Somewhere between absurdity and anti-absurdity is the zone where real creative energy can be found. The sort creative energy that is conveyed by the letter ‘A’ in the international radio phonetic alphabet, an unofficial leader, the first letter of the Greek alphabet, the beginning or creation, or a dominant individual in a pack or group of people. I mean ALPHA. Alpha is the best. Alpha is a ‘state of awesomeness or something that is the most awesome.’ Well, Lara Dutta said almost the same thing.
Lara Dutta?
Yes, Lara Dutta was quite clear in her thoughts when she defined the new Samsung Galaxy Alpha as a truly ‘one of a kind’. Let me add here that had this phone been a man, he would have been a hot, sexy, suave, and amazing lover with a great fashion sense, and one who is honest, loyal, confident and yet not cocky, and has a phenomenal smile and the personality to match. So now that you know that I intend talking about this latest launch from Samsung, let me also add that I’ll be allowing this review to meander through landscapes of style and élan. After all, Lara Dutta did call this smartphone an icon of style, didn’t she? Now, my idea of style is to put a few relevant rhyming couplets in a review of avant-garde technology.
Now smartphones can sometimes make you smart
But this one from Samsung will cuddle your heart!
You see what I mean?
So let’s start with what a lot of hoi-polloi in the blogging world has been harping about. They have talked, and quite erroneously, about the ‘tacky chrome accents on cheap plastic’ but listen, The Galaxy Alpha is different.
It looks smaller and thinner with its real metal frame
And listen, this isn’t its only claim to fame!
Some people can say that even other phones are getting thinner and lighter… and that even they have looks that can make fans swoon. Well, Samsung doesn’t want anyone to swoon yet because only those who keep their sanity around them can appreciate real art. And real art is when…
A lesser bezel around display makes for a lighter case
Do your things with a single hand and go, win your race!
Got it? The Alpha goes a few steps beyond all this…
Fingerprints can’t bully its matte rear surface
This is what gives it its bountiful grace!
So yes, users can handle this 4.7 inch screen smartphone with one hand if they wish to and so I’m not surprised that a lot of friends have called it a ‘one-hand wonder’!
It is right sized and light and makes handling a joy
The metal frame means it isn’t just a toy!
The production process of green sand casting is very simple comparatively, so easily handled. The materials are simple, and easily available.
With the 4.7 inch screen of Alpha, Samsung has proved that they have the ability to win a consumer’s heart by giving them both the large as well as the not-so-large screen size. The user does get a choice… if a larger screen is your choice, go for the S5 or any in the Note series, and if you prefer a slightly smaller version, you have now the stylish Galaxy Alpha. Now when you have the advantage of a screen size that you can handle with one hand, do you really need a microSD slot?
By the way, the Alpha not only comes with a charming 4.7-inch HD Super AMOLED display for an unrivalled viewing experience but is powered by an Octa Core processor that makes Multiprocessing, alternating between the cores as per the workload. Do you even know what this means? This means that all the cores of the processor are not working when you’re into a non-intensive task like calling… and thus preserves battery life. Thus even the 1860 mAh battery in the Alpha runs much longer than your expectations.
The cores in OctaCore make sure they drain
Only what they need. Wastage they treat with disdain!
So if all that you’re doing is checking your social media notifications and using syncing services like Gmail and Twitter, the battery will tend to last a couple of days and more! Believe me, the processor here is quite an intelligent one and capable enough to help you save the battery life of your phone.
Let me come to what I love in any of the phones I carry with me… a camera. Yes, I need both the front as well as the rear camera, and they need to be not just powerful but also full of features.
Sharp output from this 12 megapixel camera you get
Even the flash doesn’t flood in a darker set!
So yes, the Alpha has a reasonably powerful camera with a 12 megapixel sensor and also has a flash that doesn’t wash out faces but yet is strong enough to light the subject in a low light ambience.
The focus is fast and the image is steady
When the moment comes, the camera is ready!
The 12 MP (rear) and the 2.1 MP (front) advanced camera means you don’t really need to carry a standalone camera as the camera in Alpha has the capability to give you Shadow free HDR, Phase Detection and Selective focus.
For those who love reading technical mumbo-jumbo, let me just say that the Galaxy Alpha has a quad-core Snapdragon 801 processor, 2GB of RAM, and 32GB of storage. And now that this part is done, let us go back to the idyllic stage of couplets and rhymes.
The screen resolution needs to be right for the size
So 720p for the 4.7 inch Alpha is perfect and wise!
And then we have a couple of rhymes that talk of some features that not all phones can really boast of:
Read your ebooks without a strain
At an angle too without confusing your brain!
The power key and volume rocker respond so well
These keys never let your tension swell!
I haven’t yet had the opportunity to try out the entire gamut of features of this smartphone… so I cannot really talk about the NFC, GPS, and Bluetooth capabilities of Galaxy Alpha. But I did hear the audio output and it was impressive.
Now I have a couple of questions that Samsung needs to look into, if anyone in the decision-making level happens to read this review:
The fingerprint sensor needs some vital input now
Right now it is more Ouch! than Wow!
Lots of users root the phone to customise
Give them what they want now, be wise!
Other features: Ultra-Power Saving Mode, S Health, Finger Print Scanner, Private Mode, Heart Rate Monitor and connectivity with the latest Samsung Gear Fit, Gear 2, Gear 2 Neo, and the recently announced Gear S wearable’s. The Galaxy Alpha supports 4G, LTE CAT 6 which supports upto 300 mbps download speeds.
Pricing and availability: We’re told that the Galaxy Alpha will be available in India from the 1st week of October at an attractive price of INR. 39,990/-. The new smartphone will be available in Charcoal Black, Dazzling White and Frosted Gold colors.
Arvind Passey
07 October 2014
This post was also published in ‘The Education Post’ dated 16 October 2014:
Review of Samsung Galaxy Alpha… The Education Post_ 16 October 2014
Lara Dutta launched the Galaxy Alpha in India
The Alpha excitement is obvious!
2 comments
Rickie says:
Oct 8, 2014
Interesting review in your inimitable style!
I watched a video review of this new phone recently. I was quite surprised at how similar it looked to iPhone 5 in design. It will be interesting to see if Samsung follows this new design philosophy to their future Galaxy models.
Arvind Passey says:
Oct 13, 2014
Ah! If I’m not mistaken we now see Apple so enamoured by the size logic… I do remember arguing in favour of a larger size and the charm of the S-pen in 2011. A lot of people were sceptical about both these facets but now we see the world of digital technology kowtowing to both a larger size of the screen as well as the stylus. I must add here that the S-pen gives a user a totally different and much more satisfying experience than any other stylus, including the really suave one’s from Wacom.