The Samsung Galaxy Alpha is perhaps the best built Galaxy smartphone till date. It's slim, light and easy to use, but does the performance justify the price? We spent a little time in doing a quick review to find out.
Back
Remember the plastic back of the Galaxy S5? The Galaxy Alpha has the same faux leather perforated back. The metal rim around the side gives it a much better feel though and so does the compact size.
Size
The 4.7 inch display and 6.7 mm thickness make the Galaxy Alpha a very easy to use smartphone. You can easily operate it using one hand and it fits comfortably in the pocket. It is also only 3 grams heavier than the iPhone 5S.
Size Comparison
The design on the Alpha is very close to the iPhone 5S, but the 5S is still more compact and a bit lighter. The Alpha still makes for a very well built smartphone though.
Chamfered edges
The chamfered edges on the Galaxy Alpha are well defined and look really good. The metal rim gives it a shine and adds a lot to the overall feel of the smartphone.
Top
The headphone jack is carved onto the top of the phone and the metal frame also has plastic bands over the antenna.
Bottom
The plastic bands over the antenna are present here too, but are accompanied by the micro-USB charging port along with a laser etched speaker grill, similar to the iPhone 5S.
Display
The 720p display on the Alpha is not bad at all, but AMOLED screens are usually a little oversaturated. You can utilise Touchwiz's presets for choosing various tones for your display though, which is quite useful.
Performance
We had mentioned in our first impressions of the Alpha that the slim design with an octa-core SoC could lead to performance issues. Turns out that we were quite right. Turn to the next slide to see what.
Performance Drop
The Exynos 5 octa-core SoC on the Alpha performs well for a while, but the slim design results in a lot of heating. This in turn throttles the CPU down causing the performance to drop. According to the 3D Mark benchmark test, the performance drop is substantial after heating.
Removable back
One of the best things about Samsung smartphone is the removable back and battery. The Alpha continues that trend, although this could also be one of the results for the phone heating up. A non-removable back may have allowed the company to pack the components inside more efficiently.
Size Comparison
On the left is the Xperia Z3 Compact, while on the right is the iPhone 5S. As you can see, the Samsung Galaxy Alpha in the middle is slightly bigger than the other two devices. Still, the Galaxy Alpha is nowhere close to being too big and is quite easy to use.