The Galaxy A5 (2016) had already made a good impression during our grip in January, on the occasion of their official presentation French. A good impression that we immediately found in this phone not only attractive, but also pretty darn well supplied for a price which is reasonable. Around 400 euros before subsidies
AtoolkitFOR improved on all items
Of course, you always find more powerful or greater in second-tier brands, like Meizu, Archos and Asus. But it is clear that the Galaxy A5 and its platform midrange surprise us, because Samsung we had not accustomed to such a rich equipment for that price. Let us in detail MSDS:
Dimensions: 144.8 x 71 x 7.3 mm
weight: 155 grams
report screen / size: 72.5%
2.5D Super AMOLED screen of 5.2 inches 1080p (resolution of 424 pixels per inch)
premium chassis with reinforced glass Corning Gorilla Glass 4 each side
Exynos 7580 chipset consisting of eight Cortex-A53 cores clocked at 1.6 GHz
ARM Mali-T720 GPU MP2
2 GB of RAM memory
16GB of internal storage (expandable via microSD)
2900 mAh battery (non-removable) supports fast loading
Category 6 compliant LTE, WiFi n, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS, NFC, FM radio, ANT +
of fingerprint reader
Compatible Samsung Pay (LoopPay integrated technology)
13 megapixel camera sensor with LED flash, image stabilization and lens opening to f / 1.9, Full HD video compatibility
5 megapixel webcam with lens opening to f / 1.9
Android 5.1.1 with Touchwiz interface Lollipop
Imagine, therefore: a slab Super AMOLED Full HD premium metal chassis glass, a fingerprint reader, microSD card reader (not Galaxy S6), a 2900 mAh battery, an optical stabilizer for the camera, the Samsung Pay compatibility (with LoopPay technology), all in a mobile 400 euros, never happened at Samsung. That’s why A5 (2016) is interesting. And that is why we believe it is the telephone to follow early this year (maybe even more than the Galaxy S7). Because it is a quality product and almost affordable than the brand could sell by truckload if it does not have a strategic error between time …
A design Galaxy S6 … Almost
As we saw during our initial decision in hand, the Galaxy A5 (2016) is a smartphone that meets two characteristics: it is part of the range A and it relies on the lines of the Galaxy S6. So we have a product that resembles the flagship Korean 2015 on a mid-range positioning. In practice this gives what? First, the mobile is clad in glass and metal. Glass covers both sides of the product, which are slightly curved (2.5D slabs). Note that the corners of the phone are still round but shorter, giving the A5 (2016) a more rectangular shape than the S6.
At the front, we find the usual codes of brand: the screen is surrounded by high, marking the group and the speakerphone and, below, the “Home” button flanked left and right by two touch zones for Android navigation keys. The webcam is left of the speaker. In back, the resemblance with the S6 is more blatant with this great smooth surface is lost when the logo of the brand, the protuberant picture block (but less than the high-end model) and dual LED flash. No heart rate obviously. But is it worth to blame? Not really.
Second point on the design after the faces: the slices. They are covered with aluminum and are divided into four parts by means of partitions positioned in pairs on the upper and lower wafers. This is where the difference between the S6 and the range A (2016) is the most blatant. First, aluminum is straight and not curved (which contributes to the impression of a movable rectangular). Next, the central portion of the slices is always dug to lessen the protrusion of physical keys, but the result is less refined.
Quality grip
But do not spoil our fun. Once in hand, the Galaxy A5 (2016) remains a pleasant product to handle. Gorilla glass, which marks very well fingerprints (this has not only advantages) slides very well (careful if you have wet hands not to drop it) and responds very well to the stresses. The hardware buttons (left and volumes standby right) are cleverly positioned. Note that the SIM drawer is strangely off: both locations (SIM and microSD) are positioned side by side, perpendicular to the phone, not in parallel side by side. The purpose however is the same.
Compared to the Galaxy A5 (2015), this new model offers a Super AMOLED 5.2 inch Full HD screen, for a slightly higher resolution 430 pixels per inch. Or a concentration of pixels equivalent to some high-end (including Apple). We are obviously far from the 577 pixels per inch Galaxy S6, but this screen is of very good quality. Many brightness, contrast, rich colors. And the viewing angles are much better than on the LCD even IPS. Hard to beat. Or rather difficult to realize that Samsung can do better.
The latest version of Touchwiz, but not the Android
Once the display on, we arrive on Touchwiz on a base of Android 5.1.1. This is the same version of Touchwiz than that offered with the moving of the second half of the Korean brand, including the Galaxy S6 + Edge. The design thus gaining roundness (icons of files and applications). The interface management is gaining more themes provided (accessible via the settings menu). And some widgets have disappeared or have been moved for clarity. Note Briefing (eg UX Magazine) is pre-installed and activated on the de facto Galaxy A5 (2016). It is, as always accessible on the left of the home screen panel
Accueil, Briefing and Themes
Side application, again, Samsung has made many efforts since all preinstalled software takes on two panels in the application menu. You end S Health, S Planner, Samsung Gallery, S Voice, Smart Manager, Galaxy Apps, Samsung weather systems and tools on the first panel where Samsung has kept the dream of space (the Play Store is the intruder). Note that the Galaxy A5 (2016) is natively compatible with Gear (which is not the case of the Galaxy A3 (2016 must undergo an update for that) and Smart Connect is pre-installed.
Weather, Samsung Apps and Smart Manager
The second are those of Google and Microsoft ones, each partner having his small dedicated folder. In the Google folder are stored ten applications (Hangouts Play Music, Play Movies, Search, Maps, YouTube, Chrome, Voice Search, Drive, Photos, Gmail) We are surprised that Facebook applications (Messenger, WhatsApp and Facebook client) have been removed. visibly, Samsung seeks to make room on the 16 GB of internal storage … We obviously compared the place occupied by the system on the Galaxy S5 New A5 and the Galaxy (2016). And the result is very similar.
Performance limited by the graphics processor
Contrary to popular belief, the problem would not be necessarily the preinstalled applications Samsung, but maybe in the interface itself that adds Android to the natural weight of a full overlay. In fact, we were surprised to undergo some (very light) delays when navigating the menus, which had not happened since the Galaxy S5. I must say that the platform of the A5 (2016) looks excessively than the former flagship of the brand, the scores on the benchmarks by both mobile (and also New S5) being very similar.
On AnTuTu, mobile and 7580 Exynos reach 42406 score points, placing it before the MT6753 MediaTek and Snapdragon 615/616/617 fitted to the vast majority of current mobile midrange. Of course, the arrival of P10 and Helio Snapdragon 650/652 degrade this impression. But for now, the phone meets its positioning commitment midrange. On Basemark OS II, he gets 815 points. It is a score below chipsets Qualcomm midrange reflecting the graphics performance, well below the Adreno.
This is confirmed with Geekbench and 3D Mark. With the first, A5 (2016) obtains 690 points in single-core and 3687 points multi-core. With the second, he reached 8019 points Ice Storm Unlimited. 3DMark even refused to launch Slingshot Quad HD ES 3.1, the phone is “incompatible” (meaning that it does not meet the minimum technical requirements). As always thus with the Exynos architectures, application hearts are with go, but the Mali GPU fails him …
multimedia, he is saved by appearances
A weakness is offset by other technical elements in its favor. First, the chipset is quite efficient for longer battery life for a day in normal use. Then the beautiful Super AMOLED (whose energy consumption is optimized with predominantly black interfaces), is perfect for watching some movies. Especially as the A5 (2016) has, as always with Samsung, one of the best video players on the market: subtitles, management of audio tracks encapsulated, heterogeneous video formats, this player is almost as interesting as that Meizu and Archos. We are delighted that this asset does not weaken with the years at Samsung.
play side, the situation is almost similar. The opening speaker is properly placed to avoid being blocked by your fingers. The screen offers excellent visual rendering and Corning Gorilla glass offers 4 good feeling under the fingers. With the graphics positioned at their maximum level of detail, Dead Trigger 2 has remained fluid during games, but has naturally suffered some delays in shipments. Fortunately, this is not disadvantageous. However, if you are a player, do not ask him too much, because the GPU Mali, certainly the worst thing about this phone.
A very good camera environment range
Let us finally to photography. The smartphone has here a sensor 13 megapixels and torque target opening of f / 1.9. The set comes with a classic autofocus and an image stabilizer. Finally, to control the whole, we find the application that we have enjoyed with the Galaxy S5 New and all mobile with the latest versions of Touchwiz. The latter control very well the various parameters of shooting and offers some interesting options, especially for expert photographers (management sensitivity, exposure compensation and white balance).
The result is the image of the Galaxy range: very good for a mid-range smartphone. Despite very changeable weather this week, the Galaxy A5 (2016) has made some interesting pictures, always very bright, balanced (despite a slight overexposure of the sky) and very detailed. Thanks to the optical stabilizer, no blur on the horizon, even in the darkest parts. The sound is slightly present (especially in the corners) and details fade quickly zooming, a limitation of 13-megapixel sensor. Comparing, on this point, is difficult facing the 16-megapixel Galaxy S6. Especially the latter is just as bright.
Photo taken with the Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016)
There has never been best value for money Samsung
From the first official information on this smartphone, our attention was captured. Because Samsung had rarely shown much realism in its ambitions. If the Galaxy S5, the Galaxy Alpha, the whole range Galaxy A and even, to some extent, the Galaxy S6 and its variants, always fished by a relatively frustrating default, especially vis-à-vis prices charged by brand face almost always impeccable iPhone, this Galaxy A5 (2016) is much more intelligent in its approach.
A good platform (despite a big flaw in the graphics processor). A very nice screen. Worthy of high-end equipment. A premium design. All for a price that is less incoherent than before, the Galaxy A5 (2016) could almost be considered a “lite” version of the Galaxy S6 which he borrows some technical and aesthetic advantages.
For 400 euros, it competes directly with the HTC One A9 (the price was down 40% in three months to go below 400 euros in open-market), the OnePlus X, the Sony Xperia M5 and Meizu MX5. And if some of them are slightly better off in performance, it is clear that the shift is far outweighed by the value-added services, such as fingerprint reader, NFC, optical stabilizer, Samsung Pay ( which will eventually reach France) and slab Super AMOLED. In short, Samsung starts strong year. The question is how the competition will react.
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