Samsung announced it’s long-awaited Galaxy Alpha premium handset earlier today. The device will be priced at €599 (about $800 when converted) which is kind of steep and it’s borderline high-end price although Clove is listing the phone at £499.99 inc. VAT. This doesn’t exactly surprise us considering all the previous leaks, though we still think this is high for a device specced this way.I am not sure we will see such a high price once it makes landfall in the USA and with carrier subsidies but the price is very premium from early indications. Carphone Warehouse in UK confirmed they will carry it in all colors and be the only ones with Blue. EE confirmed it will carry it , Three as well and Clove but no dates were given as of yet .We have not heard any details from the American Carriers as of yet but I am sure we will later in the day stay tuned.
As a reminder, Galaxy Alpha is sporting a 4.7″ Super AMOLED panel 720p (1280 x 720) in resolution, as it was leaked many times before. There’s Samsung’s very own Exynos octa-core processor ticking under the hood as well as 2GB of RAM for your multitasking needs. On the back you’ll find a 12MP camera along with the 2.1MP shooter on the front. There’s an 1860mAh battery inside juicing up the device. As far as storage goes, only 32GB model is available thought that is expandable via MicroSD card up to 64GB. Fingerprint sensor is also a part of the package as well as a slew of Samsung’s software features and the device comes with Android 4.4 KitKat on board (TouchWiz UI skin is present of course).
If you take a look at other high end devices like HTC One (M8), Samsung Galaxy S5, Sony Xperia Z2, LG G3 etc., this price is in fact quite high. All of these devices are running Snapdragon 801 processors and have 1080p (or higher, in case of the LG G3) panels on there which can’t exactly be said for the Galaxy Alpha. Same goes for some other its camera. I guess you can say Samsung is chasing “form over function” here, as Tom put it in his Galaxy Alpha announcement article linked above.
It is quite a relief having this device announced considering all those leaks that came our way in the past weeks/months. Galaxy Alpha’s metallic trim actually gives Samsung’s Galaxy line a bit of freshness, if I can put it that way. The device actually looks better than what they were releasing thus far although it basically sticks to the same design language. The Galaxy Alpha’s price is steep but I bet there are people out there who were waiting for something like this to hit the market.