samsung galaxy A5

Samsung Galaxy A5 review

KEY FEATURES

• Full metal unibody design
• Snapdragon 615 CPU
• 13-megapixel main camera
• 5MP front-facing camera
• 16GB internal memory 2GB RAM
• 4G
• Manufacturer: Samsung
• Review Price: £349.00

WHAT IS THE SAMSUNG GALAXY A5 (2016)?

Samsung has mastered the high-end with the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge, but it has always struggled a with affordable devices. This is because Samsung kept skimping on important features to save money.

That changed with 2015’s Galaxy A5, and even more so with the updated 2016 version. The Galaxy A5 (2016) ticks all the right boxes; good screen, fast camera and sleek design. But it’s still not perfect, and some of Samsung’s older issues come back to haunt it.

SAMSUNG GALAXY A5 (2016) – DESIGN

Remember Samsung’s Galaxy Alpha from 2014? A lot of people don’t, but this minor release was vitally important. It was a turning point where Samsung shifted its design focus and began creating handsets capable of standing beside the iPhone visually. The A5 (2016), like last year’s version, is the spiritual successor to the Alpha.

It’s all metal and glass, with rounded corners and a flat back. It lacks the curved sides that make the Galaxy S7 such a pleasure to hold, but it’s still comfortable in hand.

Metal phones in this price-range are far from rare, Honor and OnePlus have been doing it for a while, but none feel quite as good as this. The volume buttons and lock switch have a satisfying click, while the microUSB port and speaker grilles on the bottom are finely cut and precise. The headphone jack sits on the bottom too, a design choice I’m always on board with.

The Galaxy A5 is slightly taller than both the Galaxy S7 and S6, but ever so slightly lighter.

As is typical with just about every Samsung phone, there’s a home button sitting below the screen. Tucked inside is a fingerprint scanner that’s about as fast as the one on the S7, but it seems much less accurate. It can’t compete with the Honor phones for unlocking speed, but it’s absolutely fine.

There’s a strong hint of the Galaxy S6 here, and it’s still a fingerprint magnet. Use the phone for 5-minutes and it will be covered in marks and smudges. There are a couple of improvements in design though; the ugly blue colour scheme has gone for a much nicer black and there’s almost no camera hump.

The Galaxy A5 is easily one of the sleekest looking phones at this price-range. It feels much sturdier than the OnePlus X (£199) and it’s much nicer than the plastic Nexus 5X.

SAMSUNG GALAXY A5 (2016) – DISPLAY

Samsung’s displays have long been regarded as the pinnacle of mobile screens, with the Galaxy S7 currently the best out there.

While the A5 isn’t going to match its classier brothers for visual fidelity, it’s still a great display for the price.

It’s 5.2-inches, with a 1080p resolution and uses Super AMOLED tech which is the killer feature.

It’s bright, vivid and oh so colourful just as you’d expect from AMOLED. If you prefer something a little more true to life, there are a number of screen modes to choose from. I like the default one myself, but it’s all down to personal preference.

Whites can sometimes look a little muddy, but blacks are deep and bright colours have multiple levels of vibrancy. Outdoor visibility isn’t great though, unless you jack the brightness up (or keep the rather uneven auto-brightness on) all the way. Thanks to the dense resolution, pixels are universally hard to spot unless you get really really close.

samsung galaxy A3

Samsung Galaxy A3 review

KEY FEATURES

• 4.7-inch 720p display
• Exynos 7580 (Snapdragon 410)
• 1.5GB RAM
• 16GB internal storage
• 16GB internal storage and microSD
• Android 5.1.1
• 2,300mAh battery
• Manufacturer: Samsung
• Review Price: £210.00

WHAT IS THE GALAXY A3?

Everybody is talking about the Galaxy S7 and the Galaxy S7 Edge, but these flagship phones don’t come cheap. If you aren’t bothered about 4K video, fingerprint readers or quad-HD screens then the Galaxy A3 might be right up your street.

The Galaxy A3 is a surprisingly capable mid-range phone. You get the classy, glass and metal body introduced by last year’s Galaxy S6, a vibrant 4.7-inch AMOLED screen and above-average battery life for half the price of Samsung’s top-end Galaxy S7. It isn’t perfect, but for the price you can’t go wrong.

GALAXY A3 – DESIGN

We usually associate budget or mid-range phones with being cheap and plasticky. The good news is that aside from being a little smaller, the A3 is virtually indistinguishable from the Galaxy S6, which is one of the most attractive phones on the market.

It’s also a refreshing change to be able to use a phone one-handed. At 4.7-inches, your thumb can reach almost all of the screen without having to resort to the finger acrobats required on larger phones.

At 132g and 7.3mm thick, the A3 is easy to hold and sits comfortably in your hand thanks to its rounded corners.

If you’ve used a Samsung phone before, you’ll be familiar with the phone’s layout. The Home button (sans fingerprint reader) and the flanking capacitive return and recently used menu buttons make use of the bezel, rather than taking up screen real-estate in the form of the on-screen buttons used by the majority of Android phones.

Unlike Samsung’s flagship S7, the A3 isn’t water- or dust-resistant. We’d happy if it were simply fingerprint resistant – the glass body so easily picks up smudges and fingerprints that you’d be wise to keep a micro-fibre cloth handy!
Read more at http://www.trustedreviews.com/samsung-galaxy-a3-review#vwt8wRHyUBaRtVhJ.99

samsung galaxy Tab 4

Samsung Galaxy Tab 4  review:

the Samsung Galaxy Tab 4's meager specs and humble design make it easy to pass over in a sea of budget Android devices. But don't be too hasty, as it is worth your consideration. It has a pretty good HD display, coupled with capable performance for general use, an IR blaster and Samsung's vast array of added functionality, including Multi Window for optimized multitasking.

And it's available for just $180 (after a $20 instant rebate) in the US and £159 in the UK. That's a fair price for what you're getting, and you won't really go wrong with the Galaxy Tab 4. But if you're willing to shop around, there are plenty of other, and better options.

Editors' note: The Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 is identical to the Galaxy Tab 4 Nook ; parts of this review are similar.

The Galaxy Tab 4 isn't much of a looker: you're getting a plastic slab in your choice of white or black. It weighs just over half a pound (9.76 ounces/277 g) and is 4.25 inches (10.8 cm) wide, making it comfortable enough to hold aloft for extended periods of time. The back is smooth, and while it's not exactly grippy or textured it's also not slippery, and feels nice in my hands. Admittedly, it's not the most satisfying of devices to use or hold, but it's leagues ahead of cheaper tablets like the $99Toshiba Excite Go , which sacrificed much to hit a low price point.

The Tab 4's headphone jack sits up top, while the Micro-USB charging port sits on the bottom. The physical home button is flanked on either side by the capacitive back and app-switcher buttons on the lower bezel. The lock switch and volume control rocker are on the right side, while the microSD card slot sits on the bottom right, hidden by a flap that's secure, but fairly easy to open when you need to. There's also an IR blaster on the side, so you can use the tablet as a remote control with the Samsung WatchOn app.

Samsung galaxy Note3

Samsung Galaxy Note 3 review

KEY FEATURES

• 5.7-inch 1080p Super AMOLED screen
• 32GB internal memory with microSD slot
• Snapdragon 800 2.3GHz CPU
• Android 4.3 with TouchWiz
• 13-megapixel main camera with LED flash
• Manufacturer: Samsung
• Review Price: £619.99

WHAT IS THE SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE 3?

The Galaxy Note 3 is a slightly large-screened Android phone equipped with a Wacom digitiser stylus. The bigger brother to the Galaxy S5 it’s also arguably a lot more interesting, although at £600 SIM-free the additional benefits come at a price. There are quite a few aspects of the phone we're not totally enamoured with, particulry regarding some of Samsung's design decisions, but this is a great phone for gadget lovers and geeks alike.

SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE 3 – DESIGN

There's no hiding it, the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is a very large phone. Saying that, it's still not quite in the same league as huge mobiles like the Galaxy Mega 6.3 and Xperia Z Ultra. You won’t feel entirely ridiculous putting it to your ear, and holding it in one hand is not too much of a struggle. Samsung has actually managed to make the Galaxy Note 3 narrower than the Galaxy Note 2, even though the new phone has a larger 5.7-inch display

While this is an impressive feat by Samsung we should not forget that the phone is still 8cm wide. If you crave a phone that you can easily use one-handed, then this is not it. For a bit of context, the iPhone 5S is just 5.8cm wide.

The Note 3 is also among the first Galaxy phones not to use a glossy rear plastic cover. Samsung has tried to fool us into thinking the Note 3 has a leather rear. It looks like leather, from a distance, and the battery cover has fake stitching around its outer edges. But make no mistake – this is not leather.

So what is it? It’s rubberised plastic with a leather-effect grain to give it a frictional quality of the real thing.

Take the battery cover off and you’ll see quite how similar it actually is to the back of the Galaxy S4 and Note 2. It’s thin, bendy and plastic. And while it doesn’t feel bad as such, we prefer the aluminium of the HTC One M8 and the matt plastic of the Nokia Lumia 925.

Read more at http://www.trustedreviews.com/samsung-galaxy-note-3-review#ImF74b0mauQ5LEtj.99

samsung galaxy j7

Samsung galaxy j7 review

Introduction

Samsung's J-lineup may be following the Galaxy S and A-series from a respectful distance - but is in perfect lockstep in terms of upgrades. While the flagship pair and the upper midrange A-series are understandably grabbing the global headlines, the Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) was first announced for a number of Asian markets.

The affordable J-series are betting big on India - where the big-screened ringleader has been a popular choice. However, we found the original Samsung Galaxy J7 quite capable of making a splash in Europe too, and it didn't disappoint.

Less than a year later, the new generation is out and it looks perfectly happy with simply putting a proven formula to work.

The Galaxy J7 (2016) gets a new metal finish, a bigger battery and Marshmallow on top of a more recent, and slightly more capable, chipset. All welcome upgrades for the most prominent of the J-series but that's all Samsung could afford and stay on budget.

Just like the original, the 2016 model is offered in two versions on different markets: you can get either a Snapdragon or an Exynos chipset. The difference is negligible though, considering they both have eight Cortex-A53's.

Here go the rest of the specifications at hand.

Key features

• Dual-SIM, Dual Standby capability, microSIM
• 5.5-inch Super AMOLED touchscreen of 720p resolution and 268ppi
• Exynos 7870 ; octa-core 1.6 GHz Cortex-A53; Mali-T830 GPU
• 2GB of RAM, 16GB of inbuilt storage, microSD slot (up to 128GB)
• 13MP main camera with f/1.9 lens, LED flash, 1080p@30fps video recording
• 5MP front camera with LED flash, f/2.0 lens, 1080p@30fps video recording
• Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow with TouchWiz
• LTE Cat.4, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n; Bluetooth v4.0; NFC, GPS, GLONASS, microUSB 2.0 port, USB host
• 3,300mAh removable battery
• Plastic back, metal frame

• Main disadvantages

  • No noise canceling mic
  • Only 2.4GHz Wi-Fi
  • No MHL (but USB OTG is supported)
  Curiously, the very first announcement of the Galaxy J7's 2016-edition revealed a 1080p screen bur we can now officially confirm that this version of the phone will only be available in China.
  The rest of the specs are more or less identical between the 2015 and 2016 editions. Obviously, the quality of selfies is still an important selling point, so the Galaxy J7 (2016) packs an updated 5MP front-facer with a fast f/1.9 aperture and an LED flash

samsung galaxy j5

Samsung Galaxy j5

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Introduction

The Galaxy J5 (2016) is the centerpiece of the company's mid-range portfolio for the year. With its predecessor becoming a huge hit in developing markets, the company really needs the 2016 model to come out good and help keep Chinese makers at bay.

A quick glance at the specs sheet shows that Samsung followed the "If it's not broken, don't fix it" saying to the letter. With the internals mostly unchanged, Samsung chose to focus on the design instead, hoping that the metal body will help its offering stand out

You also get a bigger battery and the screen grew by .2", but that's mostly it with other changes being so minor that they mostly fall in the adjustments category. Here's the full scoop.

Key features

• Aluminum frame around plastic body with an exchangeable back cover
• 5.2" Super AMOLED display of 1280 x 720px resolution; 267 ppi
• Qualcomm MSM8916 Snapdragon 410 chipset; quad-core 1.2 GHz Cortex-A53 CPU; Adreno 306 GPU; 2GB of RAM;
• 16GB of built-in memory; microSD card slot (up to 128GB)
• 13 MP main camera with f/1.9 aperture; phase detect autofocus; LED flash; face detection; 1080p video recording
• 5MP front-facing camera with f/1.9 aperture; LED flash
• Cat. 4 LTE (150/50Mbps); Wi-Fi b/g/n; Bluetooth 4.1; GPS/GLONASS/BDS; microUSB; NFC
• 3100mAh Li-Ion battery, user-removable
• 
  

Main disadvantages

• Entry-level chipset
• No noise canceling mic
• Only 2.4GHz Wi-Fi

The metal frame gives you a piece of mind as well as a nice feel in the hand. We'd certainly appreciate a bit of premium feel in an otherwise mid-range offering. However, it would mean nothing if it comes at the expense of proper smartphone experience. And since Samsung didn't feel the need to change the processing power from the previous generation Galaxy J5 we'd be sure to carefully check that. Perhaps supplying the newer Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow and bumping the RAM to 2GB is all it took to keep the J5 (2016) relevant.

samsung galaxy Note5

Samsung Galaxy Note5

Introduction

The Samsung Galaxy Note5 is the latest in the line that introduced us to the concept of a phablet in the first place. Following the Galaxy S-line's adoption of glass and metal, Samsung's taken the premium build to the Note series.

All is not great, and productivity features have been scrapped, just like the in the mainstream lineup - the Note no longer offers replaceable battery and microSD expansion. The S-Pen is still here though, and big-screen lovers will appreciate the beautiful AMOLED display, multi-window or otherwise.

Design and build quality

The Galaxy Note5 may have kept the screen size of the Note 4, but Samsung engineers have managed to fit it in a smaller body. Most impressive is the reduction in width - 2.5mm may not sound like much, but the side bezels are as thin as they come.

The Samsung Galaxy Note5 is the first generation Note to come after Samsung parted with plastic as the main body material. The phablet adopts the overall design of the S6, but thanks to size and a few minor tweaks it's a Note through and through.

Build quality is simply superb. The innards are sandwiched between two Gorilla Glass 4 panels and an aluminum frame runs along the sides, creating a truly premium look and feel, befitting a flagship. Fingerprints are inevitable though, and glass does shatter more easily than plastic, so perhaps you should invest in some sort of protection.

A major downside to the new design is that the battery is now sealed, which may put off those used to swapping batteries. You don't get microSD storage expansion and the IR emitter is gone as well - all changes familiar from the Galaxy S6.

The S-Pen has gotten a brand new design too - it now requires a click on the top to extract it from its silo. The click serves no other function though, and we feel like it should have.

The fingerprint sensor is the improved type from the S6, meaning it doesn't require swiping, but works just by tapping. It's fast and reliable, but isn't always on, you have to wake the screen up first. It does enable Samsung Pay, if you're in the regions where the service is supported

samsung galaxy s6

Samsung Galaxy S6 review

Update: The Samsung Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge have launched to the world, with better specs, a superior camera in low light and long-sought-after features like a micro SD card slot and water resistance. Here's what we think of its now cheaper predecessor.

It's no secret that Samsung needed to do something big with its new phone, to unleash something to stop the rot that the Galaxy S4 began two years ago.

• Buy Samsung Galaxy S6 at Amazon for $7.39

I just didn't expect the Samsung Galaxy S6 to be this good

Yes, there are still some elements that prevent it from being the perfect phone (this is Samsung after all, a brand that likes to cram as much into the phone as it can get away with) but to leap to this point from the plastic-clad nonsense of theGalaxy S5 is a really, really impressive feat.

Samsung didn't take this task lightly, beginning almost completely from scratch and replacing key members of its design team to make sure it created a standout phone.

Perhaps the S6 is a little too similar to the rest of the competition (it looks stunningly like an iPhone at the bottom) but at least there's the Galaxy S6 Edgefor those that want a really unique-looking device.

The big issues are price and battery life: the former initialy being wincingly high. It's dropped in price a fair bit now though, with Samsung offering the 32GB variant for £379 ($599, AU$899), the 64GB for £539 ($700, around AU$999) and the huge 128GB variant for £599 ($800, around AU$1,149).

The iPhone 6S has a different pricing structure in the UK, in that the 16GB option is £539 (with obviously less storage), the 64GB model is £619 and the 128GB model is £699. In the US, it's always $50 cheaper. Samsung could alter this match-up at any moment with an expected Galaxy S6 price drop.