Review of Samsung Galaxy A-series smartphones (2017): mind and feelings

Appearance

It’s strange to write about this, but nevertheless, let’s clarify that the Samsung Galaxy A3 is 3 mm shorter and 1 mm narrower than the iPhone 7, which is quite logical, because it is equipped with a 4.7-inch screen. However, it is thicker. Unlike the S6 and S7, the smartphone does not have a convex end in place of the battery, but the camera moves slightly away from the panel.

Samsung has never released a mini version of its top-end GalaxyS6 or GalaxyS7 smartphones, so it seems that the Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017) has taken on the role of a miniature version of the latter. Its design is almost identical to the S7, differing only in its smaller size.

The body is made of metal and has rounded corners. The smoothness of the shape is also given by the slightly beveled 2.5D glass on the display and the protective curved glass on the back of the smartphone.

IP68 waterproof rating means the A3 can survive in water up to 1.5 meters deep for half an hour. You shouldn’t deliberately drown it in a bathtub or swimming pool, but this is an undeniable plus when you use your smartphone in the rain without worrying about the condition of the speakers, for example.

Coming back from using smartphones with a screen diagonal of 5 or 5.7 inches, it’s so strange to twirl the small, light and compact Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017) in your hands. You don't have to worry about knocking the phone over, although the metal and glass body is quite slippery.

However, there are reasons why smartphone screens became larger and larger, namely the content that was transferred to mobile gadgets - videos, applications and even serious photo/video processing programs, etc. In addition to calls and messages, the functionality of smartphones grew along with their interface. Even special sites designed for mobile devices are very densely populated with links, and require large screens for convenient operation.

Apple does not have to worry about content for smartphones with different screen diagonals from 4.7 to 6 - since their product is the best-selling in the world, and the developers care about user comfort. The same cannot be said about Samsung, because they have long moved away from 4.7-inch screens, and Android content is designed for large display resolutions.

Of course, the developers have worked on scaling for tiny screens, and this is impressive, the applications remain usable, but there is still a feeling of a slightly slow performance. This can be compared to a full-fledged home keyboard with large mechanical keys and a keyboard built into an ultrabook - both perform their functions, but anyone will agree that working on a full-fledged keyboard is more pleasant and convenient.

Initially, Sony was a leading manufacturer of compact flagships, but with the advent of the Z-series, the company's position weakened. For example, the Xperia X Compact isn't waterproof, doesn't support 2160p video, and some configurations don't have a fingerprint scanner. And it is during this period that the A3 (2017) appears - to conquer the market of small smartphones.

The Samsung smartphone has a fingerprint scanner integrated into the Home key; The smartphone supports Samsung Pay. There are two touch buttons at the bottom of the screen and I think this is the right decision, because on a 4.7-inch screen there is absolutely no room for any controls.

Above the screen there is a front camera lens with a resolution of 8 MP, which, of course, is not the 16 MP version of other A-series smartphones, but nevertheless, the camera shoots video in 1080p format and has an F/1.9 aperture, which gives more light than the F/ aperture 2.2 in iPhone 7.

On the back side there is a 13 MP main camera and one LED flash. The camera is slightly recessed into the body to protect it from scratches, and this only makes the appearance of the smartphone look better.

The smartphone is powered via a USB-C connector located on the bottom edge. There is also a microphone and a 3.5 mm audio jack. Since USB-C has audio support, we're pleased that Samsung decided not to get rid of the standard headphone output.

The second microphone is located at the end on top. There is also a slot for two nanoSIM cards or a nanoSIM card and microSD. It is worth noting that in some configurations, the microSD slot is placed in a separate block, and this is a more practical solution.

The GalaxyA3's internal memory capacity is 16 GB, of which only 10 are available to the user, but even those are not free; in fact, out of 16 GB of internal memory, only 6 GB are free. So it makes sense to use the ability to expand memory and only one SIM card.

On the left side there is a volume key, and on the opposite side on the right there is a power button. Both keys are miniature, which is not very convenient to use.

The peculiarity of the smartphone is the location of the speaker - above the power key. However, it works properly and is quite loud. If you place your smartphone on any surface with the screen or back side down, the sound will still not be muffled. And even if you hold the smartphone in your hands while watching a video, the sound will be smooth. The only negative is the ability to cover the speaker with your thumb.

Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017) is available in several colors: Black Sky, Blue Mist, Peach Cloud and of course Gold Sand, which is the top option in many markets.

Even if you overlook the dimensions of the A3, its appearance is excellent. This is an exact copy of the S7, which we fell in love with last year, and this love has not faded to this day. There are some downsides regarding the size, but on the other hand, the Samsung Galaxy A3 2020 is the phone that you buy purely for its compact size.

Design and convenience

The diagonal of the screen, which, by the way, has a SuperAmoled matrix with HD resolution, is 4.7 inches; under the screen there is a proprietary Samsung mechanical HOME button, which is also a fingerprint scanner. To the left and right of it there are 2 touch buttons.

Above the screen there is an earpiece, a proximity sensor, the one that goes out when you bring the phone to your ear, and a front camera. On the right, the manufacturer has placed buttons for adjusting the volume, while on the left there is a speaker and a power button. The speaker is not too loud, but the sound is clear and pleasant.

The connector for the dual SIM slot is located at the top of the phone. Since there is no separate slot for a microSD card, the user will have to choose between two SIM cards or a SIM card and a memory card. At the bottom there is a connector for a Type-C cable and a 3.5 mm headphone input.

The body itself is made of aluminum, and the front and back panels are protected by Gorilla glass 4. The phone is available in three colors: gold, blue and black. The most impressive of them is, perhaps, black, since due to the design feature, the switched-off screen seems to merge with the body and the transition border is almost invisible.

The device is also quite comfortable and fits well in the hand. It's just a little slippery due to the glass on the back. So if you are afraid that it might slip out of your hands, then you should purchase a case. The A3 weighs only 138 grams, making it the smallest in the entire line. A5 and A7 weigh 159 and 186 grams respectively.

Screen

The diagonal Super AMOLED display of the Samsung Galaxy A3 is 4.7 inches with a resolution of 720p and a pixel density of 312 ppi. Although the resolution here is not so sharp, Super AMOLED is still the best solution for choosing a matrix in a smartphone.

The A3 screen has high color rendering and a high brightness level, allowing you to easily read information from the display in bright sunlight.

When manually adjusting the brightness, the Samsung Galaxy A3 is ahead of the S7 in terms of maximum brightness level. When reading in the dark, auto-adjustment copes, choosing a comfortable minimum level.

You can trust the automatic default screen settings, or you can choose modes that are convenient for you. But nevertheless, a screen with a resolution of 720p, although it will not demonstrate high quality for viewing photos, will be pleasant in color rendition and saturation.

It's worth noting that although you can manually adjust the screen, you won't be able to make it look better than with the basic settings. You can only adapt the screen to your preferences.

Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017) has to be one of the most affordable Android smartphones that supports the concept of Always-On displays. It works exactly the same as in the Galaxy S7 - displays the time, calendar and notifications.

Most likely, in the future, such displays will be more common, since their prices are already falling noticeably.

It is worth mentioning an old problem that appeared in early A-series smartphones, namely screen flickering. It's barely noticeable, but becomes more obvious as the brightness level is lowered. If you didn’t pay attention to this before, then most likely you won’t now, but we couldn’t help but comment on this drawback.

Advantages and disadvantages

Positives

• high-quality display, bright enough, with a soft, pleasant color scheme by default, but also the ability to get more dynamic, rich colors using one of the special modes;
• truly waterproof case - the smartphone will survive immersion in water to a depth of one and a half meters for 30 minutes;
• The compact size allows you to comfortably hold the phone in your hand without fear of sudden slipping, despite the smooth back panel;
• a good camera with quite correct automatic color and light settings, which will allow you to take pretty good pictures in different lighting conditions;
• new gadgets of the operating system, thanks to which you can customize the interface for yourself;
• and of course - a durable battery that will last 2 full days with average use.

Negative:

• For those who are used to using models with large screens, the new Galaxy A3 may cause discomfort - a small keyboard, for example, or application interfaces incorrectly adapted to small diagonals may seem inconvenient;
• exclusively automatic shooting settings, which, however, is normal for smartphones of this class, however, you will not be able to play around with photography;
• Still, the price is a bit high - about $300 is a bit much for such a smartphone.

Connection

Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017) supports all types of communication: LTE Cat. 6 (300 / 50Mbps), Dual-SIM, Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Samsung Pay with NFC and MST, USB-C and even FM radio. The only thing missing is the infrared port.

High speed 300/50Mbps LTE is provided via 2 Carrier Aggregation (2CA). Wi-Fi uses only one channel, providing a maximum speed of 433Mbps. There is also Bluetooth 4.2 LE and ANT +.

Unfortunately, USB-C doesn't support MHL, which means you can't use any USB accessories on the Galaxy A3.

Technical parameters of Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017) SM-A320F

Battery

The battery capacity of the GalaxyA3 (2017) is 2350 mAh, which is not much, but Samsung didn’t change the battery, they changed the processor that uses it. The new Exynos 7870 Octa chipset has already proven itself to be a very high-quality, energy-efficient processor, so our expectations for the GalaxyA3 (2017) were high from the very announcement.

It is stated that the battery capacity is sufficient for 17 hours of continuous conversation on a 3G network, 15 hours of video viewing when connected to a Wi-Fi connection, and almost 17 hours of offline video viewing.

Our tests showed almost identical results.

It is worth noting that these indicators indicate good battery life of the smartphone. Few gadgets demonstrate such results, and if they are close to the above indicators, then most often these are smartphones with much larger screen diagonals and batteries.

The battery is fully charged in 90 minutes. With the Samsung Fast Charger connected, the charging time from 0% to 37% is 30 minutes, which is not particularly impressive.

Summary of the review

The Samsung Galaxy A3 has good technical characteristics and has high ergonomic performance (does not freeze and holds a charge for a long time), which makes it easy to use. However, he is unusually miniature.

So, if you choose this model, you will have to come to terms with the fact that some Internet applications on your smartphone will look incorrect, and just get used to the fact that everything is a little smaller. We also note that its price is steep.

But this is still Samsung and we are already accustomed to the fact that when buying products from this company, we overpay for the brand.

On the other hand, phones are always of high quality, so in some cases it’s better to pay for the brand than to worry about repairs later.

Most likely, this model will be preferred by those who need a miniature compact device that is convenient and pleasant to use, and not by those who want to save money or want to surprise.

Don't forget about its autonomy. As mentioned above, the device can work for 2 days without recharging.

Tests showed this, and people’s reviews confirmed this. In the modern world it is not easy to find a smartphone with such an indicator.

Therefore, the Galaxy A3 will definitely be bought by those who do not want to struggle with finding sockets every day.

Overall, the phone turned out to be very good. It’s definitely worth paying attention to if you’re looking for something new and interesting.

Result:

• Screen: 8
• Interface usability: 7
• Battery: 10
• Appearance: 8
• Performance: 6
• Overall rating: 7.8

If you have Telegram, you can now download any software or game through our bot, just follow the link and try it!

« Previous entry

operating system

The GalaxyA3 (2017) runs Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow, but promises an update to 7.0 Nougat, which should arrive soon.

This is the first smartphone from the A-series that works with Always On Display. As mentioned earlier, the display currently displays a calendar, clock and application notifications, including third-party ones.

The display dims whenever the smartphone is in your pocket, which saves battery power. But in the settings you can set the exact operating time of the AOD if you want to save energy or are annoyed by the light from your smartphone while sleeping.

Lockscreen can be synchronized with a fingerprint scanner, which allows you to access pages that require passwords. One touch and the site logs you in, automatically filling in passwords.

You can also protect your Samsung account. For example, you can create a folder that stores photos/documents and programs that you want to hide, and which will only be accessible when you touch the scanner.

One reason you might want to store certain files in a secret folder is the extra 15GB of cloud storage for free. Everything from contacts and photos can be synced, and you decide what goes over LTE to the cloud and what stays available.

Otherwise, the GalaxyA3 (2017) interface is standard and familiar to everyone.

The idea of ​​blocking notifications is interesting, when one tap allows you to hide persistent notifications from applications, but I don’t like its execution.

The App drawer lets you browse your installed apps through search, but also suggests programs from Galaxy Apps or the Play Market, depending on what you prefer to use.

Samsung has optimized Grace to a minimum, so that the Galaxy A3 (2017) interface runs smoothly and without lag. In addition, the program takes up absolutely little space, which is very important, given that only 6 GB out of 16 are available to the user, and they fill up quite quickly when installing a couple of third-party programs. You'll definitely want to take advantage of the storage expansion option via microSD.

GameLauncher is your exit to the games menu, where you can hide game icons from the application list by moving them to GameLauncher. The virtual button provides many functions - you can lock the keys to prevent accidental keystrokes, turn off notifications, stream videos and launch the App Switcher.

You can also record a let’s play and include yourself in the video using the front camera for YouTube, choosing a lower resolution if you don’t have enough memory on your smartphone.

The launcher can provide statistics on the amount of time spent on games, as well as statistics on genres.

The app also helps improve game performance if the game is stuttering by automatically limiting the resolution or enabling battery saving by setting an upper frame rate limit. Which is purely theoretical, because in the Galaxy A3 (2017) the screen already has a resolution of 720p.

Messages and text input

Samsung has equipped the smartphone with an SMS/MMS processing application instead of the standard Google Allo. The application has a good and user-friendly interface, most of the options are hidden behind a pull-out menu on the right. It allows you to view all attachments in a chat. You can also send templates, block numbers, turn off notifications from certain contacts, and also pin correspondence so that they are always in front of your eyes.

You can also insert stickers and photos, which is similar to popular instant messengers. The only difference is that all this will be in MMS format.

Samsung Keyboard is responsible for text input. You can set most of the settings yourself: font size in height and width, hide the line number, add additional symbols and punctuation marks.

Gestures can be responsible for moving the cursor or entering text. The high contrast mode should be useful for people with poor vision.

Other programs

Samsung's SHealth tracks your walking/running and sleep patterns. If you have an additional accessory, then the application has much more available - heart rate monitoring, bike sensor, smart scales, blood pressure measurement and glucose monitoring. Both Bluetooth 4.0 LE and ANT+ accessories are available.

If you are not motivated enough, you can challenge a friend to the challenge, and the winner receives a virtual crown. You can also view the leaderboard and see your place in this list.

The calendar starts in dual view mode - dates on top, events on the bottom.

The file manager shows by default the latest downloaded files, supports basic options for working with folders, as well as the ability to create archives.

Finally, there is Galaxy Apps, which is an alternative app store source. A number of Samsung apps are available here, including some that didn't come pre-installed on the Galaxy A3 (2017). Here you can find both exclusive programs and good free offers.

Gallery

The gallery integrates with Samsung Cloud to automatically synchronize photos, which, in turn, are divided into three categories on the smartphone itself: pictures, albums and stories. Photos are displayed in timeline mode, and albums are presented in convenient grouped folders.

Stories allow you to invite other people to add photos or videos together to the Story gallery and create a small presentation.

The built-in editor surprised me with its capabilities. It actually turned out to be very cool: it has the ability to both align a shot and correct an image, as well as complex graphic effects.

Video

The video player is part of the Gallery, it supports subtitles with custom styles and can play in a pop-up window.

Music player and FM radio

In GalaxyA3 (2017), Play Music is installed as the default player. I think many of you are familiar with this program. Play Music plays music from your phone's memory and streams from Google Library, as well as cache from applications when connected to a Wi-Fi connection.

For some music, it is preferable to use the Samsung app downloaded from Galaxy Apps. Because it has the best equalizer: SoundAlive, 7-band and automatic. And even UHQ Upscaler.

The advantage of the GalaxyA3 (2017) is that it has something that the Galaxy S7 does not have - FM radio. It is possible to record programs and music.

Iron

The Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017) uses an 8-core Exynos 7870 Octa chipset clocked at 1.6 GHz. The graphics are handled by a dual-core Mali-T830 GPU MP2 and all this is coupled with 2 GB of RAM.

Quite standard hardware for a mid-budget smartphone. The iPhone 7 has one of the fastest mobile processors, so Exynos is nowhere near it. And as for Huawei and Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime, they use an alternative to Snapdragon 625, which is in the same category as Exynos. Sony Xperia X Compact runs on a 28nm Snapdragon 650 chip in tandem with two Cortex-A57s and a more powerful GPU.

Exynos 7870 Octa and Snapdragon 625 are highly rated among other processors. But today we have come to the conclusion that processor power is more of a boast and not something you use every day, but on the other hand, there is energy saving which is very important.

Telephone

The smartphone comes with a hybrid slot for two nanoSIM cards or one SIM card and microSD. It is possible to block incoming calls - you can block certain numbers and all calls from hidden numbers.

Speaker

As mentioned earlier, in the Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017) the speaker is located in a rather specific place, however, the sound is clear, loud and smooth, there is no feeling of one-sided sound.

Audio

The Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017) demonstrated good sound quality without any problems even at the highest volume levels.

The sound through the headphones is amazing, with little noise barely noticeable at high volumes. But even those were not so terrible as to pay attention to them, the sound is good, clear and pleasant, many frequencies can be heard.

Alternatives

If we consider alternatives in terms of display size, the Apple iPhone 6S (4.7 inches) and Apple iPhone SE (4 inches) are close in terms of compactness, but also twice as expensive. At the same price as the smartphone under review - iPhone 5S, but the diagonal is much smaller, battery life is much worse, and there is no moisture protection. If it is very important for you that the “Apple” sparkles and the melody is “iPhone”, then the 5S is definitely your option, despite the fact that this once masterpiece was released as much as 4 years ago.

The Sony Xperia X Compact has a similar display, similar price and significantly better cameras. And in terms of performance and memory, the smartphone is more interesting. For some reason, the Japanese did not implement moisture protection in this model, which cannot be said about their flagship compact model of 2020, the Sony Xperia Z5 Compact. Same price as the Galaxy A3 2020, it has the flagship Snapdragon 810 chip (hot guy) and more internal memory. And again, the cameras are a cut above. The same cannot be said about Sony regarding their autonomy.

Well, competitors from China, where would we be without them? The closest 5-inch competitor officially presented on our market is Huawei Nova with an attractive design, about the same main camera, but much better than the front one. Huawei has more memory and a more powerful chipset. Of course, there is no such excellent autonomy, good software and moisture protection. Of course, there are other “animals” from China, but I don’t want to compare them with them, since there you will already have to make compromises in some areas.

Camera

Samsung Galaxy A3 is equipped with a main camera with a resolution of 13 megapixels and an f/1.9 aperture that records video in 1080p format. The front camera has a resolution of 8 megapixels.

The camera has no OIS, Dual Pixel AF - everything that is in the S7. But nevertheless, the A3 interface offers several shooting modes and special effects. In PRO mode, you can set ISO and exposure yourself, but not shutter speed and focus.

It would seem that the lack of the ability to set focus yourself should be compensated for by good autofocus, but that was not the case. Many pictures were blurred. But it's not a lack of sharpness, but rather an automatic noise reduction.

The panorama resolution is limited - 1200px, but despite this, the quality of the images does not suffer. The only key “but” is fast moving objects.

The front one takes good pictures, not perfect, but good. It is worth noting good color rendition and low noise level. But it should be noted that this camera has a certain distance at which it gives good results and often, your face simply does not fall within this distance.

Video

Galaxy A3 records video in 1080p format. I would like to say right away that the video is recorded with a high bitrate for both video and audio channels of 17Mbps, 256Kbps of which are allocated for sound (like S7). The video looks quite clear, but upon closer inspection, compression artifacts are visible. The rest is fine: color and noise are fine, and the dual microphone does a good job of separating speech from background noise.

The best Samsung / Samsung smartphones for 2020. Top 8

7th place.

Samsung Galaxy J5 (2017)

The average price in Russia is 12,600 rubles. The model, re-released in June 2017, received 66% of five reviews in Yandex Market and 87% of recommendations for purchase.

Technical characteristics: 5.2-inch AMOLED screen with a resolution of 1280×720 pixels, Android 7.0 operating system, 16 GB of storage (10 GB available to the user) and 2 GB of RAM, support for two SIM cards. There is a slot for a memory card up to 128 GB. The main camera is 13 MP, the front camera is also 13 MP. Battery capacity 3000 mAh. Battery life in talk mode is 12 hours, while listening to music is 83 hours. There is a fingerprint scanner.

6th place.

Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017)

The average price is 15,200 rubles. The model received 47% of five reviews in Yandex Market and 74% of recommendations for purchase.

Technical characteristics: 5.2-inch screen with a resolution of 1920×1080 pixels, Android 6.0 operating system, 32 GB of storage (23.1 GB available to the user) and 3 GB of RAM, support for two SIM cards, there is a slot for a memory card up to 256 GB The main camera is 16 MP, the front camera is also 16 MP. Despite the impressive number of megapixels, it is worth considering that both cameras do not have optical stabilization, so those who want to take really high-quality photos need to take a closer look at the flagship models that come further down the ranking.

Battery capacity 3000 mAh. Operating time without recharging in talk mode is 16 hours, while listening to music is 53 hours. There is a fingerprint scanner. Protection from water and dust. There is support for Samsung Pay.

5th place.

Samsung Galaxy S6 32Gb is the most popular Samsung smartphone in Russia in 2020

The average price is 18,100 rubles. You can buy a Galaxy S6 on AliExpress for 11.3 thousand rubles (delivery to Russia is free).

Samsung's spring 2020 flagship scored 50% of fives in reviews on Yandex Market and 84% of recommendations for purchase.

At the end of 2020, this model took 4th place in the world in popularity among Android smartphones. In Russia, the model took 6th place, this is the best result in the Samsung smartphone catalog. The smartphone's touch display is made of the most durable glass - Corning Gorilla Glass 4. The 5.1-inch screen has a resolution of 2560x1440. The smartphone works with any wireless charging devices. As you can tell from the model name, the built-in memory is 32 GB, and the RAM is 3 GB. Operating system - Android 6.0. Supports one SIM card. Battery capacity 2550 mAh. There is a fingerprint scanner.

The camera deserves special praise. The resolution of the main one is 16 megapixels, the front one is 5 megapixels. In May 2020, the portal w3bsit3-dns.com wrote: “Both the Galaxy S6 and its brother Galaxy S6 edge are two smartphones with the best built-in camera today. Samsung gives pleasure to all photography lovers - the pleasure of shooting.” Main camera features include automatic real-time HDR processing, optical image stabilization, and an infrared sensor. The camera takes excellent pictures even after sunset. Quote from a review on the 4PDA portal: “In the dark, the camera takes excellent pictures that you wouldn’t expect to see on a smartphone screen. Illuminated objects and the sky look very expressive, lights do not flood the frame with blurry light, and contrast is conveyed naturally. In general, you can shoot at night without fear of getting a set of dark and light spots instead of a spectacular shot.”

Quote from the most popular review of this model in the Svyaznoy online store: “Samsung has long learned to make excellent, if not the best, hardware. The screens, although controversial, were very cool for my taste. It had its own application store and its own messenger, although it did not find popularity. The cameras of Samsung's flagships have been very good for several generations and, in comparison with the cameras of other flagships, are often superior in many ways. The only serious drawback was the design. More precisely, its absence. And finally, Samsung designers did what was expected of them!! In the sixth generation of the flagship, the design appeared!! Yes, inspired by the appearance of a competitor! But the most beautiful competitor!! And Samsung did it better!”

4th place.

Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge 32Gb

The average price in Russia is 29,000 rubles. The flagship from Samsung went on sale in the early spring of 2020 and at the end of the year became the best-selling smartphone of the South Korean company, and also entered the top three most popular Android smartphones in the world. This model became the most popular in the USA, where it took first place in sales at the end of the year. Every 10th Android smartphone sold in the US last year was a Samsung flagship. Also, the Galaxy S7 Edge took first place in sales in Germany and Hong Kong.

Today, this model has 45% of five reviews in Yandex Market (see reviews of the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge) and 71% of recommendations for purchase.

The technical characteristics of the next model, slightly curved for user convenience, are pleasantly surprising: a 5.5-inch screen with an incredible resolution of 2560x1440, the latest Android 6.0 operating system, 32 GB of storage and 4 GB of RAM. Those for whom 32 GB of permanent memory is not enough can use the memory card slot and expand the memory up to 200 GB (iPhones do not have a memory card slot and have to be content with the original one). If the previous flagship Samsung Galaxy S6 (like all iPhones, by the way) supported only one SIM card, then the Samsung Galaxy S7 got rid of this drawback and supports 2 SIM cards.

Battery capacity 3600 mAh. Operating time without recharging in talk mode is 27 hours, while listening to music is 74 hours. There is a fingerprint scanner. There is support for Samsung Pay.

As for the camera, here we see the same matrix characteristics as the 6th iPhone: a 12-megapixel main camera and a 5-megapixel front camera. Samsung cites the following advantages of the camera in this smartphone: a larger aperture lens (F1.7) and enlarged matrix pixels (1.4 microns) capture much more light, which allows you to consistently obtain clear and detailed photographs even in low light conditions; smartphones support Dual Pixel technology: all matrix pixels have two photodiodes, not one, which allows the sensor to focus as quickly and clearly as the human eye, and Dual Pixel technology ensures such fast and flawless autofocus that you can capture even the sharpest movement in low light conditions; For the first time, you can capture movement in animated panorama mode.

The portal 4pda.ru in its review of the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge 32Gb writes: “Samsung took an interesting step by completely changing the camera after the success of the previous generation. Only after trying the new device in action, you understand that this did not happen by chance, and no one in the Korean company would have decided to exchange an excellent module for one that is worse. In the eyes of ordinary people, four megapixels (the Samsung Galaxy S6 had 16) were really lost, but an experienced amateur photographer will tell you that happiness is not in the number of megapixels.” “The Samsung Galaxy S7 edge sets a new standard for smartphone camera quality for at least the next year. For excellent photos both day and night, spectacular videos, optical stabilization and many shooting modes, the editors of w3bsit3-dns.com award the SGS7 edge the “Nice Shot” sign.”

You can also note the possibility of very fast wireless charging and complete waterproofness (you can shoot video for 30-40 minutes at a depth of 1 meter under water). The always-on screen will display useful information on a locked device. This feature is advanced enough to automatically turn off when the smartphone is in a pocket or bag, face down, or when the smartphone is almost empty.

3rd place.

Samsung Galaxy S8 is the most popular Samsung smartphone

The average price in Russia is 41,900 rubles. The flagship from the leading smartphone manufacturer in South Korea and the world went on sale at the end of April 2020 and today has received 50% of five reviews in Yandex Market and 75% of recommendations for purchase. Today this is the best-selling model in the Samsung catalog (according to Yandex Market).

Fans of the South Korean brand had to wait a whole year for the new flagship (last year's summer flagship Galaxy Note 7 does not count, since Samsung was forced to withdraw this model from sales soon after they began due to problems with the battery) after its appearance in March 2020 Galaxy S7. As a result, the release of the Galaxy S8 caused an incredible stir: in the first two days, the number of pre-orders for the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus (an enlarged version of the model) amounted to 550,000 units (for comparison: the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge were ordered by 100 thousand people in the first 2 days) . Of course, a year-long wait for a flagship in itself is not capable of causing such a stir; for example, Apple consistently releases flagships once a year, but at the same time, sales of the seventh iPhone turned out to be quite weak due to the fact that the new iPhone for the most part turned out to be the same eggs, only in profile, if you compare it with the 6th iPhone. Samsung did not repeat the mistakes of its competitor and presented a truly innovative model that cannot be confused with any smartphone on the market today.

Technical characteristics of the Samsung Galaxy S8: 5.8-inch screen with QHD+ resolution (3840×2160), Android 7.0 operating system with Samsung Experience 8.1 proprietary shell, 64 GB of storage and 4 GB of RAM. There is a slot for memory cards up to 265 GB (combined with a slot for a second SIM card). Battery capacity - 3000 mAh. Battery life in talk mode is 20 hours, while listening to music is 67 hours. Let's dwell a little on these characteristics and compare them with last year's Galaxy S7 Edge. The screen diagonal has increased by 0.3 inches, the resolution has also noticeably increased, while the phone itself, paradoxically, has become even a little smaller and lighter. This effect was achieved due to the fact that the screen now occupies more than 80% of the area of ​​the front panel: the physical buttons disappeared (they became touch-sensitive), the Samsung inscription, there are practically no side frames, the free space was taken up by the screen. The amount of permanent memory has doubled. However, there is a small step back: the battery capacity has decreased, and therefore the battery life has become shorter, while it is approximately the same as, for example, the seventh iPhone. The processor is Samsung branded Exynos 8895.

When it comes to cameras, Samsung has decided to ignore the trend of dual main cameras in the flagship model, which has been followed by Apple, Huawei, LG and, in the old fashioned way, has a single main camera, an improvement over the already excellent camera of the S7. The S8 camera received a new 12 megapixel Sony IMX333 sensor with DualPixel technology. The front camera (8 MP) is equipped with a fast lens for perfect selfies even at night, and also supports intelligent autofocus with face detection. By the way, face recognition has become one of the interesting features of the S8: to unlock your smartphone, you no longer have to use a fingerprint scanner; you just need to show your face to the smartphone. There is a third method: scanning the iris (however, this method will be inconvenient if you wear glasses or contact lenses).

see also Rating of the best camera phones (phones with a good camera)

2nd place.

Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus 64GB

The average price in Russia is 44,540 rubles. The older version of last year's Samsung flagship went on sale on April 21, 2017 and today has received 54% of five reviews in Yandex Market and 77% of recommendations for purchase.

Technical characteristics: narrow-frame Super AMOLED screen 6.2 inches with a resolution of 2960×1440 pixels, Android 7.0 operating system, 64 GB of storage and 4 GB of RAM. Samsung Exynos 8895 processor. There is a slot for a memory card up to 256 GB (combined for a slot for a second SIM card). The main camera is dual 12 MP, front camera is 8 MP. Battery capacity 3500 mAh. Battery life in talk mode is 24 hours, while listening to music is 78 hours. There is a fingerprint scanner.

What are the differences between the plus version and the standard Galaxy S8? This is a larger screen (6.2 inches versus 5.8), with a lower resolution (2960x1440 versus 3840x2160), a more powerful battery (3500 mAh versus 3000), even taking into account the larger screen, the battery life is noticeably longer, for example, in talk mode the S8+ will last 4 hours longer.

1 place.

Samsung Galaxy Note 8 64GB - Samsung smartphone with the largest screen

The average price in Russia is 54,450 rubles.

Samsung's autumn flagship went on sale on September 15, 2017 and today has scored 70% of the five stars according to reviews in Yandex Market. The number of recommendations in Yandex Market is 83%.

Samsung has made it a rule to release two flagships a year: in the spring, the flagship of the Galaxy S family, and closer to the fall, a more advanced flagship of the Galaxy Note family with a stylus. However, last year the Galaxy Note 7 was withdrawn from sales shortly after they began due to battery problems, so the new flagship Galaxy Note 8 was actually the first in its class in two years.

Samsung in its new flagship follows the recent trend towards large screens, while being one step ahead of its competitors. While Apple in the 10th iPhone came to the need to increase the diagonal to 5.8 inches (as in the spring Galaxy S8), the Galaxy Note 8 received a fantastic diagonal of 6.3 inches (the resolution is also impressive: 2960x1440). It has become slightly larger in body size than the Galaxy S8: width 7.5 cm versus 6.8, height 16.2 cm versus 14.9, but due to the competent use of screen area (it is frameless, like in the Galaxy S8) the dimensions and the weight of the glass-metal body are comparable to the classic 5.5-inch models of competitors. For example, the Apple iPhone 8 Plus with a 5.5-inch screen is 0.3 cm wider and 7 grams heavier than the Galaxy Note 8, although the latter is 0.4 cm longer. The quality of the AMOLED display itself deserves all praise: the authoritative resource DisplayMate claims that the Galaxy Note 8 has "the most innovative and high-performance screen the site has ever tested."

If from the front the Galaxy Note 8 differs from the Galaxy S8 only in the size of the body, then when looking at the back panel these models definitely cannot be confused. Samsung followed another trend in the new flagship: it used a dual main camera for the first time (the Galaxy S8 still had one main camera). The first camera is wide-angle, with a focal length of 26 mm and an aperture of f/1.7. The second is a narrow TV camera with 52 mm. This roughly corresponds to the viewing angle of the human eye, so it is also suitable for taking portraits without distorting perspective. Both modules have a resolution of 12 megapixels. Both modules have optical stabilization (the same technique was later repeated by the iPhone X). Now you can shoot smooth videos and sharp photos not only in normal mode, but also with 2x optical zoom. The Dxomark resource named the Galaxy Note 8 the best smartphone for zoom (enlarging the image when shooting). For example, according to this indicator, it received 66 points versus 58 for the iPhone X. Samsung added a “dynamic focus” function for the second camera. By turning it on, you can adjust the amount of background blur before and after releasing the shutter. In this case, the smartphone saves photos from both cameras. The front camera of the Galaxy Note 8 has the same aperture as the main one - f/1.7, resolution 8 megapixels.

Now about the stylus, which comes included and distinguishes the Galaxy Note 8 from other flagships. What is it for? Draw, write down reminders, make notes on photos. You don't even need to unlock the screen to write and edit notes. In addition, by pressing with the stylus, you can translate words in a foreign language text. Of course, most people will rarely need a stylus, but for creative people it will be a real boon.

Galaxy Note 8 has 64 GB of internal memory, as well as support for an external memory card up to 256 GB (iPhone X does not support memory cards), but you will have to choose what to insert into the tray: a second SIM card or a memory card. The 8-core Samsung Exynos 9 8895 processor, coupled with 6 GB of RAM, makes the Note 8 the second most powerful Android smartphone in the world (the first is OnePlus 5).

After the failure with the batteries of the Galaxy Note 7 in the new flagship, Samsung decided not to experiment with this component and equipped the phone with a standard 3300 mAh battery, this allows the Note 8 to work 22 hours in talk mode and 74 hours in music listening mode. There is a fast charging function. Half an hour at the outlet, and the battery will last for 3-4 hours. Charging from 0 to 100% will take 1 hour 41 minutes.

There are three types of unlocking: the usual fingerprint scanner, face scanning and iris scanning. At the same time, the fingerprint scanner located on the rear panel will be more convenient for men, because... It will not be very convenient for women to reach it due to the size of the case.

This model takes first place in the ranking of the best smartphones for 2020.

Let's sum it up

Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017) works on two fronts at once - on the one hand, it is trying to conquer the market of potential buyers of old and small iPhones, and on the other, it is trying to strengthen Android’s weak position in the market for small premium smartphones.

Samsung has significantly upped the profile of the A-series this year. Water resistance and an Always On display are features that are found in flagships, but not in average budget devices. Add to this a capacious battery, and the Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017) will find its buyers among those. who wants to have a smartphone with premium characteristics, but does not want to overpay for them.

The processor is enough to run 3D games, but you are unlikely to run anything serious on it, if only because the smartphone has only a 4.7-inch screen.

Attention!
This is a translation of the GSMarena review Final rating: 6 out of 10.

Autonomy

A 2350 mAh battery is responsible for the autonomy of the mobile device.
This, according to the manufacturer, is enough for 12 hours of surfing on 3G Internet or 16 hours on 4G. If you use only Wi-Fi, the built-in battery will last for 17 hours of browsing. The battery is naturally not removable, and it also doesn't support fast charging, which is definitely a downside. Considering the relatively small capacity of the autonomous power supply, the new Galaxy A3 (2017) will not charge for a long time.