For Samsung, 2016 promises to be another year of testing and fighting for profit and smartphone market share. 2015 was not bad, although it falls short of the “fat” 2013. The South Korean manufacturer even decided on a certain change in strategy, which, among other things, was expressed in the release of metal smartphones. Galaxy Alpha became the first sign, but there was only a border made of metal. Where did Samsung go next with the release of the Galaxy A series.

All Galaxy A smartphones are made of metal. Entirely and completely, including the back cover. Three models A3, A5 and A7, differing in characteristics and screen size, began to be positioned as fashion products, which means not the lowest cost. However, their sales were higher than expected. No wonder that in 2016 Samsung decided to continue a successful line.

Galaxy A of the second generation was named simply and unpretentiously - they added the postscript "(2016)". Yes, right in parentheses. The novelties also received three modifications, and at the same time their design has undergone changes. In this review, we get acquainted with the average representative of the series - Galaxy A5 (2016), also known as the SM-A510F model.

Video review Galaxy A5 (2016)

As always, we will start with a video review. samsung galaxy A5 (2016) is a very interesting phone, and therefore it is worth watching the video.

Design

It was Samsung who made a bet on design in the Galaxy A series. Although it would seem, where is Samsung and where is design - for a long time its smartphones were simply “none” in this parameter. Not scary, but boring and uninteresting. Although they all used and still use a certain unified design concept, which is why the devices have become well recognizable.


The first Galaxy A looked like a typical Samsung, but with pointed edges and was made of metal. Moreover, the body became non-separable. In the hand, these tubes feel great, the metal, as always, pleasantly cools the hand. What about the 2016 models? Well, at least the metal hasn't gone anywhere.


True, the metal has become noticeably smaller - it is now only on the side ends. However, do not panic ahead of time - a glass plate was installed at the back, as on tubes. The designers clearly drew ideas from the flagship products of 2015.


It turned out really interesting, even quite. Someone reproached the Galaxy S6 for its similarity to the iPhone 6, but such thoughts simply do not arise about the Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016). It would seem that it has a lot in common with the Galaxy S6: the sides are chopped, the lower end with the speaker, and 2.5D glass protruding from the case. But the device still has its own personality, which is absent from all other "Samsungs". The novelty has a thinner round screen frame and it is designed more strictly.


Behind the glass, the Galaxy A5 (2016) does not have metal shimmering in different colors, as was done with all the flagships of the Galaxy S6 and. The coloring is solid, without any frills. In our case, it is black, but the phone is available in at least four different options: Galaxy A5 (2016) black (black), Galaxy A5 (2016) white (white), Galaxy A5 (2016) pink (pink - hello iPhone 6s!) and Galaxy A5 (2016) gold (gold).


Another thing to note is the increase in size and weight of the Galaxy A5 (2016) relative to its predecessor. This is partly due to the growth of the screen diagonal (from 5.0 "to 5.2"), and partly due to the installation of a larger battery (2900 mAh instead of 2300 mAh). As a result, the thickness of the device has increased from 6.7 to 7.3 mm, and the weight has grown from 123 to 155 grams. In principle, nothing critical, but if you take two tubes at once, then the difference between them will be visible. However, I am glad that the width and height have grown by just a couple of millimeters, so nothing has changed in terms of usability.

And, finishing the section on design, let's add that the assembly of the Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016) is simply excellent. However, it is easier to achieve such a result with a non-separable case. On the other hand, we are talking about an expensive fashion series, so we did not expect otherwise.

Connectors and controls

Despite the design update, ergonomics Samsung smartphones continues to remain unchanged, which is an additional plus for fans of this product.


Above the screen is a speaker, front camera, light and proximity sensors.


Below, under the screen, there are touch buttons for the task manager and back, as well as a traditional mechanical home button. The latter this time is located close enough to the screen, so that, sometimes pressing on it, the finger touches the sensor on the display. And since it now has a built-in fingerprint scanner - this is another difference compared to the previous generation Galaxy A.



Fingerprint sensor parameters are set in the settings in the "Lock screen and protection" section. As always, the fingerprint is added with a few touches, and after that it can be set to unlock the smartphone. In case it is impossible to use it, it is proposed to enter a spare password.


And so Samsung suggests using fingerprints also for authorization on websites and in account Samsung. How it all looks in practice, our short video will show:


The touch buttons are backlit. Without it, they are not visible at all.


At the back, all elements are grouped at the top. In particular, this is the manufacturer's logo, a slightly protruding camera lens and an LED flash.

On the left side placed the volume buttons. They are also metal.

On the right is the power button and the compartment for SIM-cards and microSD cards. We dealt with the Galaxy A5 (2016) Duos.


The card holder is removed with an ejector or a thin paper clip. Two important details should be noted here: only nanoSIM cards are supported and a memory card is installed instead of one SIM card. That is, you can choose one of two options: SIM + microSD or SIM + SIM. How to install SIM cards and microSD card in Galaxy A5 (2016) in our short video:


The top end is almost empty. Antenna inserts and a microphone for noise reduction are placed here.


Below is the second pair of antenna inserts, and an external speaker, a microphone, a microUSB port and a 3.5 mm minijack for headphones and a headset are also transferred here. Note that placing the audio jack on the bottom is a very good solution - it's so much more convenient.

In total, the ergonomics of the Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016) completely suits us. All buttons are in the usual places, the connectors are located as conveniently as possible, and the manufacturer did not refuse from the memory card slot. The only pity is that the case is not collapsible.

Case for Galaxy A5 (2016)

At the time of preparing the cover article for the Galaxy A5 (2016), not much has been released, which is logical - the device is quite new.


Immediately on sale there is such a cover-book for the Galaxy A5 (2016), which you can buy for about 900 rubles.

We are sure that over time there will be decent covers, including those from Samsung itself.

Screen

Galaxy A is a series of fashion smartphones, that is, not cheap. Of course, the emphasis in them is on design and materials, but equipping the handset with a bad screen would not be comme il faut, especially for Samsung. So even the first generation of the A line is completely equipped with Super AMOLED screens, however different versions phones differed in resolution. And according to this parameter, the Galaxy A5 (2016) has grown significantly.

We are talking about the fact that the resolution has grown from 1280x720 for the first Galaxy A5 to 1920x1080 pixels for the current one. At the same time, the diagonal has grown from 5.0 "to 5.2", but the screen frame has become thinner, so that the dimensions of the devices are extremely similar. The display also provides a final dot density of 424 ppi (versus 294 ppi for its predecessor), which, although not the maximum by modern standards, is still quite a very decent indicator.

The screen of the Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016) is very cool. This is subjective. It may well be compared with those matrices that are used in the company's flagships like the Galaxy S6. Undoubtedly, the latter has a better display, but if you do not put both smartphones side by side, then you are unlikely to notice the difference. So the new Galaxy A5 is great in the sun, has a decent margin of brightness, deep blacks and wide viewing angles.

More specifically, we measured the screen brightness at 374.35 cd/m 2 , which is quite good. The brightness of the black dot, due to the peculiarities of OLED technology, is pointless to measure - it can be said to be zero. In other words, black looks really black, and the contrast tends to infinity.


The color gamut of the AMOLED display may vary depending on the profile selected in the settings. Samsung phones are set to "Responsive" by default. As you can see, in this case its coverage significantly exceeds the sRGB color space and approaches the professional AdobeRGB. The image in this case is very bright and saturated. If you are attracted to the calmer shades characteristic of IPS matrices, then it is better to choose the “Basic” profile. Let the color gamut with it narrow down to sRGB, but you still won’t see the difference.


Another advantage of the "Basic" profile is a color temperature closer to the optimal value. Recall that the value of 6500K is considered comfortable, and in the “Basic” profile it varies in the range of 6400-6900K. That is, the picture looks warmer and more natural. The "adaptive" profile, in turn, provides a higher color temperature at the level of 7800-8000K, that is, the image is colder.


The screen gamma curves look good. They almost merge with the reference curve 2.2, only the “Main” profile curve barely protrudes in the middle. That is, fragments of the image with an average brightness (gray and the like) are displayed a little lighter than necessary. It's still not noticeable to the eye.


The screen recognizes up to five simultaneous touches, which is strange - usually AMOLED displays support a dozen touches. It is possible that this is a software limitation.


Screen settings, and in particular the change of profile, occurs in the "Display" section system settings. Next, you need to proceed to the "Screen Mode" subsection. There are also AMOLED Movie and AMOLED Photo profiles. By their name, it is clear which one is intended for what.

As you can imagine, we liked the Galaxy A5 (2016) screen. It has good resolution, excellent color reproduction, wide viewing angles, it is protected by Gorilla Glass 4, and it also has the ability to change the color profile.

Camera

The camera resolution of the Galaxy A5 (2016) has not increased compared to the first model - it is 13 MP. However, this did not prevent the installation of a more advanced sensor and lens. In particular, the new smartphone camera is equipped with an image stabilizer.




The camera app is standard for Samsung phones. However, compared to flagships, the Galaxy A5 (2016) is lighter. But the most basic effects and features are there, including the popular HDR mode.





But there are clearly fewer shooting modes than top-end products. And in Pro mode, you can only adjust the white balance, ISO sensitivity and exposure compensation. In the "full" version, it is also possible to adjust the color palette, focusing distance and shutter speed.



The resolution is changed in the settings. Another noticeable difference from the flagships is that the maximum resolution of images is achieved with a screen aspect ratio of 4:3, and not 16:9.








Pictures from the Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016) camera look pretty decent. Sometimes she has misses with focus, but with more everything is decent for an “above average” rating. Everything looks especially good in daylight, but this is not surprising. In poor lighting conditions, if you try not to move your hands, the shots are more than successful.


Video resolution, unfortunately, is also artificially limited to Full HD, while 4K is still left to the flagships.

The video looks decent, with a good white balance, not overexposed, quite clear.


The front camera has its own shooting modes, although there are even fewer of them. But the “Group selfie” will obviously not be superfluous.


The resolution of the face sensor is 5 MP and it is also achieved with an aspect ratio of 4:3 frames.






The picture quality of the front camera is very good. Photos are sharp enough, not overexposed, without disturbing the white balance. Only night shots are blurry and noisy.


The video resolution is the same as that of the rear camera - Full HD. For a front sensor, this is a very good option.

You know, it's not so easy to distinguish the video from the front camera from the video from the main, back. It doesn't look bad overall.

In total, we liked the Galaxy A5 (2016) cameras. They shoot well, even in low light conditions. Photos and videos are clear, with the correct white balance and the work of the stabilizer is visible.

Specifications Galaxy A5 (2016)

The Galaxy A line for 2016 as a whole consists of the previous main models: A3, A5 and A7. At the same time, there are also A8 and A9 for individual local markets. They are not yet delivered to us and it is not clear whether they will be. At the same time, the Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016) is available both in the version with one SIM card and two (Galaxy A5 (2016) Duos). The model that came to us was the SM-A510F / DS.


The Galaxy A5 (2016) has a lot of changes compared to its predecessor. This is an improved processor, and a new graphics card, and a screen with a higher resolution, and at the same time an increased capacity battery. Add another completely different design to this list. In general, the novelty has a lot of arguments to switch to it from an older model.


The processor in the Galaxy A5 for 2016 uses a relatively new, Samsung Exynos 7580. We first met it in the summer of 2015. This is a chipset for mid-range smartphones equipped with eight Cortex-A53 cores running at 1.6GHz. In principle, a sufficiently productive solution for a wide range of products. It will certainly be faster than the quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 found in the 2015 Galaxy A5.

The only complaint about the Exynos 7580 is its graphics card. Mali-T720 MP2 is a modern accelerator, but based on an architecture for low-cost chipsets. In addition, only two execution units are installed there. Competing solutions from MediaTek usually add a Mali-T760 graphics chip to eight similar Cortex-A53 cores, which is noticeably faster. No, we do not want to say that the proposed option is slow, but for the power balance it still should have been made faster.


There is 2 GB of RAM - no progress has happened here. However, it is not yet required here, since 3 GB is still the actual amount for flagships, which the Galaxy A5 (2016), despite its parameters, is not. Exactly the same can be said about the amount of internal memory, which is present at 16 GB. 32 GB in a mid-range smartphone, albeit a fashion one, is too early to install. But, unlike the flagships of Samsung in 2015, in our phone the memory can be expanded with microSD cards.

Otherwise, the capabilities of the Galaxy A5 (2016) are consistent with the positioning. In terms of communication, everything you need is supported: Bluetooth 4.1, 802.11n, LTE category 6 and NFC. Also, recall, there is a fingerprint scanner, which the first generation A5 does not have. So we have a modern smartphone with good performance, decent design and excellent performance. But how fast is he?

Performance Testing

Unfortunately, we were not able to get acquainted with the first Galaxy A5 at one time, and therefore we will present the test results in comparison with. This smartphone in its characteristics largely coincides with the A5 - they only have a different amount of memory, which does not drastically affect performance during testing.


The old Smartbench 2012 test showed parity in system-wide tasks, apparently not being able to effectively use many processor cores, and in games it gave the victory to the Galaxy A5. Apparently, Mali-T720 is not such a slow video card.


Another “old-school” benchmark, Quadrant Standard, was able to distribute the load more efficiently and clearly showed the victory of the Galaxy A5 (2016) – the difference is almost twofold.


But Basemark II, on the contrary, somehow could not “handle” all the cores of the Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016) and showed its significant lag.


However, according to the SunSpider browser test, it is clear that the new Galaxy A5 is still faster.


The old game test Nenamark2, despite its relative "simplicity", was still able to reveal the winner in the face of the "fresh" smartphone Galaxy A5 (2015).

New and current 3DMark shows another superiority of the current phone. In general, the Galaxy A5 (2016) and its Mali-T720 MP2 graphics card may not be the best, but their speed will be enough for most use cases.


At one time, the Galaxy J5 and especially the Galaxy J7 surprised us with their autonomy. The Galaxy A5 (2016) should also have a decent one, given the capacious 2900 mAh battery - this is noticeably more than the 2300 mAh of its predecessor. And so it happened - the autonomy of the new smartphone is at a very decent level. It's not as good as the J5, but on average it's better than most of its peers.


Here you have a "weak" video card. As you can see from the diagram, it is 3D games that consume the most energy. Next in gluttony is surfing the Internet via Wi-Fi or a cellular network, as well as two-dimensional games. Video and reading consume about the same, no matter how strange it may sound.


In the settings you can see statistics on battery usage. There is also an extreme power saving mode, which allows you to get several hours of work with a low battery charge. True, in this case, everything will become black and white - a feature of AMOLED screens is used, in which only that part of the display that is active, that is, different from black, consumes energy.

Total Galaxy A5 (2016) is a smartphone with good performance and decent autonomy.

Games on Galaxy A5 (2016)

In theory, games on the Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016) should not slow down. However, do not forget that the video card of the smartphone is not top-end, and the screen resolution is high, Full HD.


  • Riptide GP2: excellent, the game does not slow down;


  • Asphalt 7: excellent, the game does not slow down;


  • Asphalt 8: excellent, the game does not slow down;


  • Modern Combat 5: Blackout: excellent, the game does not slow down;
  • N.O.V.A. 3: some delays are visible;


  • Dead Trigger: excellent, the game does not slow down;


  • Real Racing 3: excellent, the game does not slow down;


  • Need for Speed: Most Wanted: excellent, the game does not slow down;


  • Shadowgun: Dead Zone: excellent, the game does not slow down;
  • Frontline Commando: Normandy: did not start;
  • Frontline Commando 2: did not start;
  • Eternity Warriors 2: did not start;


  • Eternity Warriors 3: excellent, the game does not slow down;


  • Eternity Warriors 4: some delays are visible;


  • Trial Xtreme 3: excellent, the game does not slow down;


  • Trial Xtreme 4: excellent, the game does not slow down;


  • Plants vs Zombies 2: excellent, the game does not slow down;


  • Iron Man 3: excellent, the game does not slow down;
  • dead target: did not start.

Minor "lags" have occurred in N.O.V.A. 3 and Eternity Warriors 4. But these games are quite heavy in terms of graphics, so it's not surprising. And do not pay attention to a few games marked "did not start" - our copy of the smartphone was with a non-final firmware version, which is why they did not want to start. The retail version should be devoid of such a flaw.

ON

The Galaxy A5 (2015) comes with a fresh , which is almost guaranteed to be updated to - in this regard, Samsung behaves very well, especially when it comes to dealing with expensive smartphones.



On top of the system from Google, as always, the TouchWIZ shell is installed. Samsung has one for all smartphones, but its content differs in pre-installed applications.


There is even a dedicated Galaxy Essentials section in the Galaxy Apps app store. There are download links for S Translator, Optical Reader, Kid Mode, Soundcamp Audio Editor. It should be noted that the flagships of Samsung have even more applications, and at the same time there is a Galaxy Gifts section with a subscription complex for various services.




And so the set of pre-installed applications has something from the flagships.


In particular, this application is a diary of sports activity S Health. True, on Samsung's top products, you can still measure the pulse here, while the Galaxy A5 (2016) lacks a built-in heart rate monitor.


Still available voice assistant S Voice, which the South Korean company continues to develop despite Google Now and the release of Microsoft Cortana on Android. Moreover, according to the latest information, Samsung does not intend to curtail this development yet.



Smart Manager is no longer "exclusive" - ​​it's the norm for all Samsung devices. Recall that this application allows you to monitor the consumption random access memory, built-in flash storage, battery consumption, and at the same time includes the Knox application, which allows you to increase the security of your device.



Microsoft apps on smartphones and Samsung tablets are also not something special - they are here by agreement between companies. Moreover, Word, Excel and PowerPoint will have to be downloaded separately, for which special thanks - they take up a decent amount of space! Also pleased with 100 GB of space in the OneDrive cloud.





A set of standard applications consisting of file manager, calculator, clock, calendar, voice recorder, FM radio and so on is also present. In a special revised version from Samsung.


The notification panel, compared to Android 5.x, has been noticeably changed. More precisely, the quick settings panel was replaced - it does not slide out by pulling down, but scrolls horizontally. Notifications are displayed as usual.




There is also the already traditional MultiWindow mode, which allows you to run two applications on the screen at once. And between them you can drag data. Something like this has long been expected as a standard feature in Android, but it will not appear there before Android 6.1.


The settings have been redrawn and offer their own version of the interface. In particular, a customizable list of quick parameters is displayed at the top, and their full set follows.


In terms of software, the Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016) is a slightly "simplified" version of the company's flagship. There is a proprietary shell, some proprietary software, and in the future we can expect the release of Android 6.0 for the Galaxy A5 (2016).

Conclusion

We love the Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016). Just like a good smartphone - it attracts attention right away, you want to pick it up, touch it yourself, see what is installed, and so on. From a design point of view, everything is fine here: metal and glass, everything is stylish and beautiful, so the effect is appropriate. It is really pleasant to hold the handset - it feels like a reliable metal bar.

However, the smartphone turned out to be more than practical. For the sake of appearance, designers did not compromise, giving up ease of use. The only complaint here is the non-separable case and the impossibility of changing the battery on your own. And so, compared to the flagships of Samsung in 2015, even memory cards are supported!

In terms of speed, the Galaxy A5 (2016) is not a champion, but its performance is high, thanks to the 8-core Samsung processor. Although its characteristics are not maximum, they are enough for games and smooth animation of the interface. The phone is great for everyday use from all points of view, including in terms of autonomy - everything is fine here. But how much does the Galaxy A5 (2016) cost?

Price Galaxy A5 (2016)

Buy Galaxy A5 (2016) at the time of publication of the article was impossible. However, you can still estimate its cost - it will be somewhere between the Galaxy A7 and Galaxy S6, that is, about 25-28 thousand rubles. A lot, but this is to some extent a simplified version of the flagship. What are the alternatives for this amount?


Competing with the Galaxy A5 (2016) may well be Samsung's flagship from 2014 -. We recall that it has a very productive 8-core processor, an excellent AMOLED screen with Full HD resolution and a diagonal of 5.1", an excellent camera, a heart rate monitor, a fingerprint scanner and even moisture protection. A good device, and not very expensive at the price - in the region of 23-25 ​​thousand.


This 2015 flagship from Huawei also looks decent. The P8 has a metal body, a good 5.2-inch Full HD screen, a good 13 MP camera, a fast 8-core processor and 3 GB of RAM. But it costs more - so far in the region of 30 thousand.


The Sony Xperia M5 is no longer quite a flagship, but a little lower in positioning, like the Galaxy A5 (2016). The device is based on an 8-core top-end MediaTek Helio X10 processor, has 3 GB of RAM, a 21 MP camera, a 5-inch Full HD screen. But the screen, believe me, the Samsung smartphone is noticeably better. Yes, and the Xperia M5 costs decently - in the region of 27-28 thousand.

Pros:

  • interesting design;
  • case made of glass and metal;
  • excellent build;
  • fingerprint scanner;
  • good cameras;
  • high performance;
  • excellent SuperAMOLED screen;
  • good autonomy;
  • Conveniently located bottom audio jack.

Minuses:

  • non-separable body;
  • video card could be more powerful.

TFT IPS- High-quality liquid crystal matrix. It has wide viewing angles, one of the best indicators of color reproduction quality and contrast among all those used in the production of displays for portable equipment.
Super AMOLED- if a conventional AMOLED screen uses several layers, between which there is an air gap, then in Super AMOLED there is only one such touch layer without air gaps. This allows you to achieve greater screen brightness with the same power consumption.
Super AMOLED HD- differs from Super AMOLED in a higher resolution, thanks to which it is possible to achieve 1280x720 pixels on a mobile phone screen.
Super AMOLED plus- this is a new generation of Super AMOLED displays, differs from the previous one by using more sub-pixels in a conventional RGB matrix. The new displays are 18% thinner and 18% brighter than the older PenTile displays.
AMOLED- an improved version of OLED technology. The main advantages of the technology are significantly reduced power consumption, the ability to display a large color gamut, a smaller thickness and the ability of the display to bend a little without the risk of breaking.
retina- display with a high pixel density, designed specifically for Apple technology. The pixel density on Retina displays is such that individual pixels are indistinguishable to the eye at a normal distance from the screen. This provides the highest image detail and greatly improves the overall viewing experience.
Super Retina HD- The display is made using OLED technology. The pixel density is 458 PPI, the contrast ratio reaches 1,000,000:1. The display has an extended color gamut and unrivaled color accuracy. Pixels in the corners of the display are anti-aliased at the sub-pixel level, so borders don't distort and look smooth. Super Retina HD reinforcement layer is 50% thicker. Breaking the screen will be harder.
Super LCD is the next generation of LCD technology and features improved features compared to earlier LCD displays. Screens have not only wide viewing angles and better color reproduction, but also reduced power consumption.
TFT- A common type of liquid crystal displays. With the help of an active matrix, controlled by thin film transistors, it is possible to significantly increase the speed of the display, as well as the contrast and clarity of the image.
OLED- organic electroluminescent display. Consists of a special thin-film polymer that emits light under the influence of an electric field. This type of display has a large margin of brightness and consumes very little power.

The Samsung Galaxy A5 smartphone was in the editorial office of our Internet project model range 2016. In fact, it is a variation of last year's flagship Galaxy S6, but with a lower price. At the moment, the model is the most balanced solution among all Samsung devices. Our expert understood all the pros and cons of the novelty.

Samsung Galaxy A6 prices

id="sub1">

Package contents and first impressions

id="sub2">

Updated Samsung version Supplied in a white cardboard box. The name of the model is applied on the front part, the main technical parameters are on the back. The image of the gadget is missing.

Inside, on a plastic substrate, the device itself is placed - Samsung Galaxy A5 SM-A510F. In addition to it, the kit includes:

  • Adapter charger USB
  • PC synchronization cable
  • Stereo headset with 3.5 mm miniJack connector
  • Clip for SIM card tray
  • Instructions, warranty card

On sale you can find four types of body colors: black, white, gold, "rose gold". All colors look good. I had a gold version at my disposal, but I would call it “bronze”, because there is no yellowness typical of the precious metal. The color is noble.

The 2016 Galaxy A5 fits comfortably in your hand. Despite the screen diagonal of 5.2 inches, the device is only slightly larger than 4.7 inches. Galaxy dimensions A5 (2016) are 144.8x71x7.3 mm and weigh 155 grams. You can carry the device in the pockets of tight clothes without any problems. I didn't notice any inconvenience. But managing a smartphone with one hand is not very comfortable. Reach out with the thumb of one hand to the corners of the display diagonally does not work. You have to intercept the device. But the same can be said about any smartphone with a screen larger than 4 inches. This is a given.

Design and appearance

id="sub3">

Appearance Galaxy A5 (2016) almost completely copies the flagship model Galaxy S6. There is also a metal case in which not only the screen is covered with glass, but also back panel. The glass has a slight curvature, the so-called 2.5D effect, which is a kind of recent fashion trend. The glass itself is Corning Gorilla Glass 4. Glossy surfaces have an oleophobic coating. For this reason, fingerprints, dust and dirt are not particularly visible. On models in white, pink and bronze, prints are almost invisible. In black - noticeable.

A frame is made of steel, passing along the entire contour of the apparatus. There are small notches on the sides. The metal had a positive effect on the overall perception of the device. The case is monolithic, looks strong and reliable. Build quality.

On the front, you can see a large 5.2-inch SuperAMOLED screen. Above it is a speaker, front 5 megapixel camera, light and proximity sensors, as well as the manufacturer's logo. Below the display are two touch buttons and one hardware. The hardware key has a built-in fingerprint sensor. It works quickly and well, just touch the button.

The volume key is located on the left side, the power key and slots for two SIM cards such as nanoSIM. Interestingly, in addition to the SIM card, you can insert a microSD memory card into the top slot. Large capacity cards are supported - up to 128 GB.

The microphone, microUSB connector and 3.5 mm audio jack can be seen on the bottom. An additional microphone is also placed on the upper end of the device.

Also at the bottom is a speaker for external calls and audio playback. I would rate the sound a 4. Even at the average level, you can hear the call well, even if the phone is in clothes. However, the smartphone is far from super-quality and surround sound.

On the back you can see the lens of a 13 megapixel camera with autofocus and LED flash. The lens protrudes 2-3 mm relative to the plane of the smartphone itself.

The lithium-ion battery is located inside the case. She is unremovable.

During the test, I did not find any external defects. Impressions are extremely positive. It looks like a real flagship. The smartphone is assembled at the Samsung plant in Vietnam.

Screen. Graphic features

id="sub4">

I really liked the Galaxy A5 2016 display. It is bright, contrasting, the images and fonts are very smooth, without roughness, the black color is very deep. Viewing angles are traditionally maximum, colors do not change when tilted.

It uses a 5.2-inch Super AMOLED screen. Resolution 1080x1920 pixels (424 ppi). From above, it is covered with durable Corning Gorilla Glass 4 with a 2.5D effect, that is, the edges of the display are slightly rounded.

I also note that I am not a fan of Super AMOLED screens because of their excessive brightness. However, thanks to the "Adaptive" option, the user can significantly reduce the strain on their eyes. The device analyzes the level of lighting around and, depending on the conditions, sets the contrast, brightness, plus adjusts the colors on the screen. In addition, there is the ability to use the color settings "AMOLED Movie", "AMOLED Photo", "main".

The screen looks good in the sun. I did not notice any problems with reading the information.

Display sensitivity is excellent. All clicks are processed correctly and clearly. Samsung Galaxy A5 2016 supports operation with gloves - a relevant option for the cold season.

During testing, I did not find any flaws in the screen. I liked everything, especially the picture. She is alive and bright.

Hardware platform: processor, memory, performance

id="sub5">

The Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016) runs on Samsung's 64-bit Exynos 7580 chip with eight nuclear processor clocked at 1.6 GHz per core. It is made using 28 nm technology. Used graphics Mali T720. RAM 2 GB. Built-in memory in the device is 16 GB (10.7 GB available to the user), removable media microSD up to 128 GB are supported.

In general, the performance of the smartphone is good. The interface works smoothly, the browser works without jamming even when opening a dozen pages. The processor almost does not heat up when loaded with heavy games. Heating is noticeable only with the active use of LTE in the area near the camera.

The advantages include the low power consumption of the Samsung chip. This has the most positive effect on battery life. The smartphone works longer than its competitors.

Summarizing, I can say that the characteristics are fully consistent with the positioning. Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016) is a typical average or slightly higher. For 90% of the audience, this will be enough. Social networks, video, music, games - all this will work without straining.

Communication options

id="sub6">

Smartphone supports everything modern networks connections: 2G/3G and 4G cat. 6 on Russian frequencies, confidently receives a signal and does not lose it for no apparent reason. The quality of signal reception does not raise any complaints, the device confidently maintains communication indoors and does not lose signal in areas of uncertain reception (tested on MegaFon, MTS, Tele2 networks). Talking on the phone is comfortable. The speaker has a good volume margin, and the interlocutors did not complain about poor audibility during testing.

The device can work with all modern wireless networks. Among them, dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11 a / b / g / n, Wi-Fi Direct, you can organize a wireless access point via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth channels. There is a built-in LTE modem. All modules work quickly and without failures. The device also has NFC support.

Connection to a computer is carried out using a USB 2.0 connector. Of the additional communication tools, it is worth noting GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS (the standard cartography Google Maps is built into the smartphone). The navigation error radius during testing is about 3 meters, which is very small. The gadget perfectly copes with the role of a navigator.

Working time

id="sub7">

The Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016) has a 2900 mAh lithium-ion battery. Under test conditions, with the number of calls 35-40 minutes a day, browsing the Internet for about 2 hours via 4G, listening to an mp3 player through a headset for about 2 hours a day, the device worked for two days. When watching a video, the smartphone worked for 13 hours, in navigator mode - about 5 hours.

If we take the average data, the device is able to work from 2 to 3 days. In terms of autonomy, the device differs from the vast majority of Android smartphones for the better. For me personally, battery life matters a lot, and the Galaxy A5 was a pleasant surprise.

The battery is charged in a little less than 2 hours when powered by a contact network. The device supports Qualcomm Quick Charge, which allows you to charge the battery up to 100% in 105 minutes. In half an hour, you can get a little more than half the charge. For mobile people, this is a good thing.

In addition, there is a power saving mode, when the backlight of the screen is limited, the frequency of the processor. In this scenario, the operating time will increase by at least 20%. There is an extreme (maximum) power saving mode. In this case, the screen displays only white and gray, all applications except telephone communication, SMS, calendar and alarms are disabled.

User interface and operating system

id="sub8">

Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016) currently ships with Android 5.1.1 firmware with user interface touchwiz. The software can be "updated over the air". It is expected that in April-May 2016, the model will begin to receive an update to Android 6.

As for the appearance of the shell, the interface is similar to that of the Samsung Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 edge and other devices of the Koreans in 2015. All brands available Samsung programs, including S Health for monitoring physical activity and health, voice assistant S Voice, support for gestures, KNOX - for separating data into personal and work, etc. Missing Programs can be downloaded from Samsung App Store and Google Play.

Unlike top models, there is a built-in FM radio, which looks like a nice bonus. The non-removable Office and Skype package is also preinstalled, but Kaspersky can be removed before it starts eating up already limited system resources and draining the battery.

Camera. Photo and video capabilities

id="sub9">

Galaxy A5 2016 has a 13 megapixel camera. The picture quality is good. The camera interface is made in the traditional Samsung style. There are many settings and preset modes, including self-portrait, panorama, night, continuous shooting, HDR (maximum for 8 megapixels) and GIF animation.

For example, "Dual-sided shooting" allows you to take photos by using both cameras at the same time. As for the rest of the settings, the automatic contrast allows you to achieve good image quality on a bright sunny day. In manual ISO settings, the available ISO settings are 50, 100, 200, 400, 800. The following shooting modes are available: Single Shot, Smile Detection, Continuous, Panorama, Vintage, Portrait, Landscape, Night Mode, Sports, Indoor, Beach/Snow, sunset, dawn, autumn colors, fireworks, text, dusk, against the light.

The phone supports recording video in mpeg4 format for maximum resolution, and in the settings you can specify whether the video will be recorded with sound or without it. All settings are comparable to those for photos, but the video resolutions are different, plus effects are supported. The camera can shoot videos with a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels, there are also 1280x720, 720x480 pixels (30 frames), or a resolution of 640x480 pixels (30 frames). Two additional resolutions - 320x240 and 176x144 pixels.

Recorded video is good. It looks great on the phone screen, and looks good on the computer.

The front camera has a resolution of 5 megapixels. It is quite light sensitive (f / 1.9), but does not have autofocus. Pictures are of decent quality with good lighting. In difficult conditions, the camera is not ideal.

Results

id="sub10">

After a week spent with the Samsung Galaxy A5 of the 2016 model range, I had purely positive emotions. I agree with those who speak of this model as affordable option Galaxy S6. The novelty really looks like a flagship device, but costs 10-12 thousand rubles cheaper.

The device is quite fast, functional, has a stylish appearance, bright and colorful screen. The battery life was a pleasant surprise - with an average use mode, it is really possible to achieve 3 days without recharging. Remarkable fast charging technology.

Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016) alternatives are refurbished. As for me, I would choose the Galaxy A5. It is cheaper than Sony and Apple, better in terms of screen. Than Honor.

Advantages

id="sub11">
  • Great look
  • Quality build
  • good screen
  • Support for LTE cat. 6
  • Dual SIM support
  • Excellent autonomy

Stylish but underperforming

A year ago, Samsung launched a brand new line of Galaxy A smartphones, including the A3, A5 and A7 models. Unlike the flagship Galaxy S line, the emphasis here was not on performance and functionality, but on design. At the same time, the price of the Galaxy A models was lower than that of the Galaxy S line. At the beginning of 2016, the tradition was continued with the release of three new models. With the name, we decided not to philosophize and simply added the designation of the year - 2016.

Of the three models in the line, the average device looks the most interesting: Galaxy A5 2016. The fact is that it combines a spectacular design, a screen with the most versatile size (5.2 inches) and a low price (about 26 thousand rubles at the time of writing, which much more attractive than the 2016 A7, not to mention the current S-series smartphones).

We studied the device and tried to figure out what compromises the user will have to make for the sake of an attractive design and a low price.

Let's take a look at the characteristics of the novelty.

Specifications Samsung Galaxy A5 2016

  • SoC Exynos 7580 Octa
  • CPU Cortex-A53 @1.6GHz (8 cores)
  • GPU Mali-T720MP2 @650 MHz
  • Operating system Android 5.1
  • Touch display 5.2″ AMOLED, 1920 × 1080, 424 ppi
  • Random access memory (RAM) 2 GB
  • Permanent memory: 16 GB
  • Support for microSD memory cards up to 128 GB
  • SIM cards: 2 × Nano-SIM
  • Communication GSM/GPRS/EDGE/3G/LTE
  • Bluetooth 4.0, GPS/A-GPS
  • WiFi 802.11b/g/n
  • GPS with A-GPS, Glonass
  • Cameras: 5 MP (front) and 13 MP (rear) with LED flash and autofocus, f/1.9, Full HD video recording
  • Battery: lithium polymer 2900 mAh, non-removable
  • Dimensions 144.8×71×7.3 mm
  • Weight 155 g

For clarity, we decided to make a table with the characteristics of two competing models from other manufacturers, as well as the first generation Samsung Galaxy A5 model, in order to visualize the difference between it and the new product.

Samsung Galaxy A5 2016 Samsung Galaxy A5 LG Nexus 5X Huawei Honor 5X
Screen 5.2″ AMOLED, 1920×1080, 424ppi 5″ AMOLED, 720×1280, 294ppi 5.2″ IPS, 1920×1080, 424ppi 5.5″, IPS, 1920×1152, 401 ppi
SoC (processor) Exynos 7580 Octa (8x Cortex-A53 @1.6GHz) Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 (4x Cortex-A53 @1.2GHz) Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 (2x Cortex-A57 @1.8GHz + 4x [email protected].5 GHz) Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 (8 ARM Cortex-A53 @1.5GHz)
GPU Mali-T720MP2 Adreno 306 Adreno 418 Adreno 405
Flash memory 16 GB 16 GB 16/32 GB 16 GB
Connectors Micro-USB (OTG capable), 3.5mm headphone jack USB type C (OTG enabled), 3.5mm headphone jack Micro-USB, 3.5mm headphone jack
Memory card support microSD microSD No microSD
RAM 2 GB 2 GB 2 GB 2/3 GB
cameras rear (13 MP; video 1080p), front (5 MP) rear (12.3 MP; video 4K), front (5 MP) rear (13 MP; video 1080p), front (5 MP)
LTE support there is there is there is there is
Battery capacity (mAh) 2900 2300 2700 3000
Operating system Google Android 5.1 Google Android 4.4 (upgradable to 5.0) Google Android 6.0 Google Android 5.1
Dimensions (mm)* 145×71×7.3 139×70×6.7mm 147×73×7.9 mm 151×76×8.1
Weight (g) 155 123 136 158
average price T-13188751 T-12323116 T-12911710 T-13054761
Samsung Galaxy A5 2016 Retail Deals L-13188751-10

*according to manufacturer's official data

The progress of the Samsung Galaxy A5 2016 compared to last year's model is clear: a higher display resolution, a newer OS version, a more powerful SoC. However, against the background of competitors, the novelty does not look so attractive. For about the same money, you can buy the LG Nexus 5X, which offers more powerful hardware, USB Type C, 4K video recording and latest version Android. Or - much cheaper Huawei Honor 5X, the characteristics of which are generally the same level, while the price is much lower (about 17 thousand rubles at the time of writing).

However, the trump card of the Samsung Galaxy A5 2016 is the design, so we'll talk about it in more detail.

Design

The smartphone came to us without packaging, so we won’t talk about the packaging and go straight to the design of the device. The appearance of the smartphone really makes a good impression. It has a metal chassis and a glass back. It looks stylish, although it brings to mind the Sony Xperia Z devices. However, compared to Sony, the edges here are not straight, but slightly rounded, as a result of which the smartphone lies more comfortably in the hand than Sony devices with sharp edges.

The solution with a back glass cover has a minus. It is quite easily soiled, which is why after a few minutes of use the device does not look so attractive. Fingerprints (especially when exposed to direct light) are immediately visible on the back cover. Of course, you can wipe them off, but you won’t do it all the time!

An important design advantage of the Galaxy A5 2016 is the very narrow bezels around the screen. In this parameter, the smartphone significantly surpasses, for example, the iPhone 6s Plus, which, with a screen area only slightly larger than the Galaxy A5 2016, looks much more bulky.

Unlike its predecessor, the Samsung Galaxy A5 2016 is equipped with a fingerprint scanner. It is located in the "Home" button. We compared the speed of its work with the iPhone 6s Plus and came to the conclusion that the fingerprint sensor of the iPhone 6s Plus is still faster.

Continuing the comparison with the iPhone, we note that in both smartphones, the camera eye protrudes noticeably above the level of the back cover. And with Samsung, this is much more noticeable, since the camera module itself is larger. As for the consequences for use, the disadvantage of such a solution (with a protruding camera) is that if the smartphone is placed on the table, it will not lie tightly, but rise a little in the upper part, since the camera is placed under it.

The location of connectors and slots is standard. On the right side there is a power button and a slot for Nano-SIM and microSD cards. The slot is combined, you can use either one Nano-SIM and one microSD, or two Nano-SIMs.

On the left side are the volume buttons. All buttons are metal, as are the edges. Press moderately tight.

On the bottom edge there is a speaker grille, a microphone, a 3.5 mm headset jack and a Micro-USB connector. And now - with OTG support (there was no OTG in last year's model).

The upper face contains only a hole for another microphone.

In general, the smartphone has a spectacular and pleasant design, fits comfortably in the hand and deserves the status of fashion. The problem is only in the soiling of the back surface. This can seriously spoil the impression.

Screen

Compared to last year's model, the screen size of the Galaxy A5 has grown from 5 to 5.2 inches; The resolution has also increased from HD to Full HD. This is perhaps the most balanced combination, because the benefits of a higher resolution at such a diagonal are ambiguous, but the disadvantages (reduced battery life, the need for increased performance ...) are undeniable. However, the resolution and screen size are not all the parameters that deserve attention. Detailed testing of the Samsung Galaxy A5 2016 display was carried out by Alexey Kudryavtsev, editor of the Projectors and TV section. Below is his conclusion.

The front surface of the screen is made in the form of a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface, resistant to scratches. Judging by the reflection of objects, the anti-glare properties of the screen are no worse than those of the screen of the Google Nexus 7 (2013) (hereinafter simply Nexus 7). For clarity, here is a photo in which a white surface is reflected in the off screens (on the left is Nexus 7, on the right is Samsung Galaxy A5, then they can be distinguished by size):

The screen of the Samsung Galaxy A5 is only slightly lighter (the average brightness in the photos is 114 versus 109 for the Nexus 7). The ghosting of reflected objects in the screen of the Samsung Galaxy A5 is very weak, which indicates that there is no air gap between the layers of the screen. Due to the smaller number of borders (glass/air type) with very different refractive indices, screens without an air gap look better in conditions of strong external illumination, but their repair in case of cracked external glass is much more expensive, since the entire screen has to be changed. On the outer surface of the Samsung Galaxy A5 screen there is a special oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating (effective, better than Nexus 7), so fingerprints are removed much easier and appear at a slower rate than in the case of ordinary glass.

When displaying a white field in full screen and with manual brightness control, its maximum value was 395 cd/m², the minimum was 1.8 cd/m². You also need to take into account the fact that in this case the smaller the white area on the screen, the lighter it is, that is, the actual maximum brightness of the white areas will almost always be higher than the specified value. As a result, readability during the day in the sun should be at a fairly good level. The reduced brightness level allows you to use the device without any problems even in complete darkness. Automatic brightness control works according to the light sensor (it is located to the left of the front speaker slot). You can make adjustments to how this function works by moving the adjustment slider. Next, for the three conditions, we present the screen brightness values ​​for the three values ​​​​of this setting - for 0%, 50% and 100%. In complete darkness in automatic mode, the brightness decreases to 1.8, 7.9 and 16 cd / m², respectively (the first and second are too dark, the third is normal), in an office lit by artificial light (approximately 400 lux), the brightness is set to 37 , 125 and 300 cd/m² (dark - just right - bright, which corresponds to the specified correction), in a bright environment (corresponding to a clear day outdoors, but without direct sunlight - 20,000 lux or a little more) - increases to 520 cd/m² regardless of the position of the slider. This value is greater than the maximum for manual adjustment. If you increase the brightness of ambient light (near the light sensor) somewhere up to hundreds of thousands of lux (corresponds to direct sunlight), then the screen brightness rises a little more - up to 525 cd / m². Such brightness should definitely be enough to ensure that the image on the screen is well distinguished in any natural conditions. In general, the result of the automatic brightness adjustment function is as expected. At any level of brightness there is a significant modulation with a frequency of approximately 60 or 240 Hz. The figure below shows brightness (vertical axis) versus time (horizontal axis) for several brightness settings:

It can be seen that at maximum and close to it, the modulation amplitude is not very large, and as a result, there is no visible flicker. However, as the brightness decreases, modulation with a large relative amplitude appears. Therefore, the presence of such modulation can already be seen in the test for the presence of a stroboscopic effect or simply with a rapid eye movement. Depending on individual sensitivity, such flickering can cause increased fatigue.

This screen uses a Super AMOLED matrix - an active matrix on organic light emitting diodes. A full color image is created using subpixels of three colors - red (R), green (G) and blue (B), but there are twice as many green subpixels, which can be referred to as RGBG. This is confirmed by a fragment of a microphoto:

For comparison, you can see the gallery of microphotographs of screens used in mobile technology.

On the fragment above, you can count 4 green subpixels, 2 red (4 halves) and 2 blue (1 whole and 4 quarters), while repeating these fragments, you can lay out the entire screen without gaps and overlap. For such matrices, Samsung introduced the name PenTile RGBG. The manufacturer considers the screen resolution based on green subpixels, on the other two it will be two times lower. The location and shape of the subpixels in this variant is close to the case of the screen and some other newer devices from Samsung (and not only) with AMOLED screens. This version of PenTile RGBG is better than the old one with red squares, blue rectangles and stripes of green subpixels. However, some uneven contrasting borders and other artifacts are still present. However, due to the very high resolution, they have minimal effect on image quality.

The screen is characterized by excellent viewing angles, although the white color, when deviated even at small angles, alternately acquires a light blue-green and pinkish tint, but the black color is just black at any angle. So black that the contrast setting is not applicable in this case. When viewed perpendicularly, the uniformity of the white field is good. For comparison, here are photographs in which the same images are displayed on the screens of the Samsung Galaxy A5 and the second comparison participant, while the brightness of the screens was initially set to about 200 cd / m², and the color balance on the camera was forcibly switched to 6500 K. White field:

We note a good, although in this case clearly imperfect, uniformity of brightness and color tone of the white field. And a test picture (profile Basic):

According to the visual assessment, the tested screen has a good color reproduction, the colors are moderately saturated, the color balance of the screens is slightly different. Recall that the photo can not serve as a reliable source of information about color quality and is provided for illustrative purposes only. In this case, apparently, due to the peculiarities of the emission spectrum of the AMOLED screen, the color balance in the photo differs markedly from what is visible to the eye and is determined by the spectrophotometer. The photo above was obtained after choosing a profile Basic in the screen settings, there are four of them:

Profile adaptive display differs in some kind of automatic adjustment to the type of displayed image and environmental conditions, which is obtained by selecting the two remaining profiles shown below.

AMOLED movie:

Saturation and color contrast are markedly increased.

Photo AMOLED:

The saturation is almost as high, but the color contrast is closer to normal. Now at an angle of approximately 45 degrees to the plane and to the side of the screen (profile Basic). White field:

The brightness at an angle on both screens has noticeably decreased (in order to avoid severe darkening, the shutter speed is increased compared to previous photos), but in the case of the AMOLED screen, the drop in brightness is much less pronounced. As a result, with formally the same brightness, the Samsung Galaxy A5 screen visually looks much brighter (compared to LCD screens), since you often have to look at the screen of a mobile device at least at a slight angle. And a test picture:

It can be seen that the colors have not changed much on both screens and the brightness of Samsung at an angle is noticeably higher. Switching the state of the matrix elements is almost instantaneous, but there may be a step about 17 ms wide at the turn-on front (which corresponds to a screen refresh rate of about 60 Hz). For example, the dependence of brightness on time looks like this when moving from black to white and vice versa:

In some conditions, the presence of such a step can lead to plumes trailing behind moving objects. However, dynamic scenes in films on OLED screens are distinguished by high definition and even some “twitchy” movements.

For profiles Photo AMOLED and Basic the gamma curve constructed from 32 points with equal intervals over the numerical value of the gray tint did not reveal any blockage either in the highlights or in the shadows, and the exponent of the approximating power function is 2.11-2.13, which is slightly lower than the standard value of 2.2, at the same time, the real gamma curve deviates little from the power dependence (in the captions in parentheses are the exponent of the approximating power function and the coefficient of determination, which shows the proximity of the gamma curve to the power dependence):

For profile AMOLED movie the gamma curve has a pronounced S-shaped character, which increases the apparent contrast of the image, but in the shadows the distinguishability of shades is preserved.

Recall that in the case of OLED screens, the brightness of image fragments dynamically changes in accordance with the nature of the displayed image - it decreases for images that are generally bright. As a result, the resulting dependence of brightness on hue (gamma curve), most likely, does not correspond slightly to the gamma curve of a static image, since the measurements were carried out with sequential grayscale output almost on the entire screen.

Color gamut in profile case AMOLED movie very wide, it almost covers Adobe RGB coverage:

When choosing a profile Photo AMOLED coverage is pressed to the borders of Adobe RGB:

When choosing a profile Basic coverage is already compressed to the sRGB borders:

Without correction, the spectra of the components are very well separated:

In the case of a profile Basic with the maximum correction, the color components are already noticeably mixed with each other:

Note that on screens with a wide color gamut without proper color correction, normal images optimized for sRGB devices look unnaturally saturated. Hence the recommendation - in most cases, watching movies, photos and everything natural is better when choosing a profile Basic, and only if the photo was taken on installing Adobe RGB, it makes sense to switch the profile to Photo AMOLED. Profile AMOLED movie, despite the name, is the least suitable for watching movies and anything else.

The balance of shades on the gray scale is good. Profile color temperature AMOLED movie above 6500 K, in the remaining two it is close to 6500 K, while in a significant part of the gray scale this parameter does not change very much, which improves the visual perception of the color balance. The deviation from the black body spectrum (ΔE) remains below 10 units for most of the gray scale, which is considered a good indicator for a consumer device, and also does not change very much:

(The darkest areas of the gray scale in most cases can be ignored, since there the color balance does not matter much, and the measurement error of color characteristics at low brightness is large.)

Let's summarize. The screen has a very high maximum brightness and has good anti-glare properties, so the device can be used outdoors without any problems even on a sunny summer day. In complete darkness, the brightness can be reduced to a comfortable value. It is permissible (but in bright light it is necessary) to use the mode with automatic brightness adjustment, which works quite adequately. The advantages of the screen include a very good oleophobic coating, as well as a color gamut close to sRGB and an acceptable color balance (when appropriate profiles are selected). At the same time, let's recall the general advantages of OLED screens: true black color (if nothing is reflected on the screen), a noticeably smaller drop in image brightness when viewed from an angle than an LCD. The disadvantages include modulation of the screen brightness. Users who are particularly sensitive to flicker may experience fatigue as a result. However, overall the screen quality is very high.

Operating system and software

The smartphone has an operating system Google Android 5.1.1. It is reported that the update to Android 6.0 will be available for the Galaxy A5 2016, but it has not yet been released.

The appearance of the OS interface is typical for mobile devices Samsung.

Concerning software, then here you should pay attention to the fact that Microsoft applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, OneDrive, Skype) are installed on the smartphone, as well as a gift catalog.

In this catalog you can find in-game currency for popular games (for example, Cut The Rope 2), Navitel cards, LitRes books, 3 months subscription to the ivi.ru online cinema and other nice bonuses.

Performance

The smartphone runs on SoC Exynos 7580 Octa. This is far from the top solution that Samsung previously used in the Galaxy S5 Neo (a later modification of the Galaxy S5, which differs only in SoC and camera) and the Galaxy J7 tablet. This SoC is not found in any really popular model. However, along with the Galaxy A5 2016, it is also installed in the Galaxy A7 2016. The SoC is created using the 28 nm process technology and includes eight Cortex-A53 processor cores with a frequency of 1.6 GHz, as well as the Mali-T720MP2 GPU.

Note that both A5 2016 and A7 2016 exist in the version with Qualcomm Snapdragon 615. Also, frankly, not a flagship chip, but still much more common than the Exynos 7580 Octa. But we had a model specifically on Exynos 7580 Octa, so we will study its performance.

Let's start with browser tests: SunSpider 1.0.2, Octane Benchmark and Kraken Benchmark. We will also add to our standard set - a new browser benchmark recommended by the creators of SunSpider as a replacement for it. On all devices we used Chrome browser. If there is a dash in the field of the table, then the corresponding smartphone has not been tested in this benchmark (or in this version of this benchmark).

In browser tests, the overall picture becomes clear: the Galaxy A5 2016 significantly outperforms its predecessor and generally maintains parity with the Huawei Honor 5X, but loses a lot to the LG Nexus 5X.

Now let's see how the gadget performs in complex benchmarks - AnTuTu 6 and Geekbench 3.

Unfortunately, we don't have AnTuTu 6 results for the previous Samsung Galaxy A5 and LG Nexus 5X, because we tested them in the fifth version of the benchmark, and it was radically different in terms of scoring principles, so it's not correct to compare the results. You have to be content with what you have.

In this group of benchmarks, the picture is generally similar, but the Exynos 7580 performed better than in browser benchmarks, narrowing the gap with the leader and widening the lead over other competitors. Obviously, this is due to the number of cores (eight) and the ability of benchmarks to use all of them. Of course, this does not mean that conventional software will also be capable of this.

The last group of benchmarks is dedicated to testing GPU performance. We used 3DMark, GFXBench, Epic Citadel and Bonsai Benchmark. All of them demonstrate real 3D scenes and allow you to visually see how devices cope with them.

Let's start with GFXBench. Recall that Offscreen tests are a display of a 1080p image on the screen, regardless of the actual screen resolution. And Onscreen tests are the output of a picture in the resolution that corresponds to the screen resolution of the device. That is, Offscreen tests are indicative in terms of the abstract performance of the SoC, and Onscreen tests are indicative of the comfort of playing on a specific device.

Samsung Galaxy A5 2016
(Samsung Exynos 7580 Octa) 		Samsung Galaxy A5
(Qualcomm Snapdragon 410) 		Google Nexus 5X
(Qualcomm Snapdragon 808) 		Huawei Honor 5X
(Qualcomm Snapdragon 615)
GFXBenchmark Manhattan (Onscreen) 4.8 fps 3.9 fps — 5.9 fps
GFXBenchmark Manhattan (1080p Offscreen) 4.8 fps 1.8 fps — 5.6 fps
GFXBenchmark T-Rex (Onscreen) 14 fps 9.6 fps — 15 fps
GFXBenchmark T-Rex (1080p Offscreen) 14 fps 5.4 fps — 14 fps

The picture is depressing. None of the devices will be able to play games of the level corresponding to the scenes of T-Rex and Manhattan. As for the results of smartphones relative to each other, here the alignment is similar to what we saw in previous benchmarks.

The fact that in Bonsai Benchmark the new Samsung smartphone showed more than 30 fps is a reason for joy. But otherwise, of course, the picture is depressing. In Epic Citadel, made on the Unreal engine (games Dark Meadow, Horn and others), it was already impossible to reach 30 fps, but in 3DMark the loss of LG Nexus 5X turned out to be huge (with parity with Huawei Honor 5X).

In general, the benchmarks allow us to draw the following conclusions regarding the performance of the Samsung Galaxy A5 2016. First, compared to last year's Galaxy A5, there is progress, and very significant. Secondly, by today's standards, this is still a very average level, which does not allow you to comfortably play many 3D games even two or three years ago. Thirdly, if you find a version of a smartphone with Snapdragon 615, you won’t get a significant gain - the picture as a whole will be similar.

However, for everyday use and operations that are not demanding on GPU performance, the smartphone is quite suitable, since the amount of RAM is more important here. And the model has enough of it - 2 GB. Of course, this is not a record, but it is quite normal that even with a large number open applications the smartphone did not slow down.

Video playback

The MHL interface (yes, branded and expensive Samsung adapters can now be safely thrown away), as well as Mobility DisplayPort, we did not find in this smartphone, so we had to limit ourselves to testing the output of video files on the screen of the device itself. To do this, we used a set of test files with an arrow and a rectangle moving one division per frame (see "Methodology for testing video signal playback and display devices. Version 1 (for mobile devices)"). Screen shots with a shutter speed of 1 s helped to determine the nature of the output frames of video files with different parameters: the resolution varied (1280 by 720 (720p) and 1920 by 1080 (1080p) pixels) and the frame rate (24, 25, 30, 50 and 60 fps / With). In tests, we used the MX Player video player in Hardware mode. The test results are summarized in the table:

Note: If both columns Uniformity and Passes green ratings are set, this means that, most likely, when watching movies, artifacts caused by uneven alternation and dropping frames will either not be visible at all, or their number and visibility will not affect viewing comfort. Red marks indicate possible problems associated with the playback of the respective files.

According to the criteria for displaying frames, the quality of video files playback on the screen of the device itself is good, since frames (or groups of frames) can be displayed with more or less uniform alternation of intervals and without frame drops. True, it’s not that UHD files in general, but even Full HD with a frame rate of more than 30 fps, the smartphone does not play, which is strange by modern standards. We also note that the screen refresh rate is slightly less than the typical 60 Hz, but in the case of files with 60 fps, frame drops may not be, apparently, they are played a little slower. When playing video files with a resolution of 1920 by 1080 (1080p) on a smartphone screen, the image of the video file itself is displayed exactly on the border of the screen. The clarity of the picture is high, the output is one to one by pixels, but the features of PenTile appear: the vertical world is pixel-by-pixel into the grid, and the horizontal one is slightly greenish. However, this is noticeable only on test worlds, and the described artifacts are absent on real images. The brightness range displayed on the screen actually corresponds to standard range 16-235 - in the shadows, only a couple of shades merge with black, but in the highlights, all gradations of shades are displayed.

Autonomous operation, heating and communication

The smartphone has a fairly capacious battery (by the standards of relatively compact smartphones). In particular, its capacity is greater than its predecessor and even than the Nexus 5X.

Of course, this had a positive effect on battery life - especially in those modes that are not associated with a heavy load. So, the smartphone is able to play video from the network for more than 10 hours, and in read mode, the work is even longer.

Battery capacity Reading mode Video mode 3D game mode
Samsung Galaxy A5 2016 2900 mAh 12:50 p.m. 10:30 3h 40m
LG Nexus 5X 2700 mAh 2:30 p.m. 6 a.m. 4 a.m.
Zuk Z1 4100 mAh 21:00 16h 40m 6:50 a.m.
Honor 7 3000 mAh 13:00 10:40 3h 50m
One Plus 2 3300 mAh 14:00 11:20 4h 30m
LeTV One 3000 mAh 10:30 8h 20m 3h 50m
HTC One M9 2840 mAh 11:00 a.m. 8h 20m 3h 50m
Samsung Galaxy S6 2550 mAh 20:00 12:00 p.m. 4 a.m.
Google Nexus 6 3220 mAh 18:00 10:30 3h 40m
Meizu MX5 3150 mAh 15:00 11:00 a.m. 4h 10m

But as soon as it comes to applications that seriously load the SoC, battery life drops sharply. In the Epic Citadel test, the smartphone lasted less than four hours.

Below is a thermal image of the back surface taken after 10 minutes of running the GFXBenchmark battery test:

Heating is localized in the upper part closer to the upper right (when viewed from the front) corner, which apparently corresponds to the location of the SoC chip. According to the heat chamber, the maximum heating was 38 degrees (at an ambient temperature of 24 degrees), this is not very much.

As far as communication capabilities are concerned, everything is in order with the smartphone. Supports LTE Advanced, NFC, you can use two SIM-cards. To the voice quality cellular communication no complaints. The only parameter in which the smartphone does not reach the top level is the lack of support for the Wi-Fi 802.11ac standard. But in real life, you can hardly feel it.

Camera

The smartphone is equipped with two cameras. The front has a resolution of 5 megapixels and can be used for selfies and video calls. The rear camera is characterized by a resolution of 13 megapixels, which by today's standards is an average level. In addition, it cannot shoot 4K video (maximum 1080p at 30 fps). The quality of photographs on the rear camera analyzed Anton Solovyov

Good sharpness across the field of the frame, it falls a little to the right edge.

With a lack of lighting, the camera copes, but the result is far from desirable.

The camera turned out pretty good. It is far from flagship, but not budget either. Weak but noticeable sharpening, not very accurate noise reduction, and even small blur zones walking around the frame - all this is typical of Samsung devices in the middle segment. Although these shortcomings do not spoil the overall picture. In general, the camera will cope well with documentary, and sometimes artistic shooting.

conclusions

Of course, the main disadvantage of the Samsung Galaxy A5 2016 (apart from the price) is a very weak hardware platform. For everyday use and undemanding games, its capabilities are enough, for serious 3D games it is already not enough. However, do so many people really regularly play top games on smartphones? Still, for most, battery life, design and screen quality, communication capabilities and nothing to slow down during normal use (mail, social networks, instant messengers, browser, maps ...) are much more important. Well, plus, preferably, a good camera. Samsung Galaxy A5 2016 fully meets these requirements. Yes, it does not set records for any of these indicators, but it provides a level that is comfortable for 95% of users.

Simply put, if the Galaxy S line of smartphones is for IT reviewers, fans of spectacular technological innovations and those who want to have a flagship device without fail, then the Galaxy A line is made for ordinary people. Which, however, are ready to overpay for the brand and the confidence that they will get a really balanced and beautiful device for their money.

In conclusion, we suggest watching our video review of the Samsung Galaxy A5 2016 smartphone:

Last year, Samsung brought to market absolutely new A-series- a line of mid-range smartphones that showed similarities with the flagships Galaxy Note 4 and Galaxy Alpha. The metal cases and the general balance of characteristics appealed to ordinary users, the line became popular. Today we will get acquainted with the update of one of the most popular models - Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016).


Appearance and usability

The appearance of the new generation Galaxy A5 has undergone many changes. If we compare the Galaxy A5 of the first generation and the second, we will see two different devices. There are no borrowed design solutions, everything is based on the new design solutions of Samsung flagships in 2015.

The front side is covered with a protective glass, which has a rounding, the so-called 2.5D. The glass is very similar to what is installed in the iPhone 6/6s.

At the top of the front panel are proximity and light sensors, earpiece, front camera and manufacturer's logo. There is no missed events LED. Under the screen is a traditional Samsung bundle of two touch buttons and a home key combined with a fingerprint scanner.


The sidewall is covered with a metal frame. Outwardly, it is the same as in the Galaxy S6. On the left side are the volume keys. On the right, there is a power button and a tray for a nanoSIM SIM card and a microSD memory card. Above is located only an additional microphone. Bottom - 3.5 mm audio jack, microUSB port, multimedia speaker and microphone.




The back side is covered with glass. The body of the phone is not separable. The camera module protrudes approximately 1mm above the body. The flash consists of one LED.








Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016) can be made in several colors - black, gold, rose gold and white. At the same time, the metal frame is also painted in the color of the back of the case. In all variants except white, the front side is black. The gold version came to our test.









If we talk about the convenience of work, then using a 5.2-inch display is a very good move. After all, this screen size can be called optimal. The smartphone is moderately large, but it is comfortable to use with one hand. Thanks to the use of glass and metal, the Galaxy A5 (2016) feels expensive. Using a smartphone on the street during frost is uncomfortable due to the metal frame, which greatly cools the hand, but this is more of a nit-pick. But the fact that the phone is slippery and often strives to slip out of hands is a problem. During use, I almost dropped it several times for this very reason, so I recommend future owners to think about buying a case.

The fingerprint scanner performed well. It feels like it works the same as on the Samsung Galaxy S6. Unlock is very fast.

Display

Samsung Galaxy A5 features 5.2 inch Super AMOLED display, which has Full HD (1080x1920) resolution. PPI is 424. PenTile is invisible to the naked eye. The physical dimensions of the screen are 116x65 mm. The screen is covered with protective glass Corning Gorilla Glass 4 with rounded edges.




The behavior of the display on the street is expectedly good. Even in bright sunlight, the information on it is distinguishable, and the colors do not fade. I note the timely operation of the brightness adjustment sensor, which quickly and smoothly changes brightness.

For smartphones, the presence of screen settings has become a sign of good taste, so our hero has them. They are nothing new, they can be found on many Samsung devices, but thanks to them you can get rid of the acidity of colors, which is very striking. In further measurements, we used AMOLED Photo mode.





The maximum screen brightness is 392 cd/m² (filled white) and the minimum is 1.8 cd/m². The contrast is maximum. 200 cd/m² equals 59% brightness. The color gamut is much wider than the sRGB triangle. The color temperature is almost 7000K and very close to the reference, which tells us that the colors look only a little colder than necessary. The gamma curve over the entire brightness segment is 2.2, which is the reference value. To sum up, the screen calibration is excellent. Colors are rendered correctly, but they are still slightly oversaturated.

Hardware platform

The Samsung Galaxy A5 is equipped with an Exynos 7 Octa (7580) octa-core processor with a Mali-T720 MP2 video adapter. All eight Cortex-A53 cores operate at 1.6 GHz.

The amount of RAM is 2 GB, and the built-in 16 GB is expandable using microSD memory cards. There is support for Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n (dual band), Bluetooth 4.1, NFC and GPS (A-GPS, GLONASS). But there is no infrared port.

In terms of performance, it is higher than the Qualcomm Snapdragon 615, but slightly lower than the MediaTek Helio X10. Games such as MortalKombat X and Need for Speed ​​No Limits launch quickly and show high fps at maximum graphics settings. And benchmarks say that the video accelerator is not very productive and in the future there may be problems in this regard (mainly with demanding games).



Unfortunately, on our test, the smartphone is not with the final version of the firmware. It is for this reason that such a popular benchmark as AnTuTu Benchmark does not produce results correctly.



There are no problems with signal reception. The speaker is of good quality, the microphone is also pleased. Everything is done at a high level. The multimedia speaker did not lose its face. It's loud and sounds pretty good.

It is worth considering that the new Samsung Galaxy A5 will have a modification with two SIM-cards. As it was written above, we have a version with one SIM card on the test.

Operating system and shell

Smartphone running operating system Android systems 5.1.1 Lollipop with TouchWiz Nature UX 5.0 proprietary skin. It is well known from such smartphones as Samsung Galaxy S6, S6 Edge, Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge + and Galaxy Note 5. There are no changes in the system.

If we talk about the speed of the smartphone in everyday tasks, then it works very quickly, but not lightning fast. The first launch of the "dialer" lasts a couple of seconds. After exiting a resource-intensive game, the smartphone restarts the desktop and does not do it very quickly. Perhaps this is a problem with the test firmware of the device, but the fact remains.

Camera

The smartphone is equipped with 13 megapixel and 5 megapixel cameras. They both have f/1.9 apertures. The main camera received optical image stabilization, which should help combat image blur. The maximum resolution for video recording is Full HD at 30 frames per second.








The camera interface is familiar to all Samsung smartphone users. There is HDR, continuous shooting, night mode and even manual mode. True, in the latter there are very few settings. You can change the ISO, exposure and lighting type settings.












Photos look very attractive on the phone screen, but if you look at photos from a laptop, then there are still some remarks in them. In most cases, the white balance is determined correctly. But with focusing, especially during macro photography, there are problems. Autofocus is determined far from the first time. The camera does a good job of shooting at night.





Video recording example:

autonomy

The Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016) is equipped with a 2900 mAh battery. This is 600 mAh more than its predecessor, but it is worth considering the increased level of performance. Now the smartphone supports fast charging. The device came to us without a charger, so it was not possible to check the charging speed using standard charging.

With normal use, you can count on 1.5-2 days of work, taking into account always-on 3G, Wi-Fi, enabled synchronization, automatic screen brightness. PCMark delivered 9 hours and 21 minutes at 200 cd/m2 (59% brightness). This is a very good indicator. In practice, I managed to achieve 5 hours of active screen, which in turn is also very good.

Results

The Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016) is a major update to the popular model. The smartphone began to be perceived differently. Now it's a device that breathes right into the back of flagship devices. It has a high-quality display, an excellent camera, a nice and beautiful body, and also works smartly. Those who are tired of charging the device twice a day will appreciate the battery life, because even with a heavy load, the smartphone easily lasts a day, and if you moderate the ardor, then two. It is in terms of battery life that the hero of the review can put the flagship Samsung Galaxy on the shoulder blades.

It is hard to believe that the Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016) will be priced under $400. But if the price turns out to be slightly higher, then it will be a balanced device for sane money. Date of appearance and price in Ukraine are still unknown.

Liked:

Display

autonomy

The fingerprint scanner

Did not like:

- No notification LED

Samsung A510F Galaxy A5 (2016) (Gold)
4 300 - 4 744 UAH
Compare prices
Type of Smartphone
SIM card type Nano SIM
High speed data transfer GSM, GPRS, EDGE, HSPA. LTE
Number of SIM cards 2 (or microSD card)
Operating system Android 5.1 (Lollipop)
RAM, GB 2
Built-in memory, GB 16
Expansion slot microSD/SDHC (up to 128 GB)
Dimensions, mm 144.8x71.0x7.3
Weight, g 155
Protection against dust and moisture —
Accumulator battery 2900 mAh (non-removable) (fast charge support)
Operating time (manufacturer's data) no data
Diagonal, inches 5,2
Permission 1920x1080
Matrix type Super AMOLED
PPI 423
Brightness sensor +
Touch screen (type) + (capacitive)
Number of Cores 8
Frequency, GHz 1.6
Main camera, MP 13
autofocus +
Video filming +
Flash +
Front camera, MP 5
Other optical stabilization (main camera)
WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n
Bluetooth 4.1
GPS +
IrDA —
NFC +
interface connector USB 2.0 (micro USB)
Audio jack +
MP3 player +
FM radio —
Type of shell monoblock (non-separable)
Housing material metal/glass
Keyboard type screen input
More fingerprint scanner