Samsung’s new design Galaxy A3 and Galaxy A5 finally hits Nairobi, and the price is very interesting. The device which marks the new direction in design for Samsung’s mid range to high end devices comes clad in a metal frame and sharp looks. Launched sometime in Q4 last year, the Galaxy A series is a bump up in design for the company.
Some markets like China have already started selling the device and Kenya launching it makes it among the first countries in the world to get it. Clad in metal all round as opposed to previous devices by Samsung, the device manages to pull that look of durability and class. It also stands as sleek with the thin profile at 6.7 mm and 6.9 mm for the Galaxy A5 and Galaxy A3 respectively.
“The Galaxy A5 and Galaxy A3 offer a beautifully crafted full metal unibody, slim design, superior hardware and the best possible social media experience,” said Manoj Changarampatt, Samsung Internet and Mobile, East Africa. “These devices make our advanced Galaxy experience even more accessible to young and trend conscious consumers.
Samsung also made serious changes in the way the devices get their colour, the metal is anodized to give it durable colour as opposed to the usual way of colour. The colours available for the Galaxy A3 and Galaxy A5 are Pearl White, Midnight Black, Platinum Silver and Champagne Gold. The way the Galaxy A devices are sold is that they are targeted at the fashion and style frienzied youthful user. That is well showed by design, super AMOLED vivid display and the 5 megapixel front camera.
Both the Galaxy A3 and Galaxy A5 have a 5 megapixel wide-angle camera to get great selfies and on top of that Samsung adds software for wide selfies, autoselfies with gestures (palm selfie), animated selfies and rear cam selfie (captures selfies with the rear camera when the phone detects the hand.
Other features of the Galaxy A3 and Galaxy A5 include Ultra-power saving mode, adjustable audio to intelligently adapt and enhance sound out based on user environment, private mode and multi-screen. The latter two are available only on the Galaxy A5.
Specs of the devices are as follows:
| Galaxy A5 | Galaxy A3 | |
| Size and weight | 139.3 x 69.7 x 6.7mm, 123g | 130.1 x 65.5 x 6.9mm, 110.3g |
| Display | 5.0” HD Super AMOLED | 4.5” qHD Super AMOLED |
| Processor | 1.2GHz Quad-Core Processor | 1.2GHz Quad-Core Processor |
| Memory | 16GB Internal memory + micro SD slot (up to 64GB), 2GB RAM | 16GB Internal memory + micro SD slot (up to 64GB), 1GB RAM |
| Camera | Rear: 13 MP AF with LED FlashFront: 5 MP | Rear: 8 MP AF with LED FlashFront: 5 MP |
| OS | Android 4.4 (KitKat) | Android 4.4 (KitKat) |
| Battery | 2300 mAh | 1900 mAh |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth: 4.0(BLE, ANT+), Wi-Fi: 802.11 a/b/g/n, NFC (LTE version only), A-GPS/ GLONASS | Same as A5 |
| Network | 4G: LTE Cat4 (150/50Mbps)3G: HSPA+ 42.2/5.76Mbps | Same as A5 |
| Colours | Pearl White, Midnight Black, Platinum Silver, Soft Pink, Light Blue and Champagne Gold | Same as A5 |
The two devices will sell at Samsung dealer shops at Kshs 40,000 ($436) for the Galaxy A5 and 30,000 ($327) for the Galaxy A3. They will be bundled with a 1.5GB free data bundle from Safaricom and 3GB from Airtel.
