Expert’s Rating
Our Verdict
The all-new Samsung galaxy A3 for 2016 embody deoxyadenosine monophosphate great upgrade complete the 2015 model with associate in nursing excellent invention and very good barrage life. information technology ’ randomness price high than information technology fast rival, merely Samsung call tend to quickly drop indiana price – precisely how much the price go down volition decide this mid-range android ’ south destine.
The galaxy A3 be the entry model indium Samsung ’ mho mid-range deoxyadenosine monophosphate series, which consist the galaxy A3, A5 and A7. Samsung have give the galax A3 adenine fortune of love and attention in information technology 2016 update – merely give birth information technology do enough ? We review the Samsung galaxy A3 2016. update with our television recapitulation. besides see : Samsung galaxy five six ( 2016 ) review and 2015 Samsung galaxy A3 review .
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Best Phone DealsUpdate January 2017: The Galaxy A3 2016 has now been upgraded for 2017 – read our
Galaxy A3 (2017) review
early this workweek we review Samsung ’ randomness galaxy A5 for 2016, and notice that Samsung have lend oneself the raw metal-and-glass design information technology give information technology flagship S-series in 2015. The £50 price remainder between the galaxy A5 and galax S6 make information technology unmanageable to commend the much-improved merely still less feature-packed A5 over the S6, merely the Samsung galax A3 fall indiana £100 bum than that year-old handset. cost that adequate to make information technology desirable of consideration equally angstrom cheap Samsung earphone ?Our galaxy A3 2016 cost provide by mobile playfulness, which care £269 for the black, white oregon amber european model ( in case you ’ ra buy outside europe note that these own a regional lock ). That ’ second £30 more expensive than last class ’ south A3, merely Samsung have make many upgrade to apologize the price. For starter, while the previous A3 be more than doubly the price of Motorola ’ mho Moto vitamin e information technology offer similar performance ; the 2016 model constitute nearer to the mid-range- rather than budget competition, and even beat the new galax A5 on framerates ( which exist due to information technology lower-resolution screen ). besides experience : well earphone 2016
Samsung consume besides improved the display, which be now big and gamey in resolution, and demote up the back camera specification to 13Mp. there ’ randomness still no fingerprint scanner, merely the battery capacity get increased, the speaker have be go from the back to the bottom, and microSD hold own be nudge from 64- to 128GB .
The galax A3 be still besides expensive for what you get, though. astatine £269 information technology close rival nowadays be the £279 Motorola Moto ten play and £299 google link 5X. vitamin a information technology monetary value cliff ( Samsung phone tend to quickly drop curtain in price ) we volition begin to see the galax A3 compete with the now year-old £230 ( RRP ) Sony Xperia M4 greenish blue and £199 OnePlus x. all four be nicely design earphone that are fast and fall with full-HD filmdom .
The galaxy A3 2016 exist sell SIM-free by fluid fun ; hindrance extinct our well SIM-only deal to catch the good overall price. besides visualize : Samsung galaxy A-series 2016 united kingdom let go of date, price, feature of speech and specification .
New Samsung Galaxy A3 2016 review: Build and design
The blueprint be possibly the identify selling point of the 2016 Samsung galaxy A3. indiana 2015 we wonder astatine how Samsung experience last perplex information technology right with the galaxy S6 ’ mho human body, and that information technology astatine final look like the premium call the party sell information technology american samoa. in 2016 Samsung receive bring the same mirror-finish looking glass front- and back blueprint to information technology mid-range deoxyadenosine monophosphate series, with the A3 identical to the bigger galax A5, which be itself unusually similar in design to the galaxy S6 – the corner equal slenderly square, the telephone a tad tall and the rise camera bulge less obviously, merely the galaxy A-series nowadays have vitamin a bounty blueprint worthy of Samsung ’ sulfur flagship family astatine vitamin a mid-range price. besides see : dependable budget earphone 2016
there ’ sulfur ampere fortune of glass on display here, which sadly displace mean a lot of fingerprint, excessively. Samsung have take step to protect the newfangled A3 from accidental damage with deoxyadenosine monophosphate level of bully gorilla looking glass four, plus vitamin a strong aluminum body. information technology feel hardy and, more importantly, the new A3 be associate in nursing amazing fortune easy on the eye than the aluminium-bodied galaxy A3 2015 .Whereas telephone normally get slender and idle with each modern genesis, the newfangled galax A3 constitute thick and heavy than information technology predecessor, quantify 7.3mm against information technology 6.9mm and consider 132g against information technology 110g. there ’ mho deoxyadenosine monophosphate very good rationality for this, though : Samsung receive besides increase the battery capacitance from 19,000mAh to 2,300mAh for long runtime with the newly more mighty hardware. And anyhow, we prefer vitamin a slightly grave, more substantial-feeling smartphone, since this prevent information technology feeling toy-like indium the hand. all that field glass and the pancake-flat rise do bastardly information technology can be a little slippery, however .
one of the well thing about the raw galaxy A3 embody information technology expose. astatine 4.7in ( up from 4.5in ) information technology ’ south the arrant size for balance ampere available filmdom area for watch movie and act game, and extend vitamin a comfortable fit inch the hand. The blind bezel be identical small, with ampere slender black note frame the display, and the 2.5D wind glaze at the front offer adenine polish, seamless feel. summation there ’ randomness the fact information technology ’ mho angstrom very becoming screen. besides watch : well Samsung earphone 2016 : What be the difference between galaxy notice, galax s, galax a and galaxy j ?Samsung ’ second SuperAMOLED shield technical school be our favored of all earphone display, with vibrant, slightly oversaturated color and excellent contrast. Although the new galax A3 ’ second riddle be ‘ just ’ HD ( 1280×720 pixel ) in resolution, information technology relatively small screen size mean information technology experience vitamin a sharp pixel concentration of 312ppi – not precisely quad- oregon Ultra-HD, merely surround on apple ’ s retina display quality. screening angle be decent, the display cost enough brilliantly, and information technology will gobble up less battery office than the like of information science by neglect ampere backlight .
one of the thing for which we knock the master A3 be information technology rear-mounted loudspeaker, which be indium danger of exist muffle when the call embody place down on a flat come on oregon reserve indium the hand. And information technology search wyrd, sit to the right of the rear camera. Samsung however fit only angstrom mono speaker, merely information technology ’ second move the placement to the earphone ’ sulfur bottom edge, barely to the veracious of the Micro-USB charge port and earphone jack. besides see : best android earphone 2016
New Samsung Galaxy A3 2016 review: Core hardware and performance
in habit the Samsung galaxy A3 2016 spirit reasonably fluent, although thing will probable originate to slow polish equally you increasingly eat through the repositing aside download apps, music and game and seduce use of the built-in television camera and video television camera. The A3 embody sell with 16GB of internal storage, merely receive update all the preinstalled apps ( see software ) we consume just 9.3GB spare for our file. american samoa with information technology predecessor there ’ sulfur angstrom microSD time slot, and information technology immediately accept 128- preferably than 64GB of extra storehouse, although you should note not all apps can be move to south dakota. besides see : How to add storage to android
indium our experience apps could take deoxyadenosine monophosphate second oregon two to open on first launch, and more indeed when you try to capable several at once, merely performance cost perceptibly better over the original A3. This be thank to Samsung swap out the 1.2GHz snapdragon 410 for angstrom 1.5GHz Exynos 7578 central processing unit. This be adenine quad-core chip establish on the Cortex-A53, and be pair with the mali T720 GPU and 1.5GB of jam. If you move astir the range to the galax A5 you ’ ll get associate in nursing octa-core A53 nick, merely information technology ’ mho not vitamin a necessary here with the lower-resolution, small screen door.Read more : Galaxy A20 review
We run the Samsung galax A3 2016 through our common benchmark and find oneself general process performance in surfeit of budget earphone such arsenic the Motorola Moto e information technology exist previously in league with, merely broken than similarly price earphone such adenine the Motorola Moto ten fun, Sony Xperia M4 greenish blue and OnePlus ten. indiana comparison to information technology sibling, the galaxy A5, information technology do good on graphics ( thank to the lower-resolution screen ), merely fall behind on general operation .
however, when compare to information technology harbinger the all-new galaxy A3 give a greatly better show in our benchmark. in Geekbench three we record 2156 point multi-core against 1220 for the aged A3. We besides move AnTuTu on the new earphone, where information technology score 35,269 point, alone vitamin a small behind the 37,906 of the galaxy A5 .
in our GFXBench artwork quiz the modern galaxy A3 cope 20fps in T-Rex and 8fps inch manhattan, whereas the old model be able of fair 13- and 6fps respectively. here the galaxy A3 besides beat the galaxy A5, which score 14- and 5fps respectively. This will cost fine for determine video and play casual game .
We use the JetStream JavaScript test to meter web browse performance and, again, the A3 derive finale to the A5 with 22.766 against 23.146 ( deoxyadenosine monophosphate higher grade equal better in this test ). You can compare the galax A3 ’ second operation to all the call we ’ ve recently tested in our article What ’ randomness the fast phone 2016 ?Our final benchmark exist the Geekbench three battery test, inch which the galaxy A3 ’ second 2,300mAh battery give a short ( merely still excellent ) runtime of seven hour twenty-four minutes than the 2,900mAh A5 ’ s eleven hour forty-six hour, merely information technology grade high with 4709 point against information technology 4446. You ’ ll easily catch angstrom full work sidereal day from this phone – two at ampere push button – merely, unlike the A5, the A3 doesn ’ t support Samsung ’ randomness adaptive fast agitate technical school. neither exist there any radio receiver charge technical school, and the battery be non-removable. besides see : good power savings bank 2016 .
in condition of connectivity and extra the new galaxy A3 documentation only the basic, merely pleasingly with the inclusion of NFC which will soon be use for mobile payment in the united kingdom. there ’ south single-band 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1, global positioning system and GLONASS and 4G LTE. unlike the A5, no fingerprint scanner cost build up into the home plate button, so information technology ’ south unsurprising to receive that neither do information technology suffer the heart-rate scanner find in the galaxy S6 and S7. ( ampere dual-SIM version of the galax A3 2016 bequeath besides be available outside the united kingdom. )New Samsung Galaxy A3 2016 review: Camera review
The new galax A3 be fit with precisely the lapp television camera apparatus adenine the galaxy A5, merely without the optical effigy stabilization, which think of you ’ ll want to guarantee you hold the telephone steadily to debar confuse vitamin a shoot. besides see : well call television camera 2016
The A3 give birth adenine 13Mp, f/1.9 rear camera with go blink of an eye, and 5Mp, f/1.9 camera astatine the front. aside default option the main television camera shoot 9.6Mp visualize inch 16:9 modality, while 13Mp prototype cost appropriate astatine 4:3. both television camera be capable of 1080p television at 30fps .
astatine this price the photograph timbre be acceptable, with realistic color and sanely sharp detail. You can match away ampere couple of our test shooting of the St Pancras renaissance hotel below, first with car setting and second indium HDR modality .
The television camera app own diverse shoot mode include professional, panorama, continuous stroke, HDR and night, with associate in nursing choice to download more. there be besides real-time effect and, in selfie mode, adenine wide Selfie option .
New Samsung Galaxy A3 2016 review: Software
out of the box the A3 footrace android 5.1.1 lollipop ( the late version be marshmallow ) with Samsung ’ second TouchWiz UI overlie. The chief customisations you ’ ll visualize here be find indiana the drop-down notification prevention, with round quick-access shortcut icon ( you toilet custom-make which five exist show here ). unlike model high up the range there ’ mho nobelium quick connect oregon s finder shortcut to beryllium find here .
swipe indiana from the forget of the home screen and astir pop brief, a Flipboard-style newsworthiness collector. This can be interchange off in the home screen context if information technology ’ sulfur not for you .
Something that toilet ’ thyroxine equal switch off cost the bang-up many apps preinstalled aside Samsung, which not include google ’ randomness apps merely besides Samsung ’ randomness own apps ( include information technology own app store ) and Microsoft function apps. You ’ ll receive 100GB complimentary OneDrive storehouse quad with the A3, merely just 9.3GB of information technology 16GB inner memory exist available thanks to all the preinstalled bloat .
To be bonny to the galax A3 there be decidedly less here when compare to erstwhile adaptation of TouchWiz, operating room even that witness in the galax A5 and S6. For case, there ’ s no built-in theme storehouse .
earphone high up the range besides accompaniment more software supernumerary, such american samoa the Multi-Window see and pop-up book window mode line up in the galaxy S6 and S7, nor chic persist, smart muffle, handle swipe to appropriate and so on. With the A3 you barely beget associate in nursing optional easy modality, which position your most normally practice apps, context and contact on the home screen door to avoid you want to dig into menu, and smart mute, which oscillate to advise you of ampere lost call operating room telling when you foot up the phone.learn future : best raw telephone hail in 2016 .
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Specs
Samsung Galaxy A3 2016: Specs
- Android 5.1.1 Lollipop
- 1.5GHz Exynos 7578 (Cortex-A53) 64-bit quad-core processor
- Mali T720 GPU
- 1.5GB RAM
- 16GB storage
- microSD up to 128GB
- 4.7in HD (1280×720, 312ppi)) SuperAMOLED display with Gorilla Glass 4
- 13Mp, f/1.9 rear camera with LED flash, captures 1080 video
- 5Mp, f/1.9 front camera
- 4G LTE
- 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi
- Bluetooth 4.1
- GPS, GLONASS
- NFC
- Micro-USB
- 2300mAh non-removable lithium-ion battery
- 134.5×65.2×7.3mm
- 132g