...dissapointed in the Galaxy Alpha

[neugenusis]

Just fyi to all, Pentile 720p is not as sharp as stripe RGB 720p. If you think that could bother you, you should give it some hands on time before buying it. It does bother me since I have a nexus 4 and moto G which are stripe RGB 720p and I can see more blurry small text on the Alpha's pentile display. I don't need to put the phones sided by side or do close up views to see the difference.

I also have an S5. S5 is obviously crisper.

 

[thoots]

No, I think you guys are just way off the mark. Yes, I understand the technologies. But I don't see what you guys are saying in "real world" usage of this phone. And I'm not going into any other forums saying that some other phone is better than the one under discussion in that forum. I utterly have no clue what you guys are talking about -- perhaps you're holding the screen up an inch or less in front of your eyes. I'm just telling it like I've seen it -- I did look at the phones side-by-side, with equalized brightness and text, and I thought the Alpha's text was easily crisper than the S5's text.

The bottom line to me is that if people are interested in a smaller Samsung phone, they sure don't need to worry about all of the hand-wringing and whining about the 720p pentile screen that people have been writing about -- I would recommend that people just do what I did, and compare the text to an S5 at any AT&T store, themselves. I think that 99% of most normal human beings won't see what you guys are talking about.

 

[osvanberg]

I think that 99% of most normal human beings won't see what you guys are talking about.

Stop stupidity declare 99% of most normal human beings. Of course they will see the issue of this sub par display. You're the unique one here....... not the other 99% .

 

[DS1331]

I just got the alpha, it seems like a great phone but I am so used to how comfortable the curved motor x is the squarish pointy Ness of the alpha is kind of uncomfortable to hold anyone ever feel like that on the S5?

 

[dbdynsty25]

I've had my Alpha since the release date, and I think I'm venturing into the "disappointed" category. The build quality, the camera, the screen, all fine...perform as expected. I really couldn't be happier with the hardware...it's exactly what I was looking for.

However, and this is what kills me, it is a slow phone. Things that should happen instantly, stutter and pause all the time. I've wiped the OS and started from scratch to make sure it wasn't an app that caused the issue, and it's not. It's F'n Touchwiz at it's finest. It's just a mess when compared to other phones w/ the same or similar specs. The M8, the G3, the X (2014) all are significantly faster.

Keyboard response is one of the main ways you can see this lag. Install the stock google keyboard and type on it...there is always a hesitation on the Alpha, but not any other phone I've used without Touchwiz (never had the S5, but had the other Galaxy S versions).

The lack of ROM support in the forums across the web puts me in a weird spot. I paid retail for this thing...and there's virtually no way it wins out over my Moto X (2014) or the OnePlus One I finally got an invite for. So I suppose a return is in order. If I could throw a stock 4.4.4 ROM on it, I'd keep it for sure. Everything else, but the most important part of the phone, is nearly perfect. So sad.

 

[DS1331]

Wouldn't just using Nova launcher be as effective?

 

[randun]

Was ready to upgrade my S4 to next variant but with all of the rumors out there, I decided to wait. I've found this discussion helpful as I would never purchase an Alpha. Will gladly wait for the S6. Much better phone than Alpha IMO.

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[DS1331]

If you want a bigger Phone yes. There are no good 4.7 phones made anymore

 

[Photon4glover]

If you want a bigger Phone yes. There are no good 4.7 phones made anymore

http://m.androidcentral.com/hands-sony-xperia-z3-compact


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[steelrain82]

http://m.androidcentral.com/hands-sony-xperia-z3-compact


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Hmmm. I guess that phone will suck as well because it is only 720p screen....(rolls eyes).

I think it looks like a nice phone. I would like to see a comparison between the two

Posted via Android Central App

 

[Photon4glover]

Hmmm. I guess that phone will suck as well because it is only 720p screen....(rolls eyes).

I think it looks like a nice phone. I would like to see a comparison between the two

Posted via Android Central App

"Hmmm. I guess that phone will suck as well because it is only 720p screen....(rolls eyes)."
Made my day! I was sketchy of screen until I saw it in person.. It really isn't that bad



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[dbdynsty25]

Wouldn't just using Nova launcher be as effective?

If you're talking to me...no, it wouldn't. I use it.

 

[Phillip Pugh]

It's so funny how it's fine for Apple to have a phone with the same specs but if Sammy are any other company puts out the same it's no good the isheep have spoken we must obey

Posted via Android Central App

 

[osvanberg]

It's so funny how it's fine for Apple to have a phone with the same specs but if Sammy are any other company puts out the same it's no good the isheep have spoken we must obey

Posted via Android Central App

That's a pretty lame argument since IOS is optimized like crazy for the specific HW in the IPhone - and doesn't need high specifications to run really smoothly.

And on the contrary, we all know that Android is a general SW that should be able to run on a huge amount of different HW. And also that it demands crazy *** specifications to run just pretty smoothly.

Also the Alpha display is NOT on pair with the Ip6 due to the crap pentile diamond matrix Samsung uses. It SUCKS in comparison, IMO.

And all the above comes from me, a die hard Android fan! Never owned an apple product period, never will. But you got to be able to look at things a bit more objectively! I hate fan boyism!

 

[DS1331]

The alpha was a great phone handled every thing I did on it. But just the shape of it was too pointy square, after using my Moto X nothing even compares to being as comfortable to hold. I'm returning the alpha might look at the z3 compact looks a little. More rounds and comfortable.

I really wish Moto made a 2014 X 4.7"... Cocksuckers

 

[Haalcyon]

The Alpha's low screen resolution (by today's standards) is what really turned me off. What would Samsung have lost by making it a 1080p screen?

 

[Photon4glover]

The Alpha's low screen resolution (by today's standards) is what really turned me off. What would Samsung have lost by making it a 1080p screen?

The opportunity of making the Galaxy Beta 1080p


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[thoots]

The Alpha's low screen resolution (by today's standards) is what really turned me off. What would Samsung have lost by making it a 1080p screen?

First of all, I think the folks whining about the 720p screen have absolutely lost their minds. If you go and actually look at the phone in stores, I just don't think that any actual human being can see anything "wrong" with the Alpha's screen. Compare it to anything in the store, and I doubt you'll find its text to be any less crisp than anything else. For crying out loud, you have to get out a magnifying glass with about 4x magnification to even begin to see that "awful pentile screen" break down into pixels. I think it's all utterly nothing but hogwash.

But, to answer your question, what Samsung would have lost with a 1080p screen is BATTERY LIFE. A 720p screen has less than half as many pixels as a 1080p screen -- about 44% as many pixels, to be specific. Usually, the screen uses the most power in any phone, and "more pixels" require "more power" to display any given image. And thus, the constant need for more power to display more pixels would substantially reduce the phone's battery life -- it's as simple as that.

I think it's a fine compromise that helped Samsung make the phone so thin and light, with its correspondingly smaller battery. If you really, truly need more resolution, then you probably would want a bigger screen to "show multimedia" and that kind of thing, and bigger-screen phones have plenty of room for bigger batteries, so that's the ticket if that's what you want. So, I sure don't see the Alpha as your best bet for a monster multimedia device, but there's certainly a market for smaller, lightweight phones, which the Alpha serves very well.

 

[Haalcyon]

Well, I guess the Note 4 and iPhone 6 are more my types of phone.

 

[Photon4glover]

First of all, I think the folks whining about the 720p screen have absolutely lost their minds. If you go and actually look at the phone in stores, I just don't think that any actual human being can see anything "wrong" with the Alpha's screen. Compare it to anything in the store, and I doubt you'll find its text to be any less crisp than anything else. For crying out loud, you have to get out a magnifying glass with about 4x magnification to even begin to see that "awful pentile screen" break down into pixels. I think it's all utterly nothing but hogwash.

But, to answer your question, what Samsung would have lost with a 1080p screen is BATTERY LIFE. A 720p screen has less than half as many pixels as a 1080p screen -- about 44% as many pixels, to be specific. Usually, the screen uses the most power in any phone, and "more pixels" require "more power" to display any given image. And thus, the constant need for more power to display more pixels would substantially reduce the phone's battery life -- it's as simple as that.

I think it's a fine compromise that helped Samsung make the phone so thin and light, with its correspondingly smaller battery. If you really, truly need more resolution, then you probably would want a bigger screen to "show multimedia" and that kind of thing, and bigger-screen phones have plenty of room for bigger batteries, so that's the ticket if that's what you want. So, I sure don't see the Alpha as your best bet for a monster multimedia device, but there's certainly a market for smaller, lightweight phones, which the Alpha serves very well.

720p is absolutely acceptable for this screen size. My issue comes with display type. Had they skipped Pentile and went with a similar type of display tech as iPhone 6 all would be fine and dandy


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