Samsung has launched in Singapore its GALAXY A Series of Android smartphones. The mid-range smartphones include the 4.5-inch A3 (S$448), 5-inch A5 (S$598) and the 5.5-inch A7 (S$TBA).
The A3 and A5 will be available in Singapore on 16 January while the A7 will be available this quarter.
The new GALAXY A series comes in three sizes (from left) – the 5.5-inch A7 (S$TBA), 5-inch A5 (S$598) and the 4.5-inch A3 (S$448).
The A3 and A5 were launched in Korea on 31 October, 2014 while the A7 was launched on 12 January, 2015 in Korea.
First impressions
I like the thin metallic body of the A-series.
The GALAXY A3 4G will be available from January 16 in Pearl White and Midnight Black, at $448 without contract. The Platinum Silver, Champagne Gold (24 January), and Soft Pink (February) versions will be available later.
The beauty face feature is really interesting.
This offers three ways of enhancing your selfies – skin retouch, eyes enlargement and face-slimming.
There are sliders to let you control how much of the effect to apply, and you can preview the effect as you drag the slider to the left or right.
The skin retouch effect is nothing new and is basically the run-of-the-mill skin blurring functionality which produces instantly-recognisably fake blurred skin.
So it’s good that you can use a slider to limit how much of the effect to apply to avoid appearing too amateurish.
The GALAXY A7 4G will be available this quarter in Pearl White and Midnight Black.
The eyes enlargement effect is really interesting but you have to try-and-error, as the effect can be either flattering or downright weird.
I was most impressed with the face slimming feature. I can see how it’s going to be flattering for many to see their face slimmed slightly.
All three models come with SUPER AMOLED screen for a vivid and colourful display.
The A-series GALAXY smartphones are priced more affordably than Samsung’s two flagship smartphones – the Note and S series.
The GALAXY A5 4G will be available from January 16 in Pearl White and Midnight Black, and will retail at $598 without contract. The Platinum Silver, Champagne Gold and Soft Pink versions will be available in February.
The new series are targeted at the young and trendy who loves taking selfies and sharing them on social networks.
The A-series smartphones therefore sport Samsung’s slimmest body with slimmest metal unibody designs. The batteries are non-removable.
The front-facing cameras have 5 megapixels for better quality images and are complemented with Smart Selfie features that make it easier for users to take selfies/wefies and enhance them.
The A7 offers a second SIM card slot which doubles up as a microSD slot if a second SIM is not in use.
More details, tech specs and deals/discounts in extracts of the press release below.
Tags: A3, A5, A7, Android, Galaxy, launch, Samsung, selfies, Singapore, smartphones, wefies