Which is better galaxy a3 or a5. Compare Samsung Galaxy A3 (2015) vs Galaxy A3 (2016). Good picture, low resolution

A3 is the most basic and most affordable model of the modified A-line of the 2017 release. Externally, the device looks like the A5 and A7 phones, only smaller. Therefore, Samsung A3 smartphones are positioned by the reviews as the third reincarnation of the Galaxy Alpha, a high-end phone enclosed in a small body. The device is a "kid" model in terms of display size - only 4.7 ”. The Super AMOLED screen is always on, something that even an iPhone 7 of the same size doesn't offer. One of the main disadvantages of the Samsung A3 smartphone is the price. Owner reviews also indicate that small internal storage, lack of OIS, and lack of 2160p video capture prevent the device from claiming a premium spot.

Design

The phone is available in four colors - gold, pink, blue and black. Like previous modifications, the Galaxy A3 has a 2.5D glass front panel, a metal body and a glass back cover. Thanks to rounded corners, smooth edges and small size, the smartphone fits comfortably in the palm of your hand and does not try to slip out of your hands, although the smooth surface seems unsafe. The display bezels are relatively small (67.9% of the display area of ​​the front panel). This is traditional for Samsung phones. Below is a hardware home screen button with a fingerprint sensor and soft buttons for returning and tasks that are highlighted when pressed, which further increases the desktop area, freeing up space for the standard button on the toolbar.

Above is a noise suppression microphone, trays for microSD and SIM cards, on the left is a volume rocker, on the right is the power key and speaker grill, below is a microphone, a USB Type-C port, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The speaker placement is unusual, but it works well most of the time. The sound is not muted when the phone is placed on a flat surface, and when watching a video in landscape orientation it is directed up or down. Just be careful not to cover the speaker with your fingers.

In general, the Samsung A3 phone is praised for its appearance, but the owners note that the smartphone looks better from the front than from the back, mainly due to the use of 2.5D glass. It should be mentioned that, as with other 2017 modifications, the Galaxy A3 chassis meets the IP68 standard. This means that the model is completely protected from dust and moisture, withstanding a half-hour immersion to a depth of 1.5 m.

Samsung A3 smartphone screen: specifications, reviews

The phone is equipped with a 4.7 ”Super AMOLED display with an HD resolution of 720 x 1280 pixels and a density of 312 dpi. A certain graininess can only be seen at close range, and fonts appear anti-aliased in normal use. Despite the manufacturing technology, the screen colors of the Samsung A3 smartphone are called rather muted by the reviews, approaching IPS in their characteristics. But the display settings allow you to switch from the default basic mode to a more colorful adaptive one, which gives the most saturated image, or to more restrained, but still colorful film and photo viewing modes. Here, by the way, you can turn on the blue filter, thanks to which the screen becomes warmer and more pleasing to the eye when reading long text against a white background.

The display of the Samsung Galaxy A3 phone is called bright by reviews - even direct sunlight cannot prevent you from seeing its contents. Thanks to super AMOLED technology, black is truly black and not gray when viewed from the side. But at a high angle, the image acquires a green tint, which is typical for this type of screen. Basic measurements indicate near-ideal display performance. The color temperature is standard at about 6500 K, the color gamut and gamma curve are correct and slightly outside the sRGB standard.

Always On Display

The Galaxy A3 is one of the most affordable Android smartphones with an Always On Screen feature. It works exactly the same as in the S7, and can show clocks of several designs (including a calendar) and notification icons from third-party applications. Passive information looks great (this was the main goal of Google Now) and displays that support this mode of operation will become more common as the price drops.

Connection

The A3 leaves no gaps in communication. LTE Cat. 6 (300/50 Mbps), optional support for two SIM-cards, fast Wi-Fi 802.11 AC, USB-C, Samsung Pay with NFC and MST, there is even an FM radio. All that is missing is the infrared transmitter. LTE 300/50 Mbps speed is achieved through dual carrier aggregation (2CA). Wi-Fi, however, uses only one channel, providing a maximum speed of up to 433 Mbps. Low power connections are available in the form of Bluetooth 4.2 LE and ANT +. The USB-C port only works at USB 2.0 speed and there is no MHL support, meaning you cannot use USB accessories or connect to a TV. There is also no support for aptX (for high quality Bluetooth audio, so you'll have to settle for a wired headphone jack.

Calls, multimedia

In addition to the single SIM versions, there is also a dual SIM version that allows a microSD card to be inserted instead of the second SIM. The loudspeaker volume of the Samsung A3 phone is said to be satisfactory, the voice of the interlocutor is heard well, but the sound could be louder - you may not hear the ringtone under your clothes on the street. The quality of the headset does not cause any particular complaints, but the high-frequency range could be brighter.

Hardware

The phone is based on an 8-core Samsung Exynos 7 Octa 7870 microprocessor made using 14 nm technology. It includes Cortex-A53 cores with an operating frequency of 1.6 GHz and a Mali-T830 graphics subsystem. The chipset is aimed at mid-range devices and was used in the Galaxy J7 last year. The amount of RAM is 2 GB, and the internal one is 16 GB (only 10 GB are available to the user, and the rest is reserved by the operating system). The latter can be expanded thanks to microSD memory cards. The middle class of the processor will, as expected, result in a corresponding performance of the phone, which is at a level between average and medium-high. This is enough for any modern task, except perhaps the most complex 3D games.

Operating system and user interface

The A3 runs Android 6.0.1, on top of which is a brand new interface from the manufacturer Grace UX, which first appeared in the Galaxy Note 7). Features a new notification panel and menu design. Also in Grace UX there is a new panel, located to the left of the home screen, serving to display news. The language version depends on the firmware. The user interface supports changeable skins and icons downloaded from the Samsung application store, and can also display the current time and date, messages and other information on the screen in the always active screen mode, and offers a menu for optimizing energy consumption, and also contains a fairly large number of additional functions. ...

The fingerprint sensor of the Samsung A3 smartphone is praised for its quite confident operation. Screen unlocking lasts no more than 0.5 s. The operation of the interface of the Samsung A3 smartphone is generally described by reviews as fast and well-coordinated, small delays rarely occur, mainly when accessing the news display panel.

Camera

The phone is equipped with a 13-megapixel rear camera with an f / 1.9 aperture and a front-facing resolution of 8 megapixels. The application for working with them, except for the automatic mode, allows you to manually set ISO, exposure compensation, white balance and select the metering method (Spot / Center / Matrix).

The Samsung Galaxy A3 smartphone camera is praised for fast focusing and shooting. The photos are quite satisfying, with natural tones, excellent dynamic range and fairly accurate auto white balance. Indoors or in low light conditions, the picture quality is slightly reduced. Clarity is poor, and small details - thin branches, needles or grass - can be significantly affected by the noise reduction algorithm.

The HDR mode of the Samsung A3 smartphone's camera is called satisfactory by the owners. If there is not a large enough difference between the brightness of individual parts of the image in the image, the result may be purely cosmetic. But when there is a very bright object in the frame against a dark background, or there is a light source, this mode can significantly improve the quality of the picture due to more detail in the shaded areas.

The camcorder is average. 1080p 30fps is all it can do. The video is clear, but compression artifacts are noticeable.

Autonomy

The Samsung A3 phone is praised for its long battery life. The device is equipped with a 2350 mAh non-removable battery. The Super AMOLED display, as well as the use of the efficient Exynos 7870 Octa chipset, are the reason for the high "survivability" of the smartphone, despite the weak battery. Thus, according to the PCMark test, the battery life is almost 10 hours, which is an extremely good indicator. We can say that under high load conditions the phone is able to hold out for two days.

The official specification promises 17 hours of talk time on 3G, 17 hours of web navigation via Wi-Fi and 17 hours of video playback. And users confirm this data. This is impressive since only a few phones offer this kind of battery life, and most of them are huge smartphones with batteries of the same size. The iPhone 7, for example, runs a clock, and so does the Xperia X Compact.

The kit includes a standard fast charger. Charging from 0 to 37% takes half an hour, which is not a particularly quick result. The battery is fully charged within 90 minutes.

Power saving modes

The phone software offers several options to improve energy efficiency. There are two modes, each of which sets some restrictions on the maximum brightness, processor frequency, Internet use, and always-on screen. At the same time, the program reports how long the operating time of the smartphone will last.

"Samsung Galaxy A3": price, reviews

In some aspects, the phone even outperforms the iPhone 7 - mainly in terms of battery life and always-on display. In some, it is not inferior (water resistance, mobile payments, screen quality). But the camera and the chipset are no match. True, at half the price, it is impressive how close the smartphone has gotten to the world leader in mobile communication devices.

According to the owners, the positive features of the Galaxy A3 are a high-quality display, a waterproof and dustproof housing, a camera, a fingerprint sensor, and a long battery life. The cheapest model in the A-line costs 300 euros. That is why the main drawback that will scare away those who want to buy a Samsung A3 phone is the price. User reviews call the technical characteristics of the model interesting, but its design (especially in the black version) is not particularly distinguished. But ergonomics is okay. Those who need a high-quality small phone with a compact screen will show interest in the device.

All 2017 Galaxy A series smartphones are much rounder. So rounded that some reviewers even refer to the design as "remnant". In my opinion, everything is far from so terrible. On the contrary: the gadgets look extremely neat, no pretentiousness. Around the perimeter there is a metal panel, at the front - 2.5D glass with a volume effect, at the back there is a curved glass "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 you find fault with something, then only the rear panel, which looks empty because of the small camera lens. By the way, now it does not come out at all.

The glass case with brushed metal on the ends slides in the hands. If it's freezing outside and your hand is in a knitted glove, then you really need to be extremely careful. Drops are unacceptable - this is an almost 100% crack or scratch on either the front or rear window.

The main plus of the A3 (2017) is its very compact size. It is convenient to hold the device, you can work with it with one hand even on the go, even on the run. 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 in 2017 are also protected by 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: A3 (2017) now supports Samsung Pay. In the 2016 model, it was not, although A5 (2016) and A7 (2016) work with a payment service.

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

The fingerprint scanner, as 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 key to unlock.

Sometimes the sensor is buggy: it completely refuses to recognize the fingerprint, and that's it. Only entering a PIN, password or pattern helps. I got sick of this 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 AMOLED features are such that, due to the PenTile effect, individual pixels are easily distinguishable with the naked eye. This is especially frustrating when reading e-books or texts from the web. And the graininess makes it difficult to adequately assess the quality of the resulting photos after shooting - they look better on a smartphone screen than on a computer monitor.

Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017) 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 of 2017. This is when, in sleep mode, the display shows a clock or a calendar plus notifications about missed calls and messages.

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

There is a night mode. By the name "Blue color filter" it is easy to guess that it turns off the shades of the blue spectrum, and in the dark the eyes are less tired. There are also four color profiles to choose from and the ability to manually adjust the color balance of the screen.

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

Games at 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 more than half is consumed by the system) 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 arcades or puzzles. But the case practically does not heat up and the performance does not drop after a long load.

Much more serious is the constant lack of memory. The built-in 16 GB, of which only less than 6 GB is left to the user, is very small. The necessary applications, one episode of the series plus a couple of decent games and that's it - it's time to put the memory card in the slot instead of the second SIM. In general, there is no need to entertain any illusions about the "dual-simplicity" of the Galaxy A3 (2017). The maximum allowable microSD size is 256 GB.

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

Excellent front camera and good main camera

The 13-megapixel camera of the Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017) pleased me with a quick launch by double-clicking the Home button and a 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 A5 and A7 are steeper in this regard due to phase AF), there are no errors with white balance, frames are saved to memory quickly. In a word, taking pictures is comfortable. There is only one problem - in some places the pictures look a little blurry. When viewed on a computer, I just want to go into Photoshop and turn on the sharpening macro.

No HDR

With HDR

Things get sad when it comes to shooting at night. Autofocus scans and misses, detail drops, and a lot of noise appears. It is best to switch to manual mode and compensate for the automatic errors with your knowledge of the shooting parameters.

Video can only be recorded in Full HD, but something more would hardly have been pulled by a modest processor. You shouldn't play the operator at night, but you can play it during the day. The main thing is to hold the smartphone firmly, drive smoothly and do not remove on the go. There is no optical stabilization.

To summarize the main camera, the impressions are as follows. Galaxy A3 (2017) photographs better than budget Meizu and Xiaomi, but worse than some competitors' smartphones with larger diagonal. Of the more budgetary alternatives, the most interesting in this regard is the Honor 6X. You can also look at the Sony Xperia XA - the quality of the images is higher there, but the automation is worse. The comparable in price Huawei nova may well compete with the A3 (2017) also in terms of selfies.

By the way, about self-portraits. They are good: the 8-megapixel front camera works wonders under normal lighting conditions. Sharpness, detail, color rendition - everything is in perfect order. The correction only needs to be made for the lack of autofocus. Examples of shooting with comments, see our gallery:

photos

photos

photos

Lasts a long time, charges quickly

There is a 2350 mAh battery inside the smartphone, but you shouldn't be afraid of such a modest capacity. The Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017) does its fair share of above average load or 1.5 days in economy mode.

Affected by the combination of an economical processor and a low-resolution AMOLED screen. This is especially evident in mono tests. Full HD video at maximum brightness, the smartphone can spin for 19.5 hours. Our favorite unpretentious arcade game Subway Surfers at maximum brightness drains the battery in about 7 hours.

Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017) battery life compared to competitors and record holders, shown in minutes

All three new A-series smartphones, including the A3, are equipped with a USB Type-C connector, and rightly so. The road to unification! Fast charging is announced in A5 and A7, in A3 there is no support for such technology, which, however, does not prevent the gadget from fully charging from 0 to 100% in 1.5 hours.

Comparison with competitors

Finding a decent smartphone with a screen diagonal of less than 5 inches is still a quest. There are actually only two competitors in this field for the Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017) - Sony Xperia X Compact and iPhone SE... Both are much more expensive in official retail. However, the compact Apple smartphone from the "gray" supplies can be considered as an alternative - get a stable OS, powerful stuffing and a bundle 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 Samsung Pay support (not everyone also needs it), but many of the main characteristics of competitors are better, and prices are lower.

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

The nomination "budget model with a guarantee" is a metal Meizu M3S mini c 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 grain. The most important thing is the price. In official retail, the gadget costs 9,000 rubles cheaper.

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

If you don't care about the diagonal of the screen, then among the 5.2 and 5.5-inch models the choice is even wider, but we will not dwell on them. Still, A3 (2017) is a device specifically for lovers of small smartphones, competitors should be appropriate.

Opinion site

Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017) is an interesting smartphone. No one has yet offered mass models from the mid-price segment with water and dust protection. Ugly rubberized bricks from obscure 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-range". The situation is different: there is a weak filling, lack of memory (only 16 GB, of which only 6 are free) and a hybrid slot, a grainy screen and a buggy fingerprint scanner.

Does it make sense to change the A3 (2016) to a new model? In my opinion, only if you really want to start using the Samsung Pay service. His support appeared in A3 (2017). It can also be justified if you love taking self-portraits - the selfie camera is good here. Protection from water does not pull for a serious reason for updating, but here everyone probably has their own opinion.

Pros:

• Water and dust resistant (IP68)
• Compact and convenient body
• Excellent build quality
• Bright AMOLED screen
• Good main camera automation
• Cool selfie camera
• USB Type-C connector
• Charges fast
• Upgrade to Android 7.0
• Supports Samsung Pay

Minuses:

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

South Korean electronics manufacturer Samsung has already launched several series of its Galaxy smartphones. It may seem to many users that the majority of Koreans rivet similar smartphones. We will consider all the differences between smartphones from each other of the same line, series and model, but different years of production. What's the difference between Samsung Galaxy A3 2014 and Galaxy A3 2016?

2014 A3 Model Brief

Back in 2013-2014, Korean Alpha smartphones suffered a crushing defeat in the smart phone market. Due to their cost and small capabilities, they were poorly sold out, so Apple and Chinese Noname oppressed Samsung. In order not to lose ground, a new series of smartphones was launched.

The very first smartphone of the A-line - Galaxy A3 2014 - recaptured the lost positions in the market thanks to an excellent combination of price and quality. What happened at the output:

• Metal body and durable Gorilla Glass screen.
• The device runs on Android 4.4 OS.
• In terms of communications, it has Wi-Fi, LTE, NFS and Bluetooth. Dual SIM cards.
• From the navigation systems, GPS, GLONASS and Beidou were built into the smartphone.
• Also, the device was equipped with powerful cameras - front 5MP, main 8MP.
• A 4.5-inch screen with a resolution of 960x540.
• 4-core A53 processor at 1.2 GHz, very powerful for devices of that time.
• RAM 1 GB.
• Free space on the drive is 16 GB, but in fact only 11 (another 4 is occupied by the OS). The memory can be expanded by 128 GB using memory cards.
• And a non-removable 1900 mAh battery. In normal operation, it holds a charge for up to 2 days.

The old device was designed for the middle price category, the new model is more suitable for the high price category.

Changes to the A3 2016

Despite the fact that the A3 proved to be excellent on the market in 2014-2015, there were certain flaws in it. Instead of forgetting about the old A3, the Koreans decided to improve the smartphone and continue to produce the A series, adding the year 2016 to the name and changing the serial number to SM-A310F.

The result was a device in which all the bugs were fixed and the firmware and hardware were optimized for modern user requests. Now the smartphone has the following characteristics:

• Metal body with improved Gorilla Glass 4 screen protection, 2.5D glass on both sides.
• The new OS version is Android 5.1.
• In terms of communications, navigation and the number of SIM cards, there are no major changes.
• The main camera has been improved - instead of 8MP, now it is 13. The front camera has undergone minor changes.
• The screen has become a little bigger and better - 4.7 inches (instead of 4.5) and HD resolution (1280x720).
• The processor has improved, now instead of 1.2 GHz - 1.5 GHz.
• There are no changes in terms of built-in memory.
• The RAM has been increased by 512 MB and is now 1.5 GB.
• The non-removable battery has improved, instead of 1900 mAh - 2300 mAh. The charge should last longer, but due to more demanding applications and powerful hardware, the benefits practically disappear.

Is A3 2016 worth its money

This is where opinions differ. On the one hand, it is a more powerful and stylish smartphone. But on the other hand, this is a more expensive smartphone, the power of which has not increased so much compared to the previous model, and the stylish design is not the most important criterion for users. The difference in prices between models can vary greatly; on average, an improved A3 will cost you 4-8 thousand rubles more.

It is pleasant to play modern mobile games on the new smartphone, while on the old model they will be a little buggy. This phone has a noticeably improved screen, so playing and watching movies on it is just a joy. Despite the improved main camera, the quality of the images has not changed much. If you don't have a lot of money, then it is better to give preference to the old A3.

For several years in a row, the South Korean group of companies Samsung from Seoul never ceases to amaze us with its latest inventions from high-tech components.


It satisfies most of the human needs in the household sphere, delighting with the novelties of telecommunication equipment, household appliances, audio and video devices. Every year the company's progress is growing before our eyes. Who could have expected that a few years after the formation of the company you will have in your hands a rare invention in the form of a mobile phone, for example, a novelty in the style of Galaxy, which is in great demand at this time in the A3 and A5 series.

Impressions of the new Galaxy A3 and Galaxy A5

The smartphone gives us the feeling of a solid metal, die-cast quality in the hand and confidence in reliability. Complete color palette of the case. The sensitivity of the GSM, GPS, WiFI receivers is at the required level. The phone will consume little battery power and will perform fairly quickly when configured correctly. Positive picture quality, both in regular photography and in macro photography. The speaker volume is satisfactory. Bluetooth works with the car radio without any problems: it displays the names of the songs in Russian, you have complete control over the playback. Strong, bright flash, as well as a flashlight. Built-in interface themes. There is a power saving mode. Stable operation of the firmware.

The smartphone has a similar variety of body colors as in A3, good price-quality ratio, fast, the ability to use either 2 SIM or 1 SIM + flash drive at the same time, excellent speaker both external and conversational, multifunctional, user-friendly interface, widescreen screen, video quality and photos at a high level and perhaps the best embodiment of Samsung in the Galaxy series at the moment, the undisputed winner in this category.

Similarities in the A3 and A5 models that you may encounter

Looking at the two phones, you will find similar similarities:

1. They have a similar design, both in the arrangement of phones and in the placement of individual elements on them.
2. Identical metal case, stylized as plastic.
3. Quite similar slim body.
4. Both smartphones have a fairly powerful quad-core processor.
5. Both have the same GPU.
6. The main advantage of these smartphones is the presence of 2 SIM cards.
7. The same menu for using smartphones.
8. Even the built-in memory is the same in these two different models.
9. They have a non-removable battery.
10. Both have a slot for an SD card.

What follows from the above? It seems that progress is actually present, and there are so many huge similarities. After all, the fact is that the Samsung brand always adheres to the brand in the production of any of its series.

The difference between the two series, and why is the A5 more powerful than the A3?

So what could be the difference? It looks like they have the same smartphones. Firstly, the difference is that with each subsequent series Samsung is trying to rise to a new level, thereby adding a drop of innovation to its technologies. Taking the Galaxy A3 and A5 as an example, the subsequent A3 series came out with a higher quality camera than its predecessor. Also confident leading indicators in A5 over A3 are in the lead:

1. Larger battery 2300 mAh instead of 1900 mAh, which contributes to a longer working time of the device.
2. The stock of RAM has been doubled up to 2 GB.
3. The diagonal of the screen has been increased to 5 inches instead of 4.5.
4. The camera is 13 megapixels instead of 8.
5. The level of signal reception quality is higher than in A3.
6. Added a special ability to take a screenshot of your screen.
7. The ability to work in 2-window mode, which cannot be said about the predecessor A3.

The conclusion you should draw!

And so the whole forecast is on the face. I think everyone who has ever had a choice between the previous model and the subsequent one chooses the second option. And who knows what can expect us in the next year or two, because progress keeps pace with the times, and is always full of surprises. And to predict what the next phone will be like, in what style, with what parameters, size, functions, in what direction Samsung's improvement will go remains a mystery, it remains to be patient and wait for when Samsung will again delight us with its innovations in the field of audio - and video devices. And we wish them luck in the subsequent creation of masterpieces that will impress us again and again.

Released last year, the Samsung A3 (2016) was a compact and easy-to-use phone with a 4.7-inch screen. The company has already released an updated model and many have become interested in the question, has it become better? Should you swap out Galaxy A3 2016 for Galaxy A3 2017? These questions will be answered by a complete overview of both models.

The new series of phones Galaxy A (2017) is one class lower than the Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, but they also cost almost 2 times less than the flagships. The 2017 Galaxy A3 is the smallest and cheapest of the series. Last time we compared the mid-range variant, the Galaxy A5 (2017), with its predecessor, so if you missed it, be sure to catch up here.

Prices

Let's start with the cost of smartphones. Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017) has already appeared on the shelves of Russian stores with a price tag of 22,990 rubles. Its last year's version in official Samsung retailers will now cost 17,990 rubles. Naturally, this is a discounted price, since you can already purchase a new model.

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Characteristics of Samsung Galaxy A3 2017 vs Galaxy A3 2016

	Galaxy A3 (2016)	Galaxy A3 (2017)
Display	4.7-inch Super AMOLED (720 x 1280 pixels), 312 PPI, Corning Gorilla Glass 4	4.7-inch Super AMOLED (720 x 1280 pixels), 312 PPI, Corning Gorilla Glass 4, Always On Display
CPU	Exynos 7578, 1.5 GHz, 4 cores, MaliT720MP2	Exynos 7870, 1.6 GHz, 8 cores, Mali-T830MP3
RAM	1.5 GB	2 GB
Main camera	13MP CMOS, f / 1.9, autofocus, 1080p video recording	13MP CMOS, f / 1.9, autofocus, 1080p video recording
Front-camera	5-megapixel, f / 1.9, 1080p video recording	8-megapixel, f / 1.9, 1080p video recording
Memory	16 GB of internal memory, microSD (up to 128GB)	16 GB of internal memory, microSD (up to 256GB)
ON	Android 5.1.1 Lollipop, will be updated to Android 7.0	Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow, will be updated to 7.0
Connection	Dual SIM, LTE, FM radio, dual-band Wi-Fi a / b / g / n, Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth v4.1, GPS, microUSB v2.0 with OTG support	Dual SIM, LTE, FM-radio, dual-band Wi-Fi a / b / g / n / ac, Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth v4.2, GPS, USB Type-C with OTG support
Battery	2,300mAh	2,350 mAh
Other functions	S-Voice	Samsung Pay (NFC & MST), KNOX, Fingerprint Reader, IP68 Certified

Display

Both last year's model and the current one have the same 4.7-inch HD-resolution displays. Their pixel density is identical to each other - 312 ppi, but the screen-to-body ratio is different. In Samsung A3 2017, this is 67.85%, while in its predecessor - 69.30%. Definitely the fact is that the smartphone released this year has become a little larger: 135.4x66.2x7.9 mm versus 134.5x65.2x7.3 mm.

In both cases, Super AMOLED technology is used, which has excellent energy efficiency and contrast.

Hardware platform

All indicators have changed only for the better. Instead of the 4-core Exynos 7578 processor in the previous version of the Galaxy A3, the new one received the 8-core Exynos 7870, operating at a higher clock speed. The amount of RAM has increased from 1.5 gigabytes to two. Both smartphones have the same amount of built-in memory, but its speed has improved. It is also now possible to use a larger memory card - 256 GB instead of 128 GB.

Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017) received a new case with improved ergonomics. The manufacturer uses glass and aluminum as its basis. Unlike its predecessor, this smartphone is IP68 certified, making it dust and water resistant.

Battery

Despite the fact that the battery capacity of the new product in 2017 has increased by only 50 mAh, its autonomy has become noticeably better. Inside there is a 2350 mAh battery, which is enough for 17 hours of talks on 3G networks. As for the Internet, surfing with the included data transfer through third-generation networks can last up to 12 hours, and in 4G networks - 16 hours.

Software platform

Samsung A3 (2016) recently updated to Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow and currently both run the same version of Android. One way or another, Samsung has pre-installed the latest user interface on the new model. This means that A3 2017 has state-of-the-art software that stands out for its speed and functionality.

Like other smartphones in this series, the Galaxy A3 2017 has the Samsung cloud, where you can sync photos, documents and other data. It also boasts the flagship Always On Display feature. Even when your phone is idle, you can view the time, calendar events, notifications and more.

Communication and security

The gadgets have support for two SIM cards, but during a call, the other card will be out of the network. The memory card slot is hybrid, so you have to choose between a second SIM card or an expansion of the built-in memory. Of course, the existing radio module supports 4G (Cat.6). The Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017) has faster Bluetooth 4.2 and, unlike the 2016 model, dual-band Wi-Fi with AC support. Instead of the outdated microUSB, we get USB Type-C, which offers fast data transfer and charging speeds.

With a fingerprint sensor built into the Home button, not found on the 2016 Galaxy A3, Samsung Pay is supported. That is, you can pay for purchases using your smartphone.

Outcomes

The new Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017) outperforms its predecessor in many ways. It has a dust and water resistant housing that is IP68 certified. There is more RAM, a faster chipset and support for memory cards up to 256GB. Already because of this, it makes sense to think about how to exchange the old model for a new one, right?

The Galaxy A3 2017 can also catch your eye with its faster LTE Cat.6 module, advanced Bluetooth 4.2, dual-band Wi-Fi and a fingerprint scanner, thanks to which it became possible to use the Samsung Pay mobile payment system.