Friday, March 4, 2016

Testing the Samsung Galaxy A3 (2016), small and attractive – Frandroid

Late last year, Samsung unveiled its new range Ax for the year 2016, which included the Galaxy A3 and A5. We had already had the opportunity to try the second at the beginning of February, and now a month later, this is the first that comes into our hands. Like the A5, we find here a lot of high-end inspiration, though in a smaller and more accessible format.



Our video test

Youtube Link
Chaine Youtube FrAndroid



Data sheet

Model Samsung Galaxy A3 ( 2016)
Android version Android 5.1.1 Lollipop
interface builder TouchWiz
screen Size 4.7 inch
definition 720 x 1280 pixels
pixel density 312 dpi
Technology Super AMOLED
scratch-resistant coating Corning Gorilla Glass 4 (front and rear)
SoC Exynos 7578
Processor (CPU) 4 x Cortex-A53
@ 1.5GHz
Chip Graph (GPU) Mali-T720 MP2
Memory (RAM) 1.5 GB
internal memory (flash) 16 GB (10.7 GB available)
Micro-SD Yes, up to 128 GB
Camera (dorsal) 13 megapixel (f / 1.9)
Camera (front) 5 megapixel camera (f / 1.9)
video recording 1080p @ 30fps
Wi-Fi 802.11 a / b / g / n 2.4GHz
Bluetooth v4.1
Networks 4G cat. 4 (150 / 50Mbps)
800/1800/2600 MHz
SIM 1 x nano SIM
NFC Yes
Sensors Accelerometer, geomagnetic sensor, Hall sensor, proximity sensor, light sensor RGB

Ports (input / output)
microUSB v2.0
Geolocation A-GPS, GLONASS
td> 2300mAh
Dimensions 134.5 x 65.2 x 7.3 mm
weight 132 grams
colors Black, white, gold
Price 309 euros

compared to the Galaxy A5 2016 or less include the same features, except the fingerprint sensor absent here, but also of the screen, slightly smaller and lower resolution. Its battery, its processor and RAM are all factors revised downwards. However minimal changes and that between themselves, because who says fewer pixels to display, also means less power to all animate and reduced energy consumption.



finishes with onions

with its range Galaxy a, Samsung has shown its commitment to the mid-range smart design because we may want an affordable phone without just a plastic shell that cracks when pressed. With this new generation, the Korean manufacturer has demonstrated its know-how in this field and offers exemplary design.

As to the latter, there is a glass back, but with a 2.5D finish which makes it particularly pleasant to take over. This smooth and soft slab is also echo its screen, which features the same curvature and the same coating Gorilla Glass 4 serving as a scratch protection.

These two glass plates are securely assembled around a metal aluminum frame on which one finds well-positioned buttons and frank click a drawer to insert nano-SIM and microSD, and on the low end, a mono speaker, a micro USB 2.0 port and Jack 3.5mm port.

like the A5, 2016, this tranche is slightly beveled on the edges to give it a more rounded shape and perfectly fit the curvature of the palm of the hand. Its edges are less aggressive than the Galaxy S6.

Finally, there are the usual features of the latest smartphones from Samsung, including a square camera module slightly protruding (resembling more that of S7 as the S6), or an oval home button below the screen, circled with a thin silver border of good taste.



the advantages and shortcomings of AMOLED

Between 2015 and 2016 generation, the Galaxy A3 has grown in screen size and definition. Thus, a slab qHD (540 x 960 pixels) 4.5 “, it passes a display of 4.7″ 720p HD, which sticks more with the current standards of the mid-range. It also comes in with a very respectable resolution of 312 DPI. Yes, we have seen better, but it is quite sufficient enough to distinguish details in an image without immediately discern the individual pixels with the naked eye.

As often (always?) With Samsung, this is a Super AMOLED panel that is both bright (443 cd / m² measured by our sensor) and very mixed. Pleasant to use in any conditions, the display of the Galaxy A5 2016 therefore has very deep blacks.

The colors are still there a little cold, which fired white to gray blue . This impression is confirmed by our actions that display a screen temperature between 7500 and 8000 ° Kelvin, which is a little high. In comparison, the display of the Galaxy A5 2016 really excellent, is in turn between 6500 and 7000 ° K. It is possible in the device settings to change the mode to “AMOLED Photo” to give warmer tint on the screen, but colorimetry falls into the opposite extreme.

Finally, the angles very broad visions of this slab retain the brightness of the screen even when the observed diagonally. However, its color quickly turns to the rainbow sky, which in practice does not bother very little.



TouchWiz again and again

At the exit of the box, the Galaxy A3 2016 is equipped with Android 5.1.1 Lollipop and the usual Samsung interface, called TouchWiz. Here we find a similar version to what we had already seen on the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy A5 2016, during the last month.

Slightly more refined than before, the interface is more pleasant to use than on a Galaxy Note 4, for example. The changes are nevertheless very heavy, for better and for worse. Thus, if we find good ideas of ergonomics, whether in quick settings easily modified or (rare) gestures, we must also deal with icons very infantile yet (thankfully customizable through themes shop ) and a certain amount of pre-installed applications.

Exit the Facebook here suite (including the social network, but Instagram and WhatsApp), while the entire range Microsoft is definitely there, with notification at startup to remind you that you have 100 GB of storage on onedrive. A nice gift that will soon exasperate those who lose interest.



Performance half -teinte

If some models of Galaxy A3 2016 are equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 processor, the European version embeds a home for its processor Exynos 7578. Unlike the 7580 Galaxy A5 2016 it s’ This is a quad-core Cortex-compound A53 cores clocked at 1.5 GHz. Coupled with its 1.5GB of RAM, this allows him to surpass the performance of the Snapdragon 410, but not enough to match those of a Snapdragon 617.



Model (Soc embedded) Samsung Galaxy A3 (2016) OnePlus X Honor 5X Samsung Galaxy A5 2015
SoC Exynos 7578 Snapdragon 801 Snapdragon 616 Snapdragon 410
AnTuTu 35 772 dots 41 339 dots 36,647 items
PCMark 4004 items 4 490 points 3847 Points 3200 items
3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited 7186 items 14 350 dots 7927 items 4376 items
3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited (Graphics) 6509 items 13 710 Points 7 866 points
3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited (Physics) 11 299 dots 17 151 dots 8146 items
GFXBench Manhattan (onscreen / offscreen) 8.4 / 4 , 1 FPS 10 / 9.3 FPS 5.6 / 6 FPS 9.5 / 5.3 FPS
GFXBench T-Rex (onscreen / offscreen) 20/12 FPS 23/21 FPS 14/15 FPS 3.9 / 1.8 FPS

the results of the benchmarks are rather uneven and are only partially indicative of its potential. Less good on PCMark basic tasks of the Snapdragon 801 OnePlus X, he nevertheless manages to overtake here the Honor 5X and Snapdragon 616. This remains at the “graphic” part of 3DMark, but not on tests GFXBench. If the display “only” 720p HD Galaxy A3 2016 may explain some of its results, it does not explain much all obtained disparities.

Anyway, once launched a game, the Galaxy A3 2016 does very well, including the duration as heats very little after half an hour on Asphalt 8. Even demanding titles look pretty good, and the only delays that one can feel generally range for the menus and large area changing transitions. Suffice to say that it is up to what one might expect from a camera in this price even more. It must be said that the opposite would be a shame knowing that it faces fierce competition whose price starts from 230 euros only.

PCMark
  • Galaxy A3 2016 4004
  • OnePlus X 4490
  • Honor 5X 3847
  • Honor 7 4615



Connectivity

Like many phones in this range, the Galaxy A3 2016 embeds a 4G chip category 4 (150/50 Mbps) and WLAN 802.11 a / b / g / n compatible with 2.4 GHz (but not 5 GHz). If one is far speeds that can reach the most high-end smartphones, this is more than enough practical for daily use, especially since it is compatible with all bands of frequencies French, including 800 MHz.

calls are intelligible to their share in transmission and reception with a strong sound and effective noise-canceling microphone. However, in one case as in the other, the sound lacks a bit of accuracy and “hissing” slightly distorting the caller’s voice.

The GPS Galaxy A3 2016 is not really good nor bad so far. In a little less than ten seconds, it happens to fix many satellites, but still lacks some precision. Compass in hand seems well calibrated and did not play us trick



. Photo: attention to the night

More than okay in the day, the camera module of the Galaxy A5 2016 was disappointed in low light. So we expected to find the same result on the Galaxy A3 2016, and the reality has lived up to our expectations.

From its 13 megapixels, the Galaxy A3 2016 displays good level of detail on the clichés and faithfully reproduce colors. Sometimes her work a bit when the light is too volatile, but an HDR mode transfer can recover the missing colors at the ends of the spectrum generally quite satisfactory. Sometimes, however, this method of giving pictures a somewhat supernatural air, with a white aura détourant certain points in the image, but this is not valid on certain shots.

 sample-galaxy-a3-2016-hDR

Normal left, right HDR

at night or in low light, the result immediately becomes much more questionable. Besides the appearance of a low-noise, which is quite normal for this kind of device in difficult conditions, images indicate the difficulty of the phone to manage light. Between too strong sources and made almost entirely black, take a picture at dusk takes over Russian roulette or contemporary art that attempt to picture quality souvenir. He nevertheless the merit of not forcing the ISO, which avoids finish with a noisy soup.

The camera on the front, with its 8 megapixels, is no better. Being bald and dare to take a selfie under the neon lights of writing is quickly becoming synonymous with huge white reflection on the top of the skull. So plan a cap if you meet these criteria.



Good autonomy

with only 2300 mAh battery of the Galaxy A3 2016 is not among the widest ever seen, but seems at first sight sufficient to power the phone given its “only” HD screen and her little greedy processor. This is what we have seen during our daily use, which take two days was outside the feat.

Our usual self-test, which is to watch a video YouTube in HD with screen brightness set to 200 cd / m², confirmed this impression by posting a 12% loss of autonomy after 1 hour of viewing. If we find better, including the Galaxy A5 2016, it is positioned in the upper range of devices that we have been able to test so far.

Battery
  • Galaxy A3 (2016) 88
  • Galaxy A5 (2016) 90
  • Honor 7 86



pricing and availability

the base price of the Galaxy A3 2016 is 309 euros. Some promotions are nevertheless already available and allow to obtain the less than 300 or 290 euros.

Samsung Galaxy A3 (2016)

Samsung Galaxy A3 (2016)

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design

Positioned in the lower range of smartphones midrange, Galaxy A3 2016 still offers finishes everything has more premium. Between its two facades 2.5D glass and beveled aluminum frame, it has nothing to envy the Galaxy S6.

L screen of the Galaxy A3 2016 is not perfect and has some of the defects of bad AMOLED, whose imperfect colorimetry and viewing angles that take various shades when viewed through the screen. It remains a very good screen for this price range, with a very strong contrast and brightness more enjoyable.

software

love it or do not like, we can not deny that TouchWiz is an interface that fills some gaps and Android full of small thoughtful and handy shortcuts. In addition, since the arrival of Lollipop, his lack of fluency has been corrected, and although it is still burdened by superfluous applications, we can only welcome the Samsung effort on this. Highly Marshmallow!

performance

Between its Exynos 7578 which already shows its limits when it is his first public appearance and 1.5GB RAM, the Galaxy A3 2016 does not dream on paper. In practice, it’s doing pretty good, and if he does not perform in the benchmarks, it happens to provide the bare minimum to be fluid daily. Remains to be seen if he can turn the next big game to come so easily …

camera

with a 13 Megapixel sensor and a lens aperture of f / 1.9, the camera A3 2016 is well made and is doing very well during the day. The colors are faithful, well-managed and dive light is perfectly acceptable. When the light begins to fall on the other hand, the result immediately loses sharpness, as it does not display a rendered almost entirely black.

self

Slightly less impressive on this point that the A5 2016 2016 A3 nothing wrong as far as regards its autonomy. With its AMOLED HD and low fuel processor, it easily managed to hold two days without recharging.

the range Galaxy Ax 2016 Samsung is a real achievement, especially at the design, manicured and resolutely premium. Very nice and comfortable in hand, the smallest of this line exudes quality workmanship and certainly not ashamed to face smartphones like the Galaxy S6. This feeling is further enhanced by its beautiful screen, even if it is not completely free of defects.

But the Galaxy A3 2016 is not only beautiful, it is also very nice every day. Its interface, although a bit heavy, fluid remains in almost all situations, its software additions are well thought out and autonomy allows it to hold two days away from an outlet.

It is not of course not without fault, especially regarding the low-light pictures. We can also blame him for being a bit feeble in power, which could play tricks on him in the future, but we would not shoot the ambulance.

His biggest flaw finally is its price positioning, since currently priced around 300 euros, he approaches the performance of phones sold between 200 and 250 euros. At its price, it is then in direct competition with the Honor 7, which makes it seriously shade and therefore requires the consumer to choose between performance and fingerprint sensor on one side and licked the other finishes . Its format in the 5-inch bar is another asset, since it becomes difficult to find “small” really compelling smartphones today.




March 3, 2016

  • copies finishes
  • bright and contrast display
  • autonomy comfortable
  • A compact
  • No fingerprint sensor
  • additions dispensable software
  • a price a little high compared to the competition

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