Picked up the Alpha - Anyone Else?

dbdynsty25

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Went to Best Buy this morning and picked up the Alpha. What a fantastic phone. I've currently got the LG G3 and just wanted something smaller and easier to use one handed. I guess I'm like the lemmings who bought the 6+ when they really wanted/needed the 6. :)

Build quality is fantastic...battery life seems good so far (tho this will take a few discharge cycles)...and the screen, being only 4.7 is completely usable. I've really got nothing but good things to say about it. The only thing that hasn't worked like it should is the fingerprint scanner...which sucked on the S5 too so I wasn't suspecting much.
 

OceanView

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Congrats! That's good to hear that you like it. I'm gonna check it out tomorrow when I get a chance.
I'm curious how Good the battery life will be and how the screen is for reading books.

Im use to the 1080p screens of the S5 and note 3 series and have noticed that going to a 720p screen is noticeable when reading small print.

Posted via Android Central App
 

dbdynsty25

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The only time I notice the screen res is when I'm looking at it next to my G3 (and it's ridiculous resolution). I don't read books on my phone normally so I can't really say how good it is for that, but if you're used to the giant screens on something like the Note, I can't imagine you'll be happy with a 4.7.

So far the battery life has been so so. Like I said tho, gotta do a few discharge cycles before I can completely comment on that. If I can get 18 hours with around 2.5 hours of screen on time for the day, I'll be stoked. That's my threshold usually...gotta be able to go from 7am to midnight without hitting up a charger. That's my only concern at this point, as my G3 is fantastic in that regard.
 

01Snake

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I've had my GS2 for awhile now and while I still love the phone (other than it being outdated and a tad slow), I have been kicking around the idea of upgrading. I had planned on getting an S5 but decided to hold off on upgrading until the Alpha came out. I love the size of my S2 and was very interested in the size of the Alpha so I stopped by Best Buy today to take a look at both phones.

As far as the Alpha goes, I think it looks pretty good. The metal is very shiny and just looks and feels so much different than virtually every other Samsung phone. The back cover is MUCH better than the one on the S5! The Alpha does feel a lot sturdier/solid than my S2 (and the S5) but I've grown to love the light feel of the plastic phones. What I really did not like about the Alpha was the fact it had the same look of the iPhone in which it looks too tall and narrow. The width/height ratio just didn't feel right IMHO. I'm sure after using it for a few days it would be fine but the S5 looked right. In addition, the display on the S5 looked a lot better than that of the Alpha. It should, of course, considering the specs of each phone.

I love the size of my S2 but after playing around with the Alpha and S5, I'm going to go ahead and get the S5. If the Alpha had virtually the same specs as the S5, I'd probably pick one up but the well documented downgrades (battery, screen, no SD) and priced HIGHER than the S5, the decision was pretty simple. I've ordered an S5 and will eagerly await the S6 next year. Samsung has taken a lot of crap this year and I think they will build on the success of the Note 4 and come out with an epic S6. I'll have no problem doing an early upgrade if the S6 turns out to be the homerun I think it is going to be.
 

sydneycooper1979

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Picked up an alpha yesterday and returned my iPhone 6. The alpha is the perfect size. There is no reason a 4.7 inch screen should be on a phone any bigger than this. It is also much snappier than the iPhone was. The only thing I'm not terribly impressed with is the screen resolution but the colors look good and I barely notice. Really impressed overall.
 

rikken

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Picked one up yesterday and it is truly a great device. So fast and responsive througout the whole UI. The camera and gallery opens faster than on my S5. I love its premium feel, size and weight. The screen is the best 720p I have seen ☺ and need no more pixels imo.
 

osvanberg

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Picked one up yesterday and it is truly a great device. So fast and responsive througout the whole UI. The camera and gallery opens faster than on my S5. I love its premium feel, size and weight. The screen is the best 720p I have seen ☺ and need no more pixels imo.
How can you like the display!?? I don't get it? It's crap.... The low resolution and pentile matrix really destroys it. It must be "buyers bias"!
 
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OceanView

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For those that have the Alpha, can you either open a news website or an e-book and zoom in on the text?
How does it look?

I recently bought the iPhone 6 and the 720p screen is not sharp when it comes to reading small texts. I'm selling my iPhone 6 and may get the Alpha or keep my S5 until the S6 comes out.
 

sydneycooper1979

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For those that have the Alpha, can you either open a news website or an e-book and zoom in on the text?
How does it look?

I recently bought the iPhone 6 and the 720p screen is not sharp when it comes to reading small texts. I'm selling my iPhone 6 and may get the Alpha or keep my S5 until the S6 comes out.

If you thought the iPhone screen wasn't sharp, then you will NOT like this screen. It's totally fine but not the sharpest 720 out there.
 

rikken

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Yes, it not sharp at all. The IPhone display is way sharper. The pentile matrix really blows it this time for Samsung. It such a shame!

It has a Diamond arrangement which looks better than the regular pentile arrangement. 312 ppi is enough for a screen this big and you have to look hard to see any imperfection.

From theguardian.com: The 4.7in screen is colour rich and vibrant with good contrast and wide viewing angles. It has a 720p resolution resulting in a pixel density of 312 pixels per inch (ppi). While it is certainly sharp for reading text and viewing photos, it is noticeably less crisp than the Galaxy S5’s 5.1in 1080p screen with 432 ppi. For comparison the iPhone 5S has a 4in 326ppi screen and the incoming iPhone 6 a 4.7in 326ppi screen.
 

osvanberg

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It has a Diamond arrangement which looks better than the regular pentile arrangement. 312 ppi is enough for a screen this big and you have to look hard to see any imperfection.

From theguardian.com: The 4.7in screen is colour rich and vibrant with good contrast and wide viewing angles. It has a 720p resolution resulting in a pixel density of 312 pixels per inch (ppi). While it is certainly sharp for reading text and viewing photos, it is noticeably less crisp than the Galaxy S5’s 5.1in 1080p screen with 432 ppi. For comparison the iPhone 5S has a 4in 326ppi screen and the incoming iPhone 6 a 4.7in 326ppi screen.
Well you're just wrong IMO. The screen is crap for that price range. And you can't quote those ppi numbers since it's a pentile display. Hence, the numbers aren't really accuracy. Hope you understand this? And the diamond formation doesn't do **** IMO, looks bad anyway. The S4 Minis qHD screen which have true RGB, even though it's ppi is clearly less, is winning big time compared to this "high end" phone.
 

rikken

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Your opinion does not make it a bad sceeen. I find the screen to be very good. I also have the S5 and I would not get this one if the screen was crap.
 

OceanView

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Went to the AT&T store today to take a look at the Alpha.
The construction is excellent. The phone felt solid and it felt much smaller than I had imagined.
I compared the screen with my iPhone 6 and the Alpha looks good on small texts. This was one of my main concerns with a 720p resolution screen but I think I can live with it.
I couldn't really test it outdoors to see how well it does in bright light but I imagine it would be similar to the S5.
Now I'm just trying to decide if I should buy the Alpha or wait for the S6.
 

rikken

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It is similar to the S5 in bright light. The phone performs exellent. Samsung has done a great job with the Exynos chip in this one.
 

Scott Cove

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I saw the Alpha for the 1st time today - it looked very nice. I did not mind the display - but I was told there is a SD card slot under the back. When I got home, looking at YouTube, there is not, you get a 32g internal memory, with about 25g free. There is not expansion - can anyone confirm this. I really wanted more memory. I think the phone is a great form factor.
 

rikken

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I saw the Alpha for the 1st time today - it looked very nice. I did not mind the display - but I was told there is a SD card slot under the back. When I got home, looking at YouTube, there is not, you get a 32g internal memory, with about 25g free. There is not expansion - can anyone confirm this. I really wanted more memory. I think the phone is a great form factor.

No mcard support unfortunately. This is my first phone in ages without expandable memory but I find 25G sufficient for now(even tho I am used to having a 64 mcard in my phone). The Alpha supports usb-on-the-go so it is fast and hasselfree to transfer content to it.
 

neiljay6

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Still trying to decide whether to buy this or theXperia compact for my girl. Gonna wait till I can see both side by side. The Pentile 720p screen wont be a concern as when i had my S3 it didn't bother me in the least, and I'm sure the alpha's screen is better using the diamond matrix. Wont matter much to her either. The only thing that might sway me is the price.
 

Phillip Pugh

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I'm also looking at the alpha .Right now I'm rocking the note 3 and love the form factors but the gold alpha is such a beautiful piece I think it's won me over even after I've seen both the note 4 and the note edge

Posted via Android Central App
 

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