Samsung Galaxy A7 Review – Best Mid-Range with Flagship Features. The position obliges. Samsung Galaxy A7 smartphone review Samsung a7 comparison

Absolutely all smartphones from the Galaxy A line, of which there are more than a dozen, if you start counting from 2014, were made with design in mind. It is quite obvious that the flagship models of Samsung were taken as a basis, and therefore this time the Galaxy S7 was “copied”.

But, of course, the Galaxy A7 (2017) is not as similar as the A5 (2017). Can you guess what's going on? Okay, I won’t bore you: the S7 has a screen diagonal of 5.1", and our hero has a 5.7", that is, like a Galaxy Note. No, don’t think, the new product will not be a kind of replacement for the infamous Galaxy Note 7 - they have fundamentally different positioning. And the laptop looked cooler.

The Note 7 looks cooler, but the Samsung Galaxy A7 (2017) looks good too. If we stop comparing it to expensive top models, we will get a stylish device made of glass and metal. It is all so convex and rounded, thanks to the 2.5D glass.

At the back, the tube was bent at the edges so that it fits better in the hand. Well, what can I say, the palm doesn’t expand very much, but it still expands. You can’t hide physics anywhere - 5.7 inches is 5.7 inches. I’ll immediately add that the tactile sensations from the case are excellent - the massive, weighty block of the phone is very well assembled, there is no doubt about its reliability.

The front and back of the smartphone is covered with Gorilla Glass 4, so although it is possible to break it, it is not so easy. And he shouldn't be scratched. The device also has protection according to the IP68 standard - it is now also difficult to drown it.

However, the addition of moisture protection did not come free to the Galaxy A7 (2017) - its thickness has increased to 7.9 mm (it is 7.3 mm), as well as its weight, which is now around 180 grams. The latter parameter was also influenced by a more capacious battery and a 0.2" larger display.

In general, what can we conclude about the appearance of the Samsung Galaxy A7 (2017)? Stylish, beautiful, interesting. I had the black Galaxy A7 (2017) black in my hands, but the pink Galaxy A7 (2017) ping, the gold Galaxy A7 (2017) gold and the blue Galaxy A7 (2017) blue will also be sold - for all tastes, so to speak. At the same time, the device is perfectly executed, well protected both from scratches and from moisture and dust.

Connectors and controls

In terms of ergonomics, the Samsung Galaxy A7 (2017) has not changed very much. All the usual elements are in place, although one has been replaced entirely.

Above the smartphone screen there is a front camera lens, light and proximity sensors, and a speaker. The latter is painted black and the paint may come off over time - not the most pleasant moment. The phone also does not have an LED event indicator. For now, it remains only on Samsung flagships, although for the entire Galaxy A line for 2017 it may be replaced by the Always On function - I’ll talk about it in the section about the screen.

Below the display are the traditional “Korean” buttons Home, Back and recent applications. The last two are touchscreen and are not visible until they are backlit, and the first is mechanical, with a built-in fingerprint scanner.

Fingerprints are added in the “Lock screen and security” section of the Galaxy A7 (2017) settings. But, as usual, you must first set an alternative unlocking method: with a pattern, PIN code or password.

To save a fingerprint, you need to touch the sensor a little more than a dozen times. Afterwards, you can set parameters for what else can be unlocked with it, and the smartphone itself is already configured to work with your finger. We have a short video about this whole process:

The backlighting of the buttons is bright and clearly visible.

At the back of the Galaxy A7 (2017) there is a camera and an LED flash.

On the left side there are the usual volume buttons. And just below them, in a not so “usual” way, there is a compartment for the first SIM card.

The Galaxy A7 (2017) and its younger brother A5 (2017) have two separate slots for nanoSIM cards; there is no combination with the memory card compartment.

The second tray is placed on the upper side, not the opposite side from the microphone for noise reduction.

Here the holder is longer - for two cards: for nanoSIM and microSD. If you suddenly don’t figure out how to manage all this “economy”, I recommend watching our video:

Meanwhile, on the right side, in addition to the power button, there is now also a speakerphone. Previously it was below.

And at the bottom there remains a 3.5 mm mini-jack for headphones and headsets, a conversational microphone and a USB Type-C connector - it is this “element” that has been replaced “entirely.” Samsung has installed it on the entire updated line of devices, which is cool in my opinion. Yes, there are few such cables yet, but the situation will change every day.

So, what comes out: the Samsung Galaxy A7 (2017) has two full-fledged compartments for SIM cards, it supports the USB Type-C interface, the external speaker has moved to the left side, where it is more difficult to close, and all other elements remain in place. Overall, it turned out great!

Case for Samsung Galaxy A7 (2017)

It was impossible to buy a case or cover for the Samsung Galaxy A7 (2017) at the time of writing this article - this device has not yet gone on sale. However, this model is popular, so there will be quite a lot of offers for it.

For example, a case for the Galaxy A7 (2017) of this type will probably cost about 1,000 rubles.

This book case for the Galaxy A7 (2017) will cost about 1,200 rubles.

Samsung Galaxy A7 (2017) screen

The quality of screens in Samsung smartphones is increasing every year. Even in flagships, where it would seem there’s nowhere better. Of course, the growth is not dramatic, but it is there. Meanwhile, flatter models also get new-generation displays. So is the Galaxy A7 (2017) - its predecessor already had a good image, and now it looks even nicer. However, this can only be seen if you put two devices side by side and start looking closely.

On the other hand, the pixel density of the screen of the Samsung Galaxy A7 (2017) decreased from 401 to 386 ppi, if we take the previous phone for comparison. It's all about the increased screen diagonal - it was 5.5", but became 5.7", that is, like the Galaxy Note. It is unlikely that the company will in this way compensate for the untimely death of Note 7; rather, the increase in size is caused by the desire to further differentiate the Galaxy A5 (2017) and A7 (2017) - previously there was a difference of 0.3" between them, and now - 0.5".

And yes, as you might have guessed, the display resolution remains the same: 1920x1080 pixels or Full HD. For me, this is more than enough for everyday life. The picture still remains clear, no nicks or other interface irregularities are visible. Subjectively, I like the image on the Galaxy A7 (2017) screen. Super AMOLED is Super AMOLED - a high-quality matrix, with bright colors and wide viewing angles, almost no blinding in the sun. And if you think that the colors are too eye-catching, then changing the profiles will help solve the problem, but more on that below.

Meanwhile, objective measurements indicate screen brightness at 413.81 cd/m2, which is quite good. Coupled with a high-quality anti-reflective coating, this provides that very good “resistance” to the bright sun. Let's add here the feature of OLED technology, namely deep black color and, therefore, excellent contrast.

The color gamut of the Galaxy A7 (2017) display is, as always, maximum and noticeably higher than that of the best IPS matrices. When the Adaptive profile is activated, it noticeably outperforms the sRGB color space and comes close to covering professional Adobe RGB. Well, the “Main” profile, which is more “calm” in terms of saturation, produces a smaller number of colors, which is in no way noticeable to the eye.

The gamma curves generally look good. Not ideal, but very close to the standard curve 2.2: in the case of the “Adaptive” profile, the curve was slightly lower than the standard, and for the “Basic” it was higher. In the first case, this means a slight darkening of the image, or rather its output is slightly darker than necessary, and in the second - lightening. But again, you won’t see it by eye.

The white balance is, as always, very good for the “Main” profile, but in the case of the “Adaptive” it is compromised towards a cooler picture. But in general, most smartphones have this problem, it’s even a kind of “norm”.

The Galaxy A7 (2017) screen recognizes up to 10 simultaneous touches. This is a small thing, but younger models support no more than 5 touches at once.

And here are the screen profiles, they are selected in the settings. The default is Adaptive, but you can choose the one that suits you best. Moreover, in this generation of the device, you can additionally adjust the gamma of individual color components.

The Galaxy A7 (2017) also has the coolest feature – Always On, which literally translates as “always on”. The screen always shows the time, as well as notifications. You can choose a background for the clock, replace it with a calendar or just a pattern. It would seem that this is nonsense, but you get used to it so quickly and “firmly” that you decide right away: the next smartphone will have Always On! I have it, but you can buy it for yourself right away, yes. The battery life of this thing is very small - if consumption increases, it is by a couple of percent per day. Moreover, the autonomy of the Galaxy A7 (2017) is amazing! But more on this later, in the testing section.

To summarize, I can conclude that the screen of the Galaxy A7 (2017) is excellent, with a good picture, bright colors, the ability to fine-tune and a very convenient Always On function.

The Samsung Galaxy A7 (2017) also received an updated camera, as did the Galaxy A5 (2017). The predecessor had 13 megapixels, but now it is 16 megapixels. Although, of course, this did not affect the quality in any way - the shooting resolution only increased. But the update of the frame processing algorithms has had an effect, so the smartphone takes better pictures.

The interface of the camera control application has changed. As always, insignificant, but noticeable. So filters are now pulled out with a slide gesture on the right, and shooting modes on the left.

Among the interesting modes is Pro, where you can set light sensitivity, white balance and exposure compensation. Also useful will be HDR, hyperlapse - shooting slow-motion video (don't forget to put your phone on a tripod!), as well as Food, where you'll get cool bokeh.

Maximum resolution, as always, is achieved with an aspect ratio of 4:3.

As you can see, the Galaxy A7 (2017) shoots decently. The frames are sharp, with good white balance, without flare. Overall, I liked it. Even in the evening the result is good.

The video is shot in Full HD resolution. 4K is still not available for Samsung smartphones unless it's a flagship.

The video also turned out well, although not in the newfangled 4K resolution.

The front camera also has its own modes, although there are significantly fewer of them.

The resolution of the front sensor has been noticeably increased - up to 16 MP, that is, equal to the rear one.

The shots from the front camera are also good, the colors are correct, and the white balance is not affected. However, there is a nuance - the lens is set to focus close, and that is why the photos came out so “blurred”.

The front camera also shoots video in Full HD.

The problem with video is the same as with photos - it’s good, but blurry if you don’t shoot close objects.

In principle, I liked the cameras of the Galaxy A7 (2017). The rear one takes pictures very well - it will suit many people. There are complaints about focusing on the front, but perhaps this will be fixed with a firmware update.

The Galaxy A line for 2017 includes three models: Galaxy A3 (2017), Galaxy A5 (2017) and Galaxy A7 (2017). Our type is like “senior”. And it’s not “like”, but it is – this is the most expensive model, although its characteristics correspond in every way to the Galaxy A5 (2017). Therefore, it is much more interesting to find out how they have changed in comparison with the Galaxy A7 (2016).

The most interesting thing is that the Galaxy A7 (2016) differed in terms of characteristics from the Galaxy A5 (2016) more significantly - the largest device had 1 GB more RAM. Now this difference has been leveled - only the screen diagonal and battery capacity remain.

Meanwhile, the Samsung Galaxy A7 (2017) has an Exynos 7880 Octa processor. It has eight Cortex-A53 cores operating at 1.88 GHz. The chip is manufactured using a 14-nm process technology, and therefore heats up less than the 28-nm Exynos 7580 of its predecessor. The frequency has increased noticeably - all cores operate at the same frequency. In principle, this is not the fastest chipset on the market, about “above average”, but its speed should be enough for everyone.

There are, however, some questions regarding the video card. Mali-T830 MP3 is a three-pipe accelerator, operating in this case at a frequency of 750 MHz. This mid-budget solution is not the slowest, but it’s not so easy to classify it as productive either. Of course, compared to the Exynos 7580 with its Mali-T720 MP2, the new video card has become noticeably better, but it still has to deal with Full HD screen resolution. Although, on the other hand, I did not notice any problems with performance.

The amount of RAM has not changed - it is still 3 GB. Obviously, they did not increase it to 4 GB, so as not to create unnecessary parallels with the Galaxy S7. Moreover, the Galaxy A7 (2017) has 32 GB of flash memory - a twofold increase here, which I strongly welcome.

The remaining characteristics are less significant, but still. So LTE is supported by category 6, that is, data reception can reach up to 300 Mbit/s. Bluetooth has been updated to version 4.2, Wi-Fi is now compatible with the high-speed 802.11ac standard. But USB Type-C is just a new fashionable connector, while the interface behind it is the old one, USB 2.0.

Overall, I rate the characteristics of the Samsung Galaxy A7 (2017) as good. The smartphone clearly does not use the very best components, and someone will say that some Xiaomi will offer a flagship for the same money. Well, let him offer it, but the value of a Korean phone is not only in its hardware, although it is good. Now see for yourself.

Performance testing

Now we'll find out how good the Galaxy A7 (2017) is compared to its predecessor, the 2016 model.

Well... both the old and the new system-wide tests showed a noticeable increase in performance.

There is no difference in the SunSpider browser test - obviously, it was not able to fully load the new chipset.

But three-dimensional tests show a noticeable increase in speed. I shouldn’t have blamed the video card; it has become much faster, which is good news.

Samsung Galaxy A7 (2017) in Antutu

Now let's take a look at what the popular Antutu benchmark shows.

As you can see, here too the Galaxy A7 (2017) has become significantly faster than last year’s model. Although someone will say that “less than 100 thousand is nonsense.” Well, what can I say to that? This is nonsense, but in my opinion all these “parrots” are a very arbitrary thing. Moreover, if you consider what amazing autonomy the smartphone showed.

As always, I conduct the main test of autonomy.

The result obtained is not that much, but still noticeably better than the Galaxy A7 (2016) - the new handset lasts longer and this is visible to the eye. It has almost a record value of all the tested devices. Better, perhaps, only .

The Antutu autonomy test shows a slightly different picture - the Galaxy A7 (2017) is almost twice as good as its predecessor. The tube really lasts a long time. It has the best performance of the entire Galaxy A line, and in general it will be difficult to find a smartphone on the market whose performance will be comparable. We won’t take bricks with mega-batteries into account, okay?

As is usually the case, 3D games consume the most energy. All other tasks consume more or less the same charge.

In addition to internal optimizations, Samsung gives you the opportunity to customize energy consumption yourself. In the settings there are modes for increased energy saving, and optionally, individual applications can be allowed to work without restrictions.

So it turns out: Samsung Galaxy A7 (2017) is a smartphone with decent, although not top-end, performance, as well as excellent battery life. The autonomy is really cool - one of the best.

Games on Samsung Galaxy A7 (2017)

Games on the Galaxy A7 (2017) run reliably, and there is enough memory for them.

• Riptide GP2: excellent, the game does not slow down;

• Asphalt 7: excellent, the game does not slow down;

• Asphalt 8: excellent, the game does not slow down;

• Modern Combat 5: excellent, the game does not slow down;

• N.O.V.A. 3: excellent, the game does not slow down;

• Dead Trigger: excellent, the game does not slow down;

• Dead Trigger 2: excellent, the game does not slow down;

• Real Racing 3: excellent, the game does not slow down;

• Need For Speed: No Limits: excellent, the game does not slow down;

• Shadowgun: Dead Zone: excellent, the game does not slow down;

• Frontline Commando: Normandy: excellent, the game does not slow down;

• Frontline Commando 2: excellent, the game does not slow down;

• Eternity Warriors 2: excellent, the game does not slow down;

• Eternity Warriors 4: excellent, the game does not slow down;

• Trial Xtreme 3: excellent, the game does not slow down;

• Trial Xtreme 4: excellent, the game does not slow down;

• Dead Effect 2: excellent, the game does not slow down;

• Plants vs Zombies 2: excellent, the game does not slow down;

• Dead Target: excellent, the game does not slow down;

• Injustice: Gods Among Us: excellent, the game does not slow down.

As you can see, none of the tested games slow down in any way.

BY

Samsung Galaxy A7 (2017) received Android 6.0.1. To be honest, I expected more. It would be nice if it were a budget smartphone, but this model is only one step below the flagship – it’s a mess! In general, I wanted Android 7.0 out of the box, but I’ll have to wait for the update, I think, somewhere until the spring-summer of 2017.

Meanwhile, the phone has the proprietary TouchWIZ shell installed, in its latest version. However, the desktops here have not changed in any way: on the left, as always, is the Briefing ribbon, and the rest are normal, with shortcuts and widgets.

But the notifications and quick settings panel has been updated, turned white and with new icons. There is nothing fundamentally new here, rather the appearance has been refreshed. But the lock screen and task manager remain completely the same.

From the task manager, as always, you can activate the MultiWindow mode - splitting the screen into two parts, in each of which an application opens. Very relevant for such a large smartphone.

The design of the settings has changed, there are a little more items, they have new icons, and each one is given a larger width, which was used to good effect: a brief description is given under the section name.

You can customize quite a lot. For example, notifications that come from applications in the status bar have the ability to disable “cluttering”. Additional features include manual processing of screenshots, as well as advanced options for games where all notifications and something else are turned off.

Samsung also thought about a one-handed control mode a long time ago - let me remind you that it was the Koreans who came up with shovel phones. In general, on the Galaxy A7 (2017) you can shrink the keyboard and move it to the side, and also display the image in a smaller window.

Hidden in the “Optimization” section is what was previously called Smart Manager, and on other devices “Phone Manager” and the like. In fact, this application is an optimizer for RAM and flash memory consumption, as well as energy consumption. Knox Protected Mode is also activated here.

Samsung is also developing its own service, Samsung Cloud (an extremely original name!), in which you can store a backup copy of data from the device.

They also hid the theme configurator in the settings. Here you can download additional ones from the Internet, customize wallpapers and icons.

There are not many applications installed on the Galaxy A7 (2017). More precisely, not much, besides the standard set of calendar-calculator-hours-and-so-on. There is a set of utilities from Samsung, Google and Microsoft. From the latter - Skype and Microsoft Office.

Some proprietary programs can be downloaded from the Galaxy Apps store - Samsung did a very smart thing by placing them in a separate section of its store, rather than cluttering up the smartphone’s memory with them. Whoever needs it will download it. This thing is hidden under the Galaxy Essentials shortcut widget. There is a “Children” mode, a music player and music editor, business card and text recognition in general, an S Translator, and a simple graphic editor.

Of the installed ones, I would like to note the “Secure Folder” program. The name suggests what it does - it creates an encrypted folder that integrates with a standard file manager.

Also installed on the Galaxy A7 (2017) is the Samsung Pay payment service application - the company is beginning to actively distribute it.

There is a separate Samsung Notes application where you can create notes. It has been modernized and now it has become much more functional.

Other programs are the most common alarm clock, stopwatch, file manager and the like that are on any smartphone.

I'll be honest: I'm subjective. I got used to the Samsung shell and once again it got better. So, fans of this company’s products, the Galaxy A7 (2017), and other representatives of this line, will not be disappointed. Well, as for the rest, it seems to me that everything is good and convenient, but if you are already accustomed to something specific, then the difference will begin to be felt. And so TouchWIZ, in terms of its operating logic, is not very different from “naked” Android.

Conclusion

The Samsung Galaxy A7 (2017) is impressive. Yes, it just “makes an impression” - it’s such a huge shovel, somewhat larger in size than any of the Galaxy Notes. In other words, if you wanted a phablet with good specifications, high build quality and great design, then this is here for you. It also has water protection, yes.

The device definitely has some disadvantages, and in my opinion, the main one is the identical characteristics of the Galaxy A5 (2017). It turns out that the older model differs only in screen diagonal and battery capacity, and costs significantly more. Someone else will not like the non-separable case and the lack of an LED indicator, although it is now well replaced by Always On.

Always On, by the way, is a very cool thing. And the rest of the smartphone is very good. Among the unmentioned advantages, I will cite a high-quality Super AMOLED screen, a USB Type-C connector (although some will write this down as a disadvantage), a fingerprint scanner, an excellent camera, and also excellent battery life. So how much is all this happiness worth?

Galaxy A7 (2017) price

You can buy a Samsung Galaxy A7 (2017) for 33 thousand rubles. For the Galaxy A5 (2017) they are asking 28 thousand rubles, that is, the difference is 5 thousand - and this, I repeat, is only for the increased screen diagonal and increased battery capacity. In the meantime, what are competitors offering?

Meizu U20 is noticeably cheaper - only 20 thousand, but the characteristics are similar: 5.5-inch Full HD screen, 8-core MediaTek Helio P10 processor, 3 GB of RAM and 32 GB of internal memory, the body is made of metal. What's wrong here? Well, look, a 3260 mAh battery plus a not so economical MediaTek processor - battery life will obviously be lower. There is also no water resistance and a fingerprint scanner, and the camera is 13 MP.

Motorola Moto Z Play sells for 30 thousand, that is, it costs more. There is a 5.5-inch AMOLED screen (worse than Super AMOLED from Samsung), a Snapdragon 625 chipset, 3/32 GB of memory, and a 3510 mAh battery. You can also mount external modules on the back - this is a feature of the entire Moto Z series. This is such an interesting image-functional model.

If it competes with the Galaxy A5 (2017), then the Nova Plus is the rival of the A7 (2017). The price here is lower, around 25 thousand, and the characteristics are comparable: Full HD IPS screen, Snapdragon 625, 16 MP camera with the ability to record 4K video, 3/32 GB of memory and a 3340 mAh battery. And yes, add here a stylish appearance and a metal body. But without moisture protection.

Pros:

• excellent design;
• excellent assembly;
• high-quality Super AMOLED screen with customizability;
• good cameras;
• The case is protected according to the IP68 standard;
• Fingerprint's scanner;
• USB Type-C connector;
• conveniently located audio jack;
• Always On function;
• very good autonomy.

Minuses:

• Android 6.0 out of the box (there will be an update to 7.0);
• the paint will rub off from the speaker;
• non-separable body;
• no LED event indicator above the screen;
• The specifications are no different from the Galaxy A5 (2017).

Samsung updated its popular Galaxy A line of smartphones at the end of 2016. The success of this series has once again been proven by the improved formula of what makes Galaxy A devices attractive to buyers. The editors of the SamMobile portal managed to take a look at the flagship of the new line - the Galaxy A7 (2017) smartphone, and we translated their review for you.

Specifications

• Screen: 5.7 inches, Super AMOLED, 386 ppi, 1920×1080;
• Operating system: Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow (TouchWiz with Grace UX);
• Processor: Exynos 7780, eight-core (Cortex-A53 cores), 14 nm, 64-bit;
• GPU: Mali-T830MP3;
• RAM: 3 GB;
• Built-in memory: 32 GB, support for microSD memory cards up to 256 GB;
• Cameras: 16 MP - main (ƒ/1.9, LED flash), 16 MP - front CMOS (ƒ/1.9);
• Battery: 3,600 mAh (non-removable);
• Dimensions: 156.8×77.6×7.9 mm;
• Weight: 186 g;
• SIM slots: 2 nanoSIM, combined slot;
• Communication: LTE (B1, B2, B3, B4, B5, B7, B8, B17, B20, B28), WCDMA (B1, B2, B4, B5, B8), GSM (GSM850, GSM900, DCS1800, PCS1900), Bluetooth 4.2 (LE), Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac 2.4 + 5 GHz, GPS (A-GPS), GLONASS;
• Sensors: accelerometer, barometer, fingerprint scanner, gyroscope, geomagnetic sensor, Hall sensor, proximity sensor, light sensor;
• Available colors: black, blue and gold;
• Cost at the time of testing: 32,990 rubles.

Appearance

The 2017 Galaxy A line develops the design concept of the previous one. The Galaxy A7 (2017) is made of metal and glass, making the smartphone similar to the company's current flagship, the Galaxy S7. The metal rim of the case feels and looks very nice. The back cover with a voluminous curve fits perfectly in the hand, despite the large 5.7-inch screen and not the most compact dimensions (156.8 × 77.6 × 7.9 mm).

The previous Galaxy A7 (2016) was slightly smaller (5.5-inch screen), but also lighter - 172 grams instead of 186 grams in the new product. It turns out to be a rather large and heavy phone, but this does not prevent it from being convenient to use in everyday life. The entire back and front panels are large pieces of glass, so owners of the Galaxy A7 (2017) should take care of the device like the apple of their eye, because if dropped, the glass will easily crack, and in a pocket with keys and change it will get scratched. But that's to be expected from a phone that's made entirely of glass and polished metal.

SamMobile's editors reviewed the device in black - perhaps the most stylish variation. On the top edge there is a microphone and a tray for SIM and microSD cards. At the bottom is a universal USB Type-C connector, another microphone and the good old 3.5 mm headphone jack. On the left side there are volume control buttons and another nanoSIM card slot. On the right is the unlock/power button and a small speaker. The latter is not located in the best way. Often, when you hold the phone in landscape mode and watch a video, you involuntarily cover the speaker with your finger. The front side of the case is diluted with a Home button with a built-in fingerprint scanner and two additional soft-touch buttons for controlling the operating system.

Screen

Samsung Galaxy A7 (2017) is equipped with a good 5.7-inch Super AMOLED matrix with a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels (density 386 ppi). Like any other screen with Samsung's proprietary technology, this display offers vibrant colors and excellent viewing angles. Watching the picture on the Galaxy A7 2017 is a pleasure - all thanks to the high contrast and pure black color.

By default, the adaptive screen mode is enabled, which adapts to the displayed picture, but it can be changed to photo or video modes. Overall, the screen is excellent and performs well even in direct sunlight.

The Always On feature is a great addition to the Super AMOLED screen. With its help, the most necessary information is constantly visible on the screen: date, time, charge level. It can also display notifications from installed applications. Just tap on them - the smartphone will unlock and the corresponding program will open.

Camera

The photographic capabilities of the last generation Galaxy A7 were not the best. Samsung has worked on this component of the smartphone. The device is equipped with a 16-megapixel matrix with an aperture of ƒ/1.9 and a dual LED flash on the back cover. The front camera is also a 16-megapixel sensor with a similar aperture.

Sample photos from Galaxy A7 (2017)

The main camera can take pictures with an aspect ratio of 4:3 in full matrix resolution, as well as 16:9, but in 12-megapixel mode. The same is true for the front camera. In daylight, you get very detailed photos with bright and saturated colors. In a room with good light you can get even better quality pictures. But you shouldn’t expect anything extraordinary from night photography - detail, sharpness and overall quality are noticeably worse.

Compared to the previous generation, there are several positive aspects: focusing has accelerated and colors have become more natural. For shooting in different conditions and different objects, there are a lot of modes: Pro with advanced settings, panorama, Hyperlapse, HDR, night mode, food mode.

The front camera will delight selfie lovers with detailed photos - you won’t find this on most Samsung smartphones. The 16-megapixel sensor on the front of the body can even record decent video in 1080p resolution.

Software

Galaxy A7 (2017) comes with Android 6.0.1 Marsmallow pre-installed. Unlike its predecessor, here we will find a new TouchWiz shell with the Grace UX interface, which first appeared in the unsuccessful Galaxy Note 7 and subsequently migrated to other devices. The updated interface add-on looks very nice - this is facilitated by smooth animations, muted colors and rounded stylish icons.

The quick settings and notifications panel has been painted white, making it visually lighter and more pleasing to the eye. Among the built-in functions of the shell, it is worth noting: a protected Secure Folder, a performance optimizer, several energy saving modes, a blue light filter, and the ability to change interface themes. Overall, TouchWiz 2016–2017 is a very user-friendly shell with useful features and a stylish interface.

Iron

The “heart” of the gadget is the eight-core Exynos 7880 processor with a clock frequency of 1.9 GHz. In processing tasks, it is helped by a set of 3/32 GB memory and a Mali-T830MP3 graphics accelerator. This is enough for most tasks and smooth interface rendering. But sometimes the device suddenly starts to lag. This is unlikely to be noticeable with moderate daily use without heavy applications and games, but otherwise you may encounter occasional performance drops. This is most likely due to aggressive RAM allocation.

Despite this, the Galaxy A7 2017 is an excellent gadget for gaming. For example, the graphics of Need for Speed: No Limits look beautiful on the device’s large and bright screen. Exynos 7880 and Mali-T830MP3 perform well with most modern games. During long gaming sessions, the case does not get very hot.

Battery and Audio

The battery in the previous generation Galaxy A7 performed well, and in the new version Samsung has increased the battery capacity to 3,600 mAh. The same capacity battery is found in the flagship Galaxy S7 Edge. The smartphone will never disappoint its owner with a lack of charge at the end of the day. For those for whom this is not enough, Samsung has added strict energy saving modes (Medium and Maximum). By activating them, the user gives up additional processor power, beautiful interface effects, background data transfer, and even colors on the screen (the picture becomes black and white). All this will allow you to squeeze maximum operating time out of the battery.

A special utility will allow you to track programs that transfer a lot of data in the background. There you can turn them off and save several more hours of battery life.

Speaker Galaxy A7 (2017)

As mentioned, the main speaker is located on the right side, right above the unlock button. The situation is unfortunate, to put it mildly, because the user often covers the speaker grill with his finger when using the smartphone in landscape mode. In addition, the quality of the speaker itself is quite low - the water resistance is to blame. In general, it is only good for playing notifications. In other cases, it is better to use headphones.

Water protection

Another strong point of the Galaxy A7 (2017), which sets the device apart from competitors, is protection against water and dust according to the IP68 standard. The smartphone body is allowed to be immersed in water to a depth of no more than 1.5 meters for 30 minutes. This way, you don't have to worry about spilling coffee on your phone, and mobile photography enthusiasts can take pictures underwater.

But everything is within reason. If you do not go beyond the official limits of 1.5 meters and 30 minutes, then no problems will arise. Otherwise, “drowned people” are not a warranty case.

Results

You can buy a Samsung Galaxy A7 (2017) in Russia for 32,990 rubles. This is definitely not a phone for those who care about gigahertz, cores and gigabytes of RAM, but for its price, the new generation Galaxy A7 is a good deal. Excellent operating time, stylish design, a very good camera, water protection and a fast fingerprint scanner - all this makes the smartphone stand out among its competitors.

The device has its drawbacks, but the advantages easily outweigh them. A mid-price segment smartphone with the features of flagships like the Galaxy S7 Edge - that’s how you can call this new Samsung product.

Last year, Samsung introduced the updated “A-series”, which received the 2016 prefix to separate it from previous models. The line of smartphones turned out to be really successful; for the first time for itself, the company endowed it with characteristics close to flagship ones, leaving the price at an average level. As you might expect, Samsung updated the A-series in 2017. We have already tested the Galaxy A3 and Galaxy A5 smartphones, and now it’s the turn of the Galaxy A7. Let's see what the top model of the line has to offer.

Like last year's A7, the new smartphone takes on the features of one of Samsung's flagships, this time it turned out to be the Galaxy S7. The shape of the case, the glass of the front panel rounded to the edges, as well as the identical speaker grille and navigation keys really make the models similar.

But to emphasize the positioning of the Galaxy A7 (2017), the camera unit was made noticeably smaller than in the S7, which is why the smartphone looks a little toy-like from the back. Especially in the pink color that we tested. In general, the design of the device is made in the spirit of Samsung of the last few years, and the similarity with the flagship model is only a plus for it.

The same applies to case materials. Already last year the company significantly improved the quality of execution of the “A-series”, and this year it has only slightly improved it. The main material of the Galaxy A7 (2017) is glass, which covers the entire front and rear panels.

At the same time, the frame is made of aluminum to add additional rigidity to the case. The fit of materials is excellent; the glass of both the front and front panels smoothly transitions into metal, leaving virtually no gap. And since the body cannot be disassembled, the entire structure is monolithic.

The Galaxy A7 (2017) case dimensions are 156.8 x 77.6 x 7.9 mm and weighs 186 grams. For a 5.7-inch smartphone, the device is relatively compact.

Water and dust protection

For the first time for the A-series, models in the line received protection from water and dust according to the IP68 standard. Thus, the Galaxy A7 (2017) can easily survive being caught in a downpour; it can be washed under the tap and generally immersed in water to a depth of 1.5 meters and for up to 30 minutes.

The smartphone case is sealed, so dust cannot get into it either. A sensor on the USB Type-C connector, which is used for charging, warns that moisture has entered it and you need to wait until it dries before connecting the charging cable.

Display

Galaxy A7 (2017) is the older model of the new A-series, so it has the largest display. Its diagonal is 5.7 inches, with a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels. Traditionally, Samsung uses a Super AMOLED matrix with a PenTile pixel arrangement. However, given the diagonal and resolution, the pixel density is 386 per inch, so you can only get a hint of screen grain if you hold it directly to your eyes. Also, the peculiarities of vision cannot be ignored, however, for most users, images and fonts on the display of the Galaxy A7 (2017) will look clear.

The calibration of the smartphone screen depends on the selected setting, for example, in the “Adaptive Screen” and “Cinema AMOLED” modes, colors can be made very rich and vibrant, while in the “Basic” and “Photo AMOLED” modes they will be closer to natural. We took measurements in Basic mode, and the display showed excellent calibration with more than 100% coverage of the sRGB color space, a color temperature of 6500K, a uniform gamma and backlight.

The Galaxy A7 (2017) also features a recently popular blue light filter for the screen, which makes it noticeably “warmer”. This option can be enabled manually or according to a schedule.

In addition, the smartphone was equipped with another feature of Samsung’s flagship smartphones – an always-on screen. Since the display here is Super AMOLED, and each pixel in it is individually illuminated, even when the screen is locked with minimal battery consumption, you can display the time and date, notifications, calendar or image on it.

Platform and performance

Mid-price smartphones may look similar to flagship models, but they are very rarely able to match them in terms of performance. This happened with the Galaxy A7 (2017), despite the similarity in design, it lags behind the S7 in terms of performance. However, this does not prevent the smartphone from working quickly and performing all the tasks assigned to it, including games.

The Galaxy A7 (2017) is powered by a 14nm octa-core Exynos 7880 processor clocked at 1.9GHz, coupled with Mali T830MP3 graphics. In addition, the smartphone is equipped with 3 GB of RAM and 32 GB of internal memory, which can be expanded with microSD cards.

The performance of the Galaxy A7 (2017) platform will be sufficient for all tasks that a smartphone user may encounter, but in resource-intensive games you will have to choose medium graphics settings.

Despite the popularity of hybrid slots for SIM and memory cards, in the Galaxy A7 (2017) they are implemented separately, thanks to which you can install two nanoSIM cards and a separate microSD card in the smartphone. To implement this, Samsung used not one universal tray, but two. One is installed on the upper end of the case and you can install a nanoSIM and a memory card in it. And the second is on the left side and is intended for installing one nanoSIM.

Interface

The Galaxy A7 (2017) uses Android 6.0.1 and a new shell called Grace UX. This is not to say that TouchWiz did not look modern, but the new interface was developed for the seventh version of Android, so it immediately adopted some of its features. This mainly concerns standardized icons, organization of alerts in a drop-down panel, as well as a better organized settings menu.

Overall, Grace UX looks nice, but the most important thing is that it works really fast. Animations in the new interface are smoother and occur without jerks. This gives the impression that the smartphone has a more powerful processor and more memory.

Camera

The main camera in the smartphone is 16-megapixel with f/1.9 aperture, 27 mm focal length, autofocus and flash. Compared to last year's A7, the number of megapixels has increased, but optical stabilization has disappeared.

In daylight, the camera takes good pictures as expected. Moreover, they can be done both in automatic and HDR mode. The latter saves photos a little longer than we would like, but this is often found in mid-price smartphones.

At night, the f/1.9 aperture allows the Galaxy A7 (2017) to capture more light, however, high resolution plays less of a role here than the size of the pixels on the sensor. Thus, the camera manages to capture more detail in low light, but it lacks sharpness. In addition, the lack of optical stabilization can lead to blurred images in poor lighting conditions.

Overall, the camera of the Galaxy A7 (2017) is on par with the two-year-old flagship Galaxy S6, which is excellent considering the positioning of the new model.

The front of the smartphone also deserves attention, as it also uses a 16-megapixel module with f/1.9 aperture.

It is not the same as the main one, but it also provides good picture quality.

Multimedia

The external speaker in the Galaxy A7 (2017) is located on the right side, above the power button. This allows you not to block it when you hold the smartphone horizontally with both hands, for example, while watching a video.

However, it itself sounds muffled, since it has a moisture-proof membrane installed.

The 3.5mm headphone jack is on the bottom edge. The smartphone sounds good, and there is an equalizer in the settings, as well as proprietary Adapt Sound technology, which allows you to customize the sound to suit your hearing characteristics.

Fingerprint's scanner

Traditionally for Samsung smartphones, under the display of the Galaxy A7 (2017) there is a mechanical “Home” button, which contains a fingerprint scanner.

The user can add up to 5 fingerprints and use them to unlock the smartphone, as well as for purchases on Google Play. The scanner works quickly, subjectively it is no worse than in the flagship Galaxy S7.

Autonomy

The Galaxy A7 (2017) has a 3600 mAh battery, thanks to this, as well as an energy-efficient processor, the smartphone demonstrates an excellent level of autonomy. In the PCMark battery test at 200 cd/m2 brightness, it lasted 9.5 hours. At an average load level, with active data transfer and 20 minutes of calls per day, you can count on 2 days of battery life.

A mid-class smartphone for a renowned manufacturer is a complex product, because it should be more interesting than junior models, but at the same time it should not compete with older solutions. And in terms of price, you can’t tear yourself away from the products of discount manufacturers. In the case of the Samsung A7 2017, it’s even more complicated, because its price is already comparable to the top models of Xiaomi and Meizu smartphones, and you can’t get away with just the name, because until recently unknown Chinese competitors are already in many ways not inferior to the market leaders.

Specifications

Display size and type	5.7 inches, 1920*1080 pixels, Super AMOLED
CPU	Samsung Exynos Octa 7880, 8 cores, 1.87 GHz
Graphics accelerator	Mali-T830 MP3
Built-in memory, GB	3
RAM, GB	32
Memory expansion	Yes (microSD up to 256 GB)
Number of SIM cards	2
2G communication standards	GSM850, GSM900, DCS1800, PCS1900
3G communication standards	B1(2100), B2(1900), B4(AWS), B5(850), B8(900)
4G communication standards	4G FDD LTE: B1(2100), B2(1900), B3(1800), B4(AWS), B5(850), B7(2600), B8(900), B17(700), B20(800), B28(700) 4G TDD LTE: B38(2600), B40(2300), B41(2500)
WiFi	Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n/ac, 2.4/5 GHz
Bluetooth	v4.2
NFC	Eat
IrDA	No
USB connector	USB Type-C
3.5 mm jack	Eat
FM radio	Eat
Fingerprint's scanner	Eat
Navigation	GPS/A-GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou
Built-in sensors	Screen rotation sensor, barometer, accelerometer, gyroscope, geomagnetic sensor, Hall sensor, proximity sensor, RGB light sensor
Main camera	16 MP, f/1.9
Front-camera	16 MP, f/1.9
operating system	Android 7.0
Protection class	IP68
Battery	3600 mAh
Dimensions, mm	156,8*77,6*7,9
Weight, g	186

Appearance and ease of use

All modern smartphones are extremely similar - an ordinary candy bar with a minimum number of keys and several camera windows, as well as a couple of barely noticeable sensors and sensors. In general, the device under test is similar to hundreds of others. This may also be due to the fact that many Chinese manufacturers are trying to at least partially, and sometimes completely, copy the design of Samsung smartphones. In any case, the design is interesting, and the thickness is small, so the smartphone is pleasant to hold in your hand.

The body is made of glass and metal. The build quality is excellent, and when you try to twist and squeeze the case, it does not make any sound at all, and it is extremely difficult to bend it a little. But it couldn’t be otherwise, because the case has an IP68 protection class, which is rare among thin models in the mid-price segment.

On the front side above the screen there is a light sensor, a front camera window, and a speaker is hidden under the decorative grille. Under the display, only the fingerprint sensor is visible, which doubles as the Home key. The back and multitasking keys are only visible when the backlight is activated. The side frames of the display are not thick, but the smartphone cannot be called frameless either.

From the rear, only the main camera window and LED flash are visible. Surprisingly, the back side is much more susceptible to fingerprints than the front side, so over time small marks appear on it.

On the left side surface there is a pair of separate volume control keys and a SIM card tray. On the opposite side there is a lock key and a system speaker hidden under a decorative grille.

At the top end there is a noticeable microphone hole, as well as a double tray for separate installation of a SIM card and microSD storage media. At the bottom end there is a standard mini-jack audio jack (3.5 mm), a second built-in microphone, and a USB Type-C connector.

Display

The smartphone is equipped with a 5.7-inch SuperAMOLED display with a resolution of 1920*1080 pixels. The pros and cons of SuperAMOLED displays have long been known, but once again I would like to note the huge viewing angles, excellent display of dark shades and extremely high contrast. And, of course, don’t forget about the Always On Display function, which allows you to display information about the current date/time, battery level and application messages with minimal battery consumption.

The display settings have 4 modes – “main”, “AMOLED photo”, “AMOLED movie”, as well as adaptive mode. In the “main” mode, the color deviation (Delta E) is the smallest, the color balance is good, and the color temperature is close to the reference value of 6500 K, but the color gamut is the smallest. However, the standard sRGB color space is covered almost completely. In other modes, the color deviation is noticeably greater, especially in the “adaptive” mode; the color temperature is higher than the standard, but the color gamut is much larger. The settings provide the ability to separately regulate RGB channels. In addition, there is a blue light filtering function, which is worth activating when reading for a long time to reduce eye strain. The maximum display brightness is 386.9 cd/sq.m. But this level is limiting and is set only for a few minutes. The standard maximum display brightness level is 285.91 cd/m2. Far from the best indicators. But here we should not forget that the efficiency of AMOLED displays manifests itself precisely when displaying dark shades and low brightness.

Basic mode

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Adaptive mode

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Photo AMOLED mode

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AMOLED Video Mode

Sound

The smartphone is equipped with separate conversational and system speakers. Stereo sound playback mode with one system speaker is, of course, not supported. The sound of the earpiece is clear and loud, and the interlocutor can be clearly heard in almost any typical background noise in the city. The system speaker was not too loud. When playing a test sine wave with a frequency of 1 kHz at a distance of 1 meter, a level of 68.2 dBA was recorded, which is the worst indicator in our database of measurement results. But there are also advantages - the sound is clear, without obvious defects, with a well-developed midrange and high-frequency range. Of course, there is no bass, but you shouldn’t demand that your smartphone have it. The sound level on the analog audio output is very high. When playing the test signal, a level of 552.8 mV was recorded, which is one of the best results.

Performance

The smartphone is based on the Samsung Exynos Octa 7880 SoC, made using the 14 nm FinFET process. Clock speed of all 8 cores is up to 1.9 GHz. The Mali-T830 MP3 solution is responsible for the video subsystem, which even theoretically should provide sufficient performance in games. The system-on-chip supports LPDDR4 memory in dual-channel mode. The main competitor of this SoC in the middle class is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 625, so smartphones based on this solution were taken as an opponent. But this SoC does not have a very powerful video subsystem, so a smartphone based on last year’s flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor, which is still relevant, was added to the list of opponents.

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Camera

Both cameras (front and main) have a resolution of 16 megapixels. But not only the resolution is similar, but the lens aperture is similar - in both cases f/1.9. Of course, the optics are different, but the emphasis towards “selfie” shots is visible. However, the quality of the photo from the front camera is by no means standard, but rather average, both in weak artificial and in good daylight.

indoor shooting. Illumination 30 lux	outdoor shooting

There are few camera settings even in manual mode. You can change the resolution, sensitivity (in the range of ISO 100-800 in steps of 1 EV), as well as white balance settings. In addition, HDR, “night” and food shooting modes are traditionally provided. It is noteworthy that the smartphone supports transferring camera control to third-party applications using the Camera 2 API. Moreover, third-party applications support shooting in RAW format, and the sensitivity range has been expanded to ISO 64-1600.

The LED flash unexpectedly turned out to be quite weak - at a distance of 1 meter from the smartphone, a level of only 28.6 lux was recorded. And unexpectedly due to the fact that the flash of a much more affordable smartphone under similar conditions provides an illumination of 55.5 lux. Of course, many people don’t use the built-in flash in their smartphones at all, but it’s still a significant mistake. To evaluate image quality, a test pattern was captured with all available sensitivity values. Below are cropped fragments.

Specifications

• Android 4.4.4, TouchWiz shell
• Screen 5.5 inches, SuperAMOLED, 1920x1080 pixels, 401 ppi, light and proximity sensor
• Metal, non-separable body
• Supports two SIM cards, one radio module (A700F)
• Front camera 5 megapixels, main camera 13 megapixels with autofocus, video recording 1080p (30 frames per second)
• Chipset Snapdragon 615 – MSM8939, four cores A53 64 bit, frequency up to 1.5 GHz, plus four cores up to 1 GHz, Adreno 405 – model A700F with two SIM cards
• Exynos 5 Octa 5430 chipset – eight cores, 4 Cortex A15 cores up to 1.8 GHz, 4 Cortex A7 cores up to 1.3 GHz, Mali T628 MP6
• RAM 2 GB, internal memory 16 GB, memory card up to 64 GB
• LTE cat. 4, GPS/A-GPS/Glonass
• BT 4.0 LE, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, USB 2.0, microUSB, NFC
• FM radio, supports all audio and video codecs out of the box
• Battery Li-Ion 2600 mAh
• Dimensions – 151x76.2x6.3 mm, weight – 141 grams
• Color options - Pearl White, Midnight Black, Champagne Gold

Contents of delivery

• Telephone
• Charger with USB cable
• Instructions
• Pin for opening the SIM card tray
• Wired stereo headset

Positioning

In our review of the Samsung A3, we looked at the reasons for the appearance of this line of devices, its positioning within Samsung, and why it can be considered created to compete with the iPhone of previous generations. I see no point in repeating myself; I refer you to the appropriate section of the review.

With the positioning of the A7, Samsung turns out to be more interesting than the younger models. On the one hand, this is a senior A-series device, as a result, it has the most powerful chipsets for this class of devices, but it does not live up to the flagships, and this is a conscious decision. On the other hand, the A7 should act as one of the phablets that will flood the market before the fall of 2015 and will overshadow the existing Note 4, which remains the flagship without any discounts and the most interesting model in its class. But it so happens that not all people need top-end characteristics, the presence of a stylus and additional features - for many, pleasant design, body materials, and an adequate price come to the fore, and any cost lower than that of flagships, with formally similar characteristics, is considered as such.

Among the models of large manufacturers represented in retail chains throughout the country, it is the A7 that can lay claim to being a fashion device with a lower cost than the flagship. It came as a complete surprise to me that both readers and potential buyers showed such interest in the previous A5 model. But they paid much less attention to the A3. It is completely unclear what will happen with the A7, since in Russian realities there was a cheap Note 3 from MegaFon, and it certainly confused all Samsung cards. But since the fall of last year it has not been on sale, and the changes that have taken place on the market do not allow us to say that any new model will be perceived well, especially taking into account the new price level. The release of the A7 for Russia will take place at a bad time for the market, so assessing any sales, prospects and the like for this model before the beginning of summer is a pointless exercise.

From the point of view of positioning and selection of this device, I advise you to look at it as a phablet version without a stylus, with a camera typical in its class and a certain image charge. This is by no means the most cost-effective offer; you can find similar solutions from other companies for less money, however, we’ll talk about this at the end of the review.

Design, dimensions, control elements

The design of all A-series devices is absolutely the same, there is no difference. There are no complaints about the build quality and materials.

The metal frame goes around the body, everything here is similar to the Samsung Alpha or Note 4, the edges are exactly the same, they play in the light the same way. But the entire back panel is made of metal, although it is painted in the color of the body. It has several recesses for antennas, but they are not visible due to uniform painting. This is a conscious decision, since the same iPhone uses either a plastic insert (like the iPhone 6) or an insert on the back panel (like the iPhone 5/5s), which stands out from the design of the device. Samsung considered that the appearance of the device should be uniform, and achieved this with this approach.

The colors for the A7 are typical: white, black and gold.

The white color has a pearlescent tint, it is not matte, and plays well in the light. An attempt to deliberately scratch it shows that scratches appear, but they are not visible unless you look closely.

The control elements are located traditionally, the paired volume key is on the left side, and the on/off button is on the right. There are also two slots for nanoSIM cards, one slot also has a combined holder for a microSD card. The device has two microphones, they are located at the ends. At the bottom end there is a regular microUSB connector, as well as a 3.5 mm jack for a headset or headphones.

The front camera is located above the screen, and there is also a light sensor and a proximity sensor. Below the screen there are two touch buttons and one mechanical button.

The phone dimensions are 151x76.2x6.3 mm, weight is 141 grams. Quite thin, fits well in the hand, a little smaller than the same Note 4. This format of device is convenient for me because of my large hand, but you’ll have to try it. But I note that you get used to the large screen almost instantly, and the thin body makes the model convenient for everyday use.

Display

Screen with a diagonal of 5.5 inches and FullHD resolution (401 ppi), superAMOLED. There are all modes for adjusting colors on the screen, as on older models.

If you compare the picture quality with the same Note 4 (below), you will not see much of a difference; it is felt in the fonts, but is invisible to the eye, unless, of course, you have built-in microscopes.

An excellent screen from all points of view, a maximum number of settings for every taste. If you want to get bright colors, you can do it; if you want more natural colors, this is possible. Good screen behavior in the sun. In its segment, this device has one of the highest quality screens, and for the current generation of devices its capabilities are sufficient, plus there is a reserve for several years. The same QHD screen in the Note 4 is redundant, although pleasant. The transition from the screen in the A7 to the Note 4 will not be as noticeable an improvement as the company would like to show.

Battery

The Li-Ion battery built into the case has a capacity of 2600 mAh, which is relatively small. Video playback time is about 8.5 hours (in A5 - 12.5 hours), Samsung usually targets 10 hours. This indicator confused me, I thought that the total operating time would be noticeably shorter, but the reality turned out to be completely different - the phone lasts a long time (we tested the Qualcomm version).

With actual use of the phone, you can achieve two days of reliable operation with an hour of calls, two dozen messages, and a couple of hours of listening to music. Under a very heavy load, the device will only work for one day, but for example, under the same load, the S5 will run out at about one o'clock in the afternoon. The use of an optimized chipset makes itself felt; this is a new generation device in terms of improved operating time. Although it all depends on what and how you use it, how you configured all the parameters.

The total battery charging time is just under two hours. Fast charging technology, like in Note 4, is not supported here.

The phone has a proprietary technology for maximum energy saving, when the screen switches to displaying shades of gray, and this way the device can work much longer.

Memory, RAM, chipset and performance

The phone is available in two versions, on the Qualcomm chipset and on the Exynos. Chipset Snapdragon 615 – MSM8939, four cores A53 64 bit, frequency up to 1.5 GHz plus four cores up to 1 GHz, Adreno 405 – model A700F with two SIM cards. Exynos 5 Octa 5430 chipset – eight cores, 4 Cortex A15 cores up to 1.8 GHz, 4 Cortex A7 cores up to 1.3 GHz, Mali T628 MP6. Users will not have a choice of model options as such; each market will have one or the other modification, but not both. The question of which is better remains open - for example, the operating time on the Qualcomm chipset in mixed mode is a little longer (by about 10 percent), but the performance on Exynos is higher.

The amount of RAM is 2 GB, built-in memory is 16 GB, of which approximately 12 GB is available to the user. Memory cards are supported up to 64 GB, which will be enough for most.

The A-series devices are unusual in that it is impossible to use two SIM cards and a memory card at the same time. The second slot can accommodate either a memory card or a SIM card, but not both at the same time. Therefore, you will have to determine what is more important to you - this should be kept in mind when you choose a device.

In synthetic tests, the device has typical performance for its class. At the same time, you won’t see any brakes in the menu.

Communication capabilities

Everything is quite typical, USB version 2, there is support for NFC, Ant+, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0 LE, built-in LTE modem supports LTE Advanced Cat.4.

Camera

The front camera does not have autofocus, but has a resolution of 5 megapixels, which is not bad.

The main camera is 13-megapixel, its characteristics are similar to the cameras that were in last year’s flagships, it produces good picture quality, as you can see for yourself. But in the dark, the camera, like previous models, does not shoot very well.

Software

The device has the latest version of Android 4.4.4, with the TouchWiz shell, it is also the latest version, like on the company's flagships. There are almost no differences from the same S5, so I refer you to the corresponding part of the review.

Unlike top models, there is a built-in FM radio, which looks like a nice bonus.