As promised, Samsung unveiled its latest addition to the Galaxy A series – the Galaxy A8. Sporting a 5.7-inch display with a near bezel-less design, the Galaxy A8 features an ultra slim full metal body. It’s in fact the thinnest Galaxy device Samsung has ever made.
Lee Jui Siang, vice president, mobile, IT & digital imaging, Samsung Malaysia Electronics (SME) said in his product presentation, “The Galaxy A8 is a beautifully crafted device: stylish on the outside and substantiated by its incredible performance on the inside.”
Samsung Malaysia Electronics President Lee Sang Hoon also graced the event together with other key SME executives. Model, actress and TV personality Juliana Evans – Malaysia’s official Galaxy A8 ambassador – made a special appearance at the launch where she met with fans and media.
The A series may be a mid-range segment device below the flagship Galaxy S6/S6 edge and Galaxy Note 4, but that’s not stopping Samsung from going ‘premium.’ The Galaxy A8 features a sophisticatedly cut metal frame and an ultra slim profile. In fact, it’s just 5.9mm thin making it the thinnest Galaxy smartphone to date.
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The delicious metal body houses a 5.7-inch Full HD Super AMOLED display (386PPI). It comes powered by the popular 64-bit octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 Samsung Exynos 5430 Octa-Core (4x 1.8GHz + 4x 1.3GHz) processor coupled with 2GB RAM.
It gets 32GB of internal storage, with an option to push it up to 128GB via microSD expansion.
Despite its ridiculously slim profile, Samsung has managed to squeeze a 16MP f/1.9 main shooter into the new device. The module is 5mm thinner than the one found on the Galaxy S6. From first impressions, it looks like the camera is as good as its more expensive sibling. It also gets the S6’s camera Quick Launch function, where you merely need to double click the Home button to launch the camera.
The front is a 5MP unit, also with a f/1.9 wide angle lens.
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The Galaxy A8 gets a fingerprint sensor built-in to the Home button, a first for the Galaxy A series.
Battery life should be great, thanks to a surprisingly large 3,050mAh battery. Samsung has done well to squeeze the big power unit into the A8’s tiny frame.
The Galaxy A8 is a 4G LTE device and runs Android 5.1 Lollipop out of the box.
Pricing and availability
The Galaxy A8 will be available in Malaysia from 30 July 2015 in Gold, White and Black colour options. The device will retail at RM1,888 (inclusive of 6% GST).