Mobile phone Samsung Galaxy A 7. Review of Galaxy A7 (2018) - the first smartphone from Samsung with a triple camera

Last year, Samsung introduced the updated “A-series”, which received the 2016 prefix to separate it from previous models. The line of smartphones turned out to be really successful; for the first time for itself, the company endowed it with characteristics close to flagship ones, leaving the price at an average level. As you might expect, Samsung updated the A-series in 2017. We have already tested the Galaxy A3 and Galaxy A5 smartphones, and now it’s the turn of the Galaxy A7. Let's see what the top model of the line has to offer.

Like last year's A7, the new smartphone takes on the features of one of Samsung's flagships, this time it turned out to be the Galaxy S7. The shape of the case, the glass of the front panel rounded to the edges, as well as the identical speaker grille and navigation keys really make the models similar.

But to emphasize the positioning of the Galaxy A7 (2017), the camera unit was made noticeably smaller than in the S7, which is why the smartphone looks a little toy-like from the back. Especially in the pink color that we tested. In general, the design of the device is made in the spirit of Samsung of the last few years, and the similarity with the flagship model is only a plus for it.

The same applies to case materials. Already last year the company significantly improved the quality of the “A-series”, and this year it has only slightly improved it. The main material of the Galaxy A7 (2017) is glass, which covers the entire front and rear panels.

At the same time, the frame is made of aluminum to add additional rigidity to the case. The fit of materials is excellent; the glass of both the front and front panels smoothly transitions into metal, leaving virtually no gap. And since the body cannot be disassembled, the entire structure is monolithic.

The Galaxy A7 (2017) case dimensions are 156.8 x 77.6 x 7.9 mm and weighs 186 grams. For a 5.7-inch smartphone, the device is relatively compact.

Water and dust protection

For the first time for the A-series, models in the line received protection from water and dust according to the IP68 standard. Thus, the Galaxy A7 (2017) can easily survive being caught in a downpour; it can be washed under the tap and generally immersed in water to a depth of 1.5 meters and for up to 30 minutes.

The smartphone case is sealed, so dust cannot get into it either. A sensor on the USB Type-C connector, which is used for charging, warns that moisture has entered it and you need to wait until it dries before connecting the charging cable.

Display

Galaxy A7 (2017) is the older model of the new A-series, so it has the largest display. Its diagonal is 5.7 inches, with a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels. Traditionally, Samsung uses a Super AMOLED matrix with a PenTile pixel arrangement. However, given the diagonal and resolution, the pixel density is 386 per inch, so you can only get a hint of screen grain if you hold it directly to your eyes. Also, the peculiarities of vision cannot be ignored, however, for most users, images and fonts on the display of the Galaxy A7 (2017) will look clear.

The calibration of the smartphone screen depends on the selected setting, for example, in the “Adaptive Screen” and “Cinema AMOLED” modes, colors can be made very rich and vibrant, while in the “Basic” and “Photo AMOLED” modes they will be closer to natural. We took measurements in Basic mode, and the display showed excellent calibration with more than 100% coverage of the sRGB color space, a color temperature of 6500K, a uniform gamma and backlight.

The Galaxy A7 (2017) also features a recently popular blue light filter for the screen, which makes it noticeably “warmer”. This option can be enabled manually or according to a schedule.

In addition, the smartphone was equipped with another feature of Samsung’s flagship smartphones – an always-on screen. Since the display here is Super AMOLED, and each pixel in it is individually illuminated, even when the screen is locked with minimal battery consumption, you can display the time and date, notifications, calendar or image on it.

Platform and performance

Mid-price smartphones may look similar to flagship models, but they are very rarely able to match them in terms of performance. This happened with the Galaxy A7 (2017), despite the similarity in design, it lags behind the S7 in terms of performance. However, this does not prevent the smartphone from working quickly and performing all the tasks assigned to it, including games.

The Galaxy A7 (2017) is powered by a 14nm octa-core Exynos 7880 processor clocked at 1.9GHz, coupled with Mali T830MP3 graphics. In addition, the smartphone is equipped with 3 GB of RAM and 32 GB of internal memory, which can be expanded with microSD cards.

The performance of the Galaxy A7 (2017) platform will be sufficient for all tasks that a smartphone user may encounter, but in resource-intensive games you will have to choose medium graphics settings.

Despite the popularity of hybrid slots for SIM and memory cards, in the Galaxy A7 (2017) they are implemented separately, thanks to which you can install two nanoSIM cards and a separate microSD card in the smartphone. To implement this, Samsung used not one universal tray, but two. One is installed on the upper end of the case and you can install a nanoSIM and a memory card in it. And the second is on the left side and is intended for installing one nanoSIM.

Interface

The Galaxy A7 (2017) uses Android 6.0.1 and a new shell called Grace UX. This is not to say that TouchWiz did not look modern, but the new interface was developed for the seventh version of Android, so it immediately adopted some of its features. This mainly concerns standardized icons, organization of alerts in a drop-down panel, as well as a better organized settings menu.

Overall, Grace UX looks nice, but the most important thing is that it works really fast. Animations in the new interface are smoother and occur without jerks. This gives the impression that the smartphone has a more powerful processor and more memory.

Camera

The main camera in the smartphone is 16-megapixel with f/1.9 aperture, 27 mm focal length, autofocus and flash. Compared to last year's A7, the number of megapixels has increased, but optical stabilization has disappeared.

In daylight, the camera takes good pictures as expected. Moreover, they can be done both in automatic and HDR mode. The latter saves photos a little longer than we would like, but this is often found in mid-price smartphones.

At night, the f/1.9 aperture allows the Galaxy A7 (2017) to capture more light, however, high resolution plays less of a role here than the size of the pixels on the sensor. Thus, the camera manages to capture more detail in low light, but it lacks sharpness. In addition, the lack of optical stabilization can lead to blurred images in poor lighting conditions.

Overall, the camera of the Galaxy A7 (2017) is on par with the two-year-old flagship Galaxy S6, which is excellent considering the positioning of the new model.

The front of the smartphone also deserves attention, as it also uses a 16-megapixel module with f/1.9 aperture.

It is not the same as the main one, but it also provides good image quality.

Multimedia

The external speaker in the Galaxy A7 (2017) is located on the right side, above the power button. This allows you not to block it when you hold the smartphone horizontally with both hands, for example, while watching a video.

However, it itself sounds muffled, since it has a moisture-proof membrane installed.

The 3.5mm headphone jack is on the bottom edge. The smartphone sounds good, and there is an equalizer in the settings, as well as proprietary Adapt Sound technology, which allows you to customize the sound to suit your hearing characteristics.

Fingerprint's scanner

Traditionally for Samsung smartphones, under the display of the Galaxy A7 (2017) there is a mechanical “Home” button, which contains a fingerprint scanner.

The user can add up to 5 fingerprints and use them to unlock the smartphone, as well as for purchases on Google Play. The scanner works quickly, subjectively it is no worse than in the flagship Galaxy S7.

Autonomy

The Galaxy A7 (2017) has a 3600 mAh battery, thanks to this, as well as an energy-efficient processor, the smartphone demonstrates an excellent level of autonomy. In the PCMark battery test at 200 cd/m2 brightness, it lasted 9.5 hours. At an average load level, with active data transfer and 20 minutes of calls per day, you can count on 2 days of battery life.

Advantages: – The always on display function (clock on the locked screen), which is as rare on the market today as it is extremely useful in everyday life. And it’s also well thought out: all the notification icons light up there too. The brightness of this whole thing is adjusted to the lighting, and in your pocket it goes out completely; – Protection against water and dust ip68 will certainly be one of the reasons to buy for many; many will also appreciate USB type-c, and the presence of a separate tray: both for a second SIM and a memory card; – A bright super-screen, excellent build quality of the case itself, you can feel just such a solid, weighty solidity combined with fragility. When you hold it in your hand for the first time, you involuntarily think that if you drop this bandura, the outcome from falling under its own weight will most likely be fatal. Meanwhile, it’s much easier to drop it than the same A3, which fits perfectly in the palm of your hand; – As for performance, despite the average performance, the A7 handles any games without any problems, while eliminating the possibility of overheating. In my opinion, this is the “golden mean” that, as we know, is worth striving for; – Because of its slope, the edges do not dig in when you hold it. Despite the large diagonal, oddly enough, half of the tasks can be easily handled with one hand. And yet, many have been waiting for the 5.7" format for a long time. After all, this is a rather niche area: there are very few good phablets in themselves... Meanwhile, the totality of such rare qualities that the A7 combines lies in its obvious value Disadvantages: – Expectedly, the glass case is easily soiled, they say the back is also susceptible to scratches; – There is no notification indicator (for those who are used to monitoring them from the other side of the room); – The camera is generally a separate topic for holivars on the forum; didn’t kick; people are crying tears of blood that there is no optical stabilization and, accordingly, in low light the picture is prone to blurring and noise; I don’t consider myself a megapixel aesthete, so I just admitted this fact, the main thing for me is that there is autofocus - the number of layouts; you can set for “always on” the software was cut so as not to infringe on your own flagship; for the A line 2017, only 2 watch options were left, against the background of 14 for M - marketing, enjoy the scraps from the VIP table! You immediately feel somehow inferior with such an attitude, right? – The price is of course a little high for the brand, that’s true; – Avid Samsung connoisseurs may not understand me, but after the EMUI shell (from Huawei), I personally found it a little difficult to enter the touchscreen. It’s true that many people now justify him very much. But in my opinion, genius lies in simplicity, and not in the number of crutches. All around there is some kind of insurmountable mess of accounts mixing in one cauldron. There are much more third-party applications and settings built into the shell than in EMUI. - Some are unexpectedly useful, and some, on the contrary, are simply absent. For example, you cannot combine internal memory with a card, or designate the latter as the main one for applications. Each new application needs to be reassigned manually, piece by piece, and not all of them support this. By default, call recording is not provided; you need to use third-party programs; – Android 6.0.1 out of the box, while the seven is already relevant. As far as I understand, approximately, the update should not be expected until the second quarter of 2017. Comment: The battery will last for two days (or maybe more) only if you practically do not use it during this time. In average use it will last for a day and a half. I would give it a day to actively stick to the screen, and if you play some toy, it will sit down even faster. The design is completely Samsung-ordinary. Despite its generally decent price, the 2017 A line clearly does not stand out for pathos, benchmarks or any kind of pompous status. Someone might say that they have no characteristic zest, and they would even be partly right. But in my opinion, this predictability is the peculiarity of the 2017 line of devices. These are, first of all, workhorses, designed for individual convenience of quite ordinary and most comprehensive use. In short, I grew tired of his appearance after just half a day. Well, if it were some kind of unique device in its design, the same thing would happen just in a week. But the convenience will remain for the entire time of use. I am a very picky person and I waited a very long time for a phone that would meet all my numerous criteria. Now I can say that I am more than satisfied with this model.

Fashionable slim model with a large screen in an all-metal case

Samsung Galaxy A7 went on sale a little later than its brothers in the new line (Galaxy A3 and A5), and immediately stood at the head of this new series, the positioning of which, in fact, is not so obvious. Looking at the characteristics of any of the new devices belonging to the Galaxy A line, including their flagship, it becomes clear that these smartphones do not belong to the truly top level in most respects. Even the Galaxy A7 cannot compare in capabilities with the same Galaxy S5, which, even after almost a whole year of sales, remains a much more technically advanced device, being a true flagship. The new product, in comparison, has a much less productive platform, a simpler camera, a non-removable battery, no fingerprint scanner, no heart rate sensor, for some reason MHL was cut, and, finally, no protection from water. So the Galaxy A7, like the entire new Galaxy A line, can rather be classified as a middle class, but certainly not a top-end one.

Instead, the emphasis in the new line is largely on the image component. The main feature of the entire Samsung Galaxy A series is that the Koreans have rethought their approach to the choice of materials: instead of traditional plastic, metal has finally appeared in the cases. All models of the new family have all-metal bodies made entirely of aluminum, but at the same time, all smartphones in the series are similar to each other, like twin brothers - the difference can only be noticed by placing all three models side by side. Compared to its family brethren, the Galaxy A7 looks the most preferable - for starters, it has a slightly more powerful hardware platform (the younger models in the series use a very budget entry-level platform as a filling), although the Galaxy A7 is still not up to the top solutions in terms of performance far. A thin, metallic and lightweight body, as well as a large, bright Super AMOLED display are the main and most noticeable advantages of the device. Well-selected lightweight and durable modern materials, a large bright screen, as well as improved capabilities of the front camera for creating popular selfies - all this, according to the creators, should appeal to a young audience who loves to take pictures of themselves and spend their leisure time on social networks.

Video review

First, we suggest watching our video review of the Samsung Galaxy A7 smartphone:

Now let's take a look at the characteristics of the new product.

Main characteristics of Samsung Galaxy A7 (model SM-A700FD)

	Samsung Galaxy A7	Samsung Galaxy A5	Oppo R5	Fly Tornado Slim	Lenovo Vibe X2
Screen	5.5″, Super AMOLED	5″, Super AMOLED	5.2″, AMOLED	4.8″, Super AMOLED	5″, IPS
Permission	1920×1080, 401 ppi	1280×720, 294 ppi	1920×1080, 423 ppi	1280×720, 306 ppi	1920×1080, 440 ppi
SoC		Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 (4 Cortex-A53 cores) @1.2 GHz	Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 (8 cores ARM Cortex-A53) @1-1.5 GHz	MediaTek MT6592 (8 cores ARM Cortex-A7 @1.7 GHz)	Mediatek MT6595m (4x Cortex-A17 @2.0 GHz + 4x Cortex-A7 @1.3 GHz)
GPU	Adreno 405	Adreno 306	Adreno 405	Mali 450MP	PowerVR G6200
RAM	2 GB	2 GB	2 GB	1 GB	2 GB
Flash memory	16 GB	16 GB	16 GB	16 GB	32 GB
Memory card support	microSD	microSD	—	—	—
operating system	Google Android 4.4	Google Android 4.4	Google Android 4.4	Google Android 4.4	Google Android 4.4
Battery	non-removable, 2600 mAh	non-removable, 2300 mAh	non-removable, 2000 mAh	non-removable, 2050 mAh	non-removable, 2300 mAh
Cameras		rear (13 MP; video 1080p), front (5 MP)	rear (13 MP; video 1080p), front (5 MP)	rear (8 MP; video 1080p), front (5 MP)	rear (13 MP; video 1080p), front (5 MP)
Dimensions and weight	151×76×6.3 mm, 141 g	139×70×6.7 mm, 123 g	149×74×4.9 mm, 157 g	140×67×5.2 mm, 97 g	140×69×7.3 mm, 120 g
average price	T-11927009	T-11755838	T-11168103	T-11553831	T-11168521
Samsung Galaxy A7 offers	L-11927009-10

• SoC Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 (MSM8939), 4+4 ARM Cortex-A53 cores, 1/1.5 GHz
• GPU Adreno 405 @550 MHz
• Operating system Android 4.4.4
• Touch display Super AMOLED, 5.5″, 1920×1080, 401 ppi
• Random access memory (RAM) 2 GB, internal memory 16 GB
• SIM cards: Nano-SIM (2 pcs.)
• Supports microSD memory cards up to 64 GB
• 2G communication: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
• 3G Communication: WCDMA 850/900/1900/2100 MHz
• Data transmission 4G LTE FDD (Cat4, up to 150 Mbps)
• Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n (2.4/5 GHz), Wi-Fi hotspot, Wi-Fi Direct
• Bluetooth 4.0, NFC
• USB 2.0, OTG
• GPS/A-GPS, Glonass, BDS
• Position, proximity, lighting sensors, electronic compass
• Camera 13 MP (F2.0), autofocus, LED flash
• Camera 5 MP (F2.2), front
• Battery 2600 mAh
• Dimensions 151×76×6.3 mm
• Weight 141 g

Appearance and ease of use

In design, as mentioned above, the Galaxy A series smartphones are practically no different from each other, but that’s not all. The main thing is that even despite the rethinking of the interests and aspirations of the modern market, despite the sharp transition from plastic to metal in manufacturing materials, the new Samsung smartphones still remain in appearance almost the same as they were before. That is, their appearance remained so recognizable that those who were somehow dissatisfied with the design of Korean devices are unlikely to see anything encouraging this time.

The easily recognizable design of Samsung smartphones has not changed much:

As for materials, the devices actually received metal cases, and entirely made of this material. The back wall and sides in such a case form a solid “trough”, and gluing occurs in the place where the glass of the screen adjoins the metal in the front part. And yet, owners of new Korean smartphones will not have the opportunity to touch real metal and feel all its cold appeal. The fact is that all surfaces here are carefully covered with a special plastic coating so as to completely hide all the metal underneath. That is, the all-metal bodies of the new Galaxy A look and feel as if we were still looking at the same plastic. The presence of metal can be recognized, perhaps, only by the unpainted chamfers on the side faces.

Due to the matte finish, thin body and low weight, the device is held comfortably in the hand, does not slip out and does not collect fingerprints. New Samsung smartphones have become very pleasant to the touch, this cannot be taken away. Even with a huge display, the Galaxy A7 remains such a thin and light solution that the smartphone can easily be carried in your pocket, although the dimensions are certainly large.

The assembly does not cause any complaints; Samsung is fine with this. Having abandoned the removable cover for the first time, the developers resorted to a common solution for placing cards in the side slots: now here, too, you need to press in the hidden buttons with a paper clip in order to remove the slide with the SIM card and memory card. In place of the memory card, you can put a second Nano-SIM card, but then you will have to leave the memory card at home - a very controversial, and it is completely unclear how justified the decision of the developers was.

According to the not very pleasant tradition that has developed recently, here it is also proposed to compromise and choose only one of the possible options for using cards: either install two Nano-SIMs without the possibility of expanding the memory, or put a microSD card in the second slot, but then you will have to say goodbye to your second SIM card. This strange idea of ​​saving captured the minds of not only Chinese developers, but, as it turned out, Korean ones too. In marketing materials, this solution is usually presented as ideal: those who need a second SIM card will insert it, and those who need additional memory will choose a microSD card. However, nothing is said about those who may need both. It is completely unclear what benefits such a solution should provide - after all, the market is full of devices with simultaneous support for two SIM cards and a memory card, and even with two “full-size” Mini-SIM cards, there is nothing special about it.

Despite the fact that the smartphone body is not particularly thin, the camera module still protrudes quite noticeably from the back wall. In this matter, the new Samsung smartphones turned out to be no better than the notorious Apple iPhone 6/6 Plus, which only the lazy did not “wash their bones” for this option of placing the camera module. The same square-shaped LED flash and chrome speaker grille are symmetrically distributed on both sides of the camera lens. Since the protruding camera module does not allow the grille to overlap with the surface of the table, the sound of a smartphone lying “on the back” is practically not muffled. However, since the main contact with the surface will be the glass of the protruding chamber, it will most likely be scratched first. There was no built-in flashlight mode for the flash; the flash module itself has only one section.

The front of the smartphone is completely covered with protective Gorilla Glass. As in the case of the Galaxy A5, there was no place in the device for such a useful element as an LED notification sensor.

At the bottom, under the screen, there is the usual oval mechanical key and two touch buttons on either side of it. The buttons have a bright white backlight with adjustable duration. The front panel under the glass has a dotted texture, like previous Samsung smartphones.

The mechanical volume and lock keys are also made of metal, the buttons are quite large, the action is springy and responsive, and there are traditionally no complaints about the controls in Samsung devices.

For some reason, the Micro-USB 2.0 connector and the audio output for headphones with a diameter of 3.5 mm were clustered on one, bottom end, very close to each other. This is inconvenient if you have to use both sockets for connecting power and headphones at the same time. It’s good that, unlike the younger Galaxy A5 model, Micro-USB here supports connecting external devices and flash drives in OTG mode.

The smartphone is not protected from dust and moisture, does not support wireless charging, and there is no strap mount on the case. In addition to the white color option, the dark blue and golden body colors familiar from previous series of Samsung smartphones are also offered. With a clear focus on the youth segment, the developers perhaps should have given their new products fresher and brighter colors, since they decided to cover the metal with a plastic coating that is easy to paint.

Screen

The Samsung Galaxy A7 smartphone is equipped with a large Super AMOLED touch matrix. The physical dimensions of the display are 68x122 mm, diagonal - 5.5 inches. The screen resolution in pixels is 1920×1080 (dot density 401 ppi), a decent figure, but do not forget that the screen here is made using Pentile technology.

The side bezels around the screen are not impressive: the distance from the edge of the body to the edge of the screen on the sides is about 4 mm, and on the top and bottom - approximately 14 mm. The display brightness has manual and automatic adjustment, the latter based on the operation of the light sensor. There is also a proximity sensor that blocks the screen when you bring the smartphone to your ear. Multi-touch technology allows you to process 10 simultaneous touches. In the settings, you can enable support for working with the screen while wearing gloves (this was not the case in the Galaxy A5).

A detailed examination using measuring instruments was carried out by the editor of the “Monitors” and “Projectors and TV” sections, Alexey Kudryavtsev. Here is his expert opinion on the screen of the sample under study.

The front surface of the screen is made in the form of a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface that is scratch-resistant. Judging by the reflection of objects, the anti-glare properties of the screen are no worse than those of the Google Nexus 7 (2013) screen (hereinafter simply Nexus 7). For clarity, here is a photo in which a white surface is reflected when the screens are turned off (on the left is Nexus 7, on the right is Samsung Galaxy A7, then they can be distinguished by size):

The screen of the Samsung Galaxy A7 is slightly lighter (brightness according to photographs is 102 versus 98 for the Nexus 7) and does not have a pronounced tint. Note that the reflection from bright objects in the screen of the Samsung Galaxy A7 has a pale bluish halo that is slightly more pronounced in the transverse direction. The ghosting of reflected objects on the screen of the Samsung Galaxy A7 is very weak, which indicates that there is no air gap between the layers of the screen. Due to the smaller number of boundaries (glass-air type) with very different refractive indices, screens without an air gap look better in conditions of strong external illumination, but their repair in the case of cracked external glass is much more expensive, since the entire screen has to be replaced. On the outer surface of the Samsung Galaxy A7 screen there is a special oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating (very effective, noticeably better than that of the Nexus 7), so fingerprints are removed much easier and appear at a lower speed than in the case of regular glass.

When the white field was displayed in full screen and with manual brightness control, its maximum value was 350 cd/m², the minimum was 1.9 cd/m². You also need to take into account the fact that in this case, the smaller the white area on the screen, the brighter it is, that is, the actual maximum brightness of the white areas will almost always be higher than the specified value. For example, when outputting white on half the screen, the maximum brightness with manual adjustment increases to 410 cd/m². As a result, readability during the day in the sun should be at a fairly good level (there was no opportunity to test it). The reduced brightness level allows you to use the device even in complete darkness without any problems. There is automatic brightness adjustment based on the light sensor (it is located to the right of the front speaker slot). You can make adjustments to the operation of this function by moving the adjustment slider from −5 to +5 units. Below, for three conditions, we present the screen brightness values ​​for three values ​​of this setting - for −5, 0 and +5. In complete darkness in automatic mode, the brightness is reduced to 3.8, 10 and 18 cd/m², respectively (the first is a bit dark, the rest are normal), in an office illuminated by artificial light (approximately 400 lux) the brightness is set to 76, 113 and 300 cd /m² (dark - just right - light, which corresponds to the specified correction), in a brightly lit environment (corresponds to lighting on a clear day outdoors, but without direct sunlight - 20,000 lux or a little more) - increases to 350 cd/m² regardless of slider position. This value is equal to the maximum for manual adjustment. In general, the result of the automatic brightness adjustment function is as expected. Only at medium and low brightness levels there is modulation with a frequency of 240 Hz. The figure below shows brightness (vertical axis) versus time (horizontal axis) for several brightness settings:

It can be seen that at maximum and close to it brightness, the modulation amplitude is minimal and its frequency is 60 Hz (screen refresh rate), as a result, there is no visible flicker. However, when the brightness decreases (somewhere below 75%), modulation appears with a frequency of 240 Hz and a large relative amplitude. Therefore, the presence of such modulation can already be seen in a test for the presence of a stroboscopic effect or simply with rapid eye movement. Depending on individual sensitivity, this flickering may cause increased fatigue.

This screen uses a Super AMOLED matrix - an active matrix on organic light-emitting diodes. A full-color image is created using subpixels of three colors - red (R), green (G) and blue (B), but there are twice as many green subpixels, which can be referred to as RGBG. This is confirmed by a fragment of a microphotograph:

For comparison, you can see the gallery of microphotographs of screens used in mobile technology.

In the fragment above you can count 4 green subpixels, 2 red (4 halves) and 2 blue (1 whole and 4 quarters), and by repeating these fragments, you can lay out the entire screen without breaks or overlap. For such matrices, Samsung introduced the name PenTile RGBG. The manufacturer calculates the screen resolution based on the green subpixels; based on the other two, it will be two times lower. The location and shape of the subpixels in this version is close to the case of the screen of the Samsung Galaxy S4 and some other newer devices from Samsung and not only with AMOLED screens. This version of PenTile RGBG is better than the old one with red squares, blue rectangles and stripes of green subpixels. However, some unevenness of contrast borders and other artifacts are still present. However, due to the fairly high resolution, they have a minimal impact on image quality.

The screen is characterized by excellent viewing angles, although white color, when deviated even at small angles, acquires a slight blue-green tint, but black color is just black at any angle. So black that the contrast setting is not applicable in this case. When viewed perpendicularly, the uniformity of the white field is excellent. For comparison, here are photographs in which the screens of the Samsung Galaxy A7 (profile Movie AMOLED) and the second comparison participant, identical images were displayed, while the brightness of the screens was initially set to approximately 200 cd/m², and the color balance on the camera was forced to switch to 6500 K. White field:

Note the excellent uniformity of brightness and color tone of the white field. And a test picture (profile Basic):

Color reproduction is good, however, the color balance of the screens is slightly different and the colors of the Samsung Galaxy A7 are a little more saturated. The photo above was taken after selecting a profile Basic in the screen settings, there are four in total. Profile Adaptive display differs in some kind of automatic adjustment to the type of displayed image and environmental conditions, which is obtained by selecting the two remaining profiles shown below.

Movie AMOLED:

Saturation and color contrast are noticeably increased.

Photo AMOLED:

Saturation is still high, but color contrast is back to normal. Now at an angle of approximately 45 degrees to the plane and to the side of the screen (profile Basic). White field:

The brightness at an angle for both screens has noticeably decreased (to avoid strong darkening, the shutter speed was increased by 2.5 times compared to the previous two photographs), but in the case of Samsung the drop in brightness is much less pronounced. As a result, with formally the same brightness, the screen of the Samsung Galaxy A7 visually looks much brighter (compared to LCD screens), since you often have to look at the screen of a mobile device from at least a slight angle. And a test picture:

It can be seen that the colors have not changed much on both screens and the brightness of the Samsung at an angle is noticeably higher. Switching the state of the matrix elements is performed almost instantly, but at the switching edge there may be a step with a width of 16.7 ms (which corresponds to a screen refresh rate of 60 Hz). For example, this is what the dependence of brightness on time looks like when moving from black to white and back:

In some conditions, the presence of such a step can lead to plumes trailing moving objects, but in normal use these artifacts are difficult to see. Quite the contrary - dynamic scenes in films on OLED screens are distinguished by high clarity and even some “jerky” movements.

For profiles Photo AMOLED And Basic constructed using 32 points with equal intervals according to the numerical value of the shade of gray, the gamma curve did not reveal any blockage in either highlights or shadows, and the index of the approximating power function is equal to 2.30, which is slightly higher than the standard value of 2.2, while the real gamma -the curve deviates little from the power-law dependence (the captions in parentheses show the exponent of the approximating power-law function and the coefficient of determination):

For profile Movie AMOLED The gamma curve has a slightly pronounced S-shape, which increases the apparent contrast of the image, but shades are still distinguishable in the shadows.

Let us recall that in the case of OLED screens, the brightness of image fragments dynamically changes in accordance with the nature of the displayed image - it decreases for generally light images. As a result, the resulting dependence of brightness on hue (gamma curve) most likely slightly does not correspond to the gamma curve of a static image, since the measurements were carried out with sequential display of shades of gray on almost the entire screen. This image dynamism increases when you select the option Auto tuning screen brightness. In this case, on the graph of brightness (vertical axis) versus time (horizontal axis), when moving from black to white and back, a descending section appears, that is, the brightness of the white field begins to decrease after about 0.4 s:

Color gamut in the case of a profile Movie AMOLED very wide, it almost covers the Adobe RGB gamut:

When selecting a profile Photo AMOLED The coverage decreases slightly:

When selecting a profile Basic the coverage is significantly compressed, almost to the limits of sRGB:

Without correction, the spectra of the components are very well separated:

In case of profile Basic with maximum correction, the color components are already noticeably mixed with each other:

Note that on screens with a wide color gamut, without appropriate correction, the colors of regular images optimized for sRGB devices appear unnaturally saturated. Hence the recommendation - in most cases, watching movies, photographs and everything natural is better when choosing a profile Basic, and only if the photo was taken on an Adobe RGB setting, does it make sense to switch the profile to Photo AMOLED. Profile Movie AMOLED, despite the name, is the least suitable for watching movies or anything else.

The balance of shades on the gray scale is not ideal, but, in general, acceptable. Color temperature in profile Movie AMOLED above 6500 K, in the remaining two - close to 6500 K, while in a significant portion of the gray scale this parameter does not change very much. The deviation from the blackbody spectrum (ΔE) over most of the gray scale remains below 10 units, which is considered a good indicator for a consumer device, and also does not change much:

(The darkest areas of the gray scale can in most cases be ignored, since color balance there is not very important, and the error in measuring color characteristics at low brightness is large.)

Let's summarize. The screen has a fairly high maximum brightness and has good anti-glare properties, so the device can most likely be used outdoors even on a sunny summer day without any problems. In complete darkness, the brightness can be reduced to a comfortable value. It is permissible to use a mode with automatic brightness adjustment, which works quite adequately. The advantages of the screen include a very good oleophobic coating, as well as a color gamut close to sRGB and an acceptable color balance (if you select the appropriate profiles). At the same time, let us remind you about the general advantages of OLED screens: true black color (if nothing is reflected in the screen), excellent uniformity of the white field, noticeably less than that of LCDs, and a drop in image brightness when viewed at an angle. Disadvantages include modulation of screen brightness. For users who are particularly sensitive to flicker, this may cause increased fatigue. However, overall the screen quality is very high.

Sound

The sound of the Samsung Galaxy A7 is very decent. The smartphone produces a fairly loud sound, saturated with the entire spectrum of frequencies, and the speaker is not deprived of low frequencies. The smartphone sounds really nice, at the maximum volume level the sound is not distorted, does not wheeze, there are no complaints at all. In conversational dynamics, the voice of a familiar interlocutor, timbre and intonation remain recognizable, the conversation is quite comfortable.

With headphones, the smartphone also sounds at the level of modern flagships; to play melodies, a proprietary player with a maximum number of settings is used as standard. All sound effects are combined with a technology called SoundAlive - although some of them are only available with connected headphones. The same applies to the sound optimization function. There are a lot of different virtual effects, visually they are combined into a matrix of squares.

An FM radio is included as standard with the smartphone, and there is also a voice recorder. The voice recorder is simple - unlike top Samsung smartphones, there is not such a variety of recording modes, everything is standard (“normal”, “voice note”). The radio will not work without headphones connected as an external antenna, but it can record programs. The device cannot record telephone conversations from the line.

Camera

The Samsung Galaxy A7 features the exact same two physical digital camera modules as the cheaper model in the lineup, the Galaxy A5. The front camera here is equipped with a 5-megapixel module with an f/2.2 aperture; it shoots video at a maximum resolution of 1080p. For popular selfie-style entertainment, there are group selfie modes, as well as shooting with GIF animation. Animated Selfie mode allows you to take up to 20 continuous photos and automatically combine them into one animated GIF that replaces a short video. You can take pictures with the front camera without contacting the camera, using the open palm gesture.

The main, rear 13-megapixel camera has an f/2.0 aperture, autofocus and LED flash. The settings menu is clear and intuitive; it is divided into equal cells, each of which is always visible and interactive. In addition, each cell can be pulled up and made into a shortcut for quick access in a separate top line. The icons are clearly drawn, everything is perfectly visible even in the brightest sunlight, and in general the implementation of the camera control menu in the latest Samsung devices is one of the best on the market.

However, the camera itself is not nearly as rich in capabilities as the cameras of flagship devices: there is no optical stabilization and selective focus mode for blurring the background, there is no slow or fast video recording, and there is no ability to shoot video in 4K or at 60 fps. Of the shooting modes, there are only traditional panoramic, portrait, night, and again, the notorious selfie, which can be taken here with the main camera too; a special auto-selfie mode has been invented for this.

The video camera of the Samsung Galaxy A7 can shoot with a maximum resolution of Full HD 1920×1080 (30 fps); 4K resolution and 60 fps shooting speed are not supported here. The quality of video recording can be judged by the test video.

• Video No. 1 (30 MB, 1920×1080 @30 fps)

	Good sharpness throughout the entire frame, it drops a little in the upper corners.
	Good sharpness in distant shots.
	Details are lost when the shot is removed, especially at the edges, but the sharpness in the central part of the frame is quite good.
	The camera's sharpness problems are noticeable only in the upper left and lower right corners.
	Good sharpness in mid-grounds. At distances it’s noticeably worse, although it’s worth taking snowfall into account.
	Good job with noise.
	The camera works well with shadows.
	The license plates of cars that are not closest can be made out. The tree branches in the central part of the frame are well done.
	The sharpening on the wires is quite noticeable, but not very bright.
	The camera copes well with macro photography.
	The text as a whole is excellent, only slightly blurred in the upper left corner.

We also tested the camera on a laboratory bench using our method.

Overall the camera is of a fairly high standard. It has some shortcomings that do not allow it to be called a flagship, but they do not make it unsuccessful. Rare and not very stable, but good highlighting of details by sharpening the camera can be forgiven. But blur at the edges of the frame occurs quite often and spoils the impression. At the same time, the sharpness in the central part of the frame is excellent in most cases. The camera's advantages also include good noise reduction performance.

Lab testing shows really good sharpness in the center of the frame and acceptable sharpness around the edges. And the very shape of the resolution curve in the center looks quite decent. But still, something is wrong in the cell. And the point here is not even a drop in sharpness towards the edges. Most likely, the algorithms used in software processing are somewhat outdated. But I want something new. At a minimum, you don’t want to see white sharpening stripes on contrasting borders, but at the same time it is desirable to see a good result of its work. Samsung can afford to work on this, but apparently the manufacturer treats this camera in a completely different way than it should treat a flagship one. However, the camera is well suited for documentary and art photography.

Telephone and communications

The smartphone works as standard in modern 2G GSM and 3G WCDMA networks, and also supports fourth-generation LTE Cat4 networks with a maximum possible speed of up to 150 Mbit/s for reception. In practice, with a SIM card from the domestic operator MTS, the smartphone confidently recognizes and works with 4G networks.

Network capabilities are implemented as standard: there is support for NFC technology, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi Display, you can organize a wireless access point via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth channels. The Wi-Fi module supports operation in both frequency bands (2.4 and 5 GHz). Connecting external devices to the USB port in OTG mode is supported, but there is no support for MHL and DLNA.

The navigation module works with both GPS and the domestic Glonass system, and also sees satellites of the Chinese Beidou (BDS). There are no complaints about the navigation module; satellites are located very quickly. The device is also equipped with a magnetic field sensor, on the basis of which the magnetic compass of navigation programs operates.

The drawing of letters and numbers on virtual keyboards is quite large; for the convenience of quick typing, there is an additional row with numbers at the top. It is also possible to change the size of the entire desktop, or you can separately reduce the virtual keyboard block and even move it to any place on the screen. The phone application supports Smart Dial, that is, while dialing a phone number, a search is immediately carried out by the first letters in contacts. For Swype fans, there is a continuous typing method using a stroke from letter to letter.

The smartphone supports working with two SIM cards, and in general, working with them in the menu is organized according to a familiar principle: you can designate any of the SIM cards as the main one for organizing voice calls, transferring data or sending SMS messages. When dialing a number, you can also select the desired card by calling the context menu from the notification menu. A SIM card in any slot can work with 3G (LTE) networks, but only one of the cards can work in this mode at the same time (the second will only work in 2G). There is only one radio module installed in the device.

OS and software

Samsung Galaxy A7, like its brothers in the new line, even after the official release of the fifth version of Android OS goes on sale and runs initially on the Google Android software platform version 4.4.4, an update to version 5.x has just been promised. The proprietary TouchWiz graphical user interface is traditionally installed on top of the OS interface. The drawing of all elements, the internal arrangement of the shell, the location of menu items, settings sections and pop-up contextual submenus - everything is familiar and very similar to what is implemented in the same Galaxy S5 or Galaxy Alpha, with the exception of some flagship features that are missing in the new smartphone. For example, the Galaxy A7 has a very limited set of supported gestures. The energy-saving mode, privacy mode, the ability to work in two windows simultaneously, and the sidebar of virtual keys remain in place. The function of reducing the working area of ​​the screen is convenient for working with the fingers of one hand, including for left-handed people. Added the Briefing news panel, called up from the left with a side swipe - an analogue of HTC Blinkfeed.

Performance

The Samsung Galaxy A7 hardware platform is based on the latest eight-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 (MSM8939) single-chip system (SoC). This recently announced 64-bit platform is made using big.LITTLE technology, where four Cortex-A53 processor cores are adjacent to four of the same Cortex-A53 cores, but these “fours” have different maximum operating frequencies. Depending on the nature and degree of load, either 4 “junior” or 4 “senior” (up to 1.5 GHz) cores are turned on, which saves energy. The Adreno 405 video accelerator with a frequency of up to 550 MHz is responsible for graphics processing here. The Snapdragon 615 SoC is made using a 28 nm process technology, belongs to the mid-level category, does not differ in particular power and performance, a full list of characteristics can be found.

The device has 2 GB of RAM. The smartphone doesn’t have a lot of built-in memory - out of the nominal 16 GB of internal memory, about 11 are available to the user. It is possible to expand the built-in memory: you can install a microSD card in the smartphone, but then the second SIM card will have to be removed. In addition, the device supports the mode of connecting external devices to the USB port (USB Host, USB OTG) - an external flash drive can be connected via an OTG adapter, purchased separately.

According to testing results, the eight-core hardware platform of the Samsung Galaxy A7 showed average results, far from truly top-end modern flagships. The performance of the Snapdragon 615 platform is approximately at the level of the alternative eight-core MediaTek MT6592, or even slightly lower. According to AnTuTu, the performance of the smartphone is at the level of 30K, while for top solutions this value is now 40-45K. There is nothing special to add here; the platform is far in its capabilities from the most productive modern Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 series platforms, just as it is far from the fresh flagship MediaTek MT6595. The destiny of devices with such filling is a confident average level, nothing more. However, the smartphone we are describing today is powerful enough to not have to worry about not having enough power to complete most tasks for some time.

Testing in the latest versions of comprehensive tests AnTuTu and GeekBench 3:

For convenience, we have compiled all the results we obtained when testing the smartphone in the latest versions of popular benchmarks into tables. The table usually adds several other devices from different segments, also tested on similar latest versions of benchmarks (this is done only for a visual assessment of the obtained dry figures). Unfortunately, within the framework of one comparison it is impossible to present the results from different versions of benchmarks, so many worthy and relevant models remain “behind the scenes” - due to the fact that they once passed the “obstacle course” on previous versions of test programs.

Testing the graphics subsystem in 3DMark game tests,GFXBenchmark, and Bonsai Benchmark:

When testing in 3DMark, the most powerful smartphones now have the ability to run the application in Unlimited mode, where the rendering resolution is fixed at 720p and VSync is disabled (which can cause the speed to rise above 60 fps).

	Samsung Galaxy A7 (Qualcomm Snapdragon 615/ Adreno 405)	Samsung Galaxy A5 (Qualcomm Snapdragon 410/Adreno 306)	Oppo R5 (Snapdragon 615/ Adreno 405)	Fly Tornado Slim (Mediatek MT6592/Mali 450MP)	Lenovo Vibe X2 (Mediatek MT6595m/ PowerVR G6200)
3DMark Ice Storm Extreme (more is better)	5373	2624	5527	5028	8566
3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited (more is better)	7700	4386	8055	7131	14067
GFXBenchmark T-Rex HD (C24Z16 Onscreen)	14 fps	9.6 fps	13.1 fps	16.3 fps	17.0 fps
GFXBenchmark T-Rex HD (C24Z16 Offscreen)	15 fps	5.4 fps	13.5 fps	—	17.8 fps
Bonsai Benchmark	1946 (28 fps)	1726 (25 fps)	1721 (24 fps)	2330 (33 fps)	3549 (51 fps)

Browser cross-platform tests:

As for benchmarks for assessing the speed of the javascript engine, you should always make allowance for the fact that their results significantly depend on the browser in which they are launched, so the comparison can only be truly correct on the same OS and browsers, and this is possible during testing not always. For Android OS, we always try to use Google Chrome.

Playing video

To test the omnivorous nature of video playback (including support for various codecs, containers and special features, such as subtitles), we used the most common formats, which make up the bulk of the content available on the Internet. Note that for mobile devices it is important to have support for hardware video decoding at the chip level, since it is most often impossible to process modern options using processor cores alone. Also, you shouldn’t expect a mobile device to decode everything, since the leadership in flexibility belongs to the PC, and no one is going to challenge it. All results are summarized in a single table.

According to the test results, the subject was not equipped with all the necessary decoders that are necessary for full playback of most of the most common multimedia files on the network. To successfully play them, you will have to resort to the help of a third-party player - for example, MX Player. True, it is also necessary to change the settings and manually install additional custom codecs, because now this player does not officially support the AC3 sound format.

Format	Container, video, sound	MX Video Player	Standard video player
DVDRip	AVI, XviD 720×400 2200 Kbps, MP3+AC3	plays normally	plays normally
Web-DL SD	AVI, XviD 720×400 1400 Kbps, MP3+AC3	plays normally	plays normally
Web-DL HD	MKV, H.264 1280×720 3000 Kbps, AC3		The video plays fine, but there is no sound¹
BDRip 720p	MKV, H.264 1280×720 4000 Kbps, AC3	The video plays fine, but there is no sound¹	The video plays fine, but there is no sound¹
BDRip 1080p	MKV, H.264 1920×1080 8000 Kbps, AC3	The video plays fine, but there is no sound¹	The video plays fine, but there is no sound¹

¹ sound in MX Video Player was played only after installing an alternative custom audio codec; The standard player does not have this setting

Tested video output features Alexey Kudryavtsev.

We did not find the MHL interface, like Mobility DisplayPort, in this smartphone, so we had to limit ourselves to testing the output of video files on the screen of the device itself. To do this, we used a set of test files with an arrow and a rectangle moving one division per frame (see “Method for testing video playback and display devices. Version 1 (for mobile devices) Red marks indicate possible problems associated with the playback of the corresponding files.

According to the criterion of frame output, the quality of playback of video files on the screen of the device itself is good, since frames (or groups of frames) can be output with more or less uniform alternation of intervals and without skipping frames. When playing video files with a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels (1080p) on a smartphone screen, the image of the video file itself is displayed exactly along the border of the screen, one to one in pixels, that is, in the original resolution. The worlds show the peculiarities of PenTile - the vertical world through the pixel looks like a grid, the horizontal world with stripes through the pixel has a typical greenish tint. The brightness range displayed on the screen actually corresponds to the standard range of 16-235 - in the shadows only a couple of shades merge with black, but in the highlights all gradations of shades are displayed. Only in the case of very dark scenes with low average brightness on dark objects can you notice artifacts in the form of increased variation in hue and brightness, which reveals the inevitable scatter in the characteristics of the emitting LED pixels.

Battery life

The capacity of the lithium-ion battery installed in the Samsung Galaxy A7 is not a record, but quite modern - 2600 mAh. Thanks to the far from the most productive and, accordingly, more economical hardware platform, as well as a quite decent amount of built-in battery, the smartphone has proven itself worthy in terms of battery life, showing excellent autonomy in most standard usage scenarios. The developers themselves promise that the smartphone is designed for 17 hours of continuous telephone conversation on 3G networks, or 13 hours of Internet use via a Wi-Fi network.

It should be noted that to save energy, the device settings traditionally contain two proprietary energy saving modes: normal and extreme. The maximum energy saving mode significantly reduces energy consumption by turning off non-essential functions and preserving vital functions at the moment, including turning the image on the screen into black and white.

	Battery capacity	Reading mode	Video mode	3D Game Mode
Samsung Galaxy A7	2600 mAh	22:10	12:00 pm	3 hours 20 minutes
Samsung Galaxy A5	2300 mAh	14:00	11:00 am	4 hours 20 minutes
Huawei Ascend G7	3000 mAh	20:00	13:30	6:30 a.m.
Sony Xperia C3	2500 mAh	14:30	9:30 a.m.	5 hours 50 minutes
Yotaphone 2	2500 mAh	12:00 pm	9:30 a.m.	3 hours 15 minutes
Samsung Note 4	3220 mAh	10:30 a.m.	8:30 a.m.	3 hours 50 minutes
Meizu MX4 Pro	3350 mAh	16:00	8 hours 40 minutes	3 hours 30 minutes
Huawei Mate 7	4100 mAh	20:00	12:30 pm	4 hours 25 minutes
Sony Xperia Z3	3100 mAh	20:00	10:00 am	4 hours 50 minutes
HTC One M8	2600 mAh	22:10	13:20	3 hours 20 minutes
Samsung Galaxy S5	2800 mAh	17:20	12:30 pm	4 hours 30 minutes

Continuous reading in the FBReader program (with a standard, light theme) at a minimum comfortable brightness level (brightness was set to 100 cd/m²) lasted about 22 hours until the battery was completely discharged. When continuously watching video in high quality (720p) with the same brightness level via a home Wi-Fi network, the device lasted 12 hours. In 3D gaming mode, the device worked for almost 3.5 hours. Full charging time is approximately 2.5 hours.

Bottom line

In the Samsung Galaxy A series of smartphones, a lot of what was previously invented for the Galaxy S line was removed, and the oversaturation of various superpowers suddenly gave way to complete asceticism. It seems that the developers were tasked with simplifying everything possible, and they clearly overdid it. The fingerprint sensor, heart rate sensor are lost, the flashlight, notification sensor, removable battery, water resistance, infrared transmitter are gone, MHL support is removed, and a ridiculous compromise has appeared with the choice between inserted cards. But the most unpleasant thing is that they saved even on the holy of holies - the hardware platform: the smartphone, which is offered in official retail for 32 thousand rubles, did not even receive a decent processor from the Snapdragon 800 series usual for such cases, although at such a price it would be more than justified . And this despite the fact that the same Galaxy S5, which has everything listed above in stock, is offered at retail for 30 thousand rubles, that is, even cheaper! Galaxy A series smartphones are extremely overpriced, their level of technical equipment does not correspond to the level of prices set for them.

If we collect the positive aspects that are present in the smartphones of the new line, we can note a pleasant thin, light and high-quality body, a good bright AMOLED screen, decent sound and long battery life. The camera quality is average, it is worse than that of the Galaxy S5, so there is nothing special to praise in this regard, except that the frontal shooting capabilities have improved. The fundamental characteristics are good, but they are not enough for the level to which Samsung is trying to push the modest line of fashion devices of the Galaxy A series.

	Black, blue and pink
	6 inches, Full HD+ (2,220 × 1,080 pixels), Super AMOLED
Platform	Octa-core Exynos 7885, 2.2 GHz
RAM	4 GB
Built-in memory	64 GB + slot for microSD cards up to 512 GB
Cameras	Main - 24 + 8 + 5 MP, front - 24 MP
Shooting video	Up to 2160p with 30 FPS
SIM card	Two slots for nanoSIM
Wireless interfaces	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS
Connectors	microUSB, analog 3.5 mm audio jack
Sensors	Fingerprint sensor, accelerometer, gyroscope, proximity sensor, compass
Unlock	By face, by fingerprint, PIN code
operating system	Android 8.0 + Samsung Experience 9.0
Battery	3,300 mAh
Dimensions	159.8 × 76.8 × 7.5 mm
Weight	168 g

The kit includes a smartphone, a microUSB cable with a 1.5-amp adapter, a headset and a paper clip.

Design and ergonomics

The A7 is sold in three colors: black, blue and pink. The last two modifications are very bright. And although they look nice, classic black is still much more versatile. We received a device of this color as a sample for review.

The smartphone looks and feels almost monolithic. The case is glass and very easily soiled. Overall, the device looks nice and expensive.

A7 is a large and wide smartphone. It fits awkwardly in my hand: my thumb doesn’t reach the top, and the grip is less strong. Thanks to the glossy surface of the case, the A7 runs the risk of slipping out of gloved hands more than once. But the weight is distributed correctly: the smartphone is not too elongated, and the center of gravity is always felt in the palm of your hand.

There is nothing superfluous on the edges of the device: on the left there is a slot for SIM cards and a flash drive, on the right there are volume and power buttons, at the bottom there is a speaker and microphone hole, a microUSB connector and a mini-jack. On the upper edge you can see the eyes of sensors and cameras.

On the back of the case there is a camera module, flash and Samsung logo. And a million prints.

Screen and sound

The smartphone does not try to appear frameless - there are noticeable edges on the top, bottom and sides. The display aspect ratio is close to 2:1 - with such proportions it is convenient to use the split-screen function.

As usual, there are no complaints about the screen. Super AMOLED from Samsung is installed here - bright, contrasty and perfectly calibrated. The smartphone gives a nice picture out of the box, but also supports a bunch of settings for the display, including color temperature or filtering by RGB palette.

The Always On Display mode is supported - with it the time and current information are always displayed. The battery consumption is insignificant, thanks to the OLED screen.

But the sound is not very good. Firstly, the A7 has only one speaker, which means that you can forget about comfortable video viewing when the smartphone is held horizontally. And secondly, even this speaker could be better: the sound is high-pitched and unconvincing. Apparently, AKG is designing an audio system only for the “older” Galaxy. The difference between the A7 and the flagships in sound is very noticeable.

The single-button headphones out of the box don’t help either, as they produce a very compromised sound. However, if you treat them as a conversational headset, and not as a musical accessory, then the complaints will disappear by themselves.

The main feature of the A7 is the camera module, which includes three lenses. Classic high-aperture for use in most shooting scenarios, auxiliary - for determining depth when creating and wide-angle - increasing the space of the frame.

It all works. The idea with three lenses is justified. But if you look into the details, it becomes clear why the A7 is still not a flagship.

You can find fault with the performance of each lens. The first, despite its high resolution, does not work perfectly in poor lighting conditions. Noise rises, shutter speed increases - the slightest movement of the hand, and the photo will be blurred. The portrait work of the two lenses is also not very impressive: it seems that Samsung was afraid of the clumsy clipping of the edges of focal objects, which even premium smartphones suffer from. As a result, the camera “smears” only a very distant background in bokeh. But you can change the degree of blur right while shooting.

An unusual feature of the A7 deserves special attention - the presence of a wide-angle lens. It will help you take better group photos and photos with landmarks in the background. The fish-eye effect is not noticeable when using a wide-angle lens. With her, a little more just comes into the frame. But the characteristics of the lens are a compromise: resolution - 8 megapixels, aperture - ƒ/2.4. Therefore, pictures with a 120-degree viewing angle are slightly worse than those taken with the main camera. Especially in low light.

There are no complaints about the front camera: selfies of acceptable quality are obtained both during the day and under headlights. Nothing unusual.

The camera interface is the same as we are used to seeing in the latest Samsung. The only difference that catches your eye is the new toggle switch for switching wide-angle shooting. There is a mode in which the display completely turns into a viewfinder, and a smart Bixby camera that reads objects and texts in the frame. With it, you can quickly translate text on signs from unfamiliar languages, search for products from the frame space in stores, and determine the quality of wine by the label.

Verdict: in terms of the overall characteristics of the A7, it’s not bad at all. It's easy to take good pictures, at least in natural light. But whether the presence of as many as three lenses is justified is a moot point. Perhaps you will only use the basic one.

Protection

Three types of unlocking are supported: face, fingerprint and PIN. There is no iris identification and therefore no hybrid smart unlocking. But this is not necessary - you will use your finger.

Samsung has built a fingerprint sensor into the power button. Despite the small area, the sensor responds quickly and confidently. Unlocking happens unnoticed, because we usually start work by pressing the main button. Good idea, the execution didn't disappoint either.

Additional data protection can be provided using the Secure Folder function. This is an icon in the list where you can drag everything important and confidential: from photos to entire applications. The folder is opened using your password. A useful feature for those who hide adult content from children or conduct secret messages in messenger from a second account.

Performance

Performance is average. It is enough for any household tasks, but in powerful toys the power limit is felt. For example, you won’t be able to play with maximum graphics settings. This does not affect the operation of the system - everything works as quickly as on flagships.

A few numbers for numbers lovers. Geekbench 4 test results:

Autonomy

The A7 has a battery with a capacity of 3,300 mAh. He sits down slowly and smoothly. It doesn’t break any autonomy records, but at the end of an active day it should survive until evening charging.

Although the A7 has a glass body, wireless charging is not supported.

Software

The A7 runs on Android 8.0 with the classic Samsung Experience 9.0 add-on for Galaxy owners. It is quite friendly, not overloaded with pre-installed services and strange gestures. There are applications from Samsung, Google and Microsoft.

A lot is tied to the Bixby assistant. There is little benefit from it in Russia. The Bixby screen, which is called up by swiping from left to right, can be removed.

Results

The new Samsung Galaxy A7 is a solid mid-budget device with an excellent screen and good and acceptable performance. At the same time, Samsung added several interesting features to it that are not even found in the company’s flagships: a triple camera and a fingerprint sensor in the power button. This does not allow the A7 to compete with leading smartphone models, but it stands out favorably in the price segment of devices up to 30 thousand rubles.

If you're not really sure why you need a flagship, if you don't want to spend more than $500 on a smartphone, and if you want a device that looks more expensive than it costs, the new Galaxy A7 is a great choice.

The cost of the Samsung Galaxy A7 at the time of writing is 26,990 rubles.

Live photos

Specifications

• Android 6.0.1 with Clean UI, upgrade to Android 7
• Screen 5.7 inches, SuperAMOLED, FullHD, 386 ppi, automatic brightness adjustment, automatic brightness adjustment to suit your habits, color profiles, Corning Gorilla Glass 4, AlwaysOn Display
• Exynos 7880 chipset, 8 cores up to 1.9 GHz (Cortex A53), Mali-T830MP3 GPU
• 3 GB of RAM, 32 GB of internal memory (about 23 GB of memory is available to the user out of the box)
• Battery Li-Ion 3600 mAh, fast charging, operating time in mixed mode - 2 days (test result), in 3G/4G data transfer mode - 13/16 hours, video playback - up to 19 hours, talk time - up to 23 hours
• Installing two nanoSIM cards, as well as a microSD memory card (up to 256 GB)
• Front camera 16 megapixels, f/1.9, facial enhancements (eyes, skin color, face tone)
• Main camera 16 megapixels, f/1.9, LED flash, autofocus
• Two microphones, noise reduction system
• IP68 water protection, up to 30 minutes at a depth of 1.5 meters
• FM radio
• Fingerprint sensor located on the front panel
• USB Type C 1.0
• 4G FDD LTE - B1(2100), B2(1900), B3(1800), B4(AWS), B5(850), B7(2600), B8(900), B17(700), B20(800), B28 (700); 4G FDD TDD - B38(2600), B40(2300), B41(2500)
• GPS, GLONASS, Beidou
• ANT+, 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac 2.4+5 GHz, NFC, USB 2.0, Bluetooth 4.2
• Sensors - accelerometer, barometer, fingerprint scanner, gyroscope, geomagnetic sensor, Hall sensor, proximity sensor, ambient light sensor
• Samsung Pay
• Color options: black (Black Sky), gold (Gold Sand), blue (Blue Mist), pink (Peach Cloud)
• SAR value - 0.21 W/kg (head), 1.33 W/kg (body)
• Dimensions - 156.8x77.6x7.9 mm, weight - 186 grams

Contents of delivery

• Smartphone
• Charger with USB Type C cable
• Instructions
• Wired stereo headset
• “Paper clip” for removing the SIM tray

Positioning

In the A-series, phablets have always been in demand in smaller volumes than younger models with index 3 and 5. The most popular and in-demand form factor is devices with a diagonal of 5 inches, hence the maximum sales for A5, which is confirmed annually. At the same time, the Samsung A7 remains in demand, but it has much higher competition with Chinese flagships, of which there are a huge number on the market in a similar form factor.

Considering Samsung's position and weight in the market, the A7 can be considered a competitor to the iPhone 6 Plus; they are sold at the same price and occupy approximately the same position in the eyes of consumers. In Russia, the iPhone 6 Plus is sold as new (refurbished devices, that is, used), they have the same price as the 2017 A7. But these three-year-old devices have a plus in the form of an image component and a cart and a small cart of functions that are missing at the hardware level. We’ll talk about this in the conclusions, but for now I’ll focus on the fact that in the eyes of consumers these are equivalent devices.

Apple iPhone 6 Plus

At the same time, Chinese brands in this price group are chosen not for the brand, but rather for the opportunities that they provide. And believe me, there is plenty to choose from, but often such models cost comparable and offer plus or minus the same functions, somewhere they have their own features, somewhere they are inferior to the A7 2017. But the model from Samsung definitely turned out to be successful for everyone who chooses a device from an A-brand for quality and reliability, as well as clear and intelligible service. Sales of this model have already proven that it has succeeded; in its segment it is ahead of all competitors. Technically, the A7 is almost a complete replica of the 2017 A5; the battery and operating time, body size and screen diagonal differ, but otherwise it is the same good device.

Design, dimensions, control elements

In the A-series, the design is to some extent inherited from older models, the same body materials, no noticeable simplifications or savings. A7 models look expensive and stylish, regardless of what color you choose. There are four color options in total; there are no pink phones in Russia yet.

The mirror surface of the phone reflects the world around it, plays in the light, the device looks very interesting, and hand marks are practically invisible. I’ll add here that the screen with a splash screen can always work (AlwaysOn Display function), which almost none of its competitors have. In the end, we get an unusual device that has no analogues on the market; it can be distinguished from any other at first glance.

If we talk about which color is the best, then I like blue, it is a delicate shade, very unusual, perfect for girls, however, look for yourself.

Please note that the front and back panels are the same color, as is the side metal edging (6000 series aluminum). The device also looks good in pink, but it is definitely only for girls.

The gold phone is somewhat rustic, but everyone has their own tastes.

The fact that the device has a glass back and front does not hinder it at all, since Corning Gorilla Glass 4 is quite reliable and protected from accidental falls, although depending on your luck. This device is completely identical in mechanical protection to the Galaxy S6 EDGE, the quality is at the same level. I once recorded a video about how this phone survives collisions with sharp objects or asphalt, you can watch this video.

The innovation of the A-series in 2017 was water protection, which was taken from the S7/S7 EDGE, the implementation is exactly the same. The SIM card tray is protected by rubber gaskets, there are membranes on the microphones and speaker, the protection level is IP68, which allows the phone to be kept at a depth of 1.5 meters for up to half an hour. This does not mean that the phone needs to be washed under water, much less with soap or something similar. But if you drop it in water, nothing will happen to it. There are practically no models with water protection in this price segment.

Now about the control elements. Under the screen there is a mechanical key, it contains a fingerprint sensor, it is simplified compared to the S7/S7 EDGE, it works a little slower, but there are no problems because of this. Nice solution that just works. On either side of it are two touch keys.

On the left side there are two volume keys, on the right side there is an on/off button. There is a microphone at the bottom and top ends, there is a noise reduction system, it does its job perfectly, you can be heard well in any conditions, even when the wind blows strongly in your face.

At the bottom there is a 3.5 mm jack for a headset or headphones, as well as a USB Type C connector for the charger. On the upper end and left side you can see trays, in the upper one a nanoSIM card and a memory card are installed, in the lower one there is a second nanoSIM card. In the A3, for example, installing two SIM cards and a memory card is impossible; it has a combined slot.

The speaker is located on the right side surface, due to this it can overlap in the pocket, and it will not be heard very well. The speaker itself is average in volume, but very pleasant.

The phone dimensions are 156.8x77.6x7.9 mm, weight - 186 grams. Like any phablet, it is quite large and fits well only in a wide man’s hand, but compared to its classmates it is quite compact, the roundness of the body plays a role. The device is not slippery, it is not at all necessary to use a case, but if you have a habit of letting go of the phone from your hands, then it is better to purchase a case.

Display

The presence of a SuperAMOLED screen has always been an advantage of the A-series; the technical characteristics of this display are as follows: 5.7 inches, SuperAMOLED, FullHD, 386 ppi, automatic brightness adjustment, automatic brightness adjustment to suit your habits, color profiles, Corning Gorilla Glass 4, AlwaysOn Display.

For my taste, the quality of the screen is excellent for its class, it has a large reserve of brightness in automatic mode, the display is easy to read in the sun, just like the previous year’s model (in the S7 EDGE the screen has greater brightness, as a result, it is even better in the sun) .

The screen has an AlwaysOn Display option, that is, you can see application icons, clocks or pictures all the time, the screen operation does not drain the battery much, in 12 hours it’s a couple of percent. Until now, this function has not been widely available in the mid-price segment, which noticeably makes the 2017 A7 stand out and puts it on par with Samsung flagships.

In terms of all its characteristics, the screen in the 2017 A7 outperforms its competitors; there is nothing better in this segment. As a result, this is one of the strengths of the model. I also like the fact that they introduced automatic brightness adjustment to suit your preferences; in the first two weeks, the phone “gets used to” you and adjusts to your taste.

Battery

The built-in Li-Ion battery has a capacity of 3600 mAh, supports fast charging (1 hour 35 minutes). There is no built-in wireless charging, which is found in flagship models.

In mixed mode, the device lives quietly for two days with 3-5 hours of screen operation, data transmission in LTE and two hours of calls.

Play unconverted video in HD quality in MX Player at maximum brightness - up to 19 hours! This is an excellent indicator considering the size of the battery; many Chinese show comparable results on a 5000 mAh battery.

The operating time of the 2017 A7 becomes its strong point; even with a heavy load, it will not be possible to discharge it faster than in a day; on average, this is two days. Those who use only calls can easily count on 5-6 days of work; of course, it all depends on the operator and the number of these calls. But in general, we can state the fact that operating time is the strong point of this model.

Traditionally, there is a power saving mode, when the screen backlight and processor frequency are limited. In this mode, many will not experience problems with the operation of the device, but the operating time will increase by at least 20 percent. In maximum energy saving mode, everything on the screen turns gray, and the device can provide hours of operation even with a small charge.

Communication capabilities

GPS/GLONASS works perfectly, a cold start takes about ten seconds, navigation works perfectly, there are no problems. By the way, this distinguishes A-brands from many Chinese companies, where the implementation of antennas is such that you can expect anything from typical functions.

Another strong point is the support of almost all necessary LTE frequencies, here the device also shows its strengths (analogs in this price segment cannot boast of this; as a rule, they save on antennas).

Finally, the device has NFC and ANT+ support, which will appeal to those who use sports sensors. Bluetooth version 4.2.

If we talk about Wi-Fi, then it uses 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac 2.4+5 GHz, there is a repeater mode (distributing a Wi-Fi signal to other devices as an access point).

The version is USB 2.0, but the USB Type C (1.0) connector is used, so fans of modern connectors will be happy; for the rest, it’s time to come to terms with the transition to the new standard.

Memory, RAM, performance

Samsung uses its own chipsets in A-series models, which can be considered a plus; they are improving from year to year. For example, in 2016, chipsets in the A-series were made at 28 nm, now it is 14 nm, which gives an increase in performance and operating time. The chipset in the A7 2017 is Exynos 7880, 8 cores up to 1.9 GHz (Cortex A53), Mali-T830MP3 graphics processor.

In synthetic tests, this processor performed well. In real life, everything also works perfectly, you will not experience any shortcomings in performance, the model is at the same level, and the safety margin will last for at least a couple of years.

The device has 32 GB of internal memory (23.1 GB available), memory cards can be up to 256 GB. 3 GB of RAM, which is enough for most consumers. And given the screen resolution, everything becomes very good, this solution is balanced, and there are no noticeable compromises.

Camera

The front camera is 16 megapixels (f/1.9), as usual, there is no autofocus, so it’s worth finding the distance from which the pictures are best taken, this is about half a meter, that is, an outstretched arm. The quality of the front camera is good, but don't expect anything special from it; after all, the main camera is better. There is a traditional improvement in skin color and tone, you can enlarge your eyes, and at the same time make your face thinner. Girls will definitely like these “improvements”.

The main camera is 16-megapixel (f/1.9), of course, there is autofocus, as well as additional shooting modes, including PRO, but it differs from the flagships, since the camera is simpler. This camera is on par with the best Chinese manufacturers or a little better, that is, it gives good, rich pictures during the day and indoors; in the dark it is not so good, but this is generally typical for this segment. There is no 4K mode when recording video, but it is unlikely that consumers of this device need it so much, since recording regular FullHD video will completely satisfy them.

Look at the examples of pictures and videos, I think they themselves will tell you everything about the quality of the camera.

Software

The model was originally released on Android 6.0.1, but many interface elements are similar to what we see in Android 7 and Clean UI on S7/S7 EDGE. I advise you to read about what appeared in Android 7, since this model will soon receive this version of the OS.

I won’t describe the standard Android functions; you can read about them in a detailed review.

Unlike top models, there is a built-in FM radio, which looks like a nice bonus.

When using KNOX, you can install any program in duplicate, for example, install two WhatsApp messengers on one device and use them for each SIM card (two numbers, two messengers). You can even correspond with yourself. Exactly the same trick can be done with any software; not a single phone allows you to simultaneously work with two instant messengers on the same device with different numbers. Today, many Chinese manufacturers offer something similar in their smartphones, but the implementation is different everywhere.

Of course, this model supports the Samsung Pay service.

I will not dwell on standard software from Samsung, for example, S Health, you can find relevant articles on our website.

Impression

The vibration alert is average, the ringer volume is also average - perhaps I would like there to be more headroom, but the phone is still audible, and you can feel it in your pockets when it vibrates. Most likely, there is no reserve in terms of volume, but how will anyone perceive this moment? The device cannot be called quiet.

In the 2017 lineup, the A7 stands a little apart, since it is a phablet and is bought primarily for its screen size. That is, those who are used to watching videos on a smartphone, playing games, are buying, and a person needs a long operating time on a single charge. Among the advantages that competitors do not have, of course, is AlwaysOn Display, excellent operating time on a single charge. But it’s impossible to say that this model has no competitors at all.

As mentioned at the beginning, such a competitor could be the three-year-old iPhone 6 Plus (and a refurbished one), its price is 29,990 rubles for the 64 GB version. Good amount of memory, but no IP68 protection, no memory cards, no FM radio and lower resolution screen. Moreover, Apple fans themselves are discouraging buying this model, since they consider its processor to be quite weak for the current moment and say that the iPhone 6 Plus was outright unsuccessful (three years would have to have passed to admit the obvious). On the other hand, for those who choose the brand, this iPhone can be a good purchase for a relatively reasonable price.

Meizu Pro 6 Plus is a very strong competitor; this device does not have memory cards (64 or 128 GB of memory), it does not have protection against water, but otherwise it is very interesting, since with the same diagonal it has a SuperAMOLED screen from Samsung, Exynos 8890, that is, a more powerful processor, 4 GB of RAM. It has a separate DSP for audio processing, and it sounds very, very good. And it looks good, all this at a price of 35,000 rubles for the base model (you can easily find it for 5-7 thousand rubles cheaper, even cheaper if you order from China). As for me, this is a device of a slightly different class in terms of filling, it is worth paying close attention to.

For about the same 34,990 rubles (versus 29,990 rubles for the A7 2017) you can buy a Xiaomi Mi Note 2. It has a design reminiscent of Samsung flagships, with a curved glass front panel, 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of internal memory.

If we simplify the characteristics, then on the market you can find many models of phablets in the segment from 20 to 25 thousand rubles, they will be conditionally comparable to the A7 2017, but if you go into details, it will begin to become clear that they often do not have a fingerprint sensor, security from water, easier screens and so on.

You can choose the 2017 A7 for its screen size, 5.7 inches versus 5.2 in the A5. However, in other respects these devices are almost similar, everything is the same. In the table you can see how all A-series devices differ.

The price of the 2017 A7 in Russia is 29,990 rubles; for comparison, the previous year’s model costs 23,990 rubles. In my opinion, the advantage of the 2017 device is obvious: IP68 protection, AlwaysOn Display, updated Android and new operating modes, increased battery life, better performance. In a word, it’s worth finding the money and buying an updated model; it will definitely last longer.

The bottom line is that the 2017 A7 is a very nice device, and of course it has support for Samsung Pay, if that's a concern for you. For those who are accustomed to buying A-brands, believe that this is justified, and are not looking for any additional benefits, this device will suit the court and will not disappoint. It has no serious disadvantages, which has already been verified over several months of sales.

 

It might be useful to read:

• Fixing the error “BSvcProcessor has stopped working”;
• Completely remove Skype from your computer How to completely remove Skype from your computer;
• Convert PNG images to ICO How to make ico from jpeg;
• Plasma TV, LCD, LCD, LED, OLED, Quantum dots;
• Automatic loans to a card without human intervention;
• Wi-Fi connection problems;
• How to set the default program to open a certain type of file in Windows!;
• What is the Windows lifecycle or why does support end?;