Samsung galaxy a3 front camera. A phone whose success is in doubt

In October 2016, rumors began to surface regarding Samsung's upcoming A series of smartphones for 2017. The most impressive thing was that Galaxy A (2017) smartphones received water protection according to the IP68 standard, because previously only flagship models were protected from water. Even the most affordable Samsung Galaxy A3 2017 received protection from water and dust, and this is the most affordable waterproof smartphone from the Koreans. I will try to reveal all its capabilities, advantages and disadvantages in this material.

A-series is a high mid-price segment for Samsung. This line dates back to 2015 and is already in its third generation. Every year the Koreans try to introduce premium features into this series at more affordable prices. The body of smartphones is always made of modern materials with a modern design.

Samsung Galaxy A3 2017 first appeared on sale in Russia at a price of 23,000 rubles, a little later it began to appear in Ukraine at a cost of 9,000 UAH. At the time of writing the review, at the current exchange rate, approximately 360 USD (in Russia) and 330 USD (in Ukraine).

The smartphone received a considerable price tag for its filling, in comparison with Chinese brands. However, the quality of execution in detail should not disappoint.

Appearance overview

Galaxy A3 (2017) is made of glass and metal. The back cover looks very plastic, but is actually glass. How protected it is from scratches is unknown and only time will tell, but the back glass of last year’s smartphones in this series was easily scratched. The smartphone has four color options: black, pale blue, pale purple (called rose gold) and, as in our review, gold. Blue appeared for the first time among Samsung smartphones in the A series, and it is still less common on sale.

The front panel is made of 2.5D glass and its cut resembles a piece of jewelry, associated with amber or pearls. This is not the same rounding of the glass as in the previous series, but more pronounced and gives off a mother-of-pearl edge. Below the display is a physical Home button with a fingerprint scanner. This year, it practically does not protrude from the body, not counting the metal edging, which can be felt with your finger. To the left and right of the key are two backlit touch buttons. When the backlight is inactive, they are absolutely invisible. Above the display is the company logo, above which there is a metal fingerprint grille, to the left of which there is a window under which two sensors are hidden: proximity and light. To the right of the speaker is the front camera.

Unlike the front part, I did not like the implementation of the rear panel; now there are more stylish and elegant solutions on the market. Maybe it's the color. The back has roundings not only on the two long edges, but on the top and bottom. Just above the center is another logo, above which is a camera with an iron edging that does not protrude from the body and a single-LED flash.

The back cover is not completely fitted to the iron frame, which you can see in the close-up photos of the Galaxy A3 (2017). A corner of a piece of paper can easily fit there, and there is no guarantee that after a year the rubber gasket will not dry out and the panel will not begin to lag.

The end is made of metal. Samsung returns to a design with sharply rounded corners in the Galaxy A 2017. The sound speaker is conveniently located on the right side, closer to the top, and now you won’t cover the sound with your hand when holding the smartphone with the display in horizontal orientation. Below the speaker is the power button.

On the left side there are two volume buttons.

At the bottom end in the center there is a USB Type-C port, a conversational microphone, a headphone jack, and two plastic dividers for antennas.

At the top end there is a microphone for noise reduction and sound recording. A tray for Nano format SIM cards, in which one cell is combined with a memory card of your choice. There are also two more dividers from the antenna.

Dimensions of the smartphone: width 66.2 mm, height 135.4 mm, thickness 8 mm. Weight 138 g.

The kit includes a 5V and 1.55A power adapter, a USB Type-C cable, an adapter from Micro USB to USB Type-C and headphones.

Chipset

The Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017) SM-A320F has its own Exynos 7 Octa (7870) chipset. It has 8 Cortex-A53 cores operating in the range of 546 - 1586 MHz. This chip is made according to modern 14 nm technological production standards. Today this is the smallest mobile chipset, due to this it is energy efficient, does not reduce frequencies under load and does not heat up.

The graphics in the chipset are processed by the ARM Mali-T830 graphics processor with a single core and a frequency range of 343 - 1001 MHz.

All this results in 45,700 points in the AnTuTu test. There is no throttling; in subsequent runs the result differed by a maximum of +/-200 points. The increase in performance, compared to the Galaxy A3 of last year, is about 10,000 points, but still does not reach the average level. It’s difficult to call a gaming smartphone, given the small display and low-power chip. In tanks at maximum settings, the number of frames per second drops to 5. With minimal graphics settings, a stable 60 frames per second is produced, so you can play comfortably if you wish.

Memory

At first glance, there is not very much RAM for the price category when compared with Chinese smartphones. However, due to good optimization, 2 GB of RAM is quite enough. Compared to last year’s model, an increase of 500 MB. The interface works quickly and no slowdowns are noticeable to the eye. Memory in LPDDR3 format. When completely clearing minimized applications, 625 MB are free.

But there is also 16 GB of permanent memory left, which can be expanded with a memory card, sacrificing a SIM card. Applications cannot be installed on the memory card.

Battery

The battery capacity in the Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017) has been increased by 50 mAh compared to its predecessor and has 2350 mAh. But if we take into account the more energy-efficient chip, the energy-efficient display matrix and the manufacturer’s constant work on optimizing the software, then autonomy has improved.

I tested the device in different modes and determined that playing at the maximum graphics setting (WoT Blitz) and maximum screen brightness dropped the smartphone from 100 to 0% in6.5 hours, which is a VERY good result for such a battery capacity. Video at maximum brightness, using Youtube playback while connected to the network via Wi-Fi, used up the full volume in13 hours! For comparison:

  • LG Class (2050 mAh): games - 3 hours, video via Wi-Fi - 6 hours;
  • LG K10 (2300 mAh): games 4 hours, video via Wi-Fi - 8 hours;
  • Microsoft Lumia 550 (2100 mAh): games 4 hours, video 7 hours;
  • Sony Xperia C4 (2600 mAh): games 4 hours, video 5 hours;
  • Huawei Nova (3020 mAh): games 4.5 hours, video 8 hours;
  • Huawei Y5 II (2200 mAh): video - 3 hours 30 minutes;
  • Xiaomi Mi5s (3200 mAh): games 4 hours, video 9 hours;
  • Xiaomi Mi4c (3080 mAh): games 5 hours, video 7.5 hours.

Of course, the diagonal of the display plays a big role, but this would not significantly affect the result. Samsung managed to make the Galaxy A3 (2017) very battery-powered without increasing the battery capacity. Of course, there are competitors in the form of Chinese brands, but they have a larger battery capacity and a thicker smartphone.

Cameras

The main camera of the Samsung Galaxy A3 2017 has a Sony IMX258 sensor. This matrix is ​​1/3 Vidicon inches in size. The pixel size is 1.12μm, it takes pictures in 13 megapixels. This matrix is ​​found in OnePlus X, Sony Xperia XA, Meizu M3E and M3 Max, and one of the dual sensor Xiaomi Mi5s Plus.

The camera on the Galaxy A3 (2017) supports autofocus, which works automatically without touching the display. Not as fast as in flagships, but it works. The photos turned out too dark in cloudy weather, and the dynamic range of the camera was small.

I liked how the noise reduction works in poor lighting, with which the photos turn out a little blurry, but without noise.

Shot in low light

The camera shoots well in the dark, conveying correct white balance and good detail. The Galaxy A3 2017 pictured below beats out the Huawei Nova and Galaxy A5 2016.

A few more shots on Samsung A3:

The front camera has an 8 MP Sony IMX219 sensor. Size 1/4. This camera focuses on low power consumption and no lubrication. The pixel size is the same standard 1.12μm. The dynamic range is small; against the sky, objects will be illuminated, but you can photograph your face clearly. This sensor is the main sensor in the Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016). The Chinese brand Doogee likes to use it as the main camera using interpolation up to 13 MP (software stretching).

Selfie camera photo

The video is shot in FullHD resolution (on the main and front).

In my opinion, the camera does not claim to be the best, but it is superior to the budget segment.

Display

The display matrix in the Galaxy A3 (2017) has a diagonal of 4.7 inches and is made using Super Amoled technology. This matrix differs from other OLEDs in its pixel arrangement called PenTile, where each tri-color pixel has an additional green pixel, resulting in increased color brightness. The pixels themselves emit light in such a matrix and are organic light-emitting diodes, unlike LCDs, which require an additional backlit layer. Due to this, the display has excellent viewing angles.

There is no air gap between the sensor and the touchscreen. The touchscreen supports 5 simultaneous touches, however, it is responsive and there are no complaints about it. The 2017 A3 has maximum viewing angles and colors do not invert when tilted.

The display colors are closer to cool shades, but in the settings you can activate the reading mode. You can make sure that the reading mode is activated according to a schedule, or when it gets dark. It is also possible to adjust the mode with a slider, from a barely yellowish tint of the display (a yellow tint makes the eyes less tired) to a rich red one.

The screen frames are small, but there are some.

Communications and communications

The smartphone supports LTE networks. Wi-Fi 802.11 operates in the a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, WiFi Direct, mobile hotspot bands.

There is GPS support with A-GPS and GLONASS support. Navigation works great and in most cases flawlessly. Of course there is a compass. Bluetooth version 4.2.

Among the sensors, the Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017) finally has a gyroscope built in, now using a smartphone you can view 360-degree video or VR content, if there is a helmet for such a display.

Sound

The sound from the external speaker is quite clear. The set includes a good headset with earplugs. Nothing remarkable can be said about the sound; the manufacturer did not focus its attention on it.

There is an FM radio that works when you connect headphones. Sound recording during video recording is good.

operating system

The operating system version out of the box is Android 6.0.1 with proprietary firmware version A320FXXU1AQA1. Everyone usually calls the firmware TouchWiz, but there is no mention of it anywhere. In flagship models it is called GraceUX, but in more budget ones, individual software is “cut” for each model, for which you can applaud Samsung.

All Samsung smartphones at more affordable prices are kept up-to-date in terms of software; budget J-series smartphones receive operating system updates and the 2017 Galaxy A3 is no exception. An update to Android 7 is expected in the first half of 2017. Perhaps by the time you are reading this review, the smartphone has already received the latest system.

Among the software innovations in this Galaxy A3, I would like to note the built-in secure folder for storing personal files and accounts under a separate password. The camera application has also been slightly updated, in which you can move the shutter button to any convenient location on the display. The gallery has the ability to create 6-second GIFs from videos, automatically process photos, you can zoom the video you are watching while watching, as well as minimize and view the video in a small window, which will be active when you are going about your business in another smartphone application. While the video is playing, you can launch other third-party applications, and a small window with the video being played will be active in the foreground.

The 2017 Galaxy A3 carried over from the Always on Display flagships. When this mode is activated, the clock, incoming notifications and date are always active when the display is turned off. This feature does not drain the battery at all, I checked (overnight the smartphone only drained by 5%).

It is also possible to communicate with support directly from the Samsung Members smartphone application, find out information about the nearest service center, and even connect an operator to the control of your smartphone through the Smart Tutor application, so that he can suggest something and clearly show what and how to press. I made a separate video about this (look for it on my Youtube channel).

A proprietary Samsung Notes application has appeared, where you can draw with different tools and much more. The proprietary S Health app lets you track your walking, running, cycling, food, water, caffeine, weight, sleep and more.

Peculiarities

The main feature of the Samsung Galaxy A3 2017 is waterproof according to the IP68 standard, which means that the smartphone can be under water up to one and a half meters for at least 30 minutes.

The second feature for me is the Always on display feature that I described above. An equally significant feature is the excellent autonomy with a small battery capacity.

It is also noteworthy that the camera and button do not protrude from the body. By the way, the sensor in the button unlocks the smartphone without having to activate the lock screen. Unfortunately, the scanner does not work with wet fingers.

Alternatives

If we consider alternatives in terms of display size, the Apple iPhone 6S (4.7 inches) and Apple iPhone SE (4 inches) are close in terms of compactness, but also twice as expensive. At the same price as the smartphone under review - iPhone 5S, but the diagonal is much smaller, battery life is much worse, and there is no moisture protection. If it is very important for you that the “Apple” sparkles and the melody is “iPhone”, then the 5S is definitely your option, despite the fact that this once masterpiece was released as much as 4 years ago.

The Sony Xperia X Compact has a similar display, similar price and significantly better cameras. And in terms of performance and memory, the smartphone is more interesting. For some reason, the Japanese did not implement moisture protection in this model, which cannot be said about their flagship compact model of 2015, the Sony Xperia Z5 Compact. Same price as the Galaxy A3 2017, it has the flagship Snapdragon 810 chip (hot guy) and more internal memory. And again, the cameras are a cut above. The same cannot be said about Sony regarding their autonomy.

Well, competitors from China, where would we be without them? The closest 5-inch competitor officially presented on our market is Huawei Nova with an attractive design, about the same main camera, but much better than the front one. Huawei has more memory and a more powerful chipset. Of course, there is no such excellent autonomy, good software and moisture protection. Of course, there are other “animals” from China, but I don’t want to compare them with them, since there you will already have to make compromises in some areas.

Pros and cons of Samsung Galaxy A3 2017

pros

  • amazing autonomy;
  • moisture protection;
  • reliable software with timely updates;
  • compactness (if you need it);
  • Always on Display and other software goodies;
  • no heating;
  • good main camera.

Minuses

  • the sample in question has gaps between the back cover and the frame;
  • there is little permanent memory, and the MicroSD slot is combined with a second SIM card;
  • The display frequency is low, perhaps some people will get tired of their eyes quickly.

My review of the Galaxy A3 2017

This is a compact device with good software, acceptable cameras and a bright Super AMOLED display. Many will be attracted to purchase by moisture protection and interesting design. But most of all I liked the autonomy, this is not visible “on paper”, but the real results are pleasing.

We were able to see metal in the finishing of the body of a Samsung smartphone. But not the only “alpha” - a few months later the company announced a line of metal smartphones, which so far included only two devices: A3 and A5. In this review we will look at the younger model – Samsung Galaxy A3.

First impressions and appearance

Probably everyone who held an Alpha for the first time knows this feeling when you pick up a Samsung and can’t believe it’s a Samsung. With A3 everything is exactly the same. Just the fact that it's Samsung adds a new feeling. Which? The smartphone is compact and, you see, today it is difficult to remember a small smartphone running Android, which, no matter how trivial it may sound, felt pleasantly cool in the palm of your hand from the first touch. An analogy immediately arises with the iPhone 4, 4S, 5 and 5S, but we won’t talk about them, since this is obvious.

The smartphone is almost entirely metal. Its frame, physical buttons and back panel are made of a material beloved by geeks. Almost the entire front panel, as is customary, is occupied by protective glass. But there is a fly in the ointment in this barrel of honey - almost the entire metal surface of the A3 is covered with a certain matte-to-touch composition, which gives the smartphone a pearlescent tint and at the same time deprives the device of part of the wow effect that an all-metal body could produce.

The dimensions of the device are 130.1 x 65.5 x 6.9 mm, weight – 110.3 g. The gadget feels thin and light and, in general, small. We live in such terrible times when a smartphone with a diagonal of 4.5 inches can be called compact without the slightest remorse.

Display

If there's one thing the Galaxy A3 is pure Samsung, it's the display. A truly Korean Super AMOLED matrix with all the ensuing consequences is installed here. Some will prefer these acidic colors, while others will not like them. The long-suffering black is truly black here. The resolution of this display is 960 x 540 pixels, which on 4.5 inches gives a pixel density of 245 ppi.

Using TouchWiz, the A3 display can be calibrated, customized for yourself, there are 4 modes to choose from: “Adaptive Display” (automatically optimizes the color range, saturation and sharpness of images for gallery applications, camera and Play Books), “Movie AMOLED”, “Photo AMOLED” and "Basic". There are no questions about the viewing angles and responsiveness of the display, but it does not recognize more than five simultaneous touches - not that this somehow limits the user’s actions, but this fact takes place.

Cameras

The resolution of the main camera of the Samsung Galaxy A3 is 8 MP. And it sticks out; Samsung engineers were unable to fit an eight-megapixel module into a 6.9 mm thick body. A diode flash was located next to it. The Galaxy A3 takes really good pictures. There are a bunch of features, filters and camera settings in the best traditions of TouchWiz, but I never found ordinary HDR. The video is recorded in FullHD resolution, its quality will also suit the average person.

The front camera in the Galaxy A3 has a resolution of 5 MP. It also has a bunch of modes and settings that are designed to make your selfies as cool and unusual as possible. But if we discard all this unnecessary tinsel, what remains is a very good front camera, which can not only take tons of selfies, but also show its owner in Skype in the best possible way.

Examples of photos and videos

Hardware and software

Inside the smartphone there are four Qualcomm cores operating at a frequency of 1.2 GHz, and they are supported by the Adreno 306 graphics accelerator. The smartphone has 1 GB of RAM, 16 GB of storage, which can be expanded using microSD memory cards. By the way, about them. In the Samsung Galaxy A3, the memory card slot is combined with a slot for a second SIM card. As you already understand, the Galaxy A3 is a dual-SIM smartphone. However, if you install a memory card in it, there will be no space left for a second SIM card.

Samsung on Qualcomm. This phrase can please or at least reassure most geeks, but in this particular case, everything is not so smooth. It would seem that with processors manufactured by Qualcomm, modern mobile games should at a minimum run smoothly and stably, and at a maximum show everything they are capable of. But no. No matter how hard I tried, Real Racing 3 could not start on the Galaxy A3, but Dead Trigger 2 can be played without any problems even at maximum settings.

Operating system – Android 4.4.4 KitKat with a proprietary TouchWiz interface to boot. It’s cool (although probably not so cool today) that the manufacturer installed a relatively recent version of Android into the smartphone, and it’s not entirely cool that the version of the proprietary shell is somewhat stripped down. It’s not clear why, but the HDR mode in the standard camera application, for example, became a victim of this “cutdown”.

As befits a mid-range smartphone, the synthetic tests of the Samsung Galaxy A3 do not have enough stars from the sky.

I was pleasantly surprised by the battery. Having familiarized yourself with the characteristics of the device, you think: “How many minutes of smartphone operation will 1900 mAh last today?” But after spending some time with the Galaxy A3, you realize that this battery capacity is quite enough for a day of use. Of course, the manufacturer could have installed a more capacious battery, but for the Galaxy A3 its thickness plays a big role.

All 2017 Galaxy A series smartphones have become much more rounded. So rounded that some reviewers even call the design “soapy.” In my opinion, everything is far from so terrible. On the contrary: the gadgets look extremely neat, no pretentiousness. There is a metal panel around the perimeter, 2.5D glass with a volume effect in front, and a curved glass “back” at the back.

Galaxy A3 (2016)

Galaxy A3 (2017)

Please note that there is no longer an LED on the front panel that signals incoming messages, received SMS or missed calls. Instead, there is now an Always On function.

If there is anything to find fault with, it is only the rear panel, which looks a bit empty due to the small camera lens. By the way, now he doesn’t protrude out at all.

The glass body with matte metal on the ends glides in your hands. If it’s frosty outside and your hand is in a knitted glove, then you need to be extremely careful. Falls are unacceptable - this is almost a hundred percent crack or scratch on either the front or rear glass.

The main advantage of the A3 (2017) is its very compact size. The device is comfortable to hold; you can operate it with one hand, whether on the move or while running. Still, it’s a pity that there are fewer and fewer models with 4.7-inch screens on the market every year.

Not without a wow factor: like the flagships S7 and S7 edge, all Samsung A-series smartphones of 2017 are also protected according to the IP68 standard. This means that dust will not get inside the case, plus the phones can be kept for 30 minutes at a depth of up to 1.5 meters.

Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017) is protected from water: the gadget can be kept for half an hour at a depth of up to 1.5 meters.

Another important nuance: the A3 (2017) now supports Samsung Pay. The 2016 model did not have it, although the A5 (2016) and A7 (2016) work with the payment service.

The speaker is located cleverly - on the upper part of the right side. And, you know, it's convenient! It does not overlap with fingers either vertically or horizontally. The sound, however, is far from ideal. The volume is slightly above average, the audio is a little muffled due to the protective membrane, and the low frequencies are frustrating.

The fingerprint scanner, like in other Samsung smartphones, is built into the mechanical Home button under the screen. The papillary pattern is recognized quickly, and it is not necessary to press the unlock button.

Sometimes the sensor glitches: it completely refuses to recognize the fingerprint, and that’s it. Only entering a PIN, password or pattern key helps. I got fed up with this already on the second day of testing, and I simply turned off the scanner.

Good picture, low resolution

For IPS this would be enough, but the features of AMOLED are such that due to the PenTile effect, individual pixels are easily distinguishable by the naked eye. This is especially annoying when reading e-books or text from web pages. Grain also makes it difficult to adequately evaluate the quality of the resulting photos after shooting - they look better on a smartphone screen than on a computer monitor.

Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017) has a Super AMOLED screen with a resolution of 1280x720 pixels. Not enough.

The Always On function migrated from the flagships to the A3 and other A-series models in 2017. This is when in sleep mode the display shows a clock or calendar plus notifications about missed calls and messages.

According to various estimates, such a feature eats up from 1.5 to 3% of the smartphone’s charge per hour. In a day we get from minus 20 to minus 35 percent of the battery. So it’s better not to turn Always On on at all.

There is a night mode. It’s easy to guess from the name “Blue Filter” that it turns off shades of the blue spectrum, and in the dark your eyes are less tired. There are also four color profiles to choose from and the ability to manually adjust the screen color balance.

One of the options for displaying information on the screen of a locked smartphone in Always On mode

Gaming on low or medium settings

The Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017) is not designed for mobile games. The eight-core Exynos 7870 with a frequency of 1.6 GHz and 2 GB of RAM (of which the system eats up more than half) is not enough for serious mobile entertainment. For example, when playing at high (and sometimes even medium) graphics settings in demanding games like World of Tanks Blitz and Unkilled, frame drops often occur - the image jerks. So for serious projects it is better to choose the minimum. Of course, there will be no problems with simple arcade games or puzzles. But the case practically does not heat up and performance does not drop after a long load.

A much more serious difficulty is the constant lack of memory. The built-in 16 GB, of which the user only has less than 6 GB, is very little. The necessary applications, one episode of the series plus a couple of decent games and that’s it - it’s time to put a memory card in the compartment instead of the second SIM. In general, there is no need to have any illusions about the dual-SIM functionality of the Galaxy A3 (2017). The maximum allowed microSD capacity is 256 GB.

Comparison of A3 (2017) performance with other smartphones in benchmarks. The higher the result, the better.

Excellent front camera and good main camera

The 13-megapixel camera of the Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017) pleased with its quick launch by double-clicking the Home button and its user-friendly interface. Everything you need is always at hand, there is a manual mode and a convenient slider with which you can quickly make the frame lighter or darker. This is called exposure compensation.

During the day, at dusk and in rooms with artificial light, the automation works great. The smartphone focuses quickly (although the A5 and A7 are better in this regard due to phase-detection AF), there are no errors with white balance, and frames are saved to memory quickly. In a word, photography is comfortable. There is only one problem - in some places the pictures look a little blurry. When viewing on a computer, you just want to go into Photoshop and turn on the sharpening macro.

No HDR

With HDR

When it comes to night photography, things get sad. Autofocus hunts and misses, detail drops, and a lot of noise appears. It is best to switch to manual mode and compensate for automatic errors with your knowledge of shooting parameters.

Video can only be recorded in Full HD, but the modest processor would hardly be able to handle anything more. You shouldn't play operator at night, but you can during the day. The main thing is to hold your smartphone tightly, move it smoothly and do not remove it while moving. There is no optical stabilization.

To summarize briefly about the main camera, these are my impressions. The Galaxy A3 (2017) takes better photos than budget Meizu and Xiaomi, but worse than some competitor smartphones with a larger diagonal. Of the more budget alternatives, the most interesting in this regard is the Honor 6X. You can also look at the Sony Xperia XA - the quality of the pictures is higher there, but the automation is worse. Comparable in price, Huawei nova can easily compete with the A3 (2017) in terms of selfies.

By the way, about self-portraits. They are good: the 8-megapixel front camera works real miracles in normal lighting. Sharpness, detail, color rendition - everything is in perfect order. Corrections need to be made only for the lack of autofocus. See examples of shooting with comments in our gallery:

photos

photos

photos

Works for a long time, charges quickly

Inside the smartphone there is a 2350 mAh battery, but you shouldn’t be afraid of such a modest capacity. Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017) works its fair day with above-average load or 1.5 days in economy mode.

The combination of an economical processor and a low-resolution AMOLED screen has an effect. This is especially evident in monotests. The smartphone can play Full HD video at maximum brightness for 19.5 hours. Our favorite simple arcade game, Subway Surfers, at maximum brightness, drains the battery in about 7 hours.

Operating time of Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017) in comparison with competitors and record holders, indicated in minutes

The Koreans equipped all three new A-series smartphones, including the A3, with a USB Type-C connector, and rightly so. The road to unification! The A5 and A7 claim fast charging; the A3 does not support such technology, which, however, does not prevent the gadget from being fully charged from 0 to 100% in 1.5 hours.

Comparison with competitors

Finding a decent smartphone on sale with a screen diagonal of less than 5 inches is quite a quest. The Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017) actually has only two competitors in this field - Sony Xperia X Compact And iPhone SE. Both are much more expensive in official retail. However, a compact Apple smartphone from “gray” supplies can be considered as an alternative - you will get a stable OS, powerful hardware and a combination of a good main and disgusting front camera.

Starting from five inches, very good options appear. Of course, there is no IP68 protection anywhere (this is cool, but do you really need it?) and support for Samsung Pay (not everyone needs it either), but many of the main characteristics of competitors are better, and prices are lower.

The most interesting alternative is Huawei nova. You'll gain a little in price (from 1 to 4 thousand), get a better screen, an all-metal body, 32 GB of memory instead of 16 GB and slightly better performance with about the same cameras. You will lose in autonomy.

The nomination “budget model with a guarantee” is a metal Meizu M3S mini with 32 GB of internal memory. The camera and battery are worse here, and the overall performance is slightly lower, but this is compensated by 3 GB of RAM versus 2 GB for Samsung. The screen is also HD, but IPS, so there is no graininess. The most important thing is the price. In official retail, the gadget costs 9,000 rubles cheaper.

About the same thing, but without a guarantee - this is Xiaomi Redmi 3S with 32 GB of memory, starting at 10,000 rubles. You can, of course, officially from one of the retailers for 15,500, but since there is Meizu, there is little point in this. For almost 2.5 times less money we get comparable performance, good battery life and more memory. Plus shell glitches, compatibility with applications and the possibility of running into a model without support for Russian LTE bands as a bonus.

If the screen diagonal doesn’t matter to you, then among the 5.2 and 5.5-inch models there is an even wider choice, but we won’t dwell on them. Still, the A3 (2017) is a device specifically for lovers of small smartphones; the competitors must be appropriate.

Opinion site

Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017) is an interesting smartphone. No one has yet offered mass models from the middle price segment with protection from water and dust. Ugly rubberized bricks from little-known brands don't count. These are niche products.

However, at a price of 23,000 rubles, this phone should be an almost ideal compact “mid-ranger”. The situation is different: there is a weak hardware, a lack of memory (only 16 GB, of which only 6 are free) and a hybrid slot, a grainy screen and a glitchy fingerprint scanner.

Does it make sense to replace the A3 (2016) with a new model? In my opinion, only if you really want to start using the Samsung Pay service. In A3 (2017) its support appeared. This may also be justified if you like to take self-portraits - the selfie camera is good here. Water protection is not a serious reason for updating, but everyone probably has their own opinion.

Pros:

  • Water and dust protection (IP68)
  • Compact and convenient body
  • Excellent build quality
  • Bright AMOLED screen
  • Good automatic main camera
  • Cool selfie camera
  • USB Type-C connector
  • Charges quickly
  • There will be an update to Android 7.0
  • Supports Samsung Pay

Minuses:

  • High price
  • Low performance
  • Slippery body
  • Low screen resolution
  • 16 GB memory and hybrid slot
  • Glitchy fingerprint scanner

Samsung Galaxy A3 is a mid-level smartphone with a 4.5-inch display. It has quite a lot of advantages: a light and thin metal body, relatively good cameras and good battery life. Among the identified shortcomings: low display resolution and high price. The device is suitable for a user who is interested in the materials of the case and the balance of the device when choosing a smartphone.

The smartphone has a nice design, however, for some reason the metal in the case was made up to look like plastic. The small diagonal of the Galaxy A3 allows you to control it with one hand, including using the cameras. By the way, the smartphone’s cameras are quite good - the main one is 8 MP and the front one is 5 MP. Of course, they don’t reach flagship levels, but they’re still good for their resolutions. The main question for Samsung (besides the high price) is the display. Unfortunately, its low resolution is on par with 2013 mini-flagships - only 960x540 pixels. In all other respects, the display turned out to be good, thanks to the use of Super AMOLED technology. But in many ways, it was the display problems that prevented the phone from taking a high place in our smartphone rating.

We had doubts about the autonomy of the Galaxy A3, because the phone is thin. Will it be low with a battery capacity of 1900 mAh? But the smartphone showed good results - it lasted 9 hours while watching HD video at maximum brightness. And although it is far from the test results of the best smartphones, overall it turned out to be a balanced model.

Dimensions and weight - 4.5

Many criticized Samsung's plastic phones and waited for the Korean company to finally release all-metal smartphones. And after releasing the Samsung Galaxy Alpha and Galaxy Note 4 models with metal frames, the company presented the all-metal Samsung Galaxy A3 and Galaxy A5. We bought the younger version for testing, the Samsung A3 - manufacturers don’t often spoil consumers with unusual smartphones with a seemingly small diagonal of 4.5 inches.

What did consumers end up getting with the metal body of the Samsung Galaxy A3? For starters, there are such “advantages” as a non-separable case with a non-removable battery and a high price. The case itself is designed in such a way that an inexperienced user (if he has never seen an advertisement for a smartphone) may never know about the use of metal. The fact is that only the frame looks metal, and the lid is coated with a certain compound, due to which the material feels more like plastic than metal.

Then what all these changes and use of premium materials were for remains a mystery. In order to increase the price of Samsung Galaxy A3? Or is the Korean giant afraid to rush and implement drastic changes?

The appearance of the Samsung Galaxy A3 (SM-A300F) is reminiscent of the designer Galaxy Alpha, but the body is less “pretentious”, without frame bends and white stripes near the corners of the body, with a monotonous back. The square-shaped speakers on the back of the device and the frame around the display look unusual - in our opinion, they could have been narrower, given the price. We also note the protruding camera lens, which has already become a trend. In general, the smartphone looks stylish and will especially appeal to girls, especially since in many stores it is sold together with a Pandora bracelet.

The 4.5-inch smartphone fits perfectly in one hand and weighs only 110 grams. By the way, even the 4-inch one turned out to be 2 grams heavier. The case thickness reaches 7.2 mm (excluding the protruding camera lens), which is comparable to the 7 mm iPhone 6. Height and width 130 and 65.5 mm respectively: the width of the Samsung Galaxy A3 at the same as the small Lenovo A2010, and slightly smaller in height than the Samsung Galaxy J1 (2016) (with a diagonal 0.2 inches larger). The build quality turned out to be at a good level, the phone body does not creak under pressure, and the material is scratch-resistant.

Some may have expected the phone to be waterproof, but it is not certified as waterproof.

The Samsung Galaxy A3 smartphone can be purchased in white, silver, black and gold colors.

Screen - 3.1

The device screen diagonal is 4.5 inches. The screen has a so-called qHD resolution of 960x540 pixels - rather typical for budget models or mini-flagships of 2013. The image clarity is low - 245 pixels per inch, but the display is sharper, for example, the Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime display with the same resolution but a larger diagonal. The low resolution is perhaps the only thing that can be reproached with the display - after all, it is Super AMOLED with its high brightness and extremely wide viewing angles.

The colors on the smartphone display are bright, even too rich and contrasting. As with most of the company’s devices with this type of display, you can select one of several screen modes in the settings. The maximum measured brightness is quite high for an AMOLED matrix - up to 370 cd/m2, and the minimum brightness of the white field is only 5 cd/m2, which will be very convenient for reading in the dark. In the sun the display worked well, all information remained readable. The display is protected by the latest generation Gorilla Glass 4 from Corning.

Based on the test results, the display left us with conflicting impressions. On the one hand, it cannot be said that it is bad, but on the other hand, such a low resolution looks like a mockery for such a rather high price of a smartphone.

Cameras - 3.5

The Galaxy A3 smartphone is equipped with two cameras: an 8 MP main camera and a 5 MP front selfie camera. The latter is rather a tribute to fashion and a simple, inexpensive way to improve the characteristics of a device in the eyes of consumers, which is used by many manufacturers, especially in the mid-price segment. The main camera has a flash and autofocus, but for some reason there was no HDR mode, which can be found today on every second budget employee (if not more often). Both cameras shoot Full HD video at 30 frames per second and stereo sound. At the same time, we found tracking autofocus only in the main camera, which is not surprising.

The maximum photo resolution is 3264x2448 pixels; if there are not enough pixels, you can shoot panoramas. The front camera of the phone has several features for selfie lovers - shooting by gesture or voice, shooting an animated GIF of 20 frames and a wide-angle selfie mode for panoramic shots. You can combine three frames into one so that all your friends, or almost all of them, are included in the pictures. It seems to us that the camera is good by smartphone standards, the photos are quite clear, but sometimes the pictures lack contrast and there is some kind of white veil.

Photos from the camera Samsung Galaxy A3 - 3.5

Working with text - 3.0

The pre-installed proprietary keyboard on the Samsung Galaxy A3 is good for working with text, but the small diagonal size does not contribute to comfortable typing. It has the ability to switch to a 3x4 keyboard, like on older phones (apparently for T9 lovers or those who are just moving to more modern smartphones). Continuous input using gestures (Swype) is supported; you will have to switch between languages ​​by holding down the space bar and pulling it in any direction. On the top row of keys there is marking for quick dialing of numbers; there is no marking for additional characters. Overall, this is a typical good keyboard from Samsung.

Internet - 5.0

The Samsung Galaxy A3 Duos smartphone comes pre-installed with two browsers - Browser and Google Chrome. This is a typical set, but with some unusual features. Google Chrome has one-time auto-fitting of text to a pre-selected size and synchronization of tabs with the desktop version of the browser, page search, compression mode and a number of other typical features. The Browser has a “normal” auto-fit text and a reading mode - very important functions, according to reviews from many Samsung A3 users. The most interesting thing is the “Quick Control” functions. If you turn them on and slide your finger from the edge of the display, control panel icons appear in a semicircle near your finger - all you have to do is move your finger, selecting the desired actions. The Galaxy A3's hardware was sufficient for vigorous browsing with several open pages.

Communications - 3.8

According to this criterion, the Samsung Galaxy A3 Duos smartphone lacks only support for MHL, OTG or Slimport for a USB connector and dual-band Wi-Fi to the level of flagships. However, the device has something to boast about even without this: A-GPS, the ability to work with domestic GLONASS and Chinese Beidou, LTE (Cat 4, speed up to 150 Mbit/s) with support for Russian LTE frequencies. Separately, we can mention the presence of an NFC chip. The Galaxy A3 can work with two Nano-SIM cards, but there is a small trick here - one of the slots can be used for either a memory card or a SIM card. It turns out that you will have to choose: either two SIM cards, or one, but also with a memory card. In our opinion, this is a very strange decision. In addition, due to the non-separable case, you will have to open the slots with a special key or any paper clip. On the case you can also find standard headphone jacks and a Micro-USB connector.

Multimedia - 3.4

The multimedia capabilities of the smartphone, according to the test results, turned out to be average. In tests, the phone did not play 4K video (in principle, it had no need for it), coped well with FLAC and WAV audio formats, but did not play AVI video and some MKV format videos. We can say that Samsung equipped the device with support for rare audio formats, which cannot be said about video containers. But in the video player you can select external subtitles.

Battery - 3.3

The Samsung Galaxy A3 SM-A300F Duos smartphone is equipped with a non-removable lithium-ion battery with a capacity of only 1900 mAh - almost like the thin “designer” Samsung Galaxy Alpha. This capacity is not at all impressive, but in practice it is quite enough for a day of work. And in tests, especially in a video marathon, the device showed very good results, thanks to the AMOLED display and low resolution. Thus, the smartphone played HD video for almost 9 hours at maximum brightness, which is less than the Samsung Galaxy Alpha (10 hours), but longer than most tested smartphones. In audio player mode, the phone was a pleasant surprise, although in comparison, the results are average for the tested devices - about 51 hours. This is almost a third longer than the Lumia 550. As for daily use, it was enough for us for a day of work with an average load. At the same time, the device charges relatively quickly - in 2.5 hours using standard charging.

Performance - 2.2

The Galaxy A3 uses an updated 64-bit mid-range Qualcomm MSM8916 Snapdragon 410 chipset. The four processor cores operate at a frequency of up to 1.2 GHz, and the Adreno 306 graphics processor is responsible for graphics. The use of a 64-bit processor is not just a tribute to fashion trends - the smartphone is “ next” in the list of devices that will receive an update to Android 5.0, it is not known exactly when. The amount of RAM is 1 GB. In general, the phone's performance can be assessed as average: the device has enough power for fairly smooth operation of the interface, playback of Full HD video and most games.

Smartphone performance is somewhat of a mystery. The Samsung Galaxy Core Prime for 9,000 rubles has the same chipset as the Samsung Galaxy A3 for 20,000 rubles, but, as tests have shown, the latter works noticeably faster, both in simple applications and games. For example, Minion Rush runs perfectly smooth on a metal Samsung, while on a Core Prime with the same performance characteristics it takes noticeably longer to load and can sometimes slow down. In everyday use, the smartphone works quickly. The company is clearly successfully working on its interface, making it easier and removing unnecessary things. And although this is not the first phone with a “lightweight” TouchWiz without a large number of “unnecessary” applications and severe slowdowns, Samsung still has some work to do.

Do you want to play games? The Galaxy A3 runs not only mediocre games (for example, Minion Rush), but also more “heavy” ones, although not all of them. So, Dead Trigger 2 is quite playable even at maximum settings, but Real Racing 3 did not want to start at all. It’s not suitable as a gaming platform; heavier games will slow down, but for most games the smartphone’s hardware is sufficient. In various benchmarks, the smartphone is quite capable of competing with mini-versions of flagships from 2014. In AnTuTu, the smartphone received an average of 21,324 points, and in the Ice Storm Unlimited test from 3DMark - 4,558 points. We saw similar ratings from Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime and HTC One mini 2.

Memory - 4.0

Unlike the Galaxy Alpha, the Galaxy A3 has a memory card slot, but the amount of internal memory is smaller - 16 GB, of which about 12 GB is available to the user. Hot-swapping of the card is also supported; simply remove the cover. Memory cards up to 64 GB are supported.

Peculiarities

The smartphone runs Android 4.4.4 OS (an update to Android Lollipop is promised over time) and is controlled by Samsung's proprietary shell - TouchWiz with its own set of applications, settings, etc. It can be noted that the smartphone is not as crammed with a large number of built-in proprietary applications as one might expect from Samsung.

The main feature of the phone is its metal body. At the same time, it feels like plastic due to the special coating. Another feature that comes from the metal case is that the case is non-separable: you won’t be able to remove the cover, and you can’t simply change the battery. Features include a thin body and light weight of the model, the presence of NFC, LTE support, as well as a high price.

Competitors

As of February 2015, the Samsung Galaxy A3 can be purchased at a price of 19,990 rubles, we believe that this is very expensive for such characteristics, even though it has premium materials and an AMOLED display. By the way, HTC One mini 2 cost the same 20,000 at launch, and is still sold at the same price. At the same time, the Galaxy A3 can be compared with the Galaxy S5 mini, which costs about the same.

HTC One mini 2 - the body is also made using metal, but it is not completely metal. Its display is also covered with protective glass (an older type), but it has a higher resolution. The viewing angles of the Samsung Galaxy A3 display are wider and the image is richer. The main camera has fewer megapixels (8 versus 13 for the HTC One mini 2), but the front ones have parity. Both are powered by mid-range chipsets, but the Galaxy A3 is a more recent version and lasted a little longer in our battery tests. But HTC One mini 2 can offer not only LTE and NFC support, but also dual-band Wi-Fi, as well as MHL and OTG support. Both smartphones have nice, well-designed interfaces and will receive an update to Android 5.0 Lollipop. The price for both devices is the same - about 20 thousand rubles, and the choice of which to buy is not at all obvious.

Samsung Galaxy S5 mini - with the same display diagonal, looks “simpler”, but not like a women’s smartphone. In terms of dimensions, it is slightly thicker and heavier. It has an HD display and is waterproof instead of a metal body. At the same time, the device has a collapsible body with a removable battery, a front camera of “only” 2.1 MP and 1.5 GB of RAM, instead of 1 GB. As for the interfaces, the single-SIM version of the smartphone is the same as the Samsung Galaxy A3, plus an infrared port and dual-band Wi-Fi, while the dual-SIM version will have to do without LTE and NFC. At the same time, the average price for S5 mini as of February 2015 managed to rise to 21,000 rubles.

The appearance of the Samsung Galaxy A3 2017 can be called stylish, but not original. The device turned out to be compact and easy to operate with one hand.

It inherited its main features from - a back with curved edges, a metal body frame, the same arrangement of cameras and sensors. And in size, the hero of our review looks like a smaller version of the S7 - 135.4 × 66.2 × 8.1 mm, with almost the same thickness, it is only slightly smaller in height and width. The weight of the updated model is 138 grams.

The front panel is covered with tempered Corning Gorilla Glass 4, made using 2.5D technology, or, in simple terms, rounded at the edges. It has a good oleophobic coating, which is why fingerprints and other dirt are not particularly noticeable and are easily wiped off. The display occupies almost 68% of the panel surface area. Above the display there is a light sensor, earpiece and front camera. Below the display is a mechanical Home button with a fingerprint sensor built into it. On the sides of the button there are touch keys “Recent applications” and “Back”. When the smartphone is activated, they light up. The left side of the case houses the volume keys. On the right there is a power button and a music speaker. On the top edge there is a tray for a hybrid nanoSIM/microSD slot and an additional microphone. On the bottom edge there is a USB Type-C port, a main microphone and a mini-Jack.

The back panel is curved at the edges and, like the front panel, is made of Gorilla Glass 4. It also has good stain resistance, despite the gloss. At the top of the panel is the main camera, and next to it is an LED flash.

The main feature of the device case is the presence of moisture protection according to the IP68 standard. This means that the smartphone can easily survive immersion in water to a depth of one and a half meters, but no more than half an hour.

You can buy the Galaxy A3 2017 in several colors: black (Black Sky), gold (Gold Sand), blue (Blue Mist) and pink (Peach Cloud).

Screen - 4.3

The phone is equipped with a high-quality AMOLED screen with HD resolution. It has some of the features of older models, which sets it apart from its competitors.

With a 4.7-inch display diagonal, the resolution of 1280×720 is comfortable, with 312 pixels per square inch of screen area. This is a fairly high value; you can only see individual dots when looking at it point-blank. For comparison, this figure is only slightly higher - 326 p/in².

The main advantage of the display can be considered a wide color gamut, covering not only the entire sRGB range, but also 99% of AdobeRGB. As a rule, flagships like . Color rendition is accurate, deviation from the standard does not exceed three units. At the same time, the oversaturation characteristic of devices with an AMOLED display has not gone away, and the color temperature is clearly too high. If you don't like this image, you can set other modes in the settings. By default, adaptive mode is set and you can manually specify RGB values. In addition, the “Movie AMOLED”, “Photo AMOLED” and “Main” modes are available. Functionally, they are similar to those of the new flagship - they change the color temperature for warmer shades, and the last mode narrows the color gamut and removes oversaturation.

The brightness range we measured was from 2 to 400 nits; on a sunny day, using the smartphone is quite comfortable, as well as in the dark. Automatic brightness works flawlessly, setting the desired value according to the lighting. The display contrast tends to infinity, as it should be for an AMOLED screen.

The viewing angles are wide. If the phone is lying on a table and you are looking at it from a wide angle, then color distortion is almost invisible.

We also note the Always on Display function, which was previously found only in Samsung flagships. It allows you to display a certain minimum of information on the switched off screen, such as a clock and icons of various events. In this case, the screen always consumes a small amount of battery power; more about this in the corresponding section.

Cameras - 3.5

The Samsung Galaxy A3 2017 smartphone is equipped with 8 and 13 MP cameras that are good for its class. Their quality is sufficient for quick shooting, for example, documents, but they are not suitable for artistic photography.

The main camera has an f/1.9 aperture, LED flash and autofocus.

In daylight, photo quality is above average. Color rendition is close to natural, frame detail is good, but the pictures often lack sharpness. Autofocus works correctly in most cases, but sometimes it “misses”, which can cause sharpness to drop, ruining the frame.

When shooting at night, rather strong noise is added to sharpness errors, and the shooting quality drops significantly. To improve the situation, a night mode is provided that reduces the amount of noise. Its operation is similar to the HDR mode - the final image is formed from several frames, which is why you need to hold the phone motionless for some time. In addition to night photography and HDR, there are Panorama, Continuous Shooting, Food and Pro modes. The latter offers manual settings for exposure, ISO (100-800) and white balance.

Video recording is possible in resolutions up to Full HD (1920×1080) at 30 frames per second. Video quality is above average, sharpness and noise are at an acceptable level. The sound is recorded at a high bitrate of 256 kb/s, which is quite high.

The front camera is not equipped with autofocus, although it has a similar main aperture - f/1.9. The focal length is fixed, which is worth considering when taking selfies: if you are too close or far away, the frame will turn out blurry. The image quality is good, with natural color reproduction and a high amount of detail. Wide-format shooting is possible, and there are also night and burst modes.

The video recording resolution is the same as that of the main camera - 1920x1080, which is quite enough for video calls and communication on Skype.

Photos from the camera Samsung Galaxy A3 2017 - 3.5

Photos from the front camera of Samsung Galaxy A3 2017 - 3.5

Working with text - 3.0

Typing messages on the Samsung A3 2017 is quite convenient.

Out of the box, a proprietary keyboard from the manufacturer is preinstalled. It supports continuous input, has a separate row of numbers, and the language can be changed by swiping on the Spacebar. In the settings you can change the keyboard size, select input languages, and enable spell checking. There is also a high contrast mode - when the keys turn yellow with a black border. True, this mode does not go well with the light theme of the interface.

Internet - 4.0

The Galaxy A3 2017 comes pre-installed with two browsers - Samsung Internet and Google Chrome. Both are good for browsing the Internet.

The proprietary browser supports working with multiple tabs, maintaining bookmarks and autofilling forms. It can also read QR codes and supports extensions downloaded from the Samsung Apps brand store.

We've talked about the browser from the search giant many times, so let's briefly recall its main features: traffic compression, synchronization with the desktop version, and the ability to quickly view web content from any application.

Communications - 5.0

The communications suite of the Samsung Galaxy A3 2017 is practically flagship.

All popular interfaces are available, and the connector, despite modern trends, has not gone away. One of the objective shortcomings is the hybrid slot for nanoSIM/microSD. The solution, on the one hand, is classic - the buyer is offered to choose: use two SIM cards or one SIM, and install a memory card in the second slot. On the other hand, the amount of built-in memory is small, so the choice is very difficult. Separately, we note that the manufacturer saved on the quality of the SIM/microSD slides themselves - they are made of fragile plastic. So if you frequently replace memory cards or SIM cards, there is a high risk of breaking this part.

The general list of communications is as follows:

  • Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, Hotspot
  • Bluetooth 4.2 LE, A2DP
  • GPS with A-GPS, GLONASS, Beidou
  • USB Type-C, USB On-The-Go
  • FM radio
  • accelerometer
  • barometer
  • gyroscope.

Multimedia - 3.6

The multimedia capabilities of the smartphone can be called quite good.

The built-in video player “digests” most popular video file formats, although it refuses to play sound in AC-3 and DTS; there are also problems with playing mkv files.

Google Play Music is preinstalled as an audio player. It allows you to conveniently sort your local music collection, but its main advantage is access to the music section of Google Play.

To adjust the sound, the proprietary Samsung SoundAlive “enhancer” is used. It allows you to improve the quality of compressed audio recordings and can emulate the timbre of a tube amplifier. In addition, there is an Adapt Sound function that allows you to adjust the frequency range to the individual characteristics of your hearing. As in, it cannot be turned off completely.

We rated the quality of the audio path as good. The sound in the headphones is quite smooth, the amplitude-frequency response is without drops. The amplifier power is sufficient for most headphones.

The volume of the music speaker is quite high - 74 dB. Comparable to the sound when watching football on .

Battery - 3.9

The battery life of the smartphone is not bad, but it could be better, especially considering the AMOLED screen and energy-efficient processor.

Galaxy A3 2017 is equipped with a non-removable battery with a capacity of 2350 mAh. By modern standards this is not much, on the other hand, with good optimization it can be quite enough. The results of our tests showed the following:

  • Playing a video at full brightness drains the battery in 14 hours. If you reduce the brightness to a comfortable value of 200 nits - 15 hours;
  • listening to music in mp3 format non-stop will “eat up” the entire battery charge in 42 hours;
  • Conversations on 3G networks will drain the battery completely in about 15 hours.

Music and call playback performance is similar to test results with a larger battery. But watching the video I was pleasantly surprised: the result is at the level of the flagships of the Galaxy line - S7 and S8+.

In everyday use, the smartphone holds up confidently for a couple of days with fairly active use, which includes half an hour of calls on 3G networks, correspondence in instant messengers and social networks, about an hour of watching videos on Youtube and a couple of hours of listening to music. However, if you activate the Always-on Display function, this time is reduced to 40-42 hours. You have to choose between convenience and a few extra hours of work.

The device charges quite quickly. When using the included charger, the battery charge will rise from 5 to 100% in an hour and a half. There is no support for any fast charging standards here.

Performance - 2.9

The performance of the Galaxy A3 2017 is average, although it is enough for most everyday tasks, but heavy games are no longer for it.

The smartphone is equipped with an Exynos 7870 processor, which has 8 cores on board with a frequency of up to 1.6 GHz. The Mali-T830MP2 accelerator and 2 GB of RAM are responsible for the graphics. This solution is aimed primarily at energy efficiency, so you can’t expect high performance in games. However, the system interface works quickly and without any slowdowns, and several running applications can easily “coexist” in memory.

Synthetic tests gave us the following results:

  • Geekbench 4 - 3630 points (almost a thousand less than the Apple iPhone SE)
  • AnTuTu 6 - 46093 points (twice as many as)
  • 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited - 8639 (scored 13778 points).

It is better to run heavy games like Asphalt Extreme or World of Tanks on low graphics settings; at high graphics settings the frame rate drops too much.

When used for a long time, the smartphone practically does not heat up; the temperature on the surface does not exceed 34 degrees, which is almost unnoticeable.

Memory - 4.0

Memory is one of the weak points of a smartphone.

Of the 16 GB of internal memory, about 10 GB is available to the user. This is not enough if you shoot a lot or are used to storing your music collection on your smartphone. Of course, there is support for microSD up to 256 GB, but since the memory card slot is combined with a nanoSIM slot, you will have to choose one.

Peculiarities

Galaxy A3 2017 runs a proprietary interface from Samsung. It is not too different from the standard one, intuitive and easy to use. There is support for Android Pay and Samsung Pay and some features from the flagship family. For example, Game Launcher, which allows you to conveniently group game icons, record video of gameplay and turn off notifications.

The fingerprint sensor works flawlessly; touches are recognized quickly and from any angle.

mob_info