Home » Sunday » Technology
Alpha takes a page from iPhone book
Print Edition
APPLE filled a gaping hole in its product lineup with new iPhones boasting larger screens like Samsung’s flagship Galaxy smartphones. Now, Samsung is coming out with a smaller phone that looks and feels more like an iPhone.
The new iPhones measure 4.7 inches and 5.5 inches diagonally, up from 4 inches. Still, that’s smaller than the 5.1 inches on the Galaxy S5 and the 5.7 inches on the Galaxy Note 3 and 4 phones.
But even Samsung is stepping back from its recent practice of releasing ever-bigger phones. The new Galaxy Alpha matches the 4.7 inches on the iPhone 6 and has a metal frame like the new iPhones, reflecting Samsung’s attempt to mirror Apple’s emphasis on design.
Unfortunately, the Alpha falls short in a few ways, including the resolution of its display. There are also other shortcomings.
The Alpha will be available in the US starting Friday through AT&T. It will cost US$200 with a two-year service contract, or US$613 without one. The US$613 price is less than the starting price for the Galaxy S5 and the iPhone 6. You also get double the storage with the Alpha, but it’s still expensive for technology that isn’t top of the line.
The Alpha’s metal frame represents a departure from previous Samsung Galaxy phones, which primarily consisted of polycarbonate plastics.
However, the Alpha still has a plastic back, albeit one that is nicer than what’s on the S5. You can swap in a spare battery, but can’t add a memory card.
What struck me most was how the Alpha feels much like last year’s iPhone 5s. The sides are smooth and straight, and the edges are at right angles, like the box for a deck of cards. The corners, though, are curved.
By contrast, the new iPhones feature curved edges, so they feel thinner, lighter and less boxy. But the Alpha is actually smaller, thinner and lighter than the iPhone 6 — by a tad. Compared with both, the S5 feels giant.
Size isn’t all that matters. The screens on the iPhone 6 and the S5 are both sharper than the Alpha’s. The Alpha’s screen is decent for reading text and viewing images, but it’s about the same resolution as what Samsung built into the Galaxy S III phone back in 2012.
Like other Samsung phones, the Alpha uses a screen technology called AMOLED, for active-matrix organic light-emitting diodes. This is designed to produce richer colors than iPhones, but sometimes the technology goes overboard.
The Alpha’s camera is 12 megapixels, less than the 16 megapixels on the S5 but higher than the iPhone’s 8 megapixels, Apple has squeezed many other technological touches into iPhones to deliver consistently good images.
Overall, the richest colors appear on the Samsung phones but the iPhone 6 is best for getting the focus right due to anti-shake stabilization technology.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
