Hands On: Samsung Galaxy A7

(UPDATE @ 5:13PM, 12th January) The Galaxy A7 has been officially unveiled by Samsung. Find out more about the device here.

At the Samsung Galaxy A5 and A3 launch event that took place earlier today, the Galaxy A7 was unexpectedly up for display as well. Making its debut in Malaysia later in February, this is the first time Samsung has announced the availability of the Galaxy A7 in any market. The big brother of the A5 and A3 is also quite the looker, so don’t dismiss it as just another product from the giant Korean company just yet.

Much like the Galaxy A5 and A3, the Galaxy A7 features the same metal unibody design that feels very solid and rather premium – a far cry from the Samsung phones as early as one year ago. On top of that, these smartphones are also pretty slim, measuring below 7mm in thickness. At 6.3mm thin (the same as the Galaxy A5), all three smartphones feel almost the same in my hands. And for a device that’s as big as the Galaxy A7, the slim chassis makes the smartphone feel very comfortable in the hands.

There are a few design elements that weren’t that impressive with the A7, such as the protruding camera lens. It’s a similar design issue that’s present on the entire Galaxy A series, and it makes the lens very prone to scratches. This, sadly, appears to be a direct repercussion of Samsung ensuring all of the Galaxy A smartphones achieve the sub-7mm thickness.

Another issue with the Galaxy A7 is how difficult it was to get a good grip on it. Even though the metal frame has a anti-slip coating to make it easier to grip, it isn’t the same story as the back of the device. Here’s where the slim profile of the A7 is a double-edged sword: with such a thin design, it’s even harder to grip the phone securely.

In terms of specifications, Samsung did not reveal much officially. There’s a 5.5-inch Full HD Super AMOLED display, and…that’s about it. Running CPU-Z on the device, the Galaxy A7 does indeed have a Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 1.5GHz octa-core processor that it had been rumoured previously. However, there are a few inconsistencies with the CPU-Z’s readings, such as the screen size (5.2-inch instead of 5.5-inch) and battery capacity – at just 2,000mAh, it really does seem too small for such a big phone.

Although the Galaxy A7’s official retail price was not revealed at the launch, some of the Samsung representatives at the experience zone have said it will retail for “around RM1,499”, and will be available locally sometime in February.