Samsung Galaxy Alpha review: Still a desirable smartphone

Camera

A 12-megapixel camera has been fitted, which is a slight step down from the 16-megapixel model in the Galaxy S5 on paper. In reality, there’s hardly anything separating the two. With 12-megapixels, you’ve still got plenty of resolution and our shots outdoor looked great.

They were well exposed and had plenty of detail in them, as you can see from the sample shot below (click to view fullscreen). In low light packing all of those pixels onto a relatively small sensor means that pictures can look a little noisy. However, resize them to screen size and you don’t have much of a problem.

The video mode is impressive, too, with the Alpha able to shoot 4K UHD video. At this resolution, everything looks incredibly sharp. Our one minor complaint is that the compression smooths out some of the finer detail, as you can see from the brickwork in the sample shot below (click to view fullscreen).

Android and TouchWiz interface

The handset has now been updated to Android 5.0.2 (KitKat), along with the usual Samsung customisations. These generally aren’t too intrusive. We quite like the My Magazine home screen, which pulls in latest news and updates from your social networks. Some of the additions feel a little redundant now, though, such as S Voice, which essentially does the same job as Google voice commands. Thanks to the powerful processor, the Alpha can handle the OS well, with smooth transitions and scrolling throughout. It even manages complex web pages well, with barely a stutter when scrolling through them.

Fingerprint reader

As with the S5, the Alpha has the same fingerprint reader built into the home button, which you use by swiping your finger or thumb across. With the Alpha you can register three individual fingers, plus for each finger you use you can add the corresponding thumbprint, too. In effect, you can register three fingers and both thumbs, for a total of five prints. The reader is extremely accurate and definitely the easiest and best way to unlock your handset. It can also be used to authenticate PayPal transactions.

Heart rate monitor

On the back is a heart rate monitor, which records to the S Health app. It’s pretty easy to use (you just put your finger on the sensor), but we wonder how often and how useful this really is to most people.

Storage

Pretty much every single Samsung Android phone that we’ve reviewed has had a microSD card slot, so that you can upgrade the base memory. With the Alpha that option is gone and you have to make do with the installed 32GB of storage. While a microSD card would be nice, plenty of phones don’t have this option and 32GB is plenty for most people. 

Conclusion

The Galaxy Alpha was a huge step forwards for Samsung, a trailblazer for its new metal chassis designs, in much the same way that the Galaxy Note Edge was a test run for curved screens. But while the Note was quickly seen as an oddity, the Galaxy Alpha is still a pretty decent handset with a smaller than usual display. It’s no longer widely available to buy new of course, but it’s well worth checking out secondhand if you’re in the market for a classy-looking handset for less.