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As you know, Samsung Corporation produces many different smartphones. Three families stand out in particular: the flagship models of the Galaxy S series, budget models of the J series and mid-price smartphones Galaxy A. Today we will talk about the youngest model of the latter family.

The Galaxy A series received another update this year. Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017) is its junior model. We previously reviewed the large Galaxy A7 (2017)

First, let's look at the characteristics:

Display	Super AMOLED, 16 million colors
Display diagonal	4.7 inches
Display resolution	1280x720, 312 ppi
operating system	Android 6.0 Marshmallow
CPU	Samsung Exynos 7870, 8 cores, 1.6 GHz
Video accelerator	Mali T830
RAM capacity	2 GB
Volume of permanent memory	16 GB
Memory card slot	Yes, up to 256 GB, combined with a SIM card slot
Main camera	13 MP
Front-camera	8 MP
Video shooting
Number of SIM cards	2 (nano-SIM)
Interfaces	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4 and 5 GHz); GPS (A-GPS, GLONASS); Bluetooth v4.2 (A2DP, EDR, LE); USB 2.0 Type-C 1.0; NFC; 3.5 mm headphone jack; FM radio
Fingerprint's scanner	Yes, frontal
Fast charging	No
Battery	2350 mAh
Weight	138 g
Dimensions	135 x 66 x 7.9 mm
Colors	Black, gold, blue, white
Other	Samsung Pay support, Gorilla Glass 4 protection, ANT+ support, IP68 protection, Always On function

As you can see, the smartphone received a slightly more powerful filling. The design has also changed - it is very similar to the design of the flagship S7. Water and dust protection according to the IP68 standard are inherited from the older line. We tweaked the cameras a little and changed the connector to a reversible Type-C one.

Box and accessories

The box - standard for A-series smartphones - is made of white cardboard. Inside, the smartphone itself, a charger, a USB cable, an adapter from USB Type-C to microUSB 2.0, an ejector clip for the SIM card tray, headphones and instructions are neatly packed. It’s nice that Samsung did not deprive it of attention and included headphones and an adapter even in the lowest model, as it did with the A5 and A7.

Frame

As mentioned above, the design of the smartphone was largely inherited from the flagship Galaxy S7. It is very similar to the design of the A5 and A7, except that the younger model has only one slot, in which the compartment for the second SIM card is combined with the compartment for the microSD card. The back surface of the case is covered with fourth generation Gorilla Glass, the frame is metal. Due to its compactness, the grip of the smartphone is excellent; it will fit very well in both women's and men's hands. The case is not the thinnest, 7.9 mm, but this is not a drawback.

Screen

Traditionally, the screen in the device is made using sAMOLED technology. The colors are rich, contrasting, the image is clearly visible even in the sun. Always On function available. When enabled, notifications are displayed on the screen in the background. Of course, this slightly increases battery consumption, but only by a small amount (about 10-15%), and the convenience of this function overpowers the desire to save unfortunate percentages of charge.

Operating system and software

The operating system in the smartphone is Android 6.0 Marshmallow. The animation in the menu is smooth and does not lag anything. In the near future, judging by the news from Samsung, all smartphones in the updated A line will receive an update to Android 7.0. The Home button, like its older brothers, is mechanical. To the right and left of it are the “Back” button and a button for calling up the list of running applications.

Processor and memory

The memory of the smartphone is not very smooth. The amount remained constant at the same level - 16 GB, which in itself is not enough for modern needs. On the other hand, you can install a microSD card with a capacity of up to 256 GB, which is more than enough. The amount of RAM has increased by 512 MB - now it is 2 GB, which is the minimum amount for a modern smartphone based on Android 6.0.

According to the AnTuTu test, the performance of the device is lower than that of its middle brother Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017), by about 20-25%. This is due to a weaker processor, lower frequency and less RAM. It is unlikely to be suitable for demanding games, but for other use cases - photography, using social networks, surfing the Internet - it will do just fine.

Fingerprint's scanner

The fingerprint scanner in the A3 is the same as in the A5 and A7. Works flawlessly. Unlocking occurs when you physically press the Home button and correctly read the fingerprint.

Interfaces

Wi-Fi in the smartphone is dual-band, Bluetooth is the latest version 4.2 with support for various profiles. There is no need to talk about GPS/GLONASS/A-GPS; every smartphone now has it. There is NFC and an audio jack. ANT+ will be useful for athletes. There is also an FM radio. A big plus is support for Samsung Pay, which has become increasingly widespread lately. The USB connector only supports version 2.0, but the shape of the connector itself corresponds to the USB Type-C format. This reversible connector is very convenient. Needless to say, the set of functionality is quite good.

Battery

The battery capacity of the device is only 2350 mAh, which is only 50 mAh more than the version last year. It doesn’t seem like much, but for such a compact and low-power device this is enough. For a day with average use, the capabilities of the smartphone should be enough. There is no fast charging, but for such a battery it is not needed: with a native charger designed for a maximum current of 1.5 A, a full charging cycle is completed in about 1.5 hours.

Communication and sound

The sound in the smartphone is surprisingly clear and loud. The original headphones did not disappoint either; the sound in them was no less than good. The external speaker is located on the right next to the lock button.

The quality of communication is also excellent. The Galaxy A3 (2017) added another LTE band compared to the Galaxy A3 (2016). The device finally received support for all the main frequencies used in the Russian Federation.

Camera

Both the main and front cameras in the device are inferior in characteristics to their older brothers. Nevertheless, the quality of the output image from both cameras is quite decent. The resolution of the front camera has increased from 5 to 8 megapixels.

Examples of photographs are shown below:

Results

Galaxy A3 (2017) turned out to be the weakest in the family. While the A5 and A7 are almost identical, except for screen size and battery, the A3 has less memory and a weaker processor. However, it has a killer feature - its compactness. In addition, both the A3 and its older brothers were not deprived of design. And the presence of a wide range of interfaces, as well as dust and water protection, adds another significant plus in favor of purchasing this device.

The Samsung Galaxy A series includes smartphones in multi-colored, all-metal cases that resemble plastic due to their coloring. The devices, which have the same catchy design, differ in their contents and screen sizes. To begin with, Vesti.Hi-tech tested the youngest model - A3.

As you know, until recently, Samsung Electronics did not use metal at all in the design of its smartphones. Perhaps they were confused by the problems encountered by manufacturers who in this way tried to provide a premium look to their devices. The first Android devices with a metal frame were and. But at the end of last year, the company announced the launch of a whole series of Galaxy A smartphones, made in a single design and in all-metal, multi-colored cases. Today it includes models A3, A5 and A7 with screen sizes 4.5; 5 and 5.5 inches, respectively. It is interesting that all these devices received, although different, but not at all premium filling. The color scheme with an abundance of options provides the newly-minted devices with a catchy and stylish appearance. It is not clear, however, why it was necessary to use metal for the housings and then paint it “to look like plastic.”

Samsung Galaxy SpecificationsA3

• Model: SM-A300F
• Operating system: Android 4.4.4 (KitKat) with TouchWiz shell
• Display: 4.5 inches, capacitive, Super AMOLED, resolution 540x960 pixels (qHD), dots per inch density 245 ppi, protective glass Corning Gorilla Glass 4
• Processor: 4-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 (MSM8916), ARM Cortex-A53 cores, 1.2 GHz
• Graphics: Adreno 306
• Memory: RAM - 1 GB; built-in - 16 GB (11.9 GB available); memory card slot microSD/HC/XC (up to 64 GB)
• Camera: main - 8 MP, autofocus, flash, video recording 1080p@30fps, digital zoom (4x); front - 5 MP
• Communications: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n (2.4 GHz), Bluetooth 4.0 (LE), ANT+, USB 2.0, NFC, 3.5 mm audio
• Communication: GSM/GPRS/EDGE, WCDMA, LTE (Cat. 4)
• Navigation: GLONASS/GPS, A-GPS
• Number of SIM cards: 1 or 2
• SIM card type: nanoSIM (4FF)
• Sensors: accelerometer, proximity and light sensors, Hall sensor
• Radio: FM tuner
• Battery: non-removable, lithium-ion, 1,900 mAh
• Dimensions: 130.1x65.5x6.9 mm
• Weight: 110.3 grams
• Colors: silver, black, white, gold, blue, pink

Design, ergonomics

The most budget option in the new Galaxy A line is the younger model - A3. Of course, its dimensions have nothing to do with the paper format of the same name (297x420 mm). Against. Equipped with a 4.5-inch screen, the smartphone turned out to be “classically” compact (130.1x65.5 mm) and quite thin (6.9 mm), as in (6.9 mm).

The thickness of the A3 is only 0.2 mm greater than that of the model (6.7 mm), which is considered the thinnest among its Galaxy brothers. And the weight of the A3 is small - a little more than 110 grams.

In general, compared to the currently fashionable tablet phones, this device seems frankly small - a kind of ladies' thing. It is not for nothing that among the multi-colored cases, in addition to the strict ones - black and white, elegant - silver and gold, there are also glamorous ones - pink and blue.

Although the body of the A3 model, unlike, say, the , is made entirely of metal, only the silver chamfers of the rim running along the entire perimeter remind of the presence of the latter.

In particular, the white paint with a pearlescent tint on the model we received for testing skillfully stylized the metal to look like matte, literally velvet, plastic. It is clear that in the cold it is almost impossible to confuse these two materials by touch. Well, in home-office conditions, the only way to find out the truth is to put the device in the refrigerator (which, of course, is not worth doing unless necessary).

Samsung smartphones are distinguished by the continuity of the front panel design. And A3 does not break this tradition.

At the top of its front panel, covered with a new generation of protective glass Corning Gorilla Glass 4, right above the Samsung logo, there is a speaker grille, light and proximity sensors, as well as a front camera lens.

Below the display there are two dedicated touch buttons "Back" and "Recent Apps" with the indispensable mechanical "Home" key between them.

The volume rocker was placed on the left edge of the device,

and on the right there is a locking power button, as well as two closed slots with trays. The taller and larger one is a combination one and can accept both a nanoSIM card and a microSD memory card. The second, which is lower and smaller, is intended only for the second subscriber identification module (but also in nanoSIM format). In general, hello, iPhone and hello, i-clip, although you can, as usual, use its stationery counterpart as a master key for trays.

At the bottom end of the case there is a hole for a “conversational” microphone, a microUSB connector for charging and synchronization, as well as a 3.5 mm audio headset connector.

At the top end there is only a hole left for the second microphone.

Not forgetting about another Samsung logo, in the upper part of the non-removable rear panel there were holes for an LED flash, a lens with a chrome edging for the main camera, as well as a “multimedia” (“call”) speaker grille,

and at the bottom there is service information.

Thanks to its compactness and light weight, the smartphone fits perfectly in almost any hand, even the most graceful, and the familiar arrangement of buttons makes its use even more comfortable. And the screen size makes it easy to operate this device with one hand. The non-separable body of the A3 obviously eliminates any backlash and squeaks.

Screen, camera, sound

The A3 model received a Super AMOLED display with a diagonal of 4.5 inches and a rather low resolution of 960x540 pixels (qHD). Let us remind you that the total number of pixels on a qHD screen is one quarter of Full HD (1920x1080). At the same time, the pixel density per inch is no less than 245 ppi. A scheme with two subpixels (PenTile RGBG), based on the physiology of the human eye, replaced the traditional one with three subpixels (RGB) in the matrix used (Super AMOLED).

As is known, in Super AMOLED displays, which provide “real” deep black color, unlike conventional AMOLEDs, the air gap between the touch layer and the matrix has disappeared, which makes it possible to increase brightness, reduce light reflection, and also reduce the already economical ( due to lack of backlight) power consumption. This screen has good anti-glare properties, which makes it possible to easily use it even in bright lighting.

The A3's touchscreen supports multi-touch, and the MultiTouch Tester program showed that only up to five simultaneous presses are recognized. In general, there are no questions about the viewing angles of the display. Thanks to the presence of a light sensor, the backlight brightness level can be set not only manually, but also using automatic adjustment. The "Adaptive Display" option, which works for some applications (including "Play Books", "Gallery", "Camera"), automatically adjusts not only the brightness, but also other image parameters, depending on the ambient lighting, as well as the way the smartphone is used . This is said to be able to significantly reduce the strain on the user's eyes. In turn, manual adjustment of the color gamut allows you to settle on a more comfortable color rendition. In addition to the main mode, two more are available - “Movie AMOLED” and “Photo AMOLED”.

The screen in the A3 is protected by a new generation of protective glass, Gorilla Glass 4. This is at least what is stated on the Corning website, although, to be honest, the glass in the test sample of the smartphone was not at all impressive in appearance (it looks as usual). If Gorilla Glass 3 with NDR (Native Damage Resistance) technology was positioned to protect against various everyday threats, then when creating Gorilla Glass 4 they focused only on falls. At the very least, published crash test results have shown that such glass has at least twice the crack resistance compared to its competitors.

Despite the low resolution, the A3 screen, unless, of course, you press your nose against it trying to see the PenTile, leaves a good impression. At least the test videos in HD quality looked quite decent on this display.

The Galaxy A3 smartphone has an ordinary 8-megapixel photo module for the main camera with fairly fast autofocus and flash. The maximum frame size is achieved with an aspect ratio of 4:3 (8 MP) and is 3264x2448 pixels. The image quality is quite consistent with a mid-range device, especially in good lighting. Examples of photos can be viewed (Dropbox).

In the interface of the "Camera" application, in addition to "Auto", it is proposed to use the following shooting modes - "Retouching", "Panorama", "Auto selfie", "Continuous shooting", "Rich tones", "Night" and "GIF animation" . In the settings, you can select the desired image size and video resolution, turn on the flash, decide on white balance, exposure value, etc. There are also three filters available here - “Negative”, “Sepia” and “Shades of Gray”. The volume rocker can easily be assigned to release the shutter, start video recording, or digital zoom. It is convenient to move frequently used touch buttons in the settings to the top of the screen, where by default the settings, flash and camera change icons are located.

As for the front camera, it was equipped with a 5-megapixel matrix, which clearly exceeds the usual needs of video communication via Skype, but allows you to take fairly high-quality “selfies”. After all, the maximum frame size with an aspect ratio of 4:3 (5 MP) is 2576x1932 pixels. For fans of “self-shooting”, there are three modes - “Self-portrait”, “GIF animation” and “Group selfie” (groofy). In the settings, you can take selfies using gestures, as well as simple tools for adjusting self-portraits.

GIF Animation mode allows you to take up to 20 consecutive frames and then automatically combine them into one animated GIF file.

Using both cameras, you can record videos in Full HD quality (resolution 1920x1080 pixels, 16:9) with a frame rate of 30 fps. During this process, you can take photographs with a resolution for the main camera - 3264x1836 pixels (6 MP, 16:9), and for the front camera - 2576x1449 pixels (3.7 MP, 16:9). All video content is saved in MP4 container files (AVC - video, AAC - audio).

Having only one speaker, the device nevertheless reproduces music well - its sound is quite clear, although the volume control range could be increased. Even if the smartphone is lying on a flat surface “on its back”, its speaker grille does not overlap, since this is prevented by the chrome edging of the main photo module lens, which protrudes a couple of millimeters.

The A3 has a built-in FM tuner that supports online recording of any radio broadcast. Let us remind you that as a short-wave antenna, you must connect a wired headset or headphones to your smartphone.

Filling, performance

The Galaxy A3 smartphone received a 4-core Snapdragon 410 chip (MSM8916) from Qualcomm, which is made according to 28 nm design standards. This is the first 64-bit processor from this company, which uses the ARMv8 instruction system and the ARM Cortex-A53 core architecture, operating here at a clock frequency of 1.2 GHz.

Graphics acceleration is handled by the on-chip coprocessor Adreno 306 (400 MHz). The signal processor located there also supports photo modules with matrices up to 13 MP and video recording with Full HD 1080p quality. The Snapdragon 410 has a built-in LTE modem that supports the vast majority of the world's 4G/LTE and 3G generation networks, while providing work with two or even three SIM cards. There are also wireless communications Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC, a multi-system receiver for satellite navigation (GPS/GLONASS/Beidou) and FM radio.

The basic configuration of the tested smartphone includes 1 GB of RAM, which is quite a bit by modern standards, especially considering the memory-hungry TouchWiz shell. Therefore, the results obtained in tests for the A3 model are, in principle, not bad, but far from record-breaking. Note that the 400 series chips are positioned for middle-class devices, while they are promoted as the optimal choice in terms of price-performance ratio.

In synthetic tests of AnTuTu Benchmark version 5.6.1, the new model was at the bottom of the displayed list of results, earning only 18,819 “virtual parrots”.

In the Vellamo benchmarks, the smartphone did not stand out in anything special in terms of the amount of horsepower (Metal) and the efficiency of using processor cores (Multicore), which only confirmed the “average” filling.

If we forget about the low screen resolution (960x544 pixels), then for the two main settings on the Epic Citadel visual test, the A3’s results turned out to be simply flagship. Thus, the average frame rate for High Performance and High Quality (performance at the expense of quality and vice versa) was 59.1 and 58.1 fps, respectively. And the result for the Ultra High Quality setting was also, in general, not so bad - 44.2 fps.

The far from record-breaking results on the universal gaming benchmark 3DMark, obtained, in particular, on the Ice Storm Extreme test recommended for this smartphone, do not look like a tragedy. Let us remind you that the A3 model is not at all positioned for cool 3D games.

Of the 16 GB of internal memory in the A3, only about 11.9 GB is available, and even less is free. For expansion, there is a slot designed for microSD/HC/XC memory cards with a maximum capacity of 64 GB. The device does not support USB-OTG technology.

As already noted, the new Snapdragon 410 chip supports wireless interfaces, of which the A3 implements IEEE 802.11 b/g/n (one frequency range 2.4 GHz), Bluetooth 4.0 (LE), and NFC. When installing a SIM card (nanoSIM), not only 2G/3G cellular networks are available, but also LTE - 4G Cat. 4 (150 Mbit/s). It is possible to install two such subscriber identification modules (both 4FF formats), but then you will have to abandon the card to expand the built-in memory, which is not very cool.

When determining its location using the AndroiTS GPS Test program, the test copy of the smartphone was limited to only A-GPS, for some reason ignoring satellites from the GPS and GLONASS constellations. Most likely, this is a bug of the test device, although the first thing I wanted to blame was problems with the antennas in the all-metal case.

The Samsung Galaxy A3 smartphone received a non-removable lithium-ion battery with a very small capacity - 1,900 mAh. However, according to the manufacturer, on one charge you can talk on a 3G network for up to 12 hours, surf the Internet via 3G/LTE/Wi-Fi, respectively, 8/8/11 hours, listen to music up to 60 hours or watch videos up to 11 o'clock. In our testing, a selection of MP4 and HD videos played continuously at full brightness for about 6 hours.

In addition, the device honestly earned a fairly decent number of points (7,301) in the AnTuTu Tester 2.5 battery tests. This is largely due to the low resolution (540x960 pixels) and screen manufacturing technology (Super AMOLED).

In the A3 settings, the “Extreme Energy Saving” option is offered, when saving battery power comes by limiting a number of functions (reducing the number of available applications, temporarily disabling communications, and using a home screen theme in simplified shades of gray).

To save power, you can use only WiFi and mobile network data (A-GPS mode) for location and navigation.

Software

Galaxy A3 runs the Android 4.4.4 (KitKat) operating system with the TouchWiz proprietary shell, familiar from other Samsung smartphones. Its appearance has not changed in comparison with, for example, premium models, but only the most necessary functionality remains.

In the TouchWiz interface, application icons, widgets and folders, as usual, are placed on desktops, while there is a separate menu for programs. The main settings, while maintaining their structure, are collected in a single vertical list with bright flat icons.

Among the pre-installed applications, it is worth noting a good file manager, the Galaxy Apps recommendation service and the S Planner calendar planner.

Purchase, conclusions

According to Yandex.Market, the average price for the Samsung Galaxy A3 is currently 19,990 rubles, which is clearly discordant with the modest filling of this device. In addition, the low screen resolution, as well as the alternative installation of a second SIM card or memory card, are not encouraging. However, the A3 has something to boast about, for example, a new 64-bit platform, good battery life and the next generation Corning Glass Gorilla 4 protective glass. And LTE support is not yet very common in mid-class devices.

Of course, the A3 model will be appreciated by those who primarily value the compactness of a smartphone, for example, women. They will certainly be attracted by the stylish appearance of this device - the thin metal body and its glamorous color. In addition, the Galaxy A3 can be recommended to all Samsung fans who want a smartphone with a catchy, premium exterior, but do not need powerful hardware at all.

Results of the review of the Samsung Galaxy A3 smartphone

Pros:

• Compact design
• New 64-bit platform
• Protective glass Corning Gorilla Glass 4
• Good battery life
• LTE support

Minuses:

• Costs much more than other smartphones with similar characteristics
• Low screen resolution
• The second SIM card eliminates the installation of a memory card

The beginning of 2017 for Samsung fans was marked by the release of new smartphones in the A line, aimed at producing phones in the mid-price segment. From the very beginning of the release of A-line mobile phones at the beginning of 2015, it was represented by models A3, A5, and A7. In 2017, Samsung decided not to change its traditions and also released three phones with the same numbers.

In this article, we will take a detailed look at the advantages and disadvantages of the youngest of the three brothers, the Samsung Galaxy A3, and analyze how it differs from the older ones, so that you can make your own conclusion: whether to buy it or not.

The equipment for this model is quite standard for more or less new Samsung phones. It includes:

• The phone itself;
• Charger with USB connector 1.5 Ampere;
• New generation Type-C cable for high-speed data transfer. It is used in almost all new devices. The cord length is standard and is 1.2 meters;
• Quite good wired in-ear headphones with a volume control button and an answer/reject call button on the wire;
• An interesting surprise was a small adapter from microUSB to Type-C, which can be useful if you have an old microUSB cable or charger that, thanks to this adapter, can still serve you.

Design and convenience

The diagonal of the screen, which, by the way, has a SuperAmoled matrix with HD resolution, is 4.7 inches; under the screen there is a proprietary Samsung mechanical HOME button, which is also a fingerprint scanner. To the left and right of it there are 2 touch buttons.

Above the screen there is an earpiece, a proximity sensor, the one that goes out when you bring the phone to your ear, and a front camera. On the right, the manufacturer has placed buttons for adjusting the volume, while on the left there is a speaker and a power button. The speaker is not too loud, but the sound is clear and pleasant.

The connector for the dual SIM slot is located at the top of the phone. Since there is no separate slot for a microSD card, the user will have to choose between two SIM cards or a SIM card and a memory card. At the bottom there is a connector for a Type-C cable and a 3.5 mm headphone input.

The body itself is made of aluminum, and the front and back panels are protected by Gorilla glass 4. The phone is available in three colors: gold, blue and black. The most impressive of them is, perhaps, black, since due to the design feature, the switched-off screen seems to merge with the body and the transition border is almost invisible.

The device is also quite comfortable and fits well in the hand. It's just a little slippery due to the glass on the back. So if you are afraid that it may slip out of your hands, then you should purchase a case. The A3 weighs only 138 grams, making it the smallest in the entire line. A5 and A7 weigh 159 and 186 grams respectively.

Peculiarities

It's worth starting, perhaps, with the Always On Display function. It allows you to look at the clock, calendar, battery charge indicator and other useful information without unlocking the phone. In 2018, almost all phones already have this built-in function, but until 2017 it was implemented only in Samsung flagship models.

The phone also supports the Samsung pay service, with which you can pay for purchases with your phone instead of a plastic card. It can even simulate a magnetic stripe using MST technology. From the moment of their release until now, the 2017 A line has been the most budget phones that support this payment method.

The IP68 water and dust protection standard used makes the A3 quite reliable, like its brothers. You don’t have to worry too much if it falls into the water, since with its water resistance level it can lie under water up to 30 at a depth of 1.5 meters without any damage to performance. And there’s no need to even talk about dust and dirt inside the phone.

Main characteristics

Memory

The A3 has at its disposal only 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB of internal memory, which is quite a bit, and having only a combined slot for a SIM card and memory card, owners of two SIM cards will have to be content with only these 16 gigabytes. The A5 and A7 do not have such shortcomings, since in addition to 3 GB of RAM and 32 GB of internal memory, they also have an additional slot for a microSD card.

CPU

Models A5 and A7 have a completely new, at that time, 8-core Samsung Exynos 7880 processor operating at a frequency of 1.9 GHz, but the A3 was slightly deprived by installing a Samsung Exynos 7870 processor, the frequency of which is only 1.6 GHz. Therefore, the A3 is not as fast as its brothers from the same line, and produces only 45,000 in the AnTuTu test, while other models from the same series easily score about 60,000.

If we talk about games, it’s not a fact that such power will be enough for the new products of 2018, but for active games of 2017 it will be suitable. Although with difficulty. Take, for example, the rather demanding Asphalt Extreme. It works smoothly at maximum settings. However, really heavy games like Unkilled slow down even at medium graphics settings. With light two-dimensional or simply not very demanding games, problems should not arise at all. True, when recording video from the screen, almost any game, even not at all demanding, begins to slow down.

Another advantage of this processor is that its temperature almost does not rise, despite the absence of throttling (specific protection against overheating of the processor by skipping machine cycles (cycles) and the subsequent decrease in processor performance, but preventing further heating).

This became possible thanks to the modern FinFET process, which allows you to create processors with a thickness of only 14 nm

Camera

The rear camera is 13 megapixels with a good aperture – f/1.9 and autofocus. The camera's capabilities are small and will not provide much scope for shooting. Regular photos, HDR mode, panoramic shots, food, night photography, and basically everything. There is a PRO mode, but it doesn’t have too many settings. You can only change the white balance, adjust light sensitivity to increase sharpness and adjust exposure compensation.

The shots taken by the camera, however, turn out quite good, but you often have to wait 2-4 seconds for focusing before the camera takes a picture if you are photographing in non-ideal lighting conditions.

You can see how the camera takes pictures below:

And here is an example of how he takes photographs at night:

The front camera deserves special praise. Having a matrix resolution of 8 megapixels and the same aperture as the rear camera, selfies are highly detailed and with excellent color rendition. There is a built-in photo retouching program that allows you to whiten your skin, smooth out wrinkles, widen your eyes and some other little things. In general, selfie lovers should like it.

Example photo of the front camera:

You don't have to worry about the video camera at all. The phone can shoot video in FullHD at 30 fps. The sound and detail are at a high level. There is also autofocus. Some people complain, however, that it is too smooth, even slow, but this is completely uncritical. Shaking from walking when shooting is not compensated for, so you should shoot carefully.

Interface

Samsung galaxy A3 was released on Android 6.0 Marshmallow OS with a subsequent update to Nougat. The smartphone uses the standard Samsung shell. There is no particular point in describing it in detail. These are the same familiar desktops with widgets and icons.

You can take a screenshot by pressing the HOME key and the lock key, which is almost impossible to do with one hand. Unlocking by default is done by pressing the power button and swiping up on the screen.

Software

About 45 applications are initially installed on the phone, the vast majority of which cannot be deleted. (Except perhaps UBANK, Yandex and a couple of standard Samsung programs).

These include: a standard set of utilities used in all smartphones, redesigned by Samsung for its models. Such branded applications from Samsung as: S Voice, Samsung’s own “Siri”, Samsung Health, which is useful for those who need to monitor health indicators, Samsung technical support, Galaxy Apps, a kind of analogue of Google Play for Samsung phones, have not gone away.

Also installed by default are applications from Google, the Microsoft Office software package, Skype, Facebook, the One Drive cloud service, Samsung pay, which was mentioned above, and others.

The settings look quite compact due to the fact that a large number of parameters are collected in various sections, such as:

• "Optimization" - includes settings for RAM, ROM, battery and security settings
• “Sound and Vibration” - contains sound control parameters, as well as an equalizer and even things like reverberation, which may please people who are inclined to use a smartphone as a full-fledged audio player.
• “Display”, in addition to the standard screen settings, allows you to turn off the Always on Display function, but it does not consume a lot of battery, and the thing is quite convenient, so you can leave it.
• "Additional features" are mostly things like gesture control, eye tracking (the phone won't turn off until you look away) and practically useless screen reduction tools.

In general, the firmware seems to be a solid and complete shell, but perhaps too overloaded. The manufacturer stuffed a lot of things into it. Take at least 45 pre-installed applications. However, in such a large functionality you can find almost any function that you may need, so it’s up to you to choose whether it’s a plus or a minus.

Battery

The energy source for this model is a Li-Ion battery with a capacity of 2350 mAh. It easily provides the phone with high autonomy, despite such a seemingly modest capacity. Fast charging is not implemented in this model, but with a charging speed of 1 hour 35 minutes with a standard charger, it is not needed.

Despite the small size of the battery, it lasts quite a long time. If you keep the screen on for 3-5 hours a day, with active data transfer in LTE and making calls, then the battery charge will easily last for 2 days

If you use the phone exclusively for calls, you can even count on 5-6 days of work, depending on the operator and the frequency of these calls, of course.

Watching a high-resolution video with the brightness turned up to maximum will drain the battery in about 17 hours, which is very, very good, especially considering such a small battery capacity.

With such indicators, operating time is definitely an advantage of this model. After all, even with active use and a heavy load on the processor, it is unlikely that you will be able to discharge this device in less than a day. And at such a charging speed, the problem of lack of energy goes away by itself.

Communication capabilities

There is no need to talk about the availability of Internet access, WI-FI and GPS for a long time, especially in 2017 models. Although it is worth noting that these functions are implemented just fine here.

GPS access speed takes only about 10 seconds. Navigation works perfectly and without failures, thanks to a competent approach to antenna design.

The device operates on almost all necessary LTE frequencies, which can also be considered a compliment to antenna manufacturers

There is also a built-in FM radio. Just like a nice bonus.

What is the price

As of August 2018, the average price for this device is:

1. In Russia – 13,500 rubles;
2. In Belarus – 500 denominated Belarusian rubles;
3. In Ukraine – 6500-8000 hryvnia;
4. In Kazakhstan – 75,000 tenge.

Here we have indicated the approximate cost in online stores in various countries. In order to better navigate the price and find where you can buy this model profitably, you should not limit yourself to the first store you come across in your region, but consider offers from several points of sale. You may be lucky enough to stumble upon discounts. However, you already know about this.

Samsung Galaxy A3

conclusions

Summing up, I would like to say that the phone turned out to be quite good, although there are controversial points, but first things first:

Advantages

• In the manufacture of the case, the manufacturer used good and high-quality materials, and the assembly itself is beyond praise;
• The advantage of the processor is its small size and manufacturability, as a result of which it almost does not overheat and at the same time ensures stable and smooth operation of the phone in operating mode;
• The biggest advantage of the phone is its battery, which simply holds a charge amazingly and does not run out for a long time;
• The high class of protection against water and dust IP 68 makes the phone quite durable and will protect it from unpleasant accidents if something happens;
• Availability of Samsung pay service;
• Always on Display function;
• An excellent speaker that produces good sound and is also well protected from water.

Flaws

• The disadvantage of the processor is that its performance is still not very high. If it is quite enough to work with applications, then problems arise with games;
• An overloaded shell that takes up about 10 GB of memory out of the standard 16, leaving the user with only 6;
• A small disadvantage is that the phone, due to its design, is quite slippery and purchasing a case is highly advisable;
• The camera on the phone, although not bad, lacks stabilization, which negatively affects the quality of images when shooting moving objects. Also, after reading the reviews, you can see that it’s not just us who are not happy with the focusing speed.

Samsung Galaxy A3 is a worthy smartphone from the Korean brand in the budget class.

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It’s not very often that we get Samsung smartphones from the mid-range and budget segments for testing. It’s almost a shame to admit: the last time we had a non-flagship from this company was almost three years ago, and it was the Galaxy Alpha (review). That model was largely a turning point for the Koreans: after an extremely unsuccessful design experiment in the Galaxy S5 (review), the company finally stopped considering plastic as the only possible material for a smartphone body and began actively using metal and glass. The success of the Galaxy Alpha led to the birth of the line of stylish “strong mid-rangers” Galaxy A. At the beginning of 2017, the third generation of these devices was introduced, the youngest representative of which we will now get to know.

Technical characteristics of Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017):

• Network: GSM (850/900 MHz), UMTS/WCDMA (Band 1, 2, 5, 8), FDD-LTE (Band 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 20), TDD-LTE (Band 40 )
• Platform: Android 6.0 Marshmallow with proprietary shell
• Display: 4.7", 1280x720 pixels, 312 ppi, SuperAMOLED with PenTile
• Camera: 13 MP, f/1.9, Sony IMX258 sensor, LED flash, 1080p@30fps video recording
• Front camera: 8 MP, f/1.9, Sony IMX219 sensor
• Processor: 8 cores, 1.6 GHz, 14 nm, 64 bits, Samsung Exynos 7870
• Graphics chip: Mali-T830
• RAM: 2 GB
• Internal memory: 16 GB
• Memory card: microSD (up to 256 GB)
• Two SIM slots (nano-SIM + nano-SIM/microSD)
• GPS, GLONASS
• Bluetooth 4.2
• Wi-Fi (802.11a/b/g/n/ac), 2.4/5 GHz,
• USB Type-C 2.0
• Fingerprint's scanner
• Battery: non-removable, 2350 mAh
• Dimensions: 135.4x66.2x7.9 mm
• Weight: 138 g

Video review

Design

Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017) is available in three colors - black, blue and gold. We got the most classic version for testing, that is, the first one (but for the photo shoot we took the blue one). The body is made of glass (front and back panels) and metal. The design is full of curves: 2.5D glass on the front, 3D glass on the back (this means that both the internal and external surfaces are not flat), rounded corners of the body, rounded ends, squares with rounded corners as camera eyes and flash. The abundance of roundness, in my subjective feeling, only spoils the impression of the design - the appearance of the device seems too soft and soothing, soapy. However, you may like these features, this is pure taste.

Let's study the arrangement of elements on the body, there are a lot of interesting things here. On the left are only the volume keys. At the top is the first surprise: in addition to the additional microphone, there is a tray for SIM cards (a common location for Samsung, but unusual for its competitors; there is one nano-SIM slot and one combined nano-SIM+microSD slot in the sled). On the right is the second surprise: not only the lock key, but also a multimedia speaker. It seems that only a well-drunk designer could have placed it there, but in fact the place is very good: you can only block the sound with a grip in portrait orientation, and that is unlikely (your finger will most likely land in the area of ​​the lock key). At the bottom there is a 3.5 mm microphone jack, a double-sided USB Type-C connector and a microphone, the relative position of which will anger a perfectionist:

The back panel (it is non-removable, the battery cannot be removed by “legal” means) is boring: only the camera, flash and Samsung logo. There is no oleophobic coating on the glass, so it quickly becomes covered with unpleasant fingerprints. On the front, everything is traditional for Samsung: a logo, a protruding earpiece, a front camera and sensors above the screen, two backlit touch buttons and a hardware home button below it. There is a fingerprint scanner built into the button, which works quite well if you enter your finger several times (with a dirty and clean button, with a dirty and clean finger).

The screen of the Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017) has a diagonal of 4.7" and a resolution of 1280x720 pixels. 312 ppi is a good pixel density, but... Samsung uses SuperAMOLED screens with a special pixel structure (PenTile), which is why the pixel density indicator It's reasonable to divide by one and a half. Indeed, it's much more like 208 ppi: the diagonal grid is visible to the naked eye, the fonts are loose and have red halos. The screen has an excellent maximum brightness, which is not a problem on a clear day, and an excellent minimum. Reading from the screen in the dark - this is not a problem at all, especially with the blue filter turned on. Viewing angles are excellent, but even at slight tilts there are minor color inversions. However, as the tilt increases, they do not increase, so this should not be considered a serious minus. Blacks are very deep, and whites , as usual with organic LED screens, is dirty. There are four screen operating modes - “adaptive”, “film”, “photo” and “main”. Unlike the flagship Galaxy, where all modes work, the Galaxy A3 has a low Only “adaptive” permissions can be recommended for use. The other three produce very dirty light colors.

Software

Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017) is based on the Android 6.0 Marshmallow operating system, with an update to Nougat in preparation. Like all other smartphones of the Korean giant, our today's hero uses the Samsung proprietary shell. This is one of the most feature-rich and cluttered firmware I've seen. It is impossible to describe it in any detail; I will limit myself to the necessary minimum. So, in the shell there are traditional desktops with icons and widgets, and the leftmost table is the Briefing news aggregator, simplified by Flipboard. The application menu also contains desktops and folders. In the curtain, the switches are opened by swiping again, but the five most important ones (of your choice) are available immediately. Screenshots are taken by pressing the “home” and lock keys; it is almost impossible to take them with one hand.

There are 45 applications pre-installed on the smartphone, and almost all of them cannot be deleted (the exceptions are Yandex, UBANK and a couple of Samsung proprietary programs). Many can be disabled, but this is akin to deleting shortcuts from the desktop - this does not free up the device’s resources much. What are these applications? Utilities standard for all smartphones (all of them redesigned by Samsung), Samsung branded applications (S Voice assistant, Samsung Health health tracker, technical support + Samsung Members news, Gifts from Samsung Galaxy (free applications), Samsung online store, “Secure folder" based on KNOX and the Galaxy Apps application store), a set of Google applications, the Microsoft Office suite, the OneDrive cloud, Skype, Facebook, Samsung Pay, Yandex and Ubank.

There aren't many options in Settings, but that's because a lot of things are grouped together. Thus, the RAM, ROM, battery and security parameters are hidden in a single “Optimization” section. In “Sounds and Vibrations” there is an equalizer and audiophile features like reverberation, in “Display” there is the ability to enable simple mode and Always On Display (shows the clock, calendar or picture of your choice). The discharge rate in Always On is low, you don’t have to worry about that. “Additional functions” are mainly gesture controls, eye tracking (not turning off the screen while you are looking at it, etc.), as well as features for reducing the screen (they are almost useless at 4.7"). There are also game functions - screencast , button blocking, etc. The application itself has many cross-references, which is very convenient - if the function you are looking for is not in the section where you looked, you will still find this item via the link.

In general, the firmware gives the impression of something solid, but very overloaded and redundant. And it’s not just the 45 pre-installed applications - in the shell, behind each menu there are two new ones, which is why it seems endless in its hidden sub-items. On the other hand, the abundance of functions hides convenience, because every little thing that may be useful to you will probably be found somewhere. And the shell also lags in the menu, yes, how could it be otherwise?

Camera

Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017) is equipped with a 13-megapixel camera based on the Sony IMX258 sensor. It has a good aperture ratio – f/1.9. The camera app doesn't offer a lot of options: regular photos, panoramas, HDR, food and night photography. There is a professional mode, but in it you can only adjust white balance, ISO and exposure compensation. All pictures below were taken in automatic mode. You can evaluate the quality of the images using a series of examples. I can say that their detail is not the best (more like 8 megapixels), which the camera is trying to correct by oversharpening, but there are no problems with color rendition or noise. I didn’t like the fact that in non-ideal lighting conditions (cafe, house), the camera can take a picture for up to 2-3-4 seconds, trying to figure out the algorithms and shutter speed, without reacting in any way to the shutter key. After this, the frame turns out good, but only if you were shooting a stationary object.

The video is recorded in 1080p@30fps. The detailing is high, the sound is recorded with high quality. There is autofocus. It is so smooth that it is more slow than smooth. The shaking from walking is not compensated for.

The front camera pleased me. It has a resolution of 8 megapixels and the same aperture as the rear one – f/1.9. The Sony IMX219 sensor is used. Selfies come out with excellent detail and good color rendition. Fans of self-portraits will love this. There is a face decorator that widens the eyes, whitens the skin and smoothes out wrinkles.

Don't forget that you can quickly launch the camera from any application by double-clicking Home. An extremely convenient opportunity.

Performance and tests

Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017), according to official specifications, uses an eight-core chipset with a frequency of 1.6 GHz. Koreans traditionally do not name the model of the system-on-chip, but you can’t hide from AIDA64 - this is the Samsung Exynos 7 Octa 7870. It is made using a 14-nm process technology, and the Mali-T830 video accelerator is responsible for the graphics. Of the 16 GB of internal memory, only 6.5 GB are at the user’s disposal, the amount of free RAM is 0.9 GB. This is what this filling shows in benchmarks.