Quick Review of The Samsung Galaxy A5 2017 & The Samsung Galaxy A7 2017

Samsung Mobile India has launched the new and improved 2017 edition of its A-series smartphones. The Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017) and the Samsung Galaxy A7(2017) are pack in new and improved hardware and received a complete redesign in terms of physical appearance.

The Galaxy A5 is priced at Rs 28,990 (USD 442) while its bigger sibling - the Galaxy A7 is tagged with Rs 33,490 (USD 510). With price tags like these, Samsung is taking a big risk by pegging the price of mid-range devices against the hordes of Chinese smartphones - both flagship and budget, which obviously come with better hardware and less expensive. Nevertheless, Samsung does have a few tricks up on its sleeves which made its 2017 A-series stand out from the sea of mid-range and budget smartphones.

Design and Build

Both models are available in Black Sky and Gold Sand finishes, and felt weighty and cool, giving an impression of a premium device even though they do not sport a metal unibody finish. The 2017 Samsung A-Series is a mix of metal and glass that fused together, with 2.5D glass that sits on the front and 3D curved glass fits on the rear side. The fingerprint reader is integrated with the physical home button. Both of the Samsung Galaxy A5 and A7 are rated IP68 dust and water resistant, similar to the Galaxy S7 models.

Display

2017 version of the Samsung Galaxy A5 and A7 feature Full HD Super Amoled Display. The Galaxy A5 has 5.2-inch display while the A7 features a 5.7-inch unit. The Always on Display feature which debuted on the Galaxy S7 series is available on both models.

Hardware

The Samsung Galaxy A5 is powered by an Exynos 7880 SoC, equipped with 3GB RAM and 32GB of storage that is expandable up to 256GB using the microSD card slot. As for the cameras, it has 16MP f/1.9 units for both the primary and secondary cameras. The Galaxy A5 runs Android Marshmallow and powered by a 3,000mAh battery.

As for the Samsung Galaxy A7, all specs are similar to the Galaxy A5 but better in terms of the battery which has a capacity of 3,600mAh. Other hardware details include Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth v 4.2, ANT+, NFC and a USB Type-C port at the bottom for charging and data transfer.