The Galaxy A5 and Galaxy A3 made an appearance a few days ago, not per se, rather as the upcoming substitutes for the Galaxy Alpha which will be discontinued starting February 2015. At the time, no information was available about a US release of the phones, but we did know that the A5 was available in certain regions already. Now, things have sped up a bit and we can already order the Galaxy A5 and Galaxy A3 online. You can order both handsets at Expansys-usa.com or Amazon for pretty affordable prices.
The A5 will be the substitute premium smartphone for the Galaxy Alpha, sporting a metal body and mid-range specs. Its price is currently set at $409, which is considerably lower than the $600 price tag Samsung slapped on the Galaxy Alpha. The Galaxy A3 price is $330, but that device harbors lesser specs. Galaxy A5 specs include a 5 inch Super AMOLED display with a 720*1280 resolution adding up to a decent 294 ppi pixel density, a Snapdragon 410 CPU backed by 2 GB RAM and 16 GB expandable storage. The camera setup includes a 13 MP sensor with LED flash on the rear and a 5 MP front camera. The handset comes with Android 4.4.4 KitKat and a beefy 2300 mAH battery.
The Galaxy A5’s lesser counterpart, the Galaxy A3 sports a smaller 4.5 inch Super AMOLEd display with a 540*960 resolution that adds up to 245 ppi pixel density. We’ve got the Snapdragon 410 under the hood, backed by 1.5 GB RAM and 8 GB expandable storage. The camera setup on the cheaper metal phone comprises of an 8 MP sensor with LED flash on the rear and the same 5 MP sensor on the front. Android 4.4.4 KitKat and a 1900 mAH battery are also part of the package.
Since the Galaxy A5 and Galaxy A3 are pretty decently priced and their design is based off of the Galaxy Alpha, meaning a lot of metal to feel as cold as your heart, we are glad to see a US launch was so speedy. The more high-end brother of the two, the Galaxy A7 should also be making an appearance in South Korea on January 14 and it should come to US shores sometime in February if estimations stand correct. Has anyone already ordered these handsets or are you skeptical about their provenience?