Samsung Galaxy A5 2016 Review

Samsung still wants to dominate the smartphone market by releasing different smartphones at different segments and recently, the company has released two of their newest mid-ranger series, the Samsung Galaxy A series 2016. In this post, we’ll be reviewing one of the smartphones, the Samsung Galaxy A5 2016

It’s metal and glass

Glass and metal are mostly the materials used for creating a solid and premium smartphone and yes, they’ve gone glass and metal to this one on the Galaxy A5 2016. Just like the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S7, the Samsung Galaxy A5 2016 has a metal frame along with the glass back which makes the smartphones feel very premium.

The Galaxy A5 2016 feels more similar to the Galaxy S6 due to its flat metal frame on the sides and the flat glass on the back. Missing here is the curved glass back present on the Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge which made those smartphones easier to hold but don’t worry, this smartphone only has a 5.2-inch display.

No USB Type-C in sight

Again, the smartphone’s design is similar to the Samsung Galaxy S6, below the smartphone, you can find the MicroUSB, Speaker grill, and the audio jack. I wasn’t surprised that the smartphone didn’t use USB Type-C because even their current flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S7, still didn’t use USB Type-C

Super AMOLED is really nice to the eyes

One of the main features that you gotta love about the Samsung Galaxy A5 2016 is its display. This smartphone got a full HD Super AMOLED Display and it’s just gorgeous. I know, it’s not as sharp and good as the one on the Galaxy S7 or even the Galaxy S6 but still, the display of the smartphone is still good.

The colors are vivid thanks to the Super AMOLED display and I’ve never had any problems with it when I’m using it outside. However, if you’re planning on using this smartphone for VR, better get the Samsung Galaxy S6 since that one has a better display and it supports Gear VR. Yep, this smartphone doesn’t support Gear VR.

Battery Life is better than the Galaxy S6

One of the bigger features of this smartphone is the Galaxy A5 2016 features fast charging, however, it isn’t as fast as the on the Samsung Galaxy S6 that we’ve reviewed before but hey, at least we got a bigger 2900mAh battery on this one and this smartphone was way better than the Galaxy S6 in terms of battery life. With the Samsung Galaxy A5 2016, I was able to get 14 hours of use on a single charge.

Not as powerful as the Galaxy S6 

For some regions, the Samsung Galaxy A5 2016 is running on Snapdragon 615 processor but here in the Philippines, we have an Exynos processor running inside it. It’s not as powerful as the last predecessor, the Galaxy S6, but for most people the processor inside it is more than enough. However, unlike the Galaxy A7, the Samsung Galaxy A5 2016 only has a 2GB of RAM.

Using the smartphone was really swift and comfortable because the TouchWiz UI is now even faster. In my use, I didn’t notice too many slowdowns and everything is almost a breeze to use. Actually, for some people, they won’t even notice the speed difference between the Galaxy A5 to the Galaxy S6.

For the real usage of the smartphone, I was able to play NBA 2k16 on this smartphone at medium settings and at most games, the Galaxy A5 performs even better than I expected.

A pretty good camera

One of the biggest upgrades of the Samsung Galaxy A5 2016 from its predecessor is its camera. This time, the Samsung Galaxy A5 2016 packs a 13-megapixel rear camera with f/1.9 aperture and yes, the smartphone’s camera is really great to use and it can trump most smartphones at its price range, however, the quality isn’t on par with the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S7. Check out the shots that I took using the Galaxy A5 2016 below

Verdict

The Samsung Galaxy A5 2016 packs a premium design and a performance that does well beyond my expectations. It’s really a good midrange smartphone thanks to its fast performance, good battery life, and a great camera. Some people would even mistakenly recognize this smartphone as Samsung’s flagship because of its build.

Why do I keep comparing the Galaxy A5 2016 with the Galaxy S6? Well, first, the Galaxy S6, is almost priced near the SRP of the Galaxy A5 when you get it at gray markets. Second, both smartphones look identical. If you are confused with the two, well, Galaxy A5 2016 has a better battery life and it produces less heat compared to the Galaxy S6 but with the Galaxy S6, you’ll get a better performance and a better camera. So yeah, it depends on what you need on a smartphone.

So for who do I recommend this smartphone? If you’re looking for a flagship smartphone but your budget is just at sub-Php20k then you might want to take a look at this smartphone. It has a pretty good design and hardware and a great camera.

The Samsung Galaxy A5 2016 is now available for P19,990.