Samsung takes on Apple's iPhone 6 Plus with all-metal 5.5" Galaxy A7

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2015
South Korean electronics giant Samsung has officially unveiled the Galaxy A7, the latest entry in the company's premium all-metal Galaxy A series that brings a 5.5-inch Super AMOLED display, 2 gigabytes of RAM and an 8-core application processor.




Aside from the all-metal construction --?an effort by the company to appease critics of its plastic Galaxy S flagships --?the A7's most notable feature is under the hood. Samsung says that the octo-core processors are actually an amalgamation of two separate quad-core chips, "enabling users to quickly and easily perform data intensive tasks."

As before, the Seoul-based firm is shipping separate chipsets depending upon the specific model: the A7's single-SIM variant receives Samsung's own Exynos 5430, while the dual-sim version comes with Qualcomm's Snapdragon MSM8x39. The Exynos chip consists of one quad-core Cortex A15 at 1.8 gigahertz and one quad-core Cortex A7 at 1.3 gigahertz, while the Snapdragon brings two quad-core Cortex A53 processors at 1.5 gigahertz and 1 gigahertz.

Buyers will also receive 16 gigabytes of on-board storage alongside a 2,600 mAh battery. A 13-megapixel camera sits on the rear, while a 5-megapixel front-facing camera adds "advanced selfie features" like "auto selfie" mode, in which users can trigger the shutter with a voice command or by waving their hand.

On-board sensors include an accelerometer, proximity sensor, geomagnetic sensor, RGB sensor, Hall effect sensor, ambient light sensor, and an RGB sensor. The entire package weighs in at 141 grams and is just 6.3 millimeters thick, 0.8 millimeters thinner than Apple's iPhone 6 Plus and 31 grams lighter.

The Galaxy A7 will be available for approximately $600 in pearl white, midnight black, and champagne gold later this spring.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 99
    asdasdasdasd Posts: 5,686member
    Hey the softwares a dog, let's throw 8 cores at it!
  • Reply 2 of 99

    Just a personal note: I'm running with the 4s and really appreciate Apple supporting it as far as most of the features of iOS8. It is noticeably heavier than the 5s but I do like the size compared to the 6 and 6 Plus which feel a little oversized to me.

     

    As much as I like to keep things simple and minimize the number of devices I own and carry, I think I'm going to get an iPad 3 Mini and wait and hope Apple introduces a smaller iPhone than the 6 with all the latest chips, etc. I carry and use the iPhone 90% of the time and am happy to carry and use the Mini sometimes.

     

    P.S. No way would I buy a Samsung/Android product. Uggh.

     

    Best

  • Reply 3 of 99
    jkichlinejkichline Posts: 1,369member

    8 Cores. Still can't beat Apple.

     

    And seriously, you named it A7? Can Samsung do anything but copy Apple?

  • Reply 4 of 99
    dysamoriadysamoria Posts: 3,430member
    Eight cores??

    Also, what's a "hall effect sensor", what's an "RGB sensor", and why is that listed twice at different places in the same sentence?
  • Reply 5 of 99

    What the article fails to mention is the new A7 comes with Kit Kat. So you are basically buying a new phone with a 15 month old OS. Nice. 

  • Reply 6 of 99
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post





    On-board sensors include an accelerometer, proximity sensor, geomagnetic sensor, RGB sensor, Hall effect sensor, ambient light sensor, and an RGB sensor.

     

    But does it have an RGB sensor¿

     

    But seriously, is that another name for the front and back cameras? And I wonder what the Hall effect sensor is used for--maybe a "smart case" that turns the screen on and off?

  • Reply 7 of 99
    1) Is that an active octo-core or a big.LITTLE arrangement?

    2) I was surprised to see there is no 802.11ac.
  • Reply 8 of 99
    mac_128mac_128 Posts: 3,454member
    Wow! It's almost a full millimeter thinner than Apple's flagship. Apple must be fuming that anyone could out-thin them.

    What a stupid metric Apple has gleaned onto ... I have no idea who thinks this is important, but Apple has made it their gold standard, and just got bested.

    I do wonder whether this phone is going to have he same bending issues the Plus did however, and whether Samsung will face the same kind of heat for it ...
  • Reply 9 of 99
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Retrogusto View Post

     

     

    But does it have an RGB sensor¿

     

    But seriously, is that another name for the front and back cameras? And I wonder what the Hall effect sensor is used for--maybe a "smart case" that turns the screen on and off?




    RGB sensor is probably for the screen brightness. It detects the amount of light and adjusts the screen brightness accordingly. 

  • Reply 10 of 99
    maestro64maestro64 Posts: 5,043member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by dysamoria View Post



    Eight cores??



    Also, what's a "hall effect sensor", what's an "RGB sensor", and why is that listed twice at different places in the same sentence?

    hall effect sensor can detect current movement without putting something in line with the circuit that draws current. in a sense it a wire that runs through a ferrite core and the core picks up the magnetic field and the current passing through it and this can be converted to current and be measured. They are probably using this to know when the processors are drawing too much current and will over heat the phone and kill the battery at the same time.

  • Reply 11 of 99
    Since this looks like a scaled up iPhone 5/5S, it might attract vintage phone aficionados, but it seems more than a little copy-kat. Deja Vu Last month's Galaxy.

    The new score sheet seems to be a list of sensors, not their utility, just a list. I can see the bloggers matrix with sensors silly or not listed across the top phones on the vertical and check boxes for part of phone. Of course, this means nothing unless they really function with good API, use cases, and apps. Anyone taking bets on that aspect or even techie reviewers paying attention other than at best with footnotes.

    The thing that is missing is strong security and reliable and easy to use Touch ID. This will take a lot longer to mature, thereby continuing the weak enterprise attraction and weaker still wallet-less credit card options. This is a lot harder to copy quickly and requires vigorous Android OS updates and re-design that remain for the future.
  • Reply 12 of 99
    flaneurflaneur Posts: 4,526member
    mac_128 wrote: »
    Wow! It's almost a full millimeter thinner than Apple's flagship. Apple must be fuming that anyone could out-thin them.

    What a stupid metric Apple has gleaned onto ... I have no idea who thinks this is important, but Apple has made it their gold standard, and just got bested.

    I do wonder whether this phone is going to have he same bending issues the Plus did however, and whether Samsung will face the same kind of heat for it ...

    It's unlikely that Samsung will pay a Canadian blogger to bend its new phone for a YouTube video.
  • Reply 13 of 99
    hexclockhexclock Posts: 1,243member
    mac_128 wrote: »
    I do wonder whether this phone is going to have he same bending issues the Plus did however, and whether Samsung will face the same kind of heat for it ...
    Let's all go to Best Buy and bend the floor models to find out.
  • Reply 14 of 99
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Mac_128 View Post



    Wow! It's almost a full millimeter thinner than Apple's flagship. Apple must be fuming that anyone could out-thin them.



    What a stupid metric Apple has gleaned onto ... I have no idea who thinks this is important, but Apple has made it their gold standard, and just got bested.



    I do wonder whether this phone is going to have he same bending issues the Plus did however, and whether Samsung will face the same kind of heat for it ...

    I know that Apple likes thin products but I don't think it's just for aesthetic reasons.  I figured it was a matter of saving money on materials.  The thinner it is the less waste of materials which lowers the cost.  Since Apple uses aluminum cases, there's less machining to do and less raw materials to use.  I'd rather Apple made thicker devices to put larger batteries in them, but I think Apple has figured out that there is a certain optimal battery life for a particular device weight that satisfies most consumers.  I'm only guessing there must be some reason other than simple design factors.  In this case of you saying Apple got bested on thinness unless Samsung can get equal or better battery life out of this design, there's no win for consumers or Samsung.  At some point there has to be a low limit in thinness.  A smartphone seems to be harder or uncomfortable to hold when it gets but so thin based on my experience.  I'd be perfectly happy with a smartphone 3/8 of an inch thick especially if they could load it down with more battery.

  • Reply 15 of 99

    Hey look I see a bigger version of the iPhone 5!  Called an A7 no less.  They can use an iPhone 6 Plus body if they want and it will still be crap software.

  • Reply 16 of 99
    jkichline wrote: »
    8 Cores. Still can't beat Apple.

    And seriously, you named it A7? Can Samsung do anything but copy Apple?

    While Samsung is obviously making a 4,7" and a 5,5" just to copy Apple, stating what you stated proves that you have no idea of what you are talking about.

    Why do it? At least ask. The A7 cores have nothing to do with Apple's a-series SoC.
  • Reply 17 of 99

    A hall effect sensor is something commonly used in a dishwasher.

  • Reply 18 of 99

    All metal? I'd be willing to bet that only the outer frame is metal and that it still has a plastic back.

  • Reply 19 of 99
    pistispistis Posts: 247member
    "auto selfie" mode

    wow I'm sure Samesung will quickly reverse its fortunes and grab over 50% of the market with that game chnager killer app- Apple is doomed!
  • Reply 20 of 99
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,092member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post



    Samsung says that the octo-core processors are actually an amalgamation of two separate quad-core chips, "enabling users to quickly and easily perform data intensive tasks."

     



    Yeah, like run that botch-of-a-project called "Android".



    What's sad is Samsung touting that 8-core nonsense as a "feature" when the reality is, the iPhone6 will stomp all the while with less cores, a slower clock-speed, and using less battery power.  Idiots.

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