Samsung Galaxy Alpha I've been banging on about poor plastic build quality in Samsung reviews for years now and the firm has finally launched a device which, in its own words, has "real metal". That device is the Galaxy Alpha and while it's great to see Samsung taking action, the new smartphone is something of an odd ball which doesn't make sense. The smartphone market is generally split into three categories: budget, mid-range and high-end. They are possibly known as other things particularly at the expensive end like premium or top-end. It's normally pretty easy to place a new smartphone into one of those pigeon holes but the Galaxy Alpha fits two in different ways. Watch: 9 Apple-bashing Samsung ads that'll either make you angry or make you smug. The easiest way to do it is by price and going by this measure, the Galaxy Alpha is a high-end smartphone at around £500. Yes, it has that metal design which we've all been waiting for but at this price, it's more than the Galaxy S5 which, as you probably know, is Samsung's flagship smartphone. We're used to Samsung pumping out devices in all shapes, sizes, colours, prices and specs but with this handset it is really competing against itself. It really only makes sense for vendors to have one top-end device, hence the term 'flagship'. See also: Why Samsung should be more like Apple: Samsung launches way too many Galaxy products. The higher price is partly because the Galaxy S5 cost has dropped since it's been on the market for a few months, but Samsung needs to take this into account when launching a new smartphone. You get what you pay for? No? You might think that paying more money means you'll get everything which the Galaxy S5 offers but with a more premium design and build quality. This would have made sense – a Galaxy S5 Prime type branding - but it simply (and strangely) isn't the case. For whatever reasons, the Galaxy Alpha is both better and worse than its sibling. Of course, the metal on offer is a nice lure (I like shiny things as much as the next man) - although it's worth pointing out that it's limited to the edge like the Lumia 930 so the rear cover is still plastic. But there are a couple of advantages of the Alpha over the GS5. Is has a better processor in the form of a Exynos 5 octa-core chip and double the amount of standard storage at 32GB. Unfortunately, that's where Samsung stopped and decided to downgrade everything else. Samsung Galaxy S5 vs Galaxy Alpha review The Galaxy Alpha has a 4.7in screen with a 720p resolution - now a resolution common on smartphones as cheap as £100 like the Moto G. It retains the Galaxy S5's fingerprint scanner and heart rate monitor but so does the Galaxy S5 mini so that's no big deal. What's strange, is the choice to drop the microSD card slot (something which Samsung usual offers without fail) and the IR blaster. Furthermore, it's not IP67 dust and waterproof rated like the Galaxy S5 so that's another downgrade. Last but not least are a lower capacity battery (not so bad considering the lower screen res) and a downgraded camera from 16Mp to 12Mp with the loss of features like phase detection autofocus and dual-tone LED flash. Don't get me wrong, it's great to see Samsung using some 'real' metal on a smartphone but with its higher price tag and largely downgraded specifications, the Galaxy Alpha really makes no sense and competes against the firm's existing flagship handset.

I've been banging on about poor plastic build quality in Samsung reviews for years now and the firm has finally launched a device which, in its own words, has "real metal". That device is the Galaxy Alpha and while it's great to see Samsung taking action, the new smartphone is something of an odd ball which doesn't make sense.

The smartphone market is generally split into three categories: budget, mid-range and high-end. They are possibly known as other things particularly at the expensive end like premium or top-end. It's normally pretty easy to place a new smartphone into one of those pigeon holes but the Galaxy Alpha fits two in different ways. Watch: 9 Apple-bashing Samsung ads that'll either make you angry or make you smug.

The easiest way to do it is by price and going by this measure, the Galaxy Alpha is a high-end smartphone at around £500. Yes, it has that metal design which we've all been waiting for but at this price, it's more than the Galaxy S5 which, as you probably know, is Samsung's flagship smartphone.

We're used to Samsung pumping out devices in all shapes, sizes, colours, prices and specs but with this handset it is really competing against itself. It really only makes sense for vendors to have one top-end device, hence the term 'flagship'.

The higher price is partly because the Galaxy S5 cost has dropped since it's been on the market for a few months, but Samsung needs to take this into account when launching a new smartphone.

You get what you pay for? No?

You might think that paying more money means you'll get everything which the Galaxy S5 offers but with a more premium design and build quality. This would have made sense – a Galaxy S5 Prime type branding - but it simply (and strangely) isn't the case. For whatever reasons, the Galaxy Alpha is both better and worse than its sibling.

Of course, the metal on offer is a nice lure (I like shiny things as much as the next man) - although it's worth pointing out that it's limited to the edge like the Lumia 930 so the rear cover is still plastic. But there are a couple of advantages of the Alpha over the GS5. Is has a better processor in the form of a Exynos 5 octa-core chip and double the amount of standard storage at 32GB.

Unfortunately, that's where Samsung stopped and decided to downgrade everything else.

The Galaxy Alpha has a 4.7in screen with a 720p resolution - now a resolution common on smartphones as cheap as £100 like the Moto G. It retains the Galaxy S5's fingerprint scanner and heart rate monitor but so does the Galaxy S5 mini so that's no big deal.

What's strange, is the choice to drop the microSD card slot (something which Samsung usual offers without fail) and the IR blaster. Furthermore, it's not IP67 dust and waterproof rated like the Galaxy S5 so that's another downgrade.

Last but not least are a lower capacity battery (not so bad considering the lower screen res) and a downgraded camera from 16Mp to 12Mp with the loss of features like phase detection autofocus and dual-tone LED flash.

Don't get me wrong, it's great to see Samsung using some 'real' metal on a smartphone but with its higher price tag and largely downgraded specifications, the Galaxy Alpha really makes no sense and competes against the firm's existing flagship handset.

Samsung makes metal-bodied Galaxy Alpha official: Is this the Apple iPhone 6 killer?

It’s hammer time as Samsung has just made the much-awaited Galaxy Alpha official, it’s much-anticipated rival in the battle against Apple.

As expected this is the first high-end Samsung phone to sport a metal design. Samsung says the Alpha represents “the evolution of Galaxy Design”,  with a metal frame, more rounded corners, and by-now Samsung standard tactile back. The Galaxy Alpha will be rolled out to over 150 countries starting in September, but no official pricing is out yet.

The Galaxy Alpha is seen by many as the company’s rival to the iPhone 6 and it mirrors closely the latter’s expected specs. firstly, there’s Android 4.4.4 KitKat out-of-the-box with the requisite customisations that come with a Samsung phone. It features a 4.7-inch HD (720×1280 pixels) Super AMOLED display, which is likely to be very similar to the one used in the Galaxy S3, though slightly smaller. It’s quite slim for sure at just 6.7mm in width and weighs a mere 115 grams, which is quite superb in this category.

In terms of cellular connectivity, expect the very best as the Galaxy Alpha has LTE Cat.6 support so it can go up to 300Mbps (peak download rates). Inside is an octa-core chipset, Samsung’s own Exynos SoC, though the exact model number is unknown. It’s a quad-core 1.8GHz and quad-core 1.3GHz, working in HMP mode, so all eight cores can run simultaneously, if required. The smartphone also comes in a quad-core variant with a clock speed of 2.5GHz, which could be the much-awaited Snapdragon 805.

What’s the same on either variant is the 2GB of RAM and 32GB inbuilt storage, which is non-expandable. We hope Samsung releases a higher capacity variant, because the phone looks quite sexy. Now, before anyone says that it’s an iPhone rip-off, we think Samsung has done enough to distinguish the Alpha. Things that stand out are the slight bulge on the top and bottom, which presumably is there for better grip, as well as the slightly extended bottom frame that adds a nice profile to the otherwise minimal back.

A dark silver variant

The Galaxy Alpha sports a 12-megapixel rear camera and also includes 2.1-megapixel front-facing camera. We expect all the bangs and whistles of Samsung’s custom camera software in the Alpha. It packs an 1860mAh battery, which does sound terribly lean, but we’ll have to see what kind of optimisation Samsung has managed to pack in and the display shouldn’t draw too much power either.

The Galaxy Alpha, much like we expect all future Samsung flagships to be, has a fingerprint scanner embedded in the home button. There’s no heart-rate monitor though, so at least one rumour has fallen flat. At Tech2 we love those exceedingly inane marketing names for colour variants, and the Galaxy Alpha will be available in Charcoal Black, Dazzling White, Frosted Gold, Sleek Silver (pictured above), and Scuba Blue colour variants.

Samsung working on two phones with big display and metal build

Samsung’s VP Kim Hyun-joon has revealed that the company is working on a smartphone with big display and another with different build materials. The big display hints at Galaxy Note 4 while a phone with different build material point at Samsung Galaxy Alpha that has been leaking lately over the internet. These are just guesses and the final output may be completely different.

Going by the current Galaxy Note series trend, we have seen Samsung making Note 1 with 5.3-inch display, Note 2 with 5.5 and Note 3 with 5.7-inch display size. If the company follows the same trend we may see the Note 4 with a 5.9-inch display. There are rumors that Samsung will have Quad HD resolution on the Note 4 smartphone along with fingerprint sensor and Retina scanner on board. Recently Samsung teased the usage of eye scanner on its upcoming phone but did not reveal the exact details.

Samsung VP also revealed that the company is working on revamping the low-to-mid range segment of smartphones with upgraded specs. This may be well implemented in India and could be a response to Xiaomi’s Mi3 launch. There are not many details available for the Note 4 smartphone but we surely know something about the metal clad Galaxy Alpha. The device is said to come with a 4.7-inch display with fingerprint sensor embedded in the home button. It is likely to offer 32GB of built-in storage and would come with the latest Android KitKat OS on board along with updated Samsung TouchWiz. Lets wait for the official announcement on this subject to know more about these devices.