Samsung has finally woken up to the fact that consumers want more premium feeling smartphones from the company. The Galaxy A series will address this as its entry-level model's specs have appeared on GFXBench.
When Steve Jobs unveiled the original iPhone in 2007, the smartphone was crafted out of premium materials like anodized aluminum and glass, while all of the biggest smartphone makers at the time were using plastic to build their handsets. The introduction of the iPhone 3G in 2008 and iPhone 3GS in 2009 traded in aluminum shells for plastic. Those two models would be the last time Apple constructed its flagship iPhones out of plastic.
The introduction of the iPhone 4 in 2010 and iPhone 4S in 2011 brought with it premium materials like metal and glass, yet its Android rivals still clung to cheap feeling plastic with their latest handsets. HTC took a gamble that hugely paid off when it introduced the unibody aluminum HTC One in 2013, and that recipe for success exploded with the release of the HTC One M8 in 2014.
Android market leader Samsung avoided shifting its love of plastic until it became clear to the company that users wanted more premium feeling smartphones. Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Alpha in August 2014 and it was the first smartphone from the company to include a metal frame. Samsung claimed that this new design would extend to future devices and it followed up on that promise when it announced the Galaxy Note 4, which features the same metal frame and chamfered edges that made their debut with the Galaxy Alpha.
Samsung is preparing to launch three new smartphones that will make up its new Galaxy A series and the devices will feature the new metal-framed design found on the Galaxy Alpha and Galaxy Note 4. The series will reportedly consist of three smartphones and we've already reported on the specs of the mid-range Galaxy A (SM-A500).
The entry-level Samsung Galaxy A (SM-A300) was just spotted by SamMobile. The smartphone made an appearance on GFXBench where it was listed as SM-A3000 and we now know what the low-end Galaxy A will offer in terms of specs.
The Samsung Galaxy A SM-A300 will reportedly feature a 4.8-inch display with a resolution of 960 x 540 and run Android 4.4.4 KitKat out of the box. It will be powered by a 1.2GHz quad-core Qualcomm processor and Adreno 306 GPU (graphics processing unit). The handset will include 1 GB of RAM and 5 GB of internal storage.
The Galaxy A SM-300 will sport a 7-megapixel rear camera that will support recording 1080p Full HD video and 5-megapixel front-facing camera for video chat and selfies.
The site's sources claim the three Galaxy A smartphones are expected to go on sale in the third quarter of 2014. We'll keep you posted as more information about the Samsung Galaxy A series gets released.
