Mumbai: Samsung took the wraps off its latest Galaxy smartphone, the Galaxy Alpha. The South Korean electronics giant is calling the Galaxy Alpha “the evolution of Galaxy Designâ€, touting its “metal frame, elegantly curved corners, and a tactile soft back coverâ€. The launch comes weeks before the scheduled Galaxy Note 4 announcement.
The premium device has a metal frame exposed on the sides and faux leather back similar to the Galaxy S5. The Galaxy Alpha is a preemptive strike against a bigger iPhone, it measures just 6.7mm thick and weighs 115g. Its other dimensions are 132.4 x 65.5, comparable to those of the Galaxy S5 mini.
The new handset has a 4.7 inch screen with Super AMOLED display, making it slightly smaller than the Galaxy S5. The phone’s heart is an Exynos 5 Octa built up of four Cortex-A15 cores (1.8GHz) and four Cortex-A7 cores (1.3GHz). It has 2GB of RAM and 32GB inbuilt storage, which is non-expandable.
It will run Android 4.4.4 KitKat with TouchWiz on top including S Health and Ultra-low power mode. The phone will pack a fingerprint reader, heart-rate sensor and will be compatible with the Samsung Gear smart watches.
The main camera is a 12MPÂ accompanied by a 2.1MP selfie camera. The Samsung Galaxy Alpha boasts LTE Cat 6 connectivity, dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0. All of that will be powered by a relatively small 1,860mAh battery. Color options include White, Silver, Gold and Blue.
The South Korean manufacturer has announced that the Galaxy Alpha will be globally released sequentially starting September in over 150 countries, but the company did not officially reveal the pricing of the device. However, a report pegged the off-contract price of the device at $689 (approximately Rs. 42,250).