Samsung’s IP68 rated waterproof Galaxy A5 and A7 launched in Malaysia; preorders come with free Level U Pro headsets worth RM399
Samsung’s kicked off 2017 with a bang in Malaysia with the launch of their workhorse Galaxy A series phones. The latest additions to their line-up, the Galaxy A series has three phones – the A3 ,A5 and A7 though only the Galaxy A5 and A7 will be coming to Malaysia. Today’s hands-on press conference showcased the more subtle features in the Galaxy A series phones.
In terms of improvements, the Galaxy A series phones sport a better looking, more robust design that harkens to the Galaxy S6 along with improved cameras over its 2016 predecessors. The revamped Galaxy A series phones notably come with improved IP68 water resistance, making them one of the rare sub-RM2000 phones capable of doing so. This effectively allows them to survive immersion in up to 1.5 metres of water for up to 30 minutes.
The new Galaxy A phones, both the A5 and A7, all also have improved front and rear cameras, both of which have an 16-MP sensor and an F/1.9 aperture for better performance in low light. One notable improvement to the user interface to the Galaxy A series camera firmware is a floating shutter where you can move the shutter release button anywhere on the touchscreen. The phone also throws in a ‘Pro’ mode as well as 8 basic and 8 beauty filters to doll yourself up.
The phones also have another feature rarely seen in workhorse phones – a fingerprint reader though the Galaxy A phones up the ante by integrating Samsung Pay support which has already rolled out for Maybank customers. This will expand to Citibank, Standard Chartered and CIMB in the coming months.
The phones also come with a revamped design that takes a few aesthetic notes off the aforementioned Galaxy S6 with a unibody aluminium curved chassis machined from metal and glass. The camera sensor is also completely flush with the chassis so that it doesn’t snag on clothing. Both the A5 and A7 are aesthetically similar, different only by screen size. The Galaxy A5 comes with a 5.2-inch 1080P display while the A7 comes with a 5.7-inch 1080P display. Both phones have Super AMOLED screens so you can expect brilliant colours and excellent colour saturation. Another interesting benefit is that the A series will have the Galaxy S7’s ‘Always On’ feature so it’ll display the time on the screen even when the display is off as well as notifications.
The A5 and A7 both also have a 1.9GHz Exynox 7580 octacore processors and both the A5 and A7 have 3GB RAM and 32GB of expandable storage with dual SIM card slots along with a dedicated microSD card slot so you can have your cake and eat it too. The A7 will have a slightly larger 3,600mAh battery while the A65 will have a 3,000mAh battery with both batteries charged by a USB Type C port with fast charging support.
The Galaxy A5 retails for RM1,699 and the Galaxy A7 will retail for RM1899. For both phones, the Black Sky and Gold coloured variants will be available for sale at launch while the other two colours Blue Mist and Peach Cloud will be available later on. If you preorder now from 6 Jan to 15 Jan 2017, you can get a free Level U PRO wireless headset worth RM399. Deliveries will begin on the 16 January 2017. Deliveries will begin on the 16 January 2017. For more details swing by Samsung’s official site here.
