Samsung Galaxy Alpha Hands-on, Initial Impressions and Photo Gallery

Samsung has been making smartphones with the same polycarbonate body, and we have been hating it. Moreover, there is nothing they did to make it better, except for the changes in texture and still never impressing with that. Finally, the company has an answer to all the critics, with what they call is the most premium Samsung smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy Alpha. Does the device give justice to the tag it has been given? for us on the initial looks, it does.

But hold on. It isn’t still totally different, as you can see the polycarbonate back being the same, but the entire focus is put on the frame on the sides, because it is the metallic frame that is giving the Galaxy Alpha a premium look. At the same time, it is the plastic back due to which the phone feels incredibly light for the 4.7-inch screen. But overall, there is nothing wrong in the design at least this time. In fact, I liked the dimpled back on the Galaxy S5 than the textures Samsung on the earlier flagship devices.

Giving it some more time while trying to check how good the phone feels in hand, it felt really good and comfortable, and the chamfered edges gave it not just a good look, but it does add to the premium factor while holding the phone. The corners are raised and thus, the phone looks even more premium, compared to the big competitor, the Apple iPhone 5s.

Towards the sides, where the actual improvement is seen, the physical buttons have a sturdy make, they are harder to press and that actually is good because you know whether you were able to press the button properly or not. The power/lock key is on the right, while the volume rocker buttons are on the left. In the bottom frame, there’s the microphone alongside MicroUSB slot and speaker grill, and in the top, there is a secondary mic with the 3.5mm headset jack.

For the display, it has always been impressive on Samsung flagships, for the reason that they use SuperAMOLED display with vibrant colors and good brightness. The display on the Galaxy Alpha just adds to the beauty, making it a perfect smartphone for those who would like to flaunt it.

For the initial use, there was no lagging or any poor performance, and that is no surprise, because as much good the device looks externally, it is given good power internally as well. Samsung’s standard TouchWiz UI is there, and that is what could disappoint many because this UI has been always known to slow down with time. Though, the first few days of use was pretty perfect, no frills or problems at all.

It is the Android 4.4.4 KitKat OS running with TouchWiz over it as mentioned, and we are sure this is going to get the Android Lollipop update in the near future, considering that this is a flagship smartphone from the company.

The Galaxy Alpha has a 13-megapixel camera on the back. and a 2.1-megapixel one on the front, and the quality doesn’t disappoint, quite similar to the captures you see on the Samsung Galaxy Note 3. But for now, lets stick to our first thoughts, because the camera review will be up soon, and you won’t see much surprises, except for the 2160p 4K video recording.

The best part, apart from the design is the storage. The Galaxy Alpha comes with 32GB internal storage, and there is no option to expand it using a MicroSD card.

So far, we are quite loving the Galaxy Alpha, and the design is the main reason for it. Especially because it is from Samsung, the company that never cared much about the build quality, the material to be used and the color combination for the smartphones. We’ll post the review, very soon after finding how well can this run on a regular usage, although the hardware shows some good power.