A Galaxy Note-esque phablet with a lower price but it compromises on power and battery
Once upon a time, you used to be able to set your watch by smartphone releases. Apple would release a new iPhone in the autumn, while Samsung and HTC would follow up the next spring with their own competitors. And then sure enough, just a few weeks after that, both would follow up with ‘Mini’ versions of their new Galaxy S or One Android phones, which tended to cut costs by ripping out all the premiums, including their classier casings and materials.
Samsung is still doing that of course, but we’re now seeing it take a bit more care with the mid-sized, mid-range sector than it once did. It’s no longer enough just to blast the latest Galaxy S with a shrink-ray and call it a day, not when a phone as astounding as the Sony Xperia Z3 Compact remains on sale. The Samsung Galaxy A7 is the company’s response, a generously sized smartphone that wants to compete with the iPhone for fancy feel in the hand, not the budget phones nestling below it on Pay As You Go. And by and large, it’s a success. Looks aren’t everything when it comes to the mobile in your pocket, but they certainly help.
DESIGN
Samsung’s new Alpha sub-brand is all about sexy, and this is that alright. The A7 is the company’s thinnest phone ever at just 6.3mm thin. It still resembles a Galaxy Note – a slimmed Jurassic World Chris Pratt to Park & Rec’s tubby Andy Dwyer – but the metal frame gives it an elegant feel comparable to clutching an iPhone. It’s that good (well, the white and blue versions. Gold is always tacky). It’s tough to reach across with one hand and it lacks the stylus for the Galaxy Note for easier two handed use but it’s solid, ergonomic and a pleasure to hold.
That doesn’t come at a cost for ports, thankfully: the A7 still sports a micro SD slot so you can bump up the storage with some of your own quickly and easily, something many all-metal phones do not allow still (Apple, we’re looking at you). It does have some durability trade-offs however: it goes without saying, but this phone is not as waterproof as a Sony, or as durable as one of Samsung’s plastic phones.
The display holds up well though. It’s only a 1080p resolution panel, rather than 2K, but it’s still extremely sharp, and the AMOLED display gives you vivid colours including really deep blacks so it’s just as easy on the eye when the screen is powered on. The 5.5-inch width puts this firmly in the giant phablet category of phones, which makes it great for watching videos on, not to mention playing games and reading comics.
SOFTWARE
The Galaxy A7 comes running 4.4.4 KitKat, not the latest version of Android (5.0 ‘Lollipop’, which sports a much cleaner and simplified look).
Samsung being Samsung, the South Korean tech giant has tampered extensively with Google’s open-source operating system, which has its pros and cons. At this point, we’re just resigned to the fact that it’s always going to try this. On the one hand, some of Samsung’s additions are legitimately useful – being able to open two apps on screen at once in Multi Window mode, for instance – but some are just inferior imitations of Google’s own services. Do yourself a favour and avoid its S suite of services, especially the S Planner calendar. Gmail, Google Calendar and their siblings have rarely been improved on by developers in the Google Play store.
Samsung’s UI is also just as unpleasant in 2015. TouchWiz still has that Fisher-Price vibe that the company’s peddled since before the days of the smartphone, and you’ll probably want to replace it sharpish with a launcher of your own.
That won’t stop the more pressing problem though: that the A7 is not necessarily going to be a priority device for Samsung to update to the much slicker Android 5.0 Lollipop. If staying on the bleeding edge of Android is more of a concern to you, you’re much better off going for the Google Nexus 6, or even the OnePlus One, which has just begun receiving 5.0 around the world.
Actually, what we missed the most on the A7 – due to its size – is the built in stylus software support of the Galaxy Note line. Sure, you can still buy a digital stylus and use it here, but you won’t be treated to the instant shortcut menu that lets you quickly take notes or screenshots. It’s one of the reasons Samsung’s phablets are still the best, and missed here.
PERFORMANCE
So far, so mostly good. Where’s the catch? Unfortunately, exactly where you would think it is - in the phone’s internals. To keep that beautiful expensive frame thin and the price tag just as lean, Samsung has resorted to older innards that just can’t keep up with the rest of the company’s top end phones.
For a start, the processor isn’t up to speed with the Galaxy Note or the S6 – in fact it’s closer in apparent day-to-day speed and benchmarks to the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, which came out in 2013. The 2GB of RAM is still plenty for multi-tasking but the phone is still trounced by the buttery smooth performance of the cheaper OnePlus One Android phone.
You’re paying for a mid-range phone here cloaked in something much slicker, and you’ll have to decide whether that’s an acceptable compromise – this phone sadly isn’t beauty and brains.
A thin chassis also means very little space for a battery. The 2,600mAh cell is quite a bit smaller than the 3,220mAh powering the Galaxy Note 4 – although since the phone is less power hungry, it only runs for slightly less. We managed to get through a day and almost to the following lunchtime in typical usage, making a few calls, browsing Reddit and watching some YouTube videos.
Unfortunately, it isn’t removable, so you can’t swap it out as you can on most older Samsung phones.
The camera too is a bit of a disappointment, compared to the stunner on board the similarly sized Galaxy Note 4, lacking as it does all the bells and whistles including optical image stabilisation. Its 13MP sensor performs well for the price range, but we’ve always felt that if you want a great camera you should buy one of last year’s flagship phones at a reduced price instead. Video, too, is a tad disappointing.
The 1080p footage is sharp but not noteworthy, and you’re not futureproofed with a 4K recording option as you are on other new smartphones including Samsung’s.
VERDICT
The Samsung Galaxy A7 is an attractive proposition, but looks aren’t everything. The cheaper £269 OnePlus One (reviewed last month) offers more power, a similar screen size and up-to-date software. And the £129 Vodafone Smart 4 Max with a bigger screen is less than half the price. If it’s about power, not just looking powerful, perhaps look elsewhere.
+ Excellent screen
+ Premium S6-esque build
+ Super thin
– Not the latest version of Android
– Battery life could be better
– OnePlus One is cheaper