has good rich colors and excellent viewing angles, which may not always be good: everyone around you will see what you are doing there on your smartphone.
Subjective impressions are confirmed by objective data. The brightness of the screen (white) was 357.49 cd/m 2 , the brightness of black, as it should be OLED - 0. Accordingly, the contrast is obviously higher than that of any LCD.
In the display settings, there are two main modes: basic and adaptive. In the first, the color gamut is approximately equal to the sRGB area, even a little more. In adaptive, the color gamut is much wider than that of this area, which is considered the standard.
When measuring color temperature Galaxy Screen A5 (2017), the difference between the setting modes is not so noticeable. They are quite close to the natural temperature of 6500K, but still above it. Main mode is just below the 7000K line, adaptive is above 7000K, but not by much either. In other words, the picture in the second case looks a little colder.
The gamma curve of the main mode practically coincides with the reference one. The adaptive mode is slightly higher in the middle part. In the image, this affects the output of light areas darker than they should be shown. However, a lot can be fixed with display settings, which the Galaxy A5 (2017) has more than other smartphones.
The Galaxy A5 (2017) has a trendy "blue color filter" that reduces blue levels and has a positive effect on fatigue - it reduces. However, we would not use it. When turned on, the display becomes frankly icteric. Perhaps, with a long reading in the dark, this will be useful.
In addition to the main and adaptive display modes, there are also PHOTO and VIDEO, which automatically adjust the screen so that pictures and movies look good on it. the best way. For each mode, you can adjust the balance of RGB - red, green and blue colors. In addition, in the screen settings, you can turn Always On on and off, as well as order the smartphone not to turn on the display in any case if it is in the dark, that is, in a pocket or bag. This is true for large devices.
The display recognizes 5 touches, like the Galaxy A5 (2016), which once again confirms our conclusion about the software nature of the limitation. Still, the Galaxy A line should be somewhat inferior to the Galaxy S.
The Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017) has a significantly improved camera. Previously, the device was equipped with a photomodule with a resolution of 13 megapixels for the main and 5 megapixels for front camera. Now the smartphone has two cameras of 16 megapixels. The trend reflects the selfie craze. In addition, judging by the quality of the pictures, the front 16 megapixels are more “honest” than most smartphones with the claimed selfie camera. Both cameras can also shoot Full video HD.
The Galaxy A5 (2017) camera interface remains proprietary. On the first screen, buttons for taking photos and recording videos are immediately available, as well as a window for calling the gallery and previewing the picture. In another part of the display, we see virtual buttons for changing the camera, controlling the flash and calling up the settings. The face in the corner of the viewfinder brings up the option to adjust skin tone. By adjusting the white balance, you can achieve the best hue.
The settings for both cameras are the same. Interestingly, they are not displayed in the design of the camera interface, but like other phone settings. Here you can immediately select the resolution, set the timer, enable video stabilization, geotagging, activate voice recording, gesture, volume button.
There are also two more tabs on the main camera screen. By swiping to the right, you can open a tab with filters that are applied in real time to the preview image.
The left tab contains shooting modes, both video and photo.
Except automatic mode, there is a Pro mode. In it, you can adjust the light sensitivity, white balance, adjust the exposure and other parameters.
There are other modes: panorama, hyperlapse, HDR, night and food. The most interesting are hyperlapse (slow motion) and food, which adds background blur, and you can also sip the white balance to make the pictures look better.
The front camera has the same interface and the same tabs. There is a skin color adjustment. The tab on the right also contains real-time filters. There are only three modes on the tab on the left: self-portrait (same auto), night and wide self-portrait. A wide self-portrait is a hybrid of selfie and panorama. It is not always possible when taking a selfie to make sure that the background completely satisfied. Therefore, in this mode, we take a selfie, move the phone to the right, to the left and get a picture with a wide field of view.
The main camera allows you to shoot in different resolutions, as well as use different aspect ratios. The maximum is achieved at a ratio of 4:3.
As you can see, the pictures are of very good quality, even with the zoom the image turned out to be quite clear, and on the phone screen this difference will not be noticeable at all. In the dark it is better to shoot with a flash, which works quite well.
With the Galaxy A5 (2016) main camera, you can shoot videos up to Full HD resolution. Ultra HD (4K) has been reserved for flagships for now.
The camera perfectly records video and, importantly, sound. A video from the front seat of the car shows that the camera quickly focuses, adapts to lighting conditions, etc.
The resolution of pictures from the front camera and the choice of aspect ratio, like the main one.
With the quality of the pictures, everything is much more interesting. It's easy to see how much the sharpness differs between the close-up shot and the wide shot. No matter how hard we fought, we failed to capture the dull cityscape from the loggia as sharply as the main camera. Apparently, the focus of the camera is fixed so as to guarantee perfect selfies.
Similarly, the video shot by the front camera turned out to be blurry, not as sharp as the main one. The assumption of a shifted focus or its limited range in order to create the appropriate effect of the depth of the frame, blurring the background when taking a selfie, is confirmed. Typically, all cameras of this size are hyperfocal, that is, they have a maximum depth of field from almost 1-2 meters, so when shooting landscapes they do not need to focus. Here, obviously there are settings for the background to be blurry.
By the way, almost all of our comments are valid only when viewing pictures on a computer screen, on the Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017) AMOLED display, all photos look very good, and some are just perfect.
Specifications Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017)
As usual, there are three models for 2017 in the Galaxy A line at once: Galaxy A3 (2017), Galaxy A5 (2017) (model SM-A520F) and Galaxy A7 (2017). The main difference between them is the screen diagonal: 4.7", 5.2" and 5.7", respectively. Although the characteristics are also different, the truth is mainly in the Galaxy A3 - it has always been noticeably weaker. As for the A5 (2017), then it is almost exactly the same as the A7 (2017) in terms of hardware.
The Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017) smartphone came to us even before the official release, so some of the characteristics presented in the table can be updated. As you can see, compared to the Galaxy A5 (2016), the changes are clearly visible.
First of all, this concerns the processor, the role of which is performed by the Samsung Exynos 7880 Octa chip. It is somewhat stronger than the Exynos 7580 Octa chipset that was used in its predecessor, and at the same time it is made using a newer 14nm process technology. The new chip offers 8 Cortex-A53 cores running at 1.88 GHz, and at the same time it is now able to work with LPDDR3-1033 memory, while before it only provided 933 MHz for RAM.
Back in the day, the Exynos 7580 surprised with its relatively weak video card - the Mali-T720 MP2 entry-level accelerator. The Exynos 7880 has a more modern and faster GPU - Mali-T830 MP3, which has three execution pipelines and operates at a frequency of 950 MHz. However, architecturally, this is also an entry-level solution, however, when compared with its predecessor, the frequency has become higher (was 668 MHz) and there are more execution units - the speed increase will be visible to the eye.
In general, such a hardware platform is quite sufficient for today's time and demonstrates a good average level.
Support for Bluetooth 4.1 and Wi-Fi 802.11n is also in line with the market average. It would be more interesting to see 802.11ac. As for LTE, there is compatibility with the sixth category, which gives up to 300 Mbps per reception.
We also note two 16 megapixel cameras, however, for smartphones of this level from another manufacturer, 4K video recording is already available, and not just Full HD.
3 GB of RAM is also perceived as a standard for the market, at least for normal, not cheap manufacturers. Of the 32 GB of storage, 24 is available to the user, which is also not bad. In addition, a version with 64 GB of memory is expected.
Compared to 2016, the processor has become faster, the video accelerator has become more powerful, and the amount of RAM has increased by 1.5 times. The screen remained the same and the cameras became better. At the same time, the battery capacity increased by only 100 mAh and is 3000 mAh. This can have a negative effect on time. battery life, we can only hope for optimizations in Android 6.
Performance Testing
The rival of the Samsung Galaxy A5 is a mid-range device based on the Qualcomm platform, which has similar characteristics and will clearly compete with the Galaxy A5 (2017) on the market.
Smartbench 2012 shows the superiority of the Galaxy A5 (2017) over its rival. This is not a defeat, but a confident advantage.
The browser test wins the Chinese smartphone.
3DMark is also behind Huawei Nova. It is likely that the processor in the Galaxy A5 (2017) is not as powerful, especially its graphics, as it seemed after the first test.
In Basemark tests, Samsung was ahead, just like in the very first, old Smartbench 2012. It is noticeable that Huawei wins in graphics and concedes in tests for overall performance.
Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017) in Antutu
Now let's see how the Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017) performed on Antutu, a popular spot.
Huawei Nova is already faster here.
Autonomy Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016)
Autonomy, measured by the Galaxy A5, was better, although the difference is not so strong. There are 82% left of the 3000 mAh battery. Huawei lost a little more, although it has a 20 mAh battery, but more.
We can also state some progress in comparison with Huawei Nova. Despite the more modest chip, the previous version from a smaller battery left 73% after our test. The difference of 2-3 percentage points could be attributed to the difference in battery capacity, but 9 percentage points unequivocally indicate that the new smartphone with energy saving is much better.
The graph of "gluttony" looks typical: the most expenses are for three-dimensional graphics. But when compared with the Galaxy A5 (2016), the new model has optimized everything from graphics to idle consumption.
Samsung has always been pretty good with built-in power management. In this model, there is also an optimization of the processor and memory in the settings.
In general, the Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017) should provide a good level of autonomy.
Games for Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017)
Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017) carries on board not the most powerful, but modern accelerator. We can expect that its performance, together with the increased frequency of the processor, will be enough to make all the games fly.
- Riptide GP2: excellent, everything flies;
- Asphalt 7: excellent, everything flies;
- Asphalt 8: excellent, everything flies;
- Modern Combat 5: excellent, everything flies;
- N.O.V.A. 3: excellent, everything flies;
- Dead Trigger: excellent, everything flies;
- Dead Trigger 2: excellent, everything flies;
- Real Racing 3: excellent, everything flies;
- Need for Speed: No Limits: excellent, everything flies;
- Shadowgun: Dead Zone: excellent, everything flies;
- Frontline Commando: Normandy: excellent, everything flies;
- Frontline Commando 2: excellent, everything flies;
- Eternity Warriors 2: excellent, everything flies;
- Eternity Warriors 4: excellent, everything flies;
- Trial Xtreme 3: excellent, everything flies;
- Trial Xtreme 4: excellent, everything flies;
- dead effect: excellent, everything flies;
- Dead Effect 2: excellent, everything flies;
- Plants vs Zombies 2: excellent, everything flies;
- dead target: excellent, everything flies;
- Injustice: excellent, everything flies.
Indeed, the Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017) did just fine with all the games we tested. Thus, toys that can slow down this smartphone are either not yet written, or the display resolution allows the device to cope with the load.
ON
Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017) comes with Android system 6.0.1, which does not look very modern at the beginning of 2017. Obviously, the device will receive an update to Android 7 in the near future. There is also another version of Touch Wiz, which really has no change with those that we have already described using the example of flagship gadgets.
The Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017) has three home screens by default: the main home screen with Google search, weather widget, main apps including Samsung Pay and Google apps folder. Second screen with recommended smamsung apps, yandex search, secure folder and folder Microsoft applications. The third screen is the Briefing app, which pulls up various news.
Another feature of the interface is samsung app Notes, placed on the panel at the bottom of the screen. It allows you to take various notes and store them in the Samsung cloud. In general, Samsung, like Apple, is on the path of developing the service part, so half of the smartphone's functions will not be available without a Korean company account. One Gmail is no longer enough.
The Galaxy A5 (2017) offers secure storage on the smartphone itself. You can put data into this storage, as well as applications. They can only be accessed with a fingerprint. In this case, the storage will be blocked if someone tries to get to it unauthorized access through rooting the phone.
There are two payment systems on the smartphone at once. The first is the Russian Ubank, the second is Samsung Pay. The choice between them so far depends on which bank card the owner of the smartphone has. However, in the future, I think Samsung will cover all major banks that work with the population. The difference is that Ubank is mainly focused on payments, while Samsung Pay is also focused on offline purchases.
The smartphone comes pre-installed with the Yandex application, which offers search and news collections.
In the Samsung Essentials widget, the company offers to install additional applications for your smartphone, and the pre-installed ones are located in a folder in the menu. It is not rendered on the first screens - that's such modesty. There are well-known S Health, S Voice, Audio Recording, Browser, file manager, Samsung account management, the already mentioned Secure Folder and App Stores and Samsung products, through the latter you can even buy a refrigerator.
Note that Audio Recording supports dictation mode, that is, it converts voice to text.
Of the Microsoft applications, the folder contains Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, OneDrive, and Skype. There is also Word, but it ends up on the home screen.
In general, the set of applications is pleasant and useful. The only thing you need to start account Samsung. This can tie the user to one brand of smartphones.
Conclusion
Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017) - good telephone. The score is well worth saving for the flagships of the Korean company and its competitors. Smartphones of this price level are supposed to be good: beautiful, comfortable, modern, moderately productive and affordable.
We did not find any serious flaws in the device. He left a very good impression.
The only thing is that the transition to USB Type-C cannot be fully approved, at least so far this connector is not found in every second smartphone. Proprietary cables, proprietary charging device evoke melancholy not so much by the price as by the fact that they cannot be bought at every corner.
Price Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017)
It was impossible to buy Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017) at the time of preparation of the article, but its price after the release will be 30 thousand rubles. The 2016 model now costs an average of 21-22 thousand rubles. You can also find cheaper.
Huawei Nova, tested by us in parallel, is in the same price range. It can be bought for 21-23 thousand rubles. However, for this money you can only get an IPS display.
Xiaomi Mi5 with a 32 GB drive costs about 20 thousand rubles and is an interesting offer. The device is built on Snapdragon processor 820, can shoot 4K video, but only has a 4-megapixel front camera and a 5.15-inch IPS display with Full HD resolution.
5.5-inch ASUS ZenPhone 3 costs about 26 thousand. It has 4 GB of RAM, is built on the basis of Snapdragon 625, supports fingerprint reading. However, the device again has an IPS display, and the resolution of the front camera is only 8 megapixels.
As you can see, there are options, but Super AMOLED remains Samsung's strong offering.
Pros:
- good design;
- quality assembly;
- there is a fingerprint scanner;
- good Super AMOLED display;
- good autonomy;
- good cameras;
- protection against moisture, dust;
- The Always On feature is very handy.
Minuses:
- USB Type-C, for now;
- slippery and easily soiled case;
- non-separable body;
- Android 6 out of the box;
- No LED indicator events.
Convenient, modern and multifunctional - this is how you can characterize the Samsung A 5 2017, which showed decent results during the review process. The device is equipped with an 8-core processor of its own production and 3 GB of RAM, this configuration is enough for huge amount modern applications, but not for voracious games. Also, we have a very good screen with realistic color reproduction and large viewing angles. Regarding the cameras, this is the weak side of the smartphone, as night shooting is much lower in quality than daytime shooting. In general, we can recommend the Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017) for a more detailed acquaintance, as the device is suitable for a wide range of users due to its performance and ease of use.
Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017): specifications and price
| OS | android; |
| Screen | 5.2 inches; |
| Permission | 1920×1080; |
| Camera | 16 MP; |
| Frontal | 16 MP; |
| CPU | 1900 MHz 8 cores; |
| Built-in memory | 32 GB; |
| RAM | 3 GB; |
| battery | 3000 units; |
| Price | About 18000 rubles |
Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017): owner reviews
— Modern smartphone design;
— High performance thanks to a powerful processor;
- The presence of an excellent matrix made using AMOLED technology;
- Support for NFC, which can be described as a plus;
- It will be comfortable in the hands;
- Battery capacity, moreover, the charging process is quite fast;
- Smart work of the fingerprint scanner;
— Technology of the always-on screen;
- The presence of moisture protection;
- A large number of positive reviews;
— High-quality assembly;
- Value for money;
- Excellent work with Wi-Fi networks and 4G;
- Pleasant sound of both conversational dynamics and music;
- It will be comfortable to lie in the hands;
— But the back cover begins to scratch quickly because it is covered with glass;
- Pictures in the daytime are quite good, but without light it is much worse;
- Manufacturer support;
- Updates to the eighth android;
- The presence of a well-thought-out shell;
- There is no indicator of missed messages;
- A large number of pre-installed software;
- Not suitable for most modern games;
Conclusion
Based on the material described above, we conclude that the Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017) is a worthy choice for the declared cost, and it is also equipped with a number of advantages over competitors in a given price segment. Be sure to highlight the high-tech assembly and a matrix with excellent characteristics. In general, we will recommend the device for a close acquaintance.
Pros:
- The presence of moisture protection;
- Ease of use;
- Iron;
- shell;
- Manufacturer support, as well as warranty;
- Software update;
- Many thoughtful solutions that make life easier for the user;
- Availability of NFC support;
Cons:
- Separate slot, thus, or two SIM cards or a SIM card and a memory card;
- The quality of the cameras could be much higher, alas, the biggest disappointment;
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