Flagship of the middle class: smartphone Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017) - pros and cons

The beginning of 2017 for Samsung fans was marked by the release of new smartphones in the A line, focused on the production of mid-range phones. From the very beginning of the release of A-line mobile phones at the beginning of 2015, it was represented by the A3, A5, and A7 models. In 2017, Samsung decided not to change its tradition and also released three phones with the same numbers.

In this article, we will take a closer look at the advantages and disadvantages of the youngest of the three brothers, the Samsung Galaxy A3, and analyze how it differs from the older ones, so that you yourself can draw a conclusion: to buy it or not.

Equipment

The package bundle for this model is quite standard for more or less new Samsung phones. It includes:

• The phone itself;
• 1.5 Ampere USB charger;
• New generation Type-C cable for high speed data transmission. It is used in almost all new devices. The cord length is standard and is 1.2 meters;
• Quite good wired in-ear headphones with a volume control button and an answer / reject call on the wire;
• An interesting surprise was a small microUSB to Type-C adapter, which can be useful if you have an old microUSB cable or charger, which, thanks to this adapter, can still serve you.

Design and convenience

The diagonal of the screen, which, by the way, has a SuperAmoled matrix with HD resolution, is 4.7 inches, under the screen there is a proprietary Samsung mechanical HOME button, which is also a fingerprint scanner. To the left and right of it there are 2 touch buttons.

Above the screen is the earpiece, the light proximity sensor, the one that goes out when you bring the phone to your ear, and the front camera. On the right, the manufacturer placed buttons for adjusting the volume, on the left there is a speaker and a power button. The speaker is not too loud, but the sound is clear and pleasant.

The dual sim slot is located at the top of the phone. Since there is no separate slot for a microSD card, the user will have to choose between two SIM cards or a SIM card and a memory card. At the bottom there is a connector for a Type-C cable and a 3.5 mm headphone jack.

The body itself is made of aluminum, and the front and back panels are protected by Gorilla glass 4. The phone is presented in three colors: gold, blue and black. The most spectacular of them is, perhaps, the black one, because due to the design feature, the switched off screen seems to merge with the body and the transition border is almost invisible.

The device is also quite comfortable and fits well in the hand. Maybe a little slippery due to the glass on the back. So if you are afraid that it may slip out of your hands, then you should purchase a cover. The A3 weighs only 138 grams, being the smallest in the entire line. A5 and A7 weigh 159 and 186 grams, respectively.

Features:

Perhaps we should start with the Always On Display function. It allows you to look at the clock, calendar, battery indicator and other useful information without unlocking the phone.In 2018, almost all phones have this built-in feature, but until 2017 it was only implemented in Samsung's flagship models.

The phone also supports the Samsung pay service, with which you can pay for purchases with your phone instead of a plastic card. It can even simulate a magnetic stripe using MST technology. Since their release and until now, the 2017 A line is the most budget phones that support this payment method.

The used IP68 water and dust protection standard makes the A3 quite reliable, like its brothers. You don't have to worry too much if it falls into the water, since with its level of water resistance it can lie under water up to 30 at a depth of up to 1.5 meters without any damage to its performance. And you don't even need to talk about dust and dirt inside the phone.

Main characteristics

Memory

A3 has at its disposal only 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB of internal memory, which is very little, and having only a combined slot for a SIM card and a memory card, owners of two SIM cards will have to be content with only these 16 gigabytes. There are no such shortcomings in the A5 and A7, since in addition to 3 GB of RAM and 32 GB of built-in memory, they also have an additional slot for a microSD card.

CPU

Models A5 and A7 have a completely new, at that time, 8-core Samsung Exynos 7880 processor, operating at 1.9 GHz, but the A3 was cheated a little by installing the Samsung Exynos 7870 processor, whose frequency is only 1.6 GHz. Therefore, the A3 is not as smart as its counterparts from the same line, and produces only 45,000 in the AnTuTu test, while other models from the same series quietly gain about 60,000.

If we talk about games, then it is not a fact that this power will be enough for the novelties of 2018, but for active games in 2017 it will do. Although with difficulty. Take the rather demanding Asphalt Extreme, for example. She works quietly at maximum settings. However, really heavy games like Unkilled slow down even at medium graphics settings. With light two-dimensional or just not very demanding games, problems should not arise at all. True, when recording video from the screen, almost any, even not demanding games, start to slow down.

Another advantage of this processor is that its temperature hardly rises, despite the absence of throttling (specific protection against processor overheating by skipping machine cycles (cycles) and, following this, a decrease in processor performance, but preventing its further heating).

This is made possible by the state-of-the-art FinFET process, which allows processors to be made as thin as 14 nm.

Camera

The rear camera is 13MP with a good aperture - f / 1.9 and autofocus. The camera's capabilities are small and won't give you much room for shooting. Regular photos, HDR mode, panoramic shots, food, night shooting, and that's all. There is a PRO mode, but there are not too many settings in it. You can only change the white balance, adjust the light sensitivity in order to increase the sharpness and adjust the exposure compensation.

The shots taken by the camera, however, turn out well, but often you have to wait 2-4 seconds for focusing before the camera takes a picture if you are photographing in imperfect lighting conditions.

How the camera takes pictures can be seen below:

And here's an example of how he photographs at night:

The front camera deserves special praise. With a matrix resolution of 8 megapixels and the same aperture as the rear camera, selfies are highly detailed and with excellent color reproduction. There is a built-in photo retouching program that allows you to whiten your skin, smooth out wrinkles, widen your eyes, and much more. In general, selfie lovers should like it.

Example of a photo of the front camera:

You don't have to worry about a video camera at all. The phone can shoot video in FullHD at 30 fps. The sound and detail are at a high level. There is also autofocus. Some people complain, however, that it is too smooth, even slow, but this is completely uncritical.Walking shake is not compensated for when shooting, so shoot carefully.

Interface

Samsung galaxy A3 came out with android 6.0 Marshmallow OS with subsequent update to Nougat. The smartphone uses the standard Samsung skin. It doesn't make much sense to describe it in detail. These are all the same desktops familiar to everyone with widgets and icons.

Screenshot can be taken by pressing the HOME key and the lock key, which is almost impossible to do with one hand. By default, unlocking is done by pressing the power button and swiping up the screen.

Software

About 45 applications are initially installed on the phone, the vast majority of which cannot be deleted. (Except perhaps UBANK, Yandex and a couple of standard Samsung programs).

These include: a standard set for utilities used in all smartphones, redesigned by Samsung for its models. Such branded applications from Samsung as: S Voice, its own "Siri" for Samsung, Samsung Health, which is useful for those who need to monitor health indicators, Samsung technical support, Galaxy Apps, a kind of google play analog for Samsung phones, have not gone anywhere.

Also installed by default are applications from Google, Microsoft Office, Skype, Facebook, One Drive cloud service, Samsung pay, which was mentioned above and others.

The settings look quite compact due to the fact that a large number of parameters are collected in various sections, such as:

• "Optimization" - includes settings for RAM, ROM, battery and security settings
• "Sound and Vibration" - contains sound control parameters, as well as an equalizer and even gizmos like reverb, which can please people who are inclined to use a smartphone as a full-fledged audio player.
• "Display" in addition to the standard screen settings allows you to turn off the Always on Display function, but it does not consume a lot of battery, and the thing is quite convenient, so you can leave it.
• "Extra features" are mostly things like gesture controls, eye tracking (the phone doesn't turn off until you look away), and almost useless screen shrinking tools.

In general, the firmware seems to be a solid and complete shell, but perhaps too overloaded. The manufacturer shoved a lot of things into it. Take at least 45 preinstalled apps. However, in such a large functionality, you can find almost any function that you may need, so it's up to you, plus or minus.

Battery

The power source for this model is a Li-Ion battery with a capacity of 2350 mAh. It easily provides the phone with high autonomy, despite such a seemingly modest capacity. Fast charging is not implemented in this model, but at a charging speed of 1 hour 35 minutes with a standard charger, it is not needed.

Despite the small size of the battery, it lasts quite a long time. If you keep the screen on for 3-5 hours a day, with active data transfer in LTE and making calls, then the battery charge will quietly be enough for 2 days

If you use the phone exclusively for calls, you can even count on 5-6 days of work, depending on the operator and the frequency of these calls, of course.

Watching video in high resolution with the brightness turned to maximum will drain the battery in about 17 hours, which is very, very good, especially considering such a small battery.

With such indicators, the runtime is definitely an advantage of this model. After all, even with active use and a heavy load on the processor, it is unlikely that it will be possible to discharge this device in less than a day. And with such a charging speed, the problem of lack of energy goes away by itself.

Communication capabilities

It is no longer necessary to talk about the availability of access to the Internet, the presence of WI-FI and GPS, especially in the 2017 models. It's worth noting, though, that these functions are implemented just fine here.

The GPS access speed only takes about 10 seconds. Navigation works perfectly and smoothly, thanks to a competent approach to antenna design.

The device works at almost all the necessary LTE frequencies, which can also be considered a compliment to antenna manufacturers

It also has a built-in FM radio. Simple as a nice bonus.

How much is

As of August 2018, the average price for this device is:

1. In Russia - 13,500 rubles;
2. In Belarus - 500 denominated Belarusian rubles;
3. In Ukraine - 6500-8000 hryvnia;
4. In Kazakhstan - 75,000 tenge.

Here we have indicated the approximate cost in online stores in different countries. In order to better navigate the price and find where you can profitably buy this model, you should not limit yourself to the first store you find in your region, but consider offers from several points of sale. You may be lucky enough to stumble upon discounts. However, you already know about it.

conclusions

Summing up, I would like to say that the phone turned out to be quite good, although there are controversial points, but first things first:

Advantages

• When manufacturing the case, the manufacturer used good and high-quality materials, and the assembly itself is beyond praise;
• The advantage of the processor is its small size and manufacturability, as a result of which it almost does not overheat and at the same time ensures stable and smooth operation of the phone in working mode;
• The biggest advantage of the phone can be called its battery, which simply delightfully holds a charge and does not discharge for a long time;
• The high class of protection against water and dust IP 68 makes the phone quite tenacious and will protect it from unpleasant accidents in case of anything;
• Availability of Samsung pay service;
• Always on Display function;
• An excellent speaker that produces good sound and is also well protected from water.

disadvantages

• The disadvantage of the processor is that its performance is not very high. If it is enough to work with applications, then problems arise with games;
• Unnecessarily overloaded shell, occupying about 10 GB of memory from the standard 16, leaving the user with only 6;
• A small disadvantage is that the phone is rather slippery due to its design and purchase of a cover is highly desirable;
• Although the camera in the phone is not bad, it lacks stabilization, which negatively affects the quality of pictures when shooting moving objects. Also, after reading the reviews, you can see that the focusing speed is not happy not only for us.

Samsung Galaxy A3 is a decent smartphone of the Korean brand from the budget class.