With the 2017 Samsung Galaxy A5 and Samsung Galaxy A7, the company has brought many features of its flagship S7 to the mid-range segment. Samsung claims that the A phones come with water and dust resistant body. These are the first smartphones to come with always-on display in this price range. Both Galaxy A5 and Samsung Galaxy A7 phones have been improved from the previous variants, the storage in them can be increased up to 256 GB via microSD card. The phone’s battery supports fast charging. The battery capacity of both the phones has also improved.
Gadgets 360 got a chance to spend some time with the new Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017) and Samsung Galaxy A7 (2017) at the launch event. Here’s how we liked the phones at first glance.
At first glance, the new Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017) and Galaxy A7 (2017) look a lot like the flagship Galaxy S7 (Review), especially with their curved edges. The only difference between the two phones is the screen size. Talking about the two new variants, the Galaxy A5 has a smaller 5.2-inch screen which makes it comfortable to hold and will also appeal to those who like to use a single hand while the Galaxy A7 has a 5.7-inch screen. As expected, the Galaxy A5 weighs 159 grams while the Galaxy A7 feels slightly heavier at 186 grams.
Both phones retain the iconic Galaxy A series look on the front. There is a physical home button on the front, just below the screen. There are capacitive navigation buttons on either side of the home button. During our limited time with both phones, we noticed that the capacitive navigation buttons are backlit but light up for a very short time. This is something we noticed on the Galaxy A series 2016 handsets as well. Overall, the biggest highlight of these handsets is the metal frame and glass rear panel. Samsung Mobiles Vice President Manu Sharma emphasized that the glass rear panel is Samsung’s “premium design heritage”. However, both of them are quite fingerprint-sensitive and we would recommend using the Galaxy A5 (2017) and Galaxy A7 (2017) with a cover.
Additionally, Sharma confirmed to Gadgets 360 that the new Galaxy A-series smartphones will support Samsung Pay (NFC and MST capabilities). The company’s mobile payment service is now available in India.
The primary camera and flash are on the rear of the phone. But other phones in this segment like OnePlus 3T, Asus Zenfone 3 (ZE552KL) and Moto Z There is no protruding camera like the one in the Galaxy A5. And we liked this change. Apart from this, we also liked the placement of the speaker grill on the right side of both the phones, although in the short time we spent with them, we did not find their volume to be very loud. Both phones have a 3.5mm audio jack and a USB Type-C port at the bottom. The power button is on the right panel while the volume rocker buttons are given on the left. We liked the physical buttons in Galaxy A5 and Galaxy A7.
Samsung is heavily promoting the dual SIM and microSD card slots on the new Galaxy A5 and Galaxy A7 smartphones. The Galaxy A5 (2017) and Galaxy A7 (2017) support 4G with VoLTE, which means these phones will work with Reliance Jio’s mobile network.
Talking about the specifications, Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017) has a 5.2 inch display while Galaxy A7 (2017) has a 5.7 inch display. Both phones use full HD and Super AMOLED displays. The new Galaxy A series variants have the company’s new octa-core Exynos 7870 processor which runs at 1.9 GHz. The phone has 3 GB RAM. Both phones have 32 GB inbuilt storage. Samsung is also offering 15 GB cloud storage on its Samsung Cloud app. Both the new phones have a set of preset camera filters including a food mode which makes the pictures look better. Samsung has provided nine effects which can be accessed by swiping the main camera interface. Overall, the camera app looks clearer than before and is easier to use.
Both Galaxy A5 and Galaxy A7 have a 16-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and aperture F/1.9. Apart from this, there is also a 16-megapixel front camera with aperture F/1.9. The dimensions of the new Galaxy A5 are 146.1×71.4×7.9 mm. And it has a 3000 mAh battery. The dimensions of Galaxy A7 (2017) are 156.8×77.6×7.9 mm and the battery is 3000 mAh.
On the software front, we didn’t notice any major changes in the Galaxy A5 and Galaxy A7. The company’s UI feels light and doesn’t cause any major issues. Like other Samsung Galaxy phones, there are separate folders for the Google and Microsoft app suites. In our limited time with the new Galaxy A5 and Galaxy A7, we found multitasking and internet browsing to be decent. However, we will reserve judgement on the performance and camera of the Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017) and Galaxy A7 (2017) until we complete our detailed review process.
final thoughts
The new Galaxy A5 (2017) and Galaxy A7 (2017) are priced at Rs 28,990 and Rs 33,490 respectively. Both phones will be available for purchase starting March 15 at offline and online retail stores across the country.
With these prices, the new Galaxy A5 and Galaxy A7 smartphones will compete with the popular Honor 8, Asus ZenFone 3 (ZE552KL) and OnePlus 3T smartphones.